Chapter 11 #3
I groan at the idea of all of them knowing, but Brandr doesn't even chuckle at it.
If anything, he's remained much more professional than the person who should be the most professional.
Then again, I really like it when Zill's more on the playful side.
If it were something actually important, I'm sure he'd be much more serious about the whole matter.
As it stands, nothing that serious has happened since he's been in my life.
Honestly, it's almost like just having him around has caused a lot of the drama and threats to die down.
Brandr pulls the transport into the parking garage and hops out, getting my door for me as Zill gets out his side.
"Marr said there was something we needed to discuss when we got upstairs," Brandr tells me, making his voice loud enough for Zill to hear as well, though I'm sure he was already briefed in his head.
"Is it something bad?" I ask, my fingers tangling as I try to pick at my cuticles. Zill takes my hand, our fingers interlocking, and it makes me feel less stressed.
Brandr tells me what he knows as we get into the elevator.
"Marr said someone slid a letter under your door.
When they spoke to the man, it was someone from another floor who was paid a chunk of credits to slide the note in.
Marr made sure he was a resident in the building and let him leave.
The letter is still in your apartment. Since it didn't pose an actual safety concern, Marr didn't want to invade your space without you being there. "
And gone are all the warm, fuzzy feelings I have for Zill, and replacing them are the clammy, shaking hands of someone about to have a panic attack.
It's not even that bad, but someone slipped a note under my door, and for some reason, I'm thinking back to how someone broke into my apartment, touched, and stole my things.
Arms wrap around me, something wrapping all around my body, holding me close.
I don't realize my eyes aren't closed until I blink a few times, and the darkness remains.
Shadows, I'm enveloped in Zill's shadows.
They're acting like a shell of sorts, blocking me in against his chest. It should be embarrassing that I'm acting so shaken just from hearing that there might be a letter in my apartment, but it doesn't stop that from being precisely what I am.
I cling to the fabric of Zill's shirt, his fingers pressing into my back in support.
"You tell us as soon as you know next time," Zill's saying, the rumble of his voice vibrating in his chest and against where I have my face resting against him.
My breathing is fast, and my heart feels like it's rampaging, but I'm safe right here.
Nothing bad is going to happen to me because even if someone wanted to do something, Zill would know before they could, and he would keep me safe.
I know he would. There's more talking between the two men as the elevator goes up, mostly Brandr apologizing and not realizing the impact it would have on me.
"Want me to carry you?" Zill asks, the shadows dissipating from around me enough that I can see him looking down at me.
I shake my head softly. He wipes his thumb across my cheek and urges me around, keeping his shadows wrapped tight around me, but giving me the space to see as we walk.
I'm still shaking, something that gets worse as we near the apartment. I keep thinking I'm going to go inside, and my stuff is going to be destroyed again. I know it isn't rational, and I know Marr and Ingo wouldn't have let that happen, but it just feels like an inevitability in my mind.
"How about you go sit with Marr across the hall, and I'll check out the apartment," Zill says softly as we make it to where Marr is waiting for us in the hallway.
"Will you come get me ?" I ask, panic making my voice higher-pitched than I mean it to be. Marr, who was looking somewhat pleasant, immediately gets a hardened expression on his face, his eyes flicking between the three of us like he's the one who can read minds.
"Of course I will," Zill tells me. "I'm going to check out your apartment, grab the letter, and we can check it all out across the hall. Does that sound okay?"
I nod shakily, "Yeah, yeah, that sounds good."
Zill gives me a final gentle squeeze. "Marr, will you get her something to drink? I'm going to check out the apartment with Brandr, and then we'll come over here."
"You got it," Marr says, not questioning orders.
Zill is slow to release me from his shadows. His whole body is turned from me as he begins on the locks of the door, and his shadows cling to me until Marr has me in the other apartment.
I'm guided to an overly plush sofa, one I've sat in plenty of times before to watch some game show or another with George while we ate dinner.
A glass of water is set in front of me on the coffee table.
Then Marr is beside me on the couch, talking softly, his voice rumbling in the room as he tells me about the call he had earlier with his mate.
He's trying to keep me occupied, trying to keep me calm, and he's doing a good job of it.
By the time I'm halfway done with the water, my hands aren't shaking.
The door opens as a pissed off Zill and Brandr walk in.
Zill's shadows are tense and tight against him until his gaze falls on me.
The shadows soften just like his features do, and in a few long strides, he's in front of me, kneeling.
The letter is in his hands, but he doesn't show it to me just yet. "Reese, we're going to move you to a secure location, okay?"
I don't answer. Despite the water I just drank, my mouth feels dry.
I reach for the letter, and Zill hesitates for just a moment before handing it to me.
It's almost comical just how cliché the note is.
Cut-out letters are glued to a piece of paper.
Still, as B-rated movie prop as it looks, it still sends an ice-cold spike of fear down my back.
'You are mine. I've been patient. I've been kind. And you disrespect me by letting some creature from another planet touch you? You will pay for this betrayal. I would've been good to you, and you ruined that.'
The note slips from my fingers, my entire world turning upside down once more in a matter of seconds.