Chapter 13
Zosia
T he sunset sets the trees on fire to the west, and the light autumn breeze lifts tendrils of my hair. I sigh and close my eyes for a brief moment. I know I’ll have to get back to work soon, but I just need a minute.
Except for Bren’s magical storm, I haven’t been outside for days. This time, the wind doesn’t want to blow me off the roof, and I understand why the men come here so frequently. The fresh air feels restorative, the library’s magic is still present, and we can’t be seen from the campus below.
“Are you all right?”
My minute is over. I open my eyes to see Garrett studying my face. My sudden calmness unnerves him, especially because he can’t sense my serenity through the bond yet. The vampire is similarly restful, still positioned behind me with his hand on my shoulder. Kodi flies lazy circles around the central dome.
I jolt with surprise when I see Bren. He’s lying on top of the dome with his hands cupped around his face, peering into the library below. My immediate, automatic concern for his safety is quickly rejected. Sage would never let him fall. It’s amazing how easily my brain accepts that certain situations are magical but randomly resists others.
Can the mage see anything? The stained glass is nearly opaque in certain areas while other segments reflect glimpses of the sky. I imagine the books look magical when viewed through a colored section.
I inhale the last breeze of summer before returning to Garrett and offering him a soft smile. “I just realized I haven’t been outside since I arrived – except for earlier today. It wasn’t as pleasant then. I don’t think I want to go back inside just yet.” The decision is impulsive but true.
“Picnic!” Bren yells, even though he’s only a few feet away. I’m not surprised that he overhears us. Despite his tendency toward distraction, he’s remarkably good at multitasking.
My smile widens. “That sounds lovely, but we need to get food up here?”
I nearly smack my forehead in a duh moment when a blanket and several baskets appear between the dome and my chair.
“This is still the library’s domain,” Garrett murmurs.
I barely hear him because my mind is replaying the events of the day. Why didn’t she shelter us when we were nearly drowning in the storm? And the stairwell …? Her assistance would have been greatly appreciated while I fumbled with my wet clothes. Sage replies with faint amusement when my suspicious thoughts reach her.
Apparently, the sentient building has an attitude and a penchant for playing matchmaker. I can’t be too mad at her. I’d been embarrassed, but I’d also received some amazing kisses. The romantic interlude with the brothers had been the high point of the stressful day.
The brothers relocate so quickly that I barely see their movements before they are sitting and pulling food out of the baskets. Kodi joins us despite not being able to eat, but Avery remains behind me. I don’t think he’s eaten since last night.
“Aren’t you hungry?” I ask my vampire mate as I twist toward him.
Surprisingly, rosy color blooms on Avery’s pale cheeks. The strength of his embarrassment makes me wonder if he’s been suppressing other emotions.
The vampire leans closer to me as if imparting a confession. “I haven’t had an appetite for substantial food since I tasted you.”
My cheeks heat as my mind plummets into the gutter. I picture his head between my legs before I remember his fangs in my neck. I’m sure he means the second.
A hacking sound causes me to whirl around. Garrett’s face has gone red as he coughs and nearly chokes on the food he just shoved into his mouth. Bren nonchalantly slaps his brother on the back and hands him a drink.
“I don’t immediately think of blood when I hear that,” Kodi muses. My cheeks burn hotter. “Maybe that’s a good thing, but maybe we also don’t need to know?” His tone is uncertain, and it’s clear he doesn’t have an answer either.
“We live together,” Bren points out. His mouth is half-full of the food he’s found, but he isn’t gross about it like the kids at the orphanage. “Because of this, we’ll be together often and share many things. Acting all secretive-like would cause problems, and talking openly about sharing Zosia might help us acclimate.” He delivers the words in a matter-of-fact tone.
The shifter, recovered from his coughing fit, grunts. He might not agree, but he’s still dealing with his beast’s jealousy. He manages to keep the words inside him.
Bren cocks his head with a frown. “Do you need help getting to the ground?”
I shake my head resolutely. They’re already sitting down, and I’ve relied on their kindness several times today. I set the brakes on my chair and scoot my butt forward, moving the footrests out of the way. My shoulder nearly dislocates when my tired legs refuse to support me.
Avery shoots forward when he senses my pain and rams his shin into one of the footrests in his haste. My graceless maneuver ends with my tailbone hitting the stone floor hard. When I glance up again, all four men are frowning with disapproval, and Avery is rubbing his shin. Their expressions fill me with guilt.
“Are you all right?” I ask Avery in a quiet whisper. Pain isn’t an emotion, but I should have realized that it affects my emotions. He nods tightly, and our bond reveals he’s more worried about me than hurt.
“You should accept help when you need it,” Garrett scolds. “If you don’t, you might end up hurting yourself more.” His tone is harsher because of his disappointment in himself. He’s agitated that he didn’t offer to help me before he sat down.
“I’m ok.” The library calls me out, and I mutter with frustration. “I’ll be ok,” I amend. “I get tired of asking for help. Sometimes, I just want to do things myself or at least try. Besides, it looked worse than it was. I didn’t injure myself.” This isn’t a lie and seems to mollify my over-protective guardians.
Avery’s displeasure remains, but they choose to let it go. Garrett piles food on a plate for me, doubling the serving of chicken and vegetables but not mashed potatoes. I decide not to complain despite my love for potatoes.
We eat in companionable silence as we watch the sunset. From my position on the ground, it remains visible until it reaches the artificial horizon of the roof’s half-wall. The city housing the orphanage had moderately sized mountains to the west, but the terrain here was flatter. Instead, tree-covered hills rise to the north.
The fading sun burnishes the turning leaves in shades of gold, orange, and pink. As I finish my food, the brighter hues transition to bluish-purple. The bruised sky presents a single bright light winking in the southwest. I could pull up an astronomical map with a thought, but I like not knowing … this time.
Birds chirp and leaves rustle in the forest, but I don’t hear any sounds from the direction of the campus. It’s buzzing with activity as the new term begins, so Sage must be filtering which noises reach us.
Avery sits next to me while Kodi hovers nearby, occasionally flitting over to the half-wall as if checking on something we can’t hear. The vampire drinks water, but he doesn’t show any interest in the food.
“So ….” I venture into a conversation as we near the end of the meal. “How did the new assignments feel this afternoon? Better than this morning?” I’ve never been a leader or a boss before, but the duties involved with my librarianship must be coded into my genetics. It feels natural.
“Definitely,” Bren replies without hesitation.
“I agree. I like being able to move around. Standing at the door all morning made me restless.”
“This job is awesome for a ghost!” Kodi says with a bright grin. “Only one person saw me before I revealed myself. He might have been a professor because he was on the fourth floor and had a ring on. He wasn’t doing anything wrong besides being boring. I scared the shit out of a couple students, though. One idiot was trying to stuff a book into his pants even though he had a perfectly good backpack. I popped out of the stacks right in front of him. He dropped the book and ran. And I found three couples making out against the bookshelves. Why did they come to the library if that was all they wanted to do?”
I don’t answer. I honestly have no clue, and I’m too distracted because he flickers into solidity while he’s speaking with such animation. The transition between is so rapid that I doubt he notices. Bren is sitting near his feet, and he pokes Kodi’s knee after the last word is uttered.
The ghost shrinks away reflexively, immediately slipping back into his incorporeal form. “I felt that!” he gasps, staring at his nearly transparent leg.
“It’s more evidence!” I announce with a genuine smile. “It’s not just me that gets you hard. Watching other couples making out is just as effective.”
Kodi scoffs. “It wasn’t that, little minx, but because I said I was happy being a ghost.”
My smile widens because I know this perfectly well. I just like teasing him.
“I think I agree with Zosia on this.” Bren’s tone and expression are thoughtful. “Voyeurism might be your thing.”
Kodi huffs and crosses his arms across his chest. “If I am, it’s entirely reasonable. I’ve been around people for seven years but unable to touch them.” He speaks honestly and without shame, even if he is half-joking.
My chest warms at the interaction. His voice used to be mostly flat and toneless, but it conveys real emotion now. He’s changed as much as I have in the library’s care.
“Is it actually voyeurism if they can’t see you?” Avery muses rhetorically.
“Don’t even think about voyeurizing me, ghost, visibly or invisibly,” Garrett grumbles.
“That’s not a word,” I hear myself say before my brain can filter the words.
“You’re one to talk, Miss I Make Words Up - Like Squicky ,” the ghost mocks. The others grin, and I concede the argument to my best friend.
We finish our dinner with light conversation and more jokes, wordlessly agreeing to ignore the heavy topics. I don’t want the meal to end, but time isn’t something any mage or librarian can control – as far as I know.
The sun’s last rays have completely disappeared, and more stars have joined the first in the indigo sky. The dome provides the only light – a soft haze that filters through the colored glass.
As we reach a lull in the conversation, my brain reminds me that we need to prepare for the BSP’s return. My brief calm begins to fade.
“Which cloud has darkened your thoughts?” Avery’s murmur is quiet, but everyone hears him.
I adjust my position, sitting back on one hand with my legs stretched to the side. Although I enjoyed the meal, the floor wasn’t comfortable. My legs don’t cross like the others, and I can’t sit on them either. “I was thinking about what we have to do before tomorrow morning,” I confess. “I’m worried that a contract won’t be sufficient. What if the detectives still insist on taking Bren away?”
Garrett stares at the sky as if willing the sun to return. “We won’t surrender him without a fight. When the library is closed, it’s practically impenetrable.”
The shifter makes fighting a supernatural authority sound like another task on our to-do list, but the implications are serious. The library might be a fortress, but she has promised to serve and cooperate with the supernatural community. Closing the library for a significant amount of time requires a very good reason, and defying law enforcement doesn’t qualify.
In the silence that follows, I hear a buzz from the thick copse of trees. A dip into my library knowledge identifies it as the song of katydids and tree crickets. I never heard it in the city, and the lack of traffic noises and boisterous kids sweeten the music.
“We won’t have to fight,” Bren declares with such conviction that my head snaps toward him. “Zosia is right, though. We can’t rely on the contract alone. Actions speak louder than words – which is a quote I don’t have to credit anyone with because it’s become a cliché.”
A smile breaks through the weight of my worry. I adore his quirky quote recitals and look forward to the bite-sized nuggets of wisdom. I belatedly question the quote’s implication. “What actions?”
“I should attempt a transfer tonight, just to be sure.”
As the others gape at him, my brain immediately enters brainstorming mode. “Aren’t there other options? What about calling the BSP? We can ask them if a contract will suffice. We run the risk of getting someone corrupt, but even a tentative answer might help. We don’t have to give them any specifics.”
I don’t mention bonding, even though Tremayne said it would help. I refuse to force Bren into my bed. It’s too similar to what his father did to him. I was ready for Avery in a way that I’m not for Bren – although I can’t explain this intuitivism.
I’m ready for Kodi, my mind whispers. He’ll be the next one in my bed. My memory keeps replaying moments from last night. When my best friend watched me with Avery, his desire had been real rather than an echo of emotion. I’ve loved him for years, and I can handle it if he ghosts during intimacy. Convincing him that I’m okay with the possibility will be the most difficult part.
Garrett’s grunt pulls me from my thoughts. “Tremayne thinks the bureau is less corruptible, but is it? I don’t know much about the shifter detectives except that Addington was irritated when they got in his way. That is probably a good thing.”
“I have not dealt with the Bureau since I arrived at Apocrypha. However, I know the vampires’ stance on the agency. They consider them allies despite their animosity toward shifters. A man I respect once called them the best of the breed and said they have impeccable ethics.” Avery adds. He might be a daywalker, but the night clearly favors him. His silver hair shines like starlight, and his skin resembles moonglow.
“My visions are useless right now, but my intuition says a call is worth trying. Who wants to volunteer?”
I shudder dramatically. “Not me. I don’t willingly pick up phones.” The inclination might be one of the only things I share with my generation. Talking on the phone is horrible, but making a call is the worst. I prefer the magical telegram machine that the library uses for inter-academy business.
“I’ll do it. I don’t mind, and it’s good practice as the library’s representative. Being an alpha shifter might also help me determine whether the person we speak to can be trusted. Maybe,” Garrett adds with a shrug. “Phone communication lacks scent or other non-verbal clues. One of the detectives who visited today was definitely shadier. He smelled of desperation.”
“Yes. Detective Parks’ energy was extremely agitated. It’s likely he’s being blackmailed.”
I can’t believe Avery remembers who was who. I referred to them as Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. Dum must be Parks. “He was suspicious,” I say with a nod. Whether he was blackmailed or bribed doesn’t matter; he’s a threat to the library and Bren.
Now that a decision is made, we can’t stall any longer. The library recalls the remains of our picnic as I haul myself back into my chair, stubbornly ignoring any assistance. When we reach the door leading into the building, Garrett doesn’t pause to ask permission before he hoists me into his arms. I mention the elevator, but it’s a half-hearted attempt that he chooses to ignore. His chest radiates heat, immediately dissolving the slight chill of the evening air, and I burrow into it. No matter how many times he’s carried me, I’ve never worried that he’ll drop me.
We’re both silent on our trip down the stairs, and I imagine we’re contemplating the same worries and doubts. They keep me alert despite my exhaustion and the comfort of Garrett’s arms. I’m vibrating with tension by the time Garrett starts speaking into the handset of the ancient telephone.
I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Bren safe. The alternative is unacceptable.