Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
FINLEY
Finley wrinkled her nose and breathed through her mouth as the zombies trudged into her office.
A man and a woman with tattered and algae-covered clothing and bits of bone poking out from holes in their flesh.
It was time for another “lesson” with Rafe.
Although they ended up being more like experiments than lessons and Rafe was learning as much as Finley was.
Usually, Rafe killed someone and that was the end of it.
Rarely did he have the opportunity to deal with someone past the point of death.
They’d tried to do their experiments outside, but they only got distracted by the needs of the crew or Amelia, or Dusan would bark at them for using his people.
Now they had to sneak the zombies into her office which left the most disgusting stench.
At least the smell helped chase away the remnants of her nap earlier.
She hopped up and perched on her desk then crossed one leg over the other. “Is there anything we can do about the smell?”
The woman glared at her and grunted. Okay. They were dead but could hear and understand her and had feelings about it. Understood.
“That was rude,” Rafe told her.
“Sorry,” she said, unsure if it was to him or the zombies, and decided it was both. Even if it was true, there had to be something they could do about it. How was she supposed to get anything done when the stench lingered?
“It’s not as though a good bath will fix it.” Rafe directed the man and woman into the room and had them stand in the middle.
The zombies looked as terrible as ever with no improvement from the first time Finley saw them deep in that lake a couple weeks ago. Nothing like how Dusan appeared and no matter how much they questioned and observed them did Finley and Rafe figure out why.
They were back on The Mystic and on their way to Amelia’s next destination.
For the last couple weeks Finley had been escorting her cousin from village to village for her to parade the Xaneth around as though he was the savior of the kingdom.
Each time was odder than the last, and Finley couldn’t understand why the people were all so willing to accept her.
And each time made Finley feel sicker to her stomach.
Ai’s words gnawed at her and the only thing that kept her going was remembering that they were almost finished and could abandon Amelia and get the cure soon.
Then they would be done with all this and be able to get the cure and move on with their lives.
And get away from smelly swamp zombies.
“Fine. So, what are we doing today?” Finley asked. If only they had some candles. Maybe that would help.
“We’re going to see what physical touch does to them,” Rafe answered. “The only one Amelia ever touches is Dusan, and I wonder why.”
Because they’re disgusting.
“Do you wander around randomly touching people?”
Rafe rocked his head back and forth a few times. “Depends on the situation, I suppose. You’d be surprised how often people touch even if it’s bumping shoulders or shaking hands or anything.”
“I say it’s surprising how little often we touch,” Finley argued.
“You touch everyone you see.”
Finley chuckled. “I’m attracted to more people than most. Don’t use me as an example, just ask Ai.”
Although it had been ages since she’d truly touched someone like that, the closest she’d been was when she and Rafe had kissed at the start of this journey.
Finley’s eyes flickered to his lips, and then she put her focus back on the zombies.
She’d been thinking about that kiss far too often these days.
It had been so long that she had nothing else to compare it to, so it was there as the lone kiss to fixate on.
That must have been why it was on her mind so much.
Probably.
Or when she rode on his back all the way to the ship.
He might have been in wolf form and she might have been in and out of sleep the whole time, but he’d been so warm and comfortable.
What would it have been like to sleep next to him in human form?
He was of slim build but with more muscles than one would think. He must have been warm and strong and…
No. She couldn’t go there.
“Anyway. Shake one of their hands if you touch other people so often,” Finley instructed. “See what happens.”
“Fine.”
Rafe took an exaggerated step toward them and extended his hand. The man stared at it for a moment with the same blank expression they always wore then turned away. Finley couldn’t help but laugh.
“You have the social skills of a worm,” Finley said and hopped off the desk. “I thought wolves were social animals.”
Rafe puffed out his chest. “I’m a lone wolf, and so says the one who speaks poorly about people’s scent as though they aren’t there.”
She rolled her eyes. How was she supposed to know they understood her? Finley approached the zombies and placed her hand on her shoulder. “Did you know green looks wonderful on you?”
Finley’s hand grew warm on the woman’s shoulder and something trembled in her skin. The woman must have noticed it too because she twisted her neck to stare at Finley’s hand. The bare skin beneath Finley’s palm turned from its shade of pale green to a more pale and sickly shade of flesh.
Finley ripped her hand away. She’d touched a lot of people in the past but that had never happened.
The zombie woman pivoted to face Finley and extended her arms out. “Touch. More.”
Finley’s heart raced, and she backed away a few steps. “No thank you. Maybe another time.”
“Touch!” The zombie woman’s scream rattled the room, and she walked toward Finley with her arms outstretched.
Finley kept backing away until she ran into the desk with nowhere else to go. The woman was practically on top of her, and Finley shoved her out of the way with as much strength as she could muster.
The woman stumbled a few paces but then came back again.
Finley’s second touch on her had been barely a moment, but a ripple ran through her.
A sensation that wasn’t entirely foreign.
It was similar to how she felt when Dusan was near, or when she touched the helm of The Mystic these days.
She grabbed a chair and used it to block off the woman as she continued to charge forward.
“It gives them life and power!” Finley exclaimed as she pushed the zombie away.
Rafe, who was now avoiding the male zombie and dodging his efforts, ducked behind an armchair then popped his head back out again. “What?”
“Touching them is what helps give them life and power,” Finley repeated as she swung a book at the woman.
“It must be how Dusan is so powerful. Every time he touches Amelia, he becomes more human. He takes her magic. I knew she seemed weaker! And it’s no wonder she’s not battling and taking over the villages when we arrive. She knows she can’t handle a fight.”
And why Finley had been feeling so off lately. It wasn’t just the curse.
Finley kept backing away from the zombie until she could get to a wall.
“And the zombie felt your magic and life going into her when you touched her shoulder,” Rafe said slowly then did a roll away from his opponent who was gaining up on him.
Finley flattened herself against a window and could feel the woman’s moldy breath on her and it took everything to not gag. “Right. So let’s avoid touching, shall we?”
She pushed the window open and dodged away right as the zombie woman lunged and she fell through the window back into the river water with the rest of the undead army. Rafe followed suit and soon the room was empty of zombies once again.
Finley leaned against the wall and closed the window. Unfortunately being underwater surrounded by a bubble meant airing out the room wouldn’t do much good and she didn’t want any zombies getting any bright ideas to climb inside. Hopefully they would forget the entire encounter.
“We need to ditch Amelia soon then,” Finley decided. “I won’t want her, Dusan, or any of her army touching me or anyone else on The Mystic and taking our powers.”
Rafe placed a chair they’d thrown upright and settled his forearms on the backrest. “Fine by me. But how and when?”
Good question. She would need to discuss things with Ai and then the rest of the crew. She didn’t anticipate it happening so soon. But Finley did well on the spur of the moment.
“I’ll let you know.” She stepped toward the door, but Rafe blocked her way. He stood so close to her it made Finley think of the day they kissed. It was unnecessary and made her body go warm and fluid. She took in a steadying breath before her face flushed. “Aren’t we done here?”
Rafe didn’t budge, yet she felt like he somehow got even closer. Deities help her. “We don’t have to be. Is there somewhere else you need to be?”
“I would say making a plan with Ai is priority one, so yes.”
He gave her a long look up and down, his yellow eyes darkening and making Finley’s body run hot all over again. “From what I remember, the last time we were alone together was in this room and we were interrupted by Ai.”
It had been the last time they’d been alone, and intentionally so.
As fun as a fling would be, there was no telling how long they’d be stuck together and no one needed the awkwardness of Finley inevitably breaking Rafe’s heart.
Usually, she was in and out of a village within the blink of an eye and didn’t have to deal with the aftermath.
If Rafe was still around once she got bored of him… it would be too much of a distraction.
Even so, with him standing before her, their bodies almost touching, the logic Finley had created in regard to the kiss and to Rafe was being wiped away like words written in sand along the seashore.
“I wasn’t aware there was more you wanted to continue with,” Finley answered.
“There could be. But it’s up to you.” His voice was low and velvet and full of sex. It was a bit of a turn of events, but those were Finley’s specialty. Diar bless it.