Chapter Fourteen
The snow fell ceaselessly for the next two days straight.
Despite the wonderful reprieve from the real world, Reyna felt restless.
It was too cold to go outside or really to venture far from a bed or a fireplace.
And Beckham ignored any attempt she made of getting him to drink from her again.
It was as if he knew what she and Washington had discussed.
With his preternatural hearing, he probably did.
“Today is the day,” Beckham said against her skin. He pressed a kiss into her shoulder blade. She yawned and rolled over to face him.
“For what?”
“The snow has finally stopped. The sun is out. We’re leaving this house.”
Beckham slipped out of bed. She tilted her head to the side and admired his naked body.
The hard contours of his shoulder blades.
The sharp line down his back. The little dimples in his lower back.
The rounded, muscular ass. And those incredible legs.
Her mouth watered at the sight of him. He was magnificent. Sculpted and hardened. A deadly Adonis.
She sighed as he slid into clothes, watching every inch of skin get covered. “You should walk around naked.”
“I think you would not be the only one ogling as you just did.”
“I wasn’t ogling,” she lied.
“You certainly were. I could sense every single time your eyes touched on me.”
“Oh?” She leaned forward out of bed and pulled him back toward her. She was still naked beneath the covers and his pupils dilated at the sight of her bare breasts. “I can give you more than my eyes if you like.”
He kissed the hollow of her throat. Her eyelids fluttered closed as a fang grazed the delicate artery. “Perhaps after we’ve put some work in.”
He stood again and was out the doorway before she could even cover herself. She humphed noisily and then slid out of bed. She put on every single layer that she had in the bedroom before stuffing her feet in black furry snow boots and trudging downstairs.
Jodie laughed when she saw her. “You look like you’re going to Siberia.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Good news though. Zoya finally cracked another safe house. So we get to dig them out of the snow once we can dig ourselves out of the snow.”
“That’s excellent,” Reyna said. “Any news from the anti-vamp cult?”
“Drew called this morning. Said Everett is being a pain in the ass and his friends are trying to convert the rest of Elle to their vamp-hating ways, but otherwise all is good.”
Reyna blew out a heavy breath. “Well, just fucking great.”
“Pretty much. The world is a toilet and we’re all getting flushed.”
“I love you.”
Jodie winked. “I know.”
Reyna found Beckham standing on the porch, looking out across the white expanse.
She had no clue how she was going to survive this cold.
At least Beckham had been right about one thing.
The sun was out. Not that it seemed to make it much warmer, but it was better than the cloudy weather and the horrible biting wind that dropped the temperature a good fifteen degrees.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
She nodded. Though she was not looking forward to the cold.
Someone had come out and cleared the driveway so that it wouldn’t completely ice over once they were free of this place.
Reyna followed Beckham down the drive until he stopped at another path that someone had tramped through.
She frowned but followed him off the road and through the snowbanks.
She was still in snow up to her knees for most of the walk.
They moved deeper through the woods until she saw a small cottage appear before them.
“What’s that?”
“The original home on the property.”
“Original? Like 1800s original?” she asked with wide eyes. Beckham nodded.
When they reached the tiny cabin, Reyna was surprised to find a fire already lit in the hearth. Beckham must have come out here earlier to build it for her. She smiled brightly up at him and hurried over to it. She was having trouble feeling her toes already.
The cabin had only one room, with marginal furnishings that centered around the hearth and a small bed in the corner.
A thin layer of dust coated most everything.
Light filtered in from the window at the front of the cabin and another small one by the makeshift kitchen area.
Some off-white wax candles were burning throughout the room to give it more light.
Reyna decided instantly that she loved the place.
It was homey and comfortable and felt worlds away from the mansion.
“This is better,” he said, lighting one more candle and setting it down on a rickety old table.
“Seriously, what is this place?”
“Before Washington built his house on the hill, he’d purchased the land from a farmer who lived with his rather large family in this cabin. He allowed them to stay on until they passed away or moved. He wanted it to be his permanent home. Not something most vampires at the time were afforded.”
“Why?”
“The deaths are easier to conceal than in the city.”
Reyna’s stomach roiled. “Right.”
“Genevieve is a descendent of that bloodline. She lived in it for many years after her children passed, but now has her own place farther removed from the memories.”
“I couldn’t imagine.”
“I hope you never have to,” he said quietly. “When I would reside on the hill, I would come down here to think sometimes. It freed my mind. I would like it to do so today.”
“Okay. So how exactly are we going to train? I don’t think this is like running on the treadmill or using a punching bag.”
“I don’t think so either. But when I was turned, I didn’t have all the strength I have now. I developed my abilities. Honed them. It gave me an edge that others had no chance of surpassing as mindless drones. I want to try pushing our own connection in the same way.”
Reyna suddenly bubbled with energy at the prospect. She liked getting more information about Beckham in this process. He wasn’t usually so willing to divulge his secrets.
“Work it like a muscle. Even though it’s not a muscle.”
“Indeed.”
Beckham stripped off his jacket and tossed it across the lone chair.
He folded his arms across his broad chest. His eyes observed her in an all-too-familiar way.
She’d seen him do it a number of times when she’d first started “working” for him.
As if she were a puzzle he needed to solve, a question he needed an answer to.
At the time, she hadn’t known that was a good thing. She’d felt like prey trapped in a predator’s gaze. Maybe she still was. But now she liked it.
“I estimated you at six miles away from me when I sensed you in the city the day you came to get Jodie.”
Reyna’s jaw dropped. “Six miles?”
“I thought it might be because of the extreme situation I was in, but I’ve confirmed it.”
“When did you do that?” she gasped.
“While you were sleeping.”
“It’s been snowing since we got back. You drove six miles away in this snow without anyone knowing?”
“Ran.”
Reyna’s eyes doubled in size. “Through the snow.”
He nodded once.
“And really, six miles? How long does that take you?”
He grinned and lifted an eyebrow as if to say, Wouldn’t you like to know? Secrets, secrets.
“I always topped out around six miles. We could stretch that, but I think our time would be better spent figuring out if there are other things we can do. Other advantages we have.”
“I have a thought about that,” Reyna said. “When we walked into the safe house, I was worried. But I noticed how calm and controlled you were. I wanted to feel that way and I kind of did. I don’t know if I did it because we’re connected, but it was like I tuned in to you.”
“I noticed that.”
“What are you feeling right now?”
He arched his eyebrow. “You tell me.”
Reyna gritted her teeth and concentrated. She hadn’t really done anything when it had happened last time. She had wanted to feel Beckham’s confidence and she had. She’d wanted to be able to weather the storm and she had. She’d slipped right into it like pulling on her boots.
She assessed him. He looked calm. Not a bit nervous that she wouldn’t be able to do it. The opposite of how she felt.
Mostly she felt out of her depth. When she felt him across a crowded room, it wasn’t like she was looking for him. He was there. She knew precisely where he was, and she simply had to think about it and he appeared. No process to it at all.
Still, she reached out with her mind and felt for his emotions. She tried to nudge against what made Beckham Beckham. Which mostly meant standing there and staring at him in deep concentration, and nothing happened.
She blew out a heavy breath. “Epic fail. There’s nothing. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe I was calmer and more confident because you were there.”
“I feel nothing from you. Though I can see frustration written on your face.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Again.”
And again. And again. And again.
Nothing.
She tried every way they could think of. She could sense him standing there. Could count every breath. Knew when he opened and closed his eyes. Could tell where he stood in the room with her back turned and her eyes closed. But reaching beyond that was an exercise in futility.
Beckham was there.
He stood right there.
But he was a blank slate. As ever.
And she was as equally mystifying to him.
They moved on to trying to mind read. Reyna was excited about this one. Not that she wanted Beckham in her head, but she wouldn’t mind unraveling some of his greater mysteries. But all they ended up doing was staring at each other for long stretches of time and asking, “What am I thinking now?”
“You want to eat lunch,” Beckham said.
“Yes,” Reyna shouted. She jumped in the air in excitement. “You got it. You finally got it.”
“Your stomach grumbled.”
She sank back into the chair. “I’m so transparent. You don’t need to read my mind.”
“At times.”
“And you’re so closed off, I’d probably get to read your mind and find locked filing cabinets inside.”