Blood Love (God Wars Book 4) by Connie Suttle Read Free Book Online Page B

then."
    * * *
    Breanne’s Journal
    I woke next to Bill, who was sitting up and reading on a comp-vid, his feet, covered in socks, stretched out on the bed beside me.
    "Feel better?" he asked, setting the comp-vid aside.
    "Road kill probably feels better than I do," I wrinkled my nose at him, so he’d know I was teasing.
    "At least you look better than road kill," he grinned.
    "Reading a book?" I asked.
    "Nah. Just keeping up on reports of criminal activity across the Alliances; nothing for you to worry about," he leaned over and kissed me, his mouth lingering on mine for a few seconds before pulling away.
    "You can take the man away from the department, but you can’t take the department away from the man?" I teased. "Wanting to get back in the thick of it?" I asked, more seriously.
    "Bree, Ashe is keeping my body young. SouthStar has that effect on everybody who comes here. If I leave, that goes away and I start aging again, unless I'm with Ashe and he's shielding me."
    He was right—Bill looked to be in his early thirties, when he was actually much older. "There’s a way to change that," I pointed out.
    "I don’t want to be vampire," he said.
    "That’s not the only way," I huffed. "The Saa Thalarr do it all the time. Whoever gets their blood gains immortality."
    "Is that how it works?"
    "Yeah. Adam Chessman gave me blood, which not only healed me, but gave me the ability to walk in daylight and eat normal food. It’s the way that race was created."
    "Why did he have to heal you?"
    "Well, uh, let’s say that my first few weeks as vampire weren’t the best," I hedged.
    "You walked into the sun?" Bill stared at me in shock. "You attempted suicide?"
    "Bill, I thought everybody knew about that. I see that’s not the case."
    "I knew," Kevis walked into my suite without knocking.
    "I think a sharing of information might be in order," Bill growled.
    "Bill, I think I know better now," I slapped a hand over my eyes.
    "You think so? What was that stunt then, at that stupid church? Tell me that wasn’t suicide. And for what?"
    I should have known that I’d hurt him—and the others too, by doing what I did. Yes, he’d suffered afterward, when he had no idea whether I’d survived.
    "I’m sorry, honey. It was stupid, but I didn’t know what else to do."
    "Bree, I don’t want to yell at you, but, actually, I do want to yell. I don’t want to upset you, but I want to yell at somebody or something. I watched you for nine fucking days, with my heart squeezing in my chest because I didn’t know if you were still in there." He tapped the top of my head with a finger. "I don’t even want to talk about the time I spent on Earth when I thought you were dead."
    "Bill." I took his face in my hands. "I’m sorry for putting you through that. If I could make any part of that easier for you, I would."
    "I know, sweetheart. I just," He shook his head, as if that might dispel his anger.
    "I’ll do what I can, as soon as I get my strength back," I ran fingers through his short, dark-brown hair.
    "What will you do?" he asked.
    "What I’ll do for Kay, only on a lesser scale. I don’t think you need as much as she does."
    "As much what?"
    "Love," I said. "I love you, Bill Jennings, no matter what you might think, or how mad you might get."
    "Thank goodness for that," he pulled me into a tight hug.
    "Are we better now?" Kevis said brightly. I’d forgotten he was there while Bill and I had our small meltdown. There was nothing like having a shared breakdown in front of a psychiatrist, I suppose.
    "We’re better now," Bill mumbled into my hair. He didn’t want to let me go, it seemed, as his arms remained tightly wound around me.
    "Good. Less for me to sort out later," Kevis grinned.
    "What are you not sorting out?" Trajan walked in, followed by Ashe and another werewolf—Salidar DeLuca. Lowering my shields, I read Sali. He'd once been best friends with Ashe, but things had separated them somewhat.
    Ashe was what he was, after all,