Shadow Borne by Angie West Read Free Book Online

for him."
    "The baby?" Claire's brow furrowed.
    "Not exactly. I believe he was referring to
crossing the portal and coming here. Although, you'll have to get
the full story from Megan when she wakes up in the morning. Juan
was pretty agitated when he took off and half of his muttering was
in Spanish. I heard the words 'loca' and 'vamanos' several times,
if that's any indication."
    Claire winced. "Poor Megan." she finally
sighed. "She's lost her home and survived an attempt on her life
and now she's lost her husband too. Is she really okay, Mike?"
    "She's holding her own. But she's pretty
shook up. She cries a lot."
    "What are we going to do?"
    "I don't know. Maybe later on, when things
calm down, we can go back and try to find Juan, convince him to
come back with us and at least talk to Megan."
    I cocked my head to the side and glanced at
Carl to gauge his reaction to Mike's plan to try and reason with
Megan's husband.
    Carl gave little outward
indication that he had even heard the exchange between Claire and
Mike, but he gazed off into the distance for several long moments
before he caught me staring at him. I raised a brow and something
flashed in the depths of his brown eyes before he hastily looked
away again. I thought
so . Oh yeah, there was definitely going to
be trouble there.
    "Well, damn." Claire swore and moved to
stand next to her brother. "I don't like it but I suppose that's as
good a plan as any." She zeroed in on Carl. "Don't think for one
damn minute that you are sleeping under the same roof with my
family. The road's about a mile that way. Thank you for saving my
sister's life. It almost makes up for you trying to take mine.
Goodnight."
    "He saved her again, all of us, in Africa,
Claire. We were ambushed near the caves. It's a miracle we made it
here, really." Mike rubbed the space between his eyes and
sighed.
    Claire was quiet and still for so long that
I didn't think she was going to respond at all, but then her
shoulders slumped and she muttered a resigned curse. "You can bunk
down with the soldiers. Mark," she turned back to her husband,
"would you–"
    "Yes." he nodded. "Come on Carl, I'll show
you where the bunkhouses are."
    "Thank you." the blonde man said simply and
inclined his head to the rest of us before he followed Mark down
the wide steps of the porch and out into the night.
    "What a night." Claire exhaled, hands on her
hips. "Come on, Aries, let's go pig out. I need some serious
comfort food right now. You coming, Mike?"
    "Not yet. I want to have a word with Aries."
he told her without taking his eyes off mine. His expression could
only be called tender. Oh man.
    Claire paused in the middle of the doorway,
one foot over the threshold. "Oh. Right. Ari?"
    "I'll be along in a few minutes." I managed
with a curt nod. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was
face Mike–alone; then again, there was a small–tiny, really–piece
of me that wanted nothing more.
    But I had a name for the little voice that
reared her head from time to time. She was dumb bitch Aries and it
didn't pay to listen to her–ever–and with good reason. She didn't
have a lick of sense, plain and simple. She never used her head,
she wanted too much, needed too much. She hurt too much and she
longed for things that were...impossible.
    Mike was suddenly in front of me and dumb
bitch Aries was practically swooning; gathering resolve around me
like a cloak, I took her firmly in hand, told her to shut up and
then I shoved Mike's hand off of my face.
    "Aries?" His eyes widened.
    "If you want to talk then we'll talk but
let's get one thing straight right now. I want you to keep your
hands to yourself."
    "You want..." he uttered, still wearing that
same look of confusion. His eyes focused on me intently and this
time they traveled the full journey, from the top of my head all
the way down to the dark boots with the blackened silver buckles as
if he were seeing me, truly seeing me, for the first time. He
paused noticeably over