Moonbreeze (The Dragonian Series Book 4)

WE TALKED UNTIL about ten and then I went to bed. In less than ten hours I was going to take Emanuel through with me to tell the others that the plan had changed.

I was scared. I couldn’t recall entering through the Creepers during daylight, but then again, it had been late afternoon the first time when I’d thought I’d killed Blake.

It was a miracle all by itself that no one other than Charles had found me.

I struggled to sleep. My mind was way too busy with things I didn’t know how to change.

When my buzzer eventually went off, I got up and dressed in a black track suit with my sneakers and a hoody.

I found Emanuel with all his men, and some GI Joes and Janes eating breakfast. He was making jokes again and they were discussing what was going to happen. We’d spoken about it last night. He’d asked me so many things, but I’d told him that whoever’s place they were going to take, they had to stay put until the Council came to collect the monthly supply.

They all stared at me as I neared. Emanuel smiled. “Good morning, princess.” His grin was huge.

“Now I know why Lucian disliked you so much at times.”

He roared with laughter – all of them did.

“Let me introduce you to the guys.”

“And girls.” A brunette raised her hand.

“So sorry, Amanda,” he teased, and his eyes found mine again. “And Amanda.”

“This here,” he touched a huge guy like himself with curly hair brushing his shoulders and a neat goatee, “is Raymond.”

“Nice to meet you –”

“Elena.” I put my hand out in front of me and he shook it with a grin.

“Then Dicky.” A smallish guy with the purest white hair and bluest eyes I’d even seen reached out. “He might be short, but he is lethal.”

“At your service,” Dicky answered.

“Taylor.” He gestured toward a girl with black hair; she had a Julia thing going on, a bit Goth with a lip ring and plenty of make-up. Her gaze lifted from her plate, stared at me with hard eyes that made my stomach turn slightly, then she smiled as if she could sense it. Just like that, my queasiness disappeared. She had the most beautiful smile.

“We can’t leave all the fun to the boys now, can we?”

“I like that,” I said.

“Amanda.” The dark head that’d previously spoken waved at me. She had her hair in a high ponytail and she was seriously a stunner as well. I had a feeling that most of them were dragons, as they had that unnatural beauty in their DNA.

“Dale, Finn, Laura, Simeon,” he said and I stared at the one called Simeon. He was just like Taylor. It frightened me merely to be in their presence. He had plenty of scars as well, and didn’t say a single word.

“Jerry,” Emanuel continued. A tallish guy who had the sweetest smile and shorn hair stood up. Now he looked lethal.

“Nice meeting all of you. I’m sure Emanuel gave you the necessary details of what Etan is like. It’s changed a lot. I’m sure what some of you remember is still there, and I thank you for doing this. I hate putting you all in that sort of danger.”

They all stared at me, which made me feel so small.

Raymond started to laugh. “She has no idea how many wars we’ve fought, has she?” He looked at Emanuel.

“No, but the princess is still learning. It’s good that she cares about her people.”

“Still here, Emanuel.” I felt like an idiot. I knew they were specially trained. Still, they were living beings, and weren’t as indestructible as they pretended to be. “Just be safe, please.”

Annie slunk into the dining room, and I excused myself from the table.

“Did you sleep well?” I gave her a hug.

“No, I should have.” She looked worried.

“Hey, I told you –”

“I know, still I’m worried about so many things. What if my mom –”

“Will you stop that. I know you are scared to meet her, but she really wants you to come home. She will accept you. I promise.”

I didn’t like making promises on behalf of others, but I knew Constance. She only spoke with love and yearning when Anouk’s name was mentioned. Sometimes I thought it hurt her so much she didn’t like speaking about her family.

I smiled. “I, for one, can’t wait to see this reunion.”

Annie smiled.

“Come, let’s eat before all the special ops eat everything.”

DAVID WAS GOING to take Emanuel and me to the Creepers, and I so didn’t like the fact that Emanuel was going to stay and scout around, doing whatever Helmut had forced him to do. At least he wasn’t alone. He had plenty of his men, nine to be correct, with him.

Still, it was dangerous.

The Creepers were still fast asleep, barely moving when we got closer.

“Okay, how do we do this?” Emanuel asked me. He put his backpack over his shoulders. The Buyo device was already strapped around his big, gorilla-sized chest.

“Just stay really close to me.”

He lifted me without any warning, and carried me like a baby. “This close enough?”

I laughed. “Yes, it’s close enough.”

David chuckled. “Be safe, you two. We are never going to see our loved ones if something happens to Elena.”

“Now I know how Blake feels whenever people tell him that. A bit of faith,” Emanuel told David.

“Okay, let’s go big guy, and don’t be scared, okay,” I said.

“Me, scared?” He huffed.

“Blake was,” I whispered and looked at him.

“I’m not Blake.”

“No, you are definitely not.”

He chuckled and went quickly toward the Creepers. One sprang out of the earth, ready to snap at us. I lifted my arms out as Emanuel stopped. He looked at the thing with narrowed eyes, while my heart was hammering. I didn’t think I would ever stop fearing the Creepers.

The ones on either side of us stopped coming closer and hissed like mad.

Their hissing wasn’t good. It could give this entire mission away, but there was no way of keeping them quiet.

“Just walk fast, please.”

“Okay,” Emanuel said, sounding calmer as he took huge steps. About five strides later, we’d entered the core, or what I liked to call it anyway.

Emanuel gasped. It took everyone’s breath away. It was probably the most magical part of Paegeia and yet few of us had seen it. He was the fourth one.

“Yeah, I know it’s breathtaking, right. Who would’ve thought?”

“It’s beyond breathtaking,” Emanuel said.

“Don’t go crying on me now,” I teased, and he chuckled.

“Blake was really scared?”

I laughed loudly as he walked toward the other side with me in his arms.

“He was. He didn’t say it, but I could see it in his eyes.”

“He is never going to hear the end of it.” Emanuel smiled.

“Quiet, you.”

“Oh, you stand up for him now. I’m glad.”

I didn’t say anything to that. Silence struck and we gazed at all the beauty around us.

“What was it like,” I paused. “For him?”

“What, your Sonic device didn’t show you everything?”

“No, only the highlights.”

“Not easy to witness. The beginning was the hardest, when he did everything alone.”

“Why did he do it alone?”

“He’d gotten seriously fast. Nobody could keep up. I got really worried, and that was when Helmut told me if I wanted to go, I should. So I waited for him, tried to track him down, but my tracking ability can only look for diamonds and gold, not badass dragons.”

“I was having dinner at Jimmy’s when a report came over the news, that Blake had crashed at a nearby site. Exhaustion had consumed him.”

“Exhaustion?”

“He didn’t care about himself. He only tried to find you. He slept for almost five days. I don’t think he slept at all before that.”

I swallowed hard. My Sonic hadn’t showed me that one.

“When he woke up, I told him this had to stop. He had to look after himself first, and after that day, I helped him. Made sure that he looked after himself.”

“I was really so hard on him.”

“C’mon. You thought he was dead, and when you did discover he wasn’t, the first thing that popped up in your mind was who Blake was, not what he’d become. I didn’t like it much that he asked us to not tell you anything, but I trusted him on that. It was as if he really knew the best way to deal with this, and how you would react.”

I rubbed my face hard. “It doesn’t make any sense. He doesn’t know me.”

“I know. I tried to guess what the dent was, what they went through when that happened. We know now that a kiss from the dragon’s side triggers it, or any sort of intimacy. But what they truly go through while they sleep, no one will ever know. You just have to trust it.”

“What if it’s not real?”

He sighed and gave me that knowing look – the one that told me he was really seeing my point here.

“You think that too, don’t you?”

“I don’t know. Sure, it doesn’t explain the sudden affection thing, but he told me once that it’s a strong bond and not some instant kind of thing. And that he was wrong.”

“Yeah, I saw the Just Kev interview. Still it doesn’t make sense. Right, I’m not crazy here?”

“I know. All I can tell you, is what he told me, the hints he gave me, he said it’s something beautiful.”

“Something beautiful.” I raised my eyes. “He used those exact words?”

“The badass Rubicon said beautiful. No lie.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, but it was cut short when night streamed in from the other side.

“It’s really night time here?”

“Yep. Freaky, right?”

“No, sad.”

I sighed. “Tell me about it.”

The hissing came again. They knew when prey or something other than them was near, and they couldn’t stand it.

I let both my hands on either side of Emanuel again and he walked out as if we were not surrounded by deadly snatchers.

Once out, we took the long road on the path that led to the cornfields. We chatted more about what Blake had gone through, and I knew I should stop but I couldn’t. I realized one thing, that it wasn’t just hard for me when I’d gone missing. They’d suffered too, in some way. Still, seeing Blake that day on the mountain, the way he’d rejected me, and seeing the guy in the lake, the one who’d kissed me, they were two different people, and knowing that Emanuel also questioned the things I did, made it so hard to trust this new Blake.

We reached the cornfield, and this time, we didn’t have a gun cocked in our faces.

The Bensons’ house came into sight and three figures were seated on the porch: Charles, Luke and Blake.

Blake saw us immediately. “Elena?” he asked as he approached us.

Of Emanuel, he asked, “What are you doing here?”

Emanuel laughed. “Change of plans. Elena made a bit of shit.”

“Which I will handle.”

“Princess.”

“I told you not to call me that.” I sounded annoyed.

“What sort of shit?”

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll deal with the Ancients.”

“Emanuel?” Blake sounded concerned as I walked over to Charles and Luke.

“Elle.” Luke was the first one to get up.

“Luke.” I hugged him as Emanuel told Blake I’d threatened the Ancients when they wanted to put Annie in quarantine.

“What?”

“We need families, more kids preferably. Kids soften everything,” Emanuel said as I greeted Charles.

“What is going on?”

“They want to put Annie in quarantine, but we have a plan.”

The old man rubbed his face hard.

“Hey, over my dead body.”

He smiled and grabbed my arm.

I could hear Emanuel and Blake getting closer.

“Emanuel, King Helmut’s dragon, Luke, Charles.”

“I wanted to say you looked familiar. Haven’t aged in years.” Charles shook his hand.

He laughed. “It’s a dragon thing.”

“Don’t say that too loud here. Dragons are quite rare this side, well ones that still know how to become one.”

We followed Luke and Charles into the house where we found Gertrude busy with her needlework and Daisy reading a book.

“Elle!” Gertrude got up. “And who is this?”

“Emanuel.” He reached for her hand. “King Helmut’s dragon.”

“Ahhh, I wanted to say you look familiar.”

“Elena?” Blake touched my arm softly and nodded toward a private spot to talk.

I sighed and followed him into Charles’s office.

I didn’t look at him as I folded my arms and leaned against Charles’s desk.

He scrubbed at his face then cupped the back of his head as he started to pace.

“What exactly did you tell the Ancients’ guards?”

“They wanted to put her in quarantine, and I was angry, okay.”

“What did you say?” he asked again.

“I told them if they didn’t leave in two hours I was going to unleash you on them.” I spoke the last part softly.

He stared at me with an expression I’d never seen before, as if he wanted to laugh, but he looked serious too.

Then he blew out a breath, his lips vibrated, and he folded his arms. “It’s the Ancients.”

“I didn’t give a shit who they are. She is your cousin, what did you want me to do, let them take her? She’s been through enough and there are no plagues here.”

“Okay, easy,” he sang. “All I’m saying is you have no idea what you just did, and it puts me in a completely different situation now.”

“Well, I’m so fucking sorry that I spoiled your plans.” I was upset again. “I’ll deal with them myself, like I always do.” I walked past him and opened the door.

“It’s not –”

I shut the door without even hearing him out.

When was this going to stop? I couldn’t believe I’d missed him these past two days.

Gertrude looked at me, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I turned to Emanuel. “We should start getting some of the kids and parents out.”

He frowned.

“Don’t look at me like that. He stays, as this is where he truly wants to be. I’ll handle the Ancients myself.”

“Elena.”

“Just stop it.”

“The Ancients?” Charles looked worried.

“It’s a long story. I’ll be fine.”

“You won’t be fine.” Emanual was getting angry. “Don’t be stupid.”

“I’m not the one –” I paused as Blake entered the kitchen.

“You’ve got people on the other side ready to take places?”

Emanuel nodded.

“How many Buyos?” He stared at the one around Emanuel’s chest.

“Blake?” Charles looked at him.

“We will show you first,” Blake told Charles.

“Ten,” Emanuel said, “including me.”

“Okay, get ten grown-ups ready to leave. All the kids they don’t know about are coming with us tonight.”

“Oh, so now it’s us?”

“You threatened the Ancients. I don’t even know how to handle this one.” Blake looked worried, and I realized I was in serious, serious shit, princess or no princess.

“We need to do this fast.” Blake looked back at Emanuel.

“So, ten of us have to pack?” Gertrude asked.

Blake nodded and looked at Emanuel. “But first we have some convincing to do.”

CHARLES AND THE entire Benson family, as well as Luke, were all sitting in the lounge.

Emanuel took a hair from Charles and put it in the orb section right in the middle of the harness that was on his chest. He closed the lid and the orb started to glow.

Emanuel closed his eyes and sort of disappeared, then Charles appeared in his place.

Everyone gasped.

“Come here, Charles,” Blake said while Emanuel was super quiet. “Speak into the device.” Blake tapped softly on the middle section that had a funny black-looking orb.

“What?” Charles asked not taking his eyes off Emanuel, who was the spitting image of Charles.

“Here.” Blake showed with his hand. “Just say your name.”

Charles bent down and cleared his throat. “I’m Charles Benson.”

The device played the recording back then Emanuel spoke. It was still his voice, but the more he said the line, the more his own voice started to disappear and we were left with two Charleses and no Emanuel.

“Good enough for you?” Blake looked at the real Charles.

He just stared at Emanuel, or his replica. All of us did. “Brilliant.”

Emanuel caught my eyes. “It’s still me, princess.” He sounded exactly like Charles.

“It doesn’t look or sound like you anymore.”

“That is the plan, right?”

“Yes, it is.”

“You feel old?” Charles asked, and Emanuel and Blake laughed.

“No, I still feel like me. It’s just an appearance device. A trick, as Helmut calls them. They are quite protective of these because in the wrong hands, these could lead to many horrors.”

“Now that, I can understand.”

“The scientists are working around the clock to get the first hundred and fifty finished. We are going to use the farms to station ourselves.”

“Who is going to work the farms, Emanuel?” Gertrude sounded worried. “If you take all of us out, the Council will know by the next –”

“Relax, Elena has informed me of what it’s like here.”

Blake eyes lingered for a while on Emanuel. .

“You’re kidding me right?” Emanuel grinned as he caught Blake’s eyes.

“Just making sure.”

Everyone chuckled, except me. It wasn’t like that with me and Blake.

“You still haven’t answered my questions.”

“Magic, Gertrude.”

I smiled.

“Magic?” Charles said, skeptical.

“It’s war time, and every war has its casualties. I don’t want it to be the people that are actually helping the princess.”

Blake’s face fell and he rubbed it hard. Emanuel looked at him and laughed, just like Charles. “Let me guess, took the words right out of your mouth?”

“Shut up. Still a pain in the ass.”

Emanuel laughed.

It was so weird. Blake loved to fight, that was for sure, but he did have nice words for me now and then, especially around nighttime.

“So nine of us leave tonight?” Daisy asked.

“You and Cassy have to come,” I said.

“Elle, if they want to put us in quarantine.”

“Not going to happen.” Blake said it before I could, this time.

“Promise? I don’t want her to be more afraid than what she is used to.”

“She won’t. Freedom is what we offer, and freedom is what each and every one is going to get,” Blake said.

I looked at him. For someone who wasn’t able to read my mind anymore, he sure knew just what I was thinking.

“Okay, I trust you.”

“I won’t disappoint. I promise.”

She nodded.

BLAKE SHOWED EMANUEL around the farm. It didn’t matter that it was dark, the two of them had night vision and would see everything clearly. Charles and some of the other house heads were sitting in the kitchen.

They drew up a list to choose the ten who were going to leave with us.

It was going to be Cassy, Daisy, Olive and her girl. Two adults. Then it was Luke and his two girls. Three adults.

Maggie and little Simon and Trevor. Four adults as Trevor was only fifteen, still too young to be trained.

Gertrude wanted to stay with Marcus, so we let her stay for now.

Five adults from one of the other farm houses.

They all came to the house around eleven so we could move out under the cover of darkness.

Blake had packed, I was glad, as he would be out of this dark place where they toyed with dragons, but a part of me wasn’t glad. He didn’t want to go and it made me feel like one of those Dragonians again who told their dragons what to do. I wasn’t like that.

He really knew how to make me feel so useless at times, but Emanuel was staying. Even though he was all warmed up for this war. I didn’t like it.

Around twelve, families said goodbye to their loved ones. I hated this part, and all of us with Charles, Marcus, Tom and August, left with Emanuel and Blake to head to the Creepers.

I took Cassy out first and found David with Annie and a truck waiting nearby. They’d known we were coming.

Annie rushed to my side as she took Cassy from me and hugged the poor, shaking little girl. Stupid Creepers.

I took Raymond in. He carried me just like Emanuel had. He didn’t want to take any chances, and he wasn’t scared either.

Daisy came out. And Dicky went in.

Then it was Olivia’s girl, and after I took Taylor in, she didn’t carry me and actually hissed at one of the creepers that came too close as we exited.

Emanuel and Raymond just laughed. Olivia came out.

Amanda went in, and so it went for the next two hours.

Simeon seriously made my skin crawl. He was so quiet and didn’t say a word, and Jerry was a babbler, quickly putting me at ease.

Luke and his two girls came with us and Maggie with her two boys after.

Emanuel’s entire team was inside now, and the only people who still had to come through were the rest of the group from the farms.

I soon realized that this was what my life was going to be for who knew how long.

I went back in alone and took one of the other children, but the minute I came near, one of the Creepers struck like it’d never struck before. It didn’t go for me; it was more like they were blocking my path.

An arm pulled me back and I found Blake standing really close behind me. I put the kid down.

“What is going on with them?”

Blake stared at them.

“Blake?”

“How many went out?”

“It’s five people they know of.”

“How many altogether?”

I counted on my fingers. “Ten.” I looked at him.

He looked at the Creepers.

“Clever bastards,” Emanuel said, and Blake glared at him.

I looked at the Creepers as well. “They can count.”

Blake smiled and a couple of the ops guys chuckled, including Emanuel. “Yes, Elena, the Creepers are smart. You brought ten through, only ten can leave.”

“No.” I sighed as I realized Blake was not coming with me after all. I didn’t like this one bit. He was staying for real.

“It’s going to be fine.” I felt defeated.

“Elena, you threatened –”

“I know. I was there, okay?” I was upset as well. Why had I said those words to them? “I guess I just have to think of something.”

I had spoken this last with sarcasm as I walked into the Creepers and they opened.

“It’s not funny!” Blake yelled as I disappeared into the Creepers.

I could still hear his cussing.

“Let’s just wait, maybe she will find someone else to come through.”

“Emanuel, without a Buyo?”

I didn’t hear what Emanuel said, and to be honest, I really didn’t want to walk out of the Creepers, as more danger waited for me on the other side. It was why I’d run in the first place, when I’d thought I’d killed Blake. Now I had no choice but to go back, as the people I’d just taken out needed me more.

I rested against a Creeper. I could feel the life pouring through them like an electric current.

They were quite amazing now that I thought about it; they were smart.

I remembered what Lucian had told me that night. That it was my father’s love that had conjured them, the love for his people, for their safety, but Lucian was wrong. He hadn’t died. Then who had conjured them? My mother? Was it my mother’s love?

I remembered her stories; she had been afraid as well, but she always found a way to be brave.

This was my time to be brave. The only problem was I was going to mess this one up, so badly.

Scenarios of me being taken into custody, bad things they could do to punish me, streamed through my mind. They could do whatever they wanted, because Blake was trapped inside Etan.

He wouldn’t be able to reach me, none of them would.

I panicked the moment I reached the other side. I tangled my hands in my hair and struggled to think straight.

David and Luke were at my side at once. “Where are the others?” Luke asked.

“The Creepers are smart. Ten go in, ten come out, no more.”

“Elle,” Luke said. “What about Blake? You need him tomorrow night.”

“I’ll be fine.” My voice broke, and I took a deep breath.

“From what I remember, the Ancients don’t take threats on their lives lightly. You need him. Take me back.”

“No, Luke. You are all your daughters have left. I can’t –”

“I said –”

“I’ll go, Elena,” David interrupted.

“David?”

“Please, I haven’t seen Charles for more than sixteen years. I’m begging you, take me. I won’t be a nuisance.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. You don’t know –”

“I’ll be with my rider. Please.”

“What about Connie?”

“She is safe here. They are not. You need Blake to help you, stand by your side, and put the fear in the Council that needs to start looking at you as King Albert’s daughter.”

I just looked at him. This was a stupid idea and he didn’t even have a Buyo, but the fact that Blake would be at my side, David was right. I needed him whether I liked it or not.

“Okay,” I said.

“Just give me ten minutes to pack. I’ll be quick.”

BLAKE

“LEO WAS RIGHT,” I said as Emanuel took off his harness.

“About what?” He looked at me

“I keep messing up with her. I should’ve gone back with her.”

“Stop being so hard on yourself. You didn’t know that they could count.”

“Then why do I feel like this? You know what the Ancients are like. I’m trapped here. I can’t even fucking protect her. I really suck at being her dragon.”

“You want her to find her strength. I know that now. She can do it.”

“But at what cost?” I ignored the last part. I didn’t want her to face them alone. “If she doesn’t come back.”

“Shhh, they are not stupid. They know she’s the only one that can get through the Creepers alone.”

“No, not her, her blood.”

Emanuel looked at me with shocked eyes. He knew why I was so afraid now. Why I was so upset with myself.

“They wouldn’t do that. She is King Albert’s daughter.”

“They hate her as much as I used to.”

“Then we wait. Someone will take your place, I know it.”

I sighed.

It was quiet for a long time and I kept pulling out clumps of grass.

“She still thinks you loathe her in some way.”

I sighed. “She said something?”

“Sort of. Stop fighting with her all the time and tell her how you feel.”

I hated that so much. I didn’t mean to fight, she just made me so furious at times.

I felt as if this dent was all for nothing. If it was to show us, to get to know who our riders were, I had messed up. She’d changed into a different person right in front of my eyes, and I hadn’t paid any attention.

I really had no idea who Elena was. Emanuel knew her better than I did.

“There is still time.”

“I don’t know. It feels as if we are never going to get there.”

“Don’t give up now. You were always there, even when you were the last one that she needed. Now she needs you, just be there.”

I nodded. I hoped I would get that chance. What was I thinking?

The Creepers started to hiss again, and it felt as if I could breathe.

“See, I told you someone would take your place. Just stop fighting her, and stand with her.”

“Emanuel.” I glared at him.

Charles and Tom had stayed with us while the others left. They got up too at the sound.

I gasped as I saw David, looking like a boy scout, exiting with Elena. Her gaze caught mine but she looked away fast. She didn’t even look relieved, nothing.

Charles finally lifted his head and froze.

David wasn’t paying any attention, and I smiled as he ran as fast as he could to Emanuel and me. “Outside is horrible, but inside…”

Emanuel and I laughed. “Who would’ve known?”

“David?” Charles spoke and David finally looked.

The two men stared at one another for a short while then they ran toward each other, barely containing their joy.

“I thought I lost –”

“Shhh,” Charles said. “We thought that too.”

David held him at arm’s length so he could study him. “When Elena told me you were in Alkadeen.” He cried and laughed all at the same time.

“I’d gotten the deed a day before. You and Connie had that function and I left, thinking I would phone you later to tell you I’d made it safely to Alkadeen.”

“There was no later.”

They smashed into one another again.

Elena smiled and wiped away a tear.

“Don’t fight.” Emanuel spoke softly and hit me hard on the back.

I growled at him then approached Elena.

“Why did you wait?” She glared at me.

“Because I knew someone would take my place on the other side.”

“Fine, let’s just go,” she said and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the Creepers.

She was angry, but I wasn’t. I could breathe again.

I lifted her and I could tell she hadn’t expected that.

“Everyone else seems to be doing this,” I joked and she rolled her eyes.

“A princess never rolls her eyes.”

“Oh shut up. You are not Stan.”

I closed my eyes as the Creepers started to hiss again and I walked faster. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and my stomach went crazy. Why couldn’t every day be like this?

“You are seriously afraid of them.”

I chuckled. “You are literally keeping them from snapping my head off, what do you think?” It became warmer and I opened my eyes again. We were inside. It was really gorgeous, with vines hanging everywhere and beautiful pink and purple flowers I’d never seen before hanging from their roots.

“Funny, Emanuel didn’t even flinch.”

“Oh, shut up.” I cupped the back of her head and pulled her face closer to mine. Our lips touched. She really hadn’t expected that either.

Her kisses were driving me insane, and images of wanting to be with her made me feel like I was going to explode. I couldn’t help it.

When our lips parted she was slightly out of breath. “If you tell me he kisses better, then I’m sorry but I will have to kill him.”

“No, he was actually the perfect gentleman in that department. You, on the other hand, are extremely grabby.”

“Now, I wouldn’t be me, if I wasn’t.”

“True.”

The Creepers hissed and I tried not to flinch. Her eyes were on me – that, I could feel, and we both broke out in laughter as we exited. I ran toward the truck, and put her down. I couldn’t believe Annie was still alive. She was going to be reunited with her mother, and the Ancients were going to regret ever thinking about the word quarantine.