Chapter 129
Chapter 129
gistund. The landed on top, with the thuail belly down on the ground. Amos captured him in a chokehald. The theat hissed like a scalded cat
“sp” Amos growled, tightening his hold. They were sprawled on the small patch of grass in front of a small rectbrick worker’s cottage, whose upstairs lights were on somebody could emerge at moment. Tim not going to hurt you, but we have to get out of here. The sun will rise
The thall only fought harder
I know you’ve lost your stre. I can help you, but you have to calm down.” He managed to flip the struggling thrall onto his back, pinning his wrists beside his head. His skin was icy cold, as thralls typically were. The bones in his pale face were all too prominent, his eyes sunken and dull, sall, whoever he was, he’d been a young man when Markoy had turned him, whatever time period that had heen. The poor creature conid he hundreds of years older than Amos, but was still hardly any stronger than a mortal.
The thrall managed to get one hand fee. He clutched at Amos’s jacket, trying to shove him away. Amos kept him pinned with his full weight The thrall bucked, trying to headbutt Amos, but their awkward positioning made it so that he ineffectively thunked his forehead against Ames’s chest
The thrall noze. Face pressed into the V where Amos’s jacket opened, he inhaled deeply. He inhaled again. A low, broken purr rattled in his
throat.
Ah, Christ, Amos thought warily. When they lost their sire or dam, thralls were known to fixate on an unrelated vampire. It was a survival instinct for creatures who could not exist without a protector and caretaker.
“Listen,” Amos said gently, “I’m not going to turn you. But if you’ll come with me, the Council can help you. If you want to be fully turned, they’ll find someone who’ll=
The front door to the house they were sprawled in front of suddenly swung open. “Who the fuck are you?” a woman’s voice demanded sharply
Caught off guard, both by the thrall’s apparent docility and the sudden appearance of the mortal woman, Amos suddenly found himself thrown onto his back. The thrall was on his feet, lightning quick, hurtling the fence and racing down the sidewalk.
The woman silhouetted in the doorway gasped at the thrall’s inhuman speed. She jerked back, slamming the door shut. The deadbolt clicked decisively.
Amos got to his feet, giving chase, but it was no use. The thrall was out of sight, his scent masked by the scents of the city. The impending sunrise itched at Amos’s mind. Honoring his promise to Chloe, he returned home before the sun came up.
Chapter 129
After breakfast with Ma, Chloe got up to go to bed.
“Just so you can’t say I didn’t give you any warning. Aunt Louisa needs your help this afternoon p>
Chloe paused at the bottom of the stairs. Dreading the answer, she asked, “What time p>
“She needs you at her house at two p>
“Two?” Chloe asked, rubbing wearily at her face.
“Yes,” Ma answered impatiently, brows drawing together in a scowl. “Two p>
“Ma, you know I sleep til five p>
Ma threw her hands out, eyes wide in an expression of total exasperation. “You’re always sleeping! And what does it matter, anyway? You don’t have to work tonight. You can catch up on sleep later p>
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Chloe muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. To Ma, she said, “You’re going to have to tell Aunt Louisa you made a mistake. Tell her I can be there around six. What does she even need p>
“She needs your help doing her medicare forms. She doesn’t understand them. And no, you have to go at two. She’s got dinner at the Casino with her friends tonight p>
Chloe didn’t bother explaining that just because she was a nurse didn’t mean she knew the ins and outs of medical billing and insurance plans. She’d tried explaining that at least a hundred times to various relatives, and friends of relatives, and neighbors of relatives, and none of them ever seemed capable of accepting that information.
Instead, she said, “I’m sorry, you’re telling me I have to break up my sleep schedule because Aunt Louisa needs to go lose fifty bucks on slot machines tonight p>
“She’s an old woman! She can’t have a few guilty pleasures? She can’t go out now and then with friends p>
“I never fucking said that!” Chloe snarled back.
Instantly ashamed of herself for losing her temper, she pressed her fingers against her temples, screwing her eyes shut. She drew in a deep breath. When she looked up, Ma was standing with her arms folded in front of her, one hand clutching her robe closed at the throat, her face the perfect picture of dignified affront.
“Look,” Chloe said tersely, but calmly, “I’m not saying Aunt Louisa can’t do whatever the hell she wants. But that doesn’t mean I have to rework my schedule around hers. If she needs help p>
“Fine,” Ma snapped, jaw setting stubbornly. “You have her number. Call her up and tell her you’re too busy to make sure she’s got medical
coverage p>
Chloe pressed at her temples again. “You know I’m not going to do that p>
“Then why are we even having this conversation p>
Why was it suddenly so hard to breathe? The edges of Chloe’s vision grew dark, narrowing down to tunnels as her heart started to race. A detached part of her mind recognized that she was having a panic attack. That, or she was dying. It really felt like she was dying.
Shaking, she sank down to sit on the bottom step, leaning against the wall for balance, curling her sweaty hands into shaking fists.
Caught Naked By My Alpha Neighbor! Now I’m His– No Escape.
Tessie? Ma asked: suddenly sounding uncertain. “Baby, are you alright p>
Chloe couldn’t remember the last time her mom had called her “baby.” It made the dying feeling worse. She slid off the step so that she could lay down on the Door. Her heart was going to pound out of her chest. All her senses seemed far away, muffled.
Baby Ma cried, racing over to her. “Jesus, what- Tessie? What do I do? Do I call nine–one–one p>
“No,” Chloe managed to say between gasping breaths. “Tll–I’ll be okay.” She’d only just managed to dig the family out from under the strain of Dad’s medical debts. There was no fucking way she was paying for the cost of an ambulance ride just because she was bad at managing stress.
I have to.” Ma said frantically, wringing her hands. “I’m gonna call p>
“No!” Chloe managed to yell firmly enough to stop her mother. “Don’t call.” Though she would have rather remained on the floor, she pushed herself up to sit so that Ma would stop panicking. Leaning against the stairwell wall, she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. She tried to think of something calming–soup from her favorite deli, the smell of lilacs, a sunny day at the beach, the financial relief of the paid–out HeroMatch contract.
And Amos. Sweet, thoughtful, steady Amos, who made her feel safe and treasured and taken care of.
Gradually, Chloe’s heartbeat slowed. The shakes eased from her body. Her vision and hearing normalized. Sticky with sweat, but otherwise fine, she lifted her head to meet her mother’s worried gaze.
“Tm fine,” she said calmly.
Ma straightened from where she’d been crouched beside Chloe. “I told you you’re working too much! You’re driving yourself into the ground. I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all. You need to stop with the overtime. You need to go back to the day shift. You need to p>
“Ma p>
“-get back on a normal schedule! You’re going to end up just like your father! God bless that man and God rest his soul, but he worked himself into an early grave, and if I told him once, I told him a million times p>
“Ma p>
“-that he needed to slow down and spend less time at work and more time with his family. And now you’re doing the same thing to me, and I can’t sit idly by and let you kill yourself like this! You need to p>
“Ma!” Chloe barked. In the second of shocked silence, she hurriedly said, “Don’t worry about it. I don’t need the overtime anymore. I went to the bank yesterday, and with the money I’ve been able to save-” She very deliberately did not explain that she had seventy–eight grand. That would require either an extremely creative lie, or the straight truth, and she wasn’t prepared for either option. “-I was able to get the mortgage out of arrears and a reasonable payment plan set up p>
Ma stared at her, blank–faced.
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