Page 55 of Resurrection

“Maybe?” Seiran sounded uncertain.

“Okay.”

“We need to have boundaries.”

“Okay.” Gabe let his fingers roam, gaze following. He thought he could spend days rediscovering the man in his arms. “I don’t remember you having this muscle tone?” Gabe traced the definition of Seiran’s biceps.

“MI has physical requirements for field agents that I insisted be added years ago. Not fair of me to make everyone else meet them and ignore them myself. Sometimes we chase people, or run for our lives.”

“You run for your life?”

Seiran smiled. “No. But again, others do. How can I lead them if not by example?”

Gabe thought back to that first night he’d awoken. Seiran had seemed weary and been bruised, though all that was gone now. “You were injured.”

“Yeah. Not superman as much as some people would like to think I am.”

The memory of a flood and roots flailing from the ground like the arms of a giant octopus startled Gabe. He got the sense of death, temporary, but still there. Bits that refueled his rebirth and power. He was a creature of death after all. “Not far from the truth either.”

Seiran sighed. “It’s not really a superpower.”

“Escaping death?”

“I still die. She drags me back. It’s not fun.”

“You’d rather leave your kids?”

“No,” Seiran said firmly. “They aren’t ready for that.”

But something in his tone told Gabe that Seiran had been ready for a while. That thought hit Gabe like a knife to the heart. Because of him? Or something more?

He hadn’t realized he’d gone silent until Seiran said, “You can’t shut down on me.”

“Sorry. I was lost in thought.”

Seiran sat up, pulling out of Gabe’s arms and frowning at the blankets, as though annoyed to find himself naked beneath them. “Should have known nothing would change.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that,” Gabe said.

“This,” Seiran waved at Gabe as though he were the problem.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. This whole brooding vampire bullshit. The whole ‘I need no one’ crap.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t need you,” Gabe said. “You’re my Focus.”

“Right.” Seiran threw the blankets back and got out of bed. He gathered up his fallen clothes in a rush, and looked around a minute before finding his phone. Then he headed for the stairs.

Gabe leapt up to follow, feeling like he’d stepped in something big, but had no idea what.

Seiran paused at the top of the stairs, seeming to listen to the house for signs of movement, before opening the door. He darted out, heading around the corner and up the stairs. Gabe stepped out into the kitchen, the dredges of light had turned into a stunning bright wash of whiteness, as he hadn’t realized the kitchen was mostly white with stainless steel.

It was draining standing in that edge of sunlight. He hadn’t felt it that intensely the day before. But he followed Seiran up the stairs and down the hall to Seiran’s room, admiring the witch’s backside on the way.

“Stop following me,” Seiran said as he opened the door to his room. He stepped inside and threw the clothes into a basket near the bathroom door and the phone on his bed.

“Tell me what I did wrong?”