Page 71 of The Curse Trilogy

“What the fuck could have leveled this place in just a few hours without our knowledge? Aerial surveillance showed it to be standing just before we came out,” Hale exasperates.

“It wasn’t a bomb because I can’t smell or taste the remnants in the air. No weapons were used at all if my senses are correct,” Clay says with distraction as he studies the ghastly landscape.

“My men and I are going to go examine the fallen fragments to see if we can get a read on what’s going on,” Brazen murmurs when he approaches, and Hale takes a small step away from me.

“Thank you, Captain Mordel,” Clay says in a soft but formal fashion.

Brazen nods, and then he takes my hand to pull me away from a troubled Clay and a silently pissed Hale.

“Are you okay?” Brazen asks softly when he has me separated.

“I’m fine. I have no emotional ties to this place. I only ever came here once when I was in my earlier training,” I say while staring down at the destruction below.

“I know you’ve had a lot of shit happening to you lately, and I wasn’t sure if this place meant anything or not,” he says while stroking my cheek. “I feel as though I don’t know as much about you as I should.”

“Like I said, no emotional attachments,” I murmur dryly when I see Hale approaching.

“We’re not far from the Metropolis district. We’re going to head there and seek shelter for a few days to see what we can learn,” he says through clenched teeth.

“That sounds fine. I’ll call ahead. I’ve got several friends there that know where to look and who to question,” Brazen says very cordially, and then he kisses the back of my hand before disappearing over the hillside.

“Metropolis?” I muse, and Clay steps up to answer.

“Yes. It’s the closest place with members outside the United. They still follow our laws, and they need our protection, but they don’t agree with species integration.”

“Yeah, I know. How are we going to walk into a city where only full bloods are allowed to roam the streets? They’ll fucking try to kill us,” I growl.

“No they won’t,” Hale sighs out. “They can’t touch members of the United. Like Clay said, they need the protection of the United. They have more full blood enemies than any other city, compound… well… anybody really because of their unlimited blood supply given to them from the humans they offer protection.”

“Savalle? They take care of Savalle?” I murmur in disbelief.

“Yes, and the humans there reward them by donating and diluting the blood just enough to kill the blood fuck need. It’s stronger than the blood we keep on hand for that reason, and many full bloods journey here just to delight in it. The problem is, it’s pretty damn risky. If you’re a fraction off, the full blood could go mad trying to find the vein it belongs to,” Clay says softly, and then his eyes turn back to the rubble still trembling in aftershock. “We’ll need hotel rooms, as many as they can spare. I assume you’ll be sharing one,” he says to Hale.

His eyes cut toward me before answering, “I wish. Araya is trying to spare Brazen the distraction of our reunion. I’m complying, but he doesn’t seem to want to stop fucking touching her.”

I roll my eyes, and I’m surprised when Clay says, “I think that’s actually a good idea. Brazen is going to be crucial to this. He’s damn good with the full bloods outside and inside the United. He is an excellent leader, and the less distracted he is, the better. I think the two of you back together would mentally fuck him up.”

Hale rolls his eyes, and then he walks over to his car to hold the door open for me.

“I’m riding with Clay,” I snark, and he narrows his eyes at me.

“So now you can’t even ride with me?” he scoffs.

“Now I don’t want to,” I growl.

“What the fuck did I do?”

“You know what you did. I’ll see you there,” I grumble, and then I turn to get into the oversized, black hummer.

Hale starts to shut the door, but a man runs up and joins him in the car. He stares into the darkly tinted window I know he can’t see through, but now I’m wishing I wasn’t mad. We could do a lot of really hot things in that car on the way to the Metropolis. Fuck.

“You ready?” Clay asks as he and three others join me.

I crouch down in the front seat and stare at the car spinning out in front of us as Hale speeds toward our destination.

“Yeah. How far is it from here?” I grouse.

“About two hours, less if you want me to drive like Hale,” he jokes, and the pun is actually sort of cute.