For the Taking ?

47? Fool

"Is it difficult?"

"Is what difficult?"

"Patrolling the boarder, is it difficult?" She wondered tugging on her bottom lip with her teeth.

I shook my head. "No, not at all."

"So it's dangerous."

I stared perplexed. How did she get dangerous from me confirming it wasn't a difficult job to do? I opened my mouth to reassure her but it snapped shut.

"That man died because he was patrolling the boarder... didn't he?" Her doe-like eyes stared back at me with overwhelming guilt. She didn't have to tell me she blamed herself, her eyes gave her away.

My mind fumbled through a filing cabinet of responses none of which sounded adequate enough to the question. I didn't want to lie to her, not anymore, but I didn't want her to blame herself either. None of what Philip did was her fault and I was hell bent on having her know that.

Adam's lifeless corpse flashed before my eyes. The threat SERA IS NEXT freshly etched into his chest. He was getting too close and he was getting bold.

Philip was still as deranged as he's always been. Nothing had changed since Ileana. Remember what they did to her ignited the blood in my veins like hot coal. They tortured her. They stripped her of everything and he helped them.

Ever since then I've only imagined the worse had come of her. What else was I supposed to imagine? I hoped she lived a full healthy life, but I knew I had better luck getting struck by lightening than her mate seeing her as more than an incubator.

"Are you okay?"

I blinked back into focus. Phina stared at me with benevolent eyes. She may not enjoy my company but I could tell the mate bond was sneaking through cracks in the thick tall walls she built to separate us. She was resilient in the way she masked the bond, too scared to allow me in.

I wondered if she was truly scared of me or scared that she may very well discover I'm not as evil and conniving as her little friend so desperately wants her to believe. He was a thorn in my side the way he creeps around following Phina around like a little lost puppy.

They were friends, I told myself. He was human, I reminded myself. He was insignificant when it came to a mates' bond, Phina shouldn't be easily swayed by him, or so I tried to assure myself.

"Yes, I'm fine. What were you asking again?"

Phina hesitated a moment as if wanting to say something else but she ignored the urge repeating her morbid question. "The young man you mentioned a couple weeks ago... we was on boarder patrol when he was killed, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, Adam was on boarder patrol when he was attacked, but he had wandered off from the boarder. He wasn't attacked on our territory. He had caught a scent and strayed away to investigate."

"Do- do you think it was Philip?"

How was I going to tell her that now I had no doubt it was Philip's doing? I couldn't tell her. The look on her face was heartbreaking, I couldn't tell her that her name was clawed into Adam's chest. She'd fall apart; blaming herself for something she had no hand in.

"I don't know." I lied.

She narrowed her eyes flicking them between my own and my chest.

"I thought you said you weren't going to lie anymore." Her eyes once again resting on my chest before focusing them back on my face. "I can hear your heart beat."

"Really? How do you know I'm lying by just my heartbeat?" I questioned using her new found hearing has a perfect distraction.

"It sped up. Now answer my question... please." She was blunt and persistent.