Broken (Otherworld 6)

"Back to the question," I said. "Do I stay or do I go?"

Jeremy looked from Clay to me, then murmured, "I'll step outside."

"I don't want to fight about this," I said when Jeremy was gone. "All I care about is getting the damage undone, which means closing that portal. I don't care who does it."

"If you're in danger, I'm staying with you, here or at Stonehaven. My gut reaction? Stonehaven--even if we did miss a zombie and it can follow you that far, which I doubt." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "But that means leaving Jeremy behind, with some zombie who may have been following us and knows he's connected to the letter."

He went quiet for a moment, then said, voice soft, "I'm trying not to freak out, Elena. When that guy came after you in the truck stop, you know what I wanted to do?"

"Drag me back to Stonehaven?"

"Yeah." A small, humorless laugh. "Big surprise, huh?"

His eyes turned to mine. Behind the anger, I saw frustration, fear and even an inkling of panic.

"Jeremy was right," he said. "We needed to come back and make sure this was over. Only, it's not over, is it? Now we've got these...zombies--" He yanked his hands from his pockets. "What the hell do I know about zombies? How can I--?" He bit off the sentence in a snarl.

"Protect me?"

"Yeah, I know, you can protect yourself. Any other time, I'd agree."

"But right now I'm pregnant. Very pregnant. Big, awkward, slow..."

He met my gaze, his eyes wary but determined, as if he knew he was sliding onto dangerous ground, but refused to backpedal.

"And you're right," I said. "I'm off my game. I know it. I also know that any risk I take, I'm not just taking for myself, but for our child. Our child. If you think I'm safer hiding out with Antonio and Nick, then I'll go."

"But that's not what you want, is it?"

"You know it isn't. I want to stay with you, and watch your back. Yours and Jeremy's, because, no matter which of us bears this 'mark,' I think we're all targets. I want to finish this, and I want to go home knowing everything's okay--that we're all safe and okay." I touched my fingertips to my belly. "All of us."

He nodded and looked away, eyes unfocused. After a moment, his gaze swung back to mine. "I want you here, with me, more than I want you gone. But there's one thing I'll need you to do."

"What's that?"

"Stay with me. Right with me. At my side. At all times. No arguing about space and privacy. I need to be beside you, to be sure you're safe."

"That's fine." I managed a smile. "But I still get those bathroom privacy privileges, right?"

"Depends on whether there's a window someone can crawl in through."

"Fair enough."

"And private bathrooms only."

I laughed. "You're going to follow me into public restrooms? That I have to see."

"You just might. Now let's go tell Jeremy. Then we'll finish this and get home."

Back to Cabbagetown. Four times around the perimeter, and twice down the portal street itself, and all I could find with that rotting scent were the two trails: the bowler-hatted man and Rose.

We knew there was a possibility that we hadn't found a trail because there wasn't one--that there was no missing zombie. We were basing our "portal closing theory" on a single two-hundred-year-old case. But, for now, it was all we had.

If we were missing something, we couldn't rely on Robert to find it. Having lost Shanahan, our best source for information was the person who'd gotten us into this mess. So I made the call I'd been dreading.

I phoned from our hotel. Clay stood by.

"Elena!" Xavier said. "What the hell happened? Where's my package?"