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“Hey, what the fuck, little girl?” Grath left the human male lying there and ran after her. Madeline was upset, he could tell. And he couldalsotell that the encounter he’d seen going onwasn’ta friendly one.
He’d seen the look of sheer terror in her big brown eyes—a look he had never seen there before. She was always so fearless—so careless of danger. But faced with this one human male, she seemed suddenly helpless, vulnerable in a way that it hurt to see.
He wanted to pound the human male to dust for putting that look on her lovely face but he decided to run after her instead, to see if he could get to the bottom of what was going on.
By the time he got to Madeline, she was standing in front of the hot chocolate cart. The two hot chocolates Grath had purchased were still sitting there, on the metal edge of the cart—both mounded with fluffy white whipped cream that was just starting to melt.
The operator of the cart—an older human with gray facial hair—eyed Grath uncertainly. He probably had reason to doubt his sanity, considering the way Grath had left the hot chocolate and charged off up the path right after he paid for the stuff. But Grath had suddenly gotten a really bad feeling that the female he was Protecting was in trouble and he never ignored his gut instincts—not when it came to Madeline.
“Those are ours,” he said to her now, as he reached the cart. “I paid for them and then had a feeling I needed to go check on you.”
“Oh. Which one has the extra whipped cream?” Her voice was flat—emotionless—but she was keeping her head down so he couldn’t see her face.
“They both do,” Grath said impatiently. “You wanna tell me what was happening back there, Madeline?”
“No, I don’t.” She picked up one of the cups at random and turned away from him.
Grath took the other cup, nodding at the confused-looking vendor as he did, and followed her down the path. He wished he could make Madeline talk to him—clearly she was upset and just as clearly it had something to do with the human male who had been holding her by the hand. But he sensed that she wouldn’t speak until she was ready, so he swallowed his impatience with difficulty and simply walked by her side, sipping the hot chocolate, which he barely tasted.
Madeline was sipping from her cup as well as they strolled side-by-side down the path, not bothering to look at the other ice sculptures. They came to the end of the path and Grath saw that they were at the entrance of the park again, where they had come in. He looked down at the curvy little female beside him and saw that she had a grim look on her face.
“Madeline?” he murmured, making her name a question. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Whatever the fuck “it” was.
“No.” She threw her half-finished hot chocolate in the trash. “No, I really don’t. It’s in the past. Come on—let’s go home.”
Grath thought he had never seen her look so grim—she was usually a bright, bubbly, determinedly cheerful person, despite or maybebecauseof his own grumpy attitude. He hardly knew what to do now that she had shut down like this.
He threw his own hot chocolate away and followed her back to her parents’ domicile, wishing he knew what to say to her.
TEN
MATTIE
Mattie wished she was home. Not in the big, restored farmhouse on the hill but back on board the Mother Ship in her own cozy suite. That was home to her now—her own space where she felt safe and respected.
Despite being surrounded by the huge Kindred warriors, she never felt in danger from any of them. The Kindred revered females and reviled anyone who tried to hurt them or prey on them. Unlikehumanmen, Mattie thought grimly.
Her mom was waiting to greet them—she suggested that they might like to sit by the fire so she could show Grath some of Mattie’s old baby pictures. But Mattie shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Mom, but it’s been a really long day,” she said, trying to manufacture a smile. “Hope you don’t mind, but I’d really like to get some sleep.”
“Oh, of course, sweetheart!” Her mom looked concerned. “Are you feeling all right? You’re not coming down with anything, are you?” She put a cool hand on Mattie’s forehead, testing for fever. “You don’tfeelhot.”
“I’m okay—just tired,” Mattie assured her, trying again to smile. She didn’t want her mom to be worried.
“Well then…go on up and get some rest, sweetie,” her mom said. “I’ve got the two of you in Mattie’s old attic room,” she added, speaking to Grath. “I, er, hope the bed fits you.”
“We’ll be fine,” Grath reassured her. “Thank you. I guess I’ll turn in, too.”
He followed Mattie silently up the stairs, all the way to the attic. She hoped he wasn’t going to pounce on her with questions the minute they were alone together, but to her relief he kept quiet. Was he biding his time, waiting for her to talk? Or did he just not care what was bothering her?
Probably the latter, Mattie told herself dully. After all, whyshouldhe care about her past? They were onlypretendingto be dating, after all. A real boyfriend would have been obligated to worry and care—a fake boyfriend most certainly was not.
At last, after three flights of stairs, they reached the door to her old bedroom. Mattie turned the knob and went inside. But seeing the familiar, sloping roof and the colorful patchwork quilt on the queen-sized bed she remembered so well didn’t do a thing to lighten her mood.
“We really are at the top of the domicile here,” Grath remarked, looking around. He was so tall he could only stand upright in the middle of the room, where the roof, which sloped off in both directions, came to a point.
