Altered by Shelly Crane Page A

things just to make me feel better,” she sneered.
    I laughed and gave her a look. “I am the last person who would sugarcoat it for you, sweetheart.”
    She looked at the ground, letting her breath that she was holding go, knowing I was right. “I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. That was just stupid.” I passed behind her when I moved to search near the river and heard her mutter, “And will you stop calling me sweetheart ?”
              I raised an eyebrow. “Sweetheart is offensive? Since when?”
    She steeled herself, lifting her chin and straightening her back. She reminded me of Clara so much right then. “You’re not going to do anything about it. Since you decided you’re leaving, dumping me as soon as you find them, you don’t get to sweetheart me.” She crossed her arms, turned away from me, and walked toward one of the only small cabins that was there and I stared, stunned.
    Any other time and I would have been so turned on by that lit tle speech and the fact that this female was coming on to me, but this was Clara’s sister. I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my fists. Why? Why, why, why?
    My l ife was practically in shambles and I certainly didn’t need a female added to the mix to keep things interesting right now. So why was I going so crazy over this one?
    “They’re gone. I can’t find anything left behind to lead us to them.” I looked back to find her wiping her eyes and taking a deep breath as she tried to compose herself by the river bank. “I’m sorry, Fay. We need to go.”
    “It’s so beautiful here,” she mused and sighed long and hard. She leaned her head back and rolled her neck to the side, her eyes closed. She was so trusting. I realized how completely she trusted me on every level. No matter what happened, I had to get this girl to Clara. I rubbed her arm with my thumb and she didn’t flinch like I thought she would. She smiled and grabbed my arm, linking hers with mine. “Just come here for a minute.”
    I sighed. “Fay.”
    “Just a second. Everybody needs to recharge every once in a while. And you, sir, need to recharge more than most people.”
    “I take offense to that,” I spouted back.
    She giggled and that giggle almost did me in, with her eyes closed and her still so completely trusting me. “Just close your eyes and lean your head back. Soak up the sun for a second and listen to the water.”
              “Devourers don’t like sun. Or the sound of the river.”
    “That’s a lie and you know it.” She smiled.
    “How do you know that?” I groaned.
    “Because. That would just be crazy,” she said softly. She leaned her head on my shoulder and we probably sat there for a full ten minutes without moving, just listening. She lifted her head and looked at me. She bit her lip on the side and I wanted to be the one biting that lip. “So, do you feel better?”
    “Truth?” She nodded. “I do actually. I mean. I don’t feel physically better, and I still need to feed, but…just sitting here with you somehow…”
    “It’s scientific,” she corrected. I squinted. “Vitamin D absorbs in your skin and releases endorphins in your body that do all sorts of good things for you. Improves your mood, for one.”
    “Endorphins?” I questioned and smirked. “I thought endorphins made you sexually charged—”
    She slapped my chest, rolled her eyes, turned toward the car. “Way to ruin my good mood, Enoch.”
    I laughed my words, “What? You stated some facts, so I stated some facts.”
    “Facts, my behind!” I could hear the smile in her voice. I walked after her, her lovely rear right in my line of sight. She set me up so nicel y for that one, now hadn’t she?
    “And what a gorgeous behind it is.”
    She turned, her mouth open to blast me one, but bumped into my chest instead because I had been so close. She put her hand on my chest and tried to retreat, but I had the advantage on this and wasn’t in a giving