Zombies Sold Separately by Cheyenne McCray Page B

it onto the credenza. “Ma’am,” I said. “I have a question.”
    Olivia saw me glance at her chest. “The shirt speaks for itself.”
    “But it asks if I have a question,” I said in a tone of complete innocence. “And I do.”
    “Shoot.” Olivia touched the grip of the Sig in her side holster. “Or I will.” It was obvious to me she was struggling to maintain her irritated facade and not laugh.
    “Do you have another one of those shirts I can borrow?” I asked. “Except make it one about a boss and a handgun.”
    Olivia’s expression grew serious as she approached me. “What’s up? Something between you and Rodán?”
    I tried not to scowl. Didn’t work. “After our team met with Rodán and went over the Zombie attack last night, Rodán and I had a little talk.”
    “Yeah.” She nodded. “He said he wanted to speak with you alone in his office. So what happened?”
    I ground my teeth before I said, “He wanted to take me off this op.”
    “What?” Her eyes narrowed. “Why the hell would Rodán do that?”
    Without going into complete detail, I told Olivia what Rodán had said and my own threat to quit if he didn’t change his mind.
    “Stupid.” Olivia shook her head. “I can’t believe he’d let his emotions get in the way of his job.” She paused and cocked her head. “Come to think of it, I didn’t realize Rodán even has emotions.”
    I rolled my eyes at that statement. “It’s because of our personal history and because of what happened during the Vampire op.”
    “I know.” She leaned her hip against her desk. “But it’s not like him to be so unprofessional.”
    “Agreed.” Just talking about it with Olivia released some of the pressure that had been building inside of me. “This isn’t something I’d tell any of the other Trackers.”
    “Of course not.” Olivia folded her arms across her chest. “That’s what close friends and partners are for.”
    I gave a sigh that was still filled with frustration. “Now that I got that off my chest, where are we going to start today?”
    Olivia pushed away from the desk. “Zombies, huh?”
    Again the word “Zombies” made me shudder. After last night I had fresh images to go along with it. “Unfortunately.”
    “You’ve never mentioned having a brother. Why?” Instead of going behind her own desk and sitting in her office chair, she settled in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “Start there, then tell me what happened to you both in Otherworld.”
    I should have expected that request from her. But thanks to my anger at Rodán, I wasn’t prepared for it or the sick feeling in my stomach that I now felt.
    With my thumb and forefinger I rubbed my temples. “I don’t really want to talk about it.” The moment I let that out of my mouth I knew I was in trouble.
    Olivia leaned forward and the message on her T-shirt stretched across her generous breasts. “Excuse me?”
    “Sorry.” I flopped back in my chair and stared at the ceiling before I looked at her again. “I just don’t know if I can talk about it.”
    “No excuses.” Her dark eyes had fire in them. “Give me the facts.”
    “Facts.” I sighed and rubbed my temples again. “Facts.”
    “You’re stalling.”
    I folded my hands on my desk. Took a deep breath. “My brother, Tristan, was twenty-two years older than me. His mother was Drow and she died during childbirth.”
    Olivia waited for me to continue.
    “My father met my mother a year before I was born.” I smiled as I remembered what my brother was like when I was a little girl, a youngling.
    “Tristan could have been resentful of a human stepmother,” I said. “He could have been resentful of me—especially because our father spoiled me so much.” I paused. “But he wasn’t. Tristan was special.”
    With a nod from Olivia I went on.
    “My brother spoiled me almost as much as my father did.” I felt a harsh prickling sensation behind my eyes as I spoke. “He wasn’t a warrior like