I gave her the same look my mom often gave me when I said something stupid.
“We’ve only had that one breach,” Mya said. “It was a fluke.”
“No, it wasn’t. It was a calculated move by the infected and was successful. They’re not stupid anymore. They’re getting smarter. We need to get smarter, too.”
“And lifting the under eighteen sex ban makes us smarter?”
I shook my head at her blindness.
“Once again, my fate is on you, Mya. When are you going to get tired of controlling people’s futures?”
I turned toward the door and let myself out.
“I already am,” she said before I closed it behind me.
Drav and Thallirin were waiting on the front lawn. Both looked equally grumpy, so I kept walking. The whole situation was frustrating the heck out of me, and I was starting to feel stifled again. I tried to tell myself that no one was taking choices from me, but it wasn’t feeling that way. It felt like everyone was controlling the direction of my life but me.
Thallirin caught up to me when I was almost to Garrett’s house.
“Are you angry?” he asked.
“Yep.”
He didn’t say anything else as I knocked on the door.
Zach answered a minute later.
“Hey! Come in. Want some pancakes?”
“No, we already ate. I was wondering if you and Garrett wanted to go trade with Tenacity again today?”
“You sure you’re up for it?”
“It’s not like there’s anything else for me to do.”
“Okay. There’s a bunch of stuff that Julie set aside for us to take over. She heard that the survivors had some livestock with them and suggested we try to trade for that.”
I followed him into the kitchen where Garrett was manning the stove.
“Morning,” he said. “How’s the leg?”
“Stitched up and ready for adventure.”
He grinned at me, but his expression lost all humor when his gaze shifted to Thallirin, who I knew stood just behind me. I glanced back at him and found him glaring at Garrett.
“You don’t get to glare,” I said, nudging him. “If Garrett wants to be nice to me, he can.”
Thallirin slowly looked down at me, his face darkening at an alarming rate.
“No Garrett.”
“Oh, shit,” Garrett said from behind me.
“What the hell does ‘No Garrett’ mean?” I asked. “Like no looking at him, no talking to him, or what?”
Thallirin picked me up, set me aside, and started for a very panicked looking Garrett.
“Touch him, and I’m never sleeping next to you again,” I said, quickly.
Thallirin slowed.
“Touch him, and I’m moving back in with Mom and Uan.”
Thallirin stopped just inches from Garrett.
“I swear, I have no intention to be anything but a brother to Brenna,” Garrett said, retreating from Thallirin. “Ever.”
I rolled my eyes in understanding.
“I’m not interested in having sex with Garrett, Thallirin.”
That broke the spell, and Thallirin turned to study me.
“And I’m even madder at you now than I was before.”
That took the remaining anger out of his eyes.
Ignoring him, I sat at the table and waited for Garrett and Zach to finish eating.
“Be thankful you’re not yet eighteen, Zach,” Garrett said. “After that, you’re squashable competition.”
“I’m so tired of all this eighteen bullshit,” I said. “It’s a damn number to designate the average age most people attain a reasonable measure of adult-like maturity. It’s not a hard line.”
“Something you want to talk about?” Zach asked warily.
I looked at my younger brother and shook my head, knowing it wasn’t something he really wanted to hear. He was only asking to uphold the family rule to communicate.
“No. I’ll spare you my life drama.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was in Thallirin’s arms as he carried me toward Tenacity. We weren’t alone. Garrett, Zach, and I had run into Eden and Ghua at the shed. Eden had taken one look at my angry expression and volunteered to go on the trade run with us.
As soon as we arrived, the fey carrying the supplies went straight to Tolerance’s storage shed and started unloading. Then, they left to fetch another load while we waited for Matt.
Eden tugged me aside as people started to gather to look at what we had for trade.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Not really. I’ve been this far away,” I pinched my fingers together so there was only a sliver of space between them, “from infection twice. Now, Mr. Brenna-is-mine over there decides it’s all talk and no go, spouting nonsense about me needing to turn eighteen. Do you even know what day it is? I sure as hell don’t.”
She gave me a quick hug.
“I’m so glad it’s not what I was thinking,” she said. Then she pulled back to frown at me. “He’s seriously turning you down? What have you tried?”
“Full frontal exposure with leg lift.”
“Damn. He didn’t budge?”
She looked to where Thallirin was standing, arms crossed to keep the humans from getting too close to us.
“He kissed me, but that’s not going to keep me safe.”
“Maybe he needs to be romanced,” she said. “Soft light. Dinner. Music. See-through clothing.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I’m at a loss here. All I have to do is look at Ghua, and he starts stripping. It doesn’t matter where we are or who else is in the room.”
“Maybe Thallirin’s not as into me as Ghua’s into you,” I said, feeling more than upset at the idea.
I looked at Thallirin again, but a flash of white hair in the crowd beyond him distracted me.
Time stopped. I knew that hair. The crowd shifted, and the view was gone before I could see a face.
“You just got really pale,” Eden said.
Not answering her, I rushed past Thallirin and into the crowd even as fear crawled up my spine. Eden called my name, but I didn’t take my eyes from the spot where I’d seen the hair. I had to know if it was true.
When I reached where I thought I’d seen the man, I turned a slow circle, looking for him. For a moment, I thought he’d noticed me and run. Then, the crowd shifted again, and I spotted an older man with a shock of white hair, holding the arm of an older woman. They saw me watching and smiled.
I managed a weak smile in return and exhaled slowly.
My eyes had been wrong.
Oscar, Van’s father, wasn’t in Tenacity.
Chapter Fifteen
Hands locked around my arms, and the unexpected contact startled a yip out of me. I jerked my gaze up as I was lifted off my feet and carried out of the crowd. Thallirin’s gaze swept over my face. He didn't say anything until I was on my own two feet near the supply shed.
Bracing his arms against the metal wall on each side of me, he leaned in. I didn't feel caged but protected. It didn't matter that Oscar wasn’t here. Thinking I’d seen him was enough of a reminder that it wasn't just the infected I needed to worry about.