Read Online Bad Blood (Book 4 of The Warden series) by Felicia Jedlicka - Free Book Online Page B

goodbye with Cori. It was short lived though. He saw Cori wave and the door shut.
    He felt the truck move and he remembered how painful it was the first time he left her at those docs. He knew as well as anyone, it was only for a few days, but when you were with someone nearly every moment of every day, it was surprisingly painful to be away from them for even a short time. It seemed like he was going to have to be the one submerged in work to keep from fretting over her.
     
     
     
     
     
     
    12
    Cori barely made it in to report for duty. Her first night without Ethan by her side had left her tossing and turning. Consequently, she slept through the alarm. If it weren’t for the houses subtle lighting changes and temperature drop, she may have still been comatose in her bed. She wasn’t sure she was thankful for the goading, considering how tired she was, but she appreciated that the house took notice of her, even if she hadn’t been doing the best job keeping her apartment picked up.
    Decked out in black cargo pants—with more pockets than pants should be allowed to have, a white t-shirt, and a fitted matching black jacket she strolled into the prison. She hadn’t intended on joining the black brigade like the guards, but her gun holster left her yanking up her relaxed fit jeans. Plus the black was rather slimming.
    When she changed her outfit, Ethan had a fit. In fact, any small changes in her hairstyle or personality put him on guard. He had been paranoid ever since the transmorph incident. He was mortified that he had not been able to identify the culprit Cori and he was determined to never mistake her again.
    She jogged up the short set of stairs and through the hall leading to Danato’s office. It would only cut a few seconds off her late arrival, but every second counted. She opened the office door, but before she could enter, and even before Danato and Belus had looked up to see her, they both said, “Gun!”
    She grimaced and backpedaled to remove her pistol and place it in the hanging bin by the door. She had been wearing the thing nonstop for a few weeks, so she often forgot it was there. She went inside and closed the door. Belus for a change was sitting in a chair in front of the desk drinking coffee, while Danato was filling out paperwork.
    “Sorry I’m late,” she said plopping herself on the arm of the free chair with her feet on the seat.
    Danato looked up at the clock. “Five minutes? That’s hardly worth apologizing for.”
    Cori looked up at the clock on the wall. It read 8:05. The black on white numbers were all in the correct order, but they certainly weren’t reading right. She was at least forty-five minutes late. If not nearly an hour by her calculations. She was certain the clock was wrong, but she wasn’t going to argue the point just to win disfavor.
    “Are we going to go into the time bubble?” She rubbed her hands in anticipation. After some convincing and a little of Belus’s diplomatic skills, Cori had gotten permission to plant a garden in the wizard realm so they could grow food faster. With no animal competition, and the time difference, she could plant a seed or seedling and be back to pick fresh vegetables in less than three days.
    “No. Sit on that chair right,” Danato scolded.
    “No?” She glanced at Belus for some support as she slipped into the chair. He gave her a barely noticeable headshake and sipped his hot coffee gingerly. It was his way of saying “ wait .” It was also his way of saying, “ don’t open your mouth, and say something you’ll regret .” Either way she held her tongue for Danato to continue.
    “ We are not going. You are,” Danato said.
    “Me, by myself?” Cori had been into the wizard world a few times since her original stint with Ethan, but only for a few minutes at a time to track entrance locations. She knew she could handle the world, but it didn’t mean the prospect of being there for several hours didn’t scare her just a