"We both do," he replied, his voice so gentle it terrified her. "You and I, Alex. We're both a part of it. I am, because my father is Breed. And you are, because you bear the same birthmark as my mother and a small number of other, very rare women. You are a Breedmate, Alex. Your blood properties and unusual cellular makeup connect you to the Breed on the most primal level."
"That's ridiculous." She shook her head, recalling how tenderly he had touched the odd little scarlet mark on her hip when they were together in the cabin earlier today. Without trying, she could still feel the heat of his fingertips on that very spot. "A birthmark doesn't make me anything. It doesn't prove anything--"
"No," he said carefully. "But there are other things that do. Have you ever been sick in your life?
Have you always felt a little bit lost, a little bit detached, different from all the other people around you?
Some part of you has always been searching, reaching for something you could never quite grasp. You've never truly found your place of belonging in the world. I'm right, aren't I, Alex?" She couldn't speak. God help her, she could hardly breathe.
Kade went on. "You're also gifted in some way that you can't really explain--some innate ability that separates you from the rest of the mortal world."
She wanted to tell him he was wrong about all of that. Wanted to, but couldn't. Everything he said summed up her experience and her innermost feelings. It was as though he had known her all her life ... as though he understood her on a level that even she herself had not.
Until this very moment, impossible as it seemed.
"Since I was a child, I have always had an instinct for knowing when someone was telling me the truth or a lie." Kade nodded as she spoke, unsurprised. "I can read others," she said, "but not you."
"It's possible that your talent only works on humans." Humans. Not him, because he was something ... other.
A coldness swept her as the realization sank in fully.
"Are you--" Her voice cracked, almost wouldn't come. "Are you telling me that you're like them--the ones that killed my mother and Richie? The ones that killed the Tomses and Lanny and Big Dave?"
"I'm not sure who's to blame for the killings here recently, but I'm nothing like that. And only the sickest, most heinous members of my kind would do what was done to your family, Alex." He reached out and took her hand in his, brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed them with aching tenderness. His quicksilver eyes held her gaze with an intensity that seared her, deep inside. "I am Breed, Alex. But I will never harm you, or anyone you love. Never. My God, I sure didn't see you coming--didn't see any of this coming. I never expected I'd end up caring like this."
"Kade," she whispered, not knowing what she wanted to say to him after all the things he'd just told her. She was filled with questions and uncertainty, overwhelmed with a confusion of emotions, all of it centered on the man--the Breed male--who held her hand right now, and her heart. As though he understood the torment she was feeling, he leaned around the small table and gathered her into his arms. Alex went to him, letting him pull her onto his lap.
"I don't know what to think of all this," she murmured. "I have so many questions."
"I know." He drew her away from him and smoothed the backs of his fingers along the side of her face, the curve of her neck. "I'll answer anything you ask me. When I come back, you can ask me everything you need to know."
"When you come back?" The thought of him leaving, now, when her head--hell, her whole life--was turned upside-down, was unthinkable. He stood up, easing her up with him. "Where are you going?"
"Something has been bothering me about Skeeter Arnold. I saw him with someone the other night, outside Pete's tavern. They took him to a mining company several miles from here."
"What was the name of it?"
"Coldstream."
Alex frowned. "That place shut down about twenty years ago, but I heard new management moved in recently. They're keeping things pretty private out there. Put up a bunch of surveillance equipment and security fences around the perimeter."
"New management, eh?" Kade's dark expression spoke volumes.
"You don't think ..."
"Yeah, I do. But I need to be sure."
"Then I'm going with you."
His dark brows crashed together. "Absolutely not. It could be dangerous--"
"Exactly why I'm not about to wait around and worry. I am going with you." She walked over and grabbed her parka, pretending she didn't hear his muttered curse behind her. "Well, are you coming, or what?"
Chapter Nineteen
Since his snowmachine was still parked at Alex's house from earlier that morning, they had each taken a sled and rode out together, heading for the Coldstream Mining Company several miles out of town. Rather than draw undue attention, they'd ditched the noisy machines about a half mile from the secured site and walked the rest of the way on snowshoes.
The reconnaissance would have gone a lot faster if he'd been able to do it alone, but Kade was inwardly relieved to have Alex with him. At least this way she was in sight and within arm's reach. Back in town by herself left her vulnerable, a concept that made his heart squeeze a bit tighter in his chest as he navigated the dark, frozen tundra at her side.
navigated the dark, frozen tundra at her side.
Up ahead of them several hundred yards, floodlights washing over the snow, the mining company's compound was alive with activity. As had been the case when Kade first surveilled the location, tonight a handful of uniformed workers continued to empty one of the two parked cargo containers outside the mouth of the mine itself. Guards with automatic rifles patrolled the barricade out front; mounted security cameras were trained on the land surrounding the tall chain-link perimeter fence. Kade paused, putting his gloved hand on Alex's arm. "This is as far as we go."