Mine

Part 58

I pace the length of my room, one arm around my waist, the other hand pinching the bridge of my nose. Salina sat at my desk, watching me pace. I stop and turn to her. "Tell it to me again." I start pacing again.
Salina sighs. "Penny, you've been at this for two hours now. Going over it over and over isn't going to help you. You need stop and do something else. Give yourself a break."
I shake my head. "Micheal told them too much." I stop. "What if we sent someone in to spy?"
Salina pauses. "Okay, but even if we were to do that, who would we send? Definitely not the newborns. And we need Turner here."
I nod. "Maybe Tommo?" I ask in a low voice only Salina could hear, knowing the rest of the house could hear our conversation until now.
"We could." Salina replies thoughtfully. "He just got out of his newborn phase too."
"True." I move to the door, opening it and calling out his name. I walk to the desk and lean against it as Tommo appears in the doorway. "Close the door."
He obeys me, and walks closer when I beckon him over. The three of us lean over the map.
"I need a spy." I tell him. "I need you to act as though you've been banished. You are to go to the Dragons, send any information to me."
Tommo nods. "What information do you need?"
"Any plans that they have against us. Anything that traitor, Micheal, told them. I need to know what they want." I say.
"Do you want me to go now?"
"Go tomorrow. Feed tonight and leave tomorrow, as though you've been banished. Find anything useful, and send it to me." He nods, leaving. I turn to Salina. "I need you to make another trip to the blood bank. Take two others with you; I don't care who." She leaves. I listen to her footsteps going down the stairs, calling out two names, then she stops.
"Oh, hey, Colby. She's upstairs if that's what you wanted to know." I hear Salina say.
"Thanks." He replies.
I sigh. I turn to the map and lean over it again, my hands in fists on the edge of the desk. Hands touch my arms, moving down to my wrists, and I tilt my head back against his shoulder as Colby kisses the top of my head.
"Relax. You're stressing yourself out." He tells me.
"I have to stress." I say. "It's my job."
"You can take breaks."
I laugh. "I'm leader, Colby. Leaders don't take breaks. If they did, their clan would fall apart."
"You know what I mean."
"Do I?"
"Do you?" He leans to the side a little to look into my face.
Instead of answering his question, I say, "I need to feed. It's been too long this week."
Colby leans back, letting me go. "Yeah, I think you should." He turns away.
I frown, watching him. What made his mood change so suddenly? "Colby?"
He looks back at me. "Yeah?"
"Are you alright?" I ask. "Did your friends upset you or something?" He shakes his head, and I purse my lips, knowing he's lying. "What did they say?"
"It's Jake." He sighs. "He says he's curious on what it feels like to be fed off of. Because of both of us talking about it."
"What did you say?"
"I told him no. I'm not ready to feed without you there to make sure I don't kill anyone, and you're too busy with everything that's going on."
"Colby, there's only one way to know if you're ready for that, and you do need to try. You're right. I am busy, but I know you can keep yourself from kill someone. You just have to try." I say. "As for Jake, just ignore him. It's natural for him to be curious about it, but if you don't want to, you don't have to. And he has to respect that." I sit beside him on the bed. "Okay?"
He nods. "Okay."