The Cardinal Bird (1 of Cardinal Series)

Chapter 15

AN: I fixed chapter 14...I had originally posted chapter 13 twice.  If you haven't checked it out yet, make sure to read it first :)  And thank you to those for letting me know about it!  I would've probably not checked for a long while.

I jumped, my mind quickly catching up as adrenaline began to load up in my body. I was concerned because our driver had somehow spoken from next to me, most assuredly not in the driver's seat. My voice came out thick and raspy, nearly unintelligible. "Are we stopped?!"

"Did you hear me! You stopped b--"

"North," Silas said, sharply, cutting him off. "χαλαρώστε, αδερφή. αυτή αναπνέει τώρα. απαντήστε στις ερωτήσεις της και ίσως απαντήσει στη δική σας." (See end, author's note, 1)

That sounded Mediterranean. I vaguely remembered someone calling someone else, whom I assumed was Silas, a "Giant Greek" earlier at the warehouse. I would have to learn the language. Despite knowing several, Greek was not in my repertoire.

North studied me a moment as he thought about what Silas had told him. He cleared his throat. "We stopped at the side of the road after we reached the border long enough to switch out drivers. It's taking us a bit longer to get there since we've been sticking to backroads when possible."

I relaxed back onto the bench seat with a big exhale.

Nathan ran his fingers through my knotted up hair, and, as long as I didn't feel self-conscious on how gross that had to be for him, it was pretty soothing.

"Where are we?"

"Not far from the airport actually. You were asleep for quite a while," Karl said from the driver's seat.

"You can relax, Peanut."

I raised an eyebrow at Nathan and watched as his face turned slightly pink. It brought out the red tones in his russet-colored hair.

"Why the fuck are you calling her a peanut?"

Nathan shrugged his massive shoulders, trying to not look so uncomfortable but the bright red tips of his ears gave him away. "Because she's tiny...like a peanut."

Now I was blushing, too.

"Are you going to tell us about why you're not upset or even surprised that you stopped breathing in your sleep?" North asked, his voice rough

I looked down, meeting his angry brown eyes, but then my eyes wandered, unable to keep his gaze. He had a chiseled, broad jaw that was 100% masculine and 99% distracting, showcased sinfully by dark stubble and a pronounced Adam's apple. I forced my eyes to move on, but I was quickly realizing there wasn't anywhere safe to look.

My eyes defaulted to the riveted ceiling I was quickly becoming familiar with. "Sometimes I wake up and realize I've stopped breathing."

"Why?" he boomed.

I shrugged, and that was apparently the absolutely wrong thing to do.

"Sang, you didn't just stop breathing for a few seconds. You stopped for over two minutes!"

My body started shaking. I wanted to stop it. I didn't want to be weak in the face of so much anger. I had pulled it off many times before, but I couldn't seem to find the will to do it now.

"Peanut?"

"North!" Karl said, and despite not being able to see him, I could hear the frown in his voice.

North ran his hands through his thick, black hair. I watched the way his forearms bulged at the movement. Forearms nearly as thick as my thighs. Forearms that could easily snap me in half if I provoked him enough.