Iris~~

Three hours later, the taxi pulls up in front of a group of townhomes. In the light of the morning sun, they're too friendly, too homey. They don't seem like the place an exported citizen of my country would be living. Not where Erik would be living.

I match the house number to the address. The one it leads to practically drips with charm. There are flowerbeds and a picket fence.

Our muscles stiff, we stumble out of the taxi, our joints cracking. Everything about us is so un-society like.

Once the taxi has taken off, Colton and Bently tuck a gun into the back of their jeans. I don't opt for a weapon. Erik, weapons, and I never work out. All of us are acutely aware that we could have been followed.

As we walk up the steps, I decide his light blue door is terrifying. It may be cute, but it also makes me want to chase after the taxi, dive into the backseat, and somehow find a blanket to hide under.

"Go on." Bently nudges me to knock.

Before I can think too much about it, I do so. In reality it was only three sharp knocks. In my head it was the toiling of a bell in a tower.

No one comes to the door, and Colton takes a step back. He better not be planning to kick it down. Not yet anyway.

Someone curses from inside—a voice that's distinctly Erik's. My breath catches, and the knot in my stomach tightens.

The door opens, and before I have time to hide, Erik stands before us, shirtless and in a pair of green basketball shorts. He braces himself against the door and the banister. "What the hell are you doing here?"

He's alive. After so many months of dreaming of him dead, he's before me, breathing. Albeit not looking too great—his hair is a mess and his eyes have faint lines of pink—but he's alive.

Bently pushes his way past Erik, forcing him to drop his hand from the door. "We're trying to save you."

Colton follows after Bently.

I know I shouldn't keep turning over the fact that he's alive. I've known his Expiration Date, but bad dreams chase away facts. They may be in the mind, but they're led by the heart.

Erik's eyes fasten on me, his eyelids heavy. "Are you going to barge your way in too?"

"I—" Every time I dreamt about this moment, Erik was dead or I was killing him. There was no awkward conversation, only apologies for shooting him. "Abella and Alix are coming for you. I—we wanted to make sure they didn't get to you."

"So I can't give up any of your precious secrets?" I don't know if it's his tone or the way he glances over his shoulder at Colton and Bently, but I know he's referring to the Society's secrets and not my own.

"We don't want them to hurt you." I pull my shoulders back and step past him as if his presence doesn't bother me.

Colton and Bently cunder a painting of water lilies. On the other end of the room is a bar and behind that is a kitchen. From where I stand, I can just spot a dish towel in the kitchen with a sunflower, and to my right is a living room, the couches a light gray, and on the coffee table is a vase of blue flowers. Surrounding the vase are three bottles of wine, one overturned and the other two nearly empty.

For someone who just switched addresses, it seems too homey and cozy, but then again Erik is known for having an exorbitant number of safe houses. Maybe the fact it seems nothing like him is the point.

Erik shuts the door with enough force that a vase on a table near it rattles. "How did you find me?"

"What matters is that the DGSE know where to find you, and they'll be here before the end of the day."

From the living room a groggy feminine voice speaks out in French. A bedraggled—or in this case couchraggled—head of black hair pokes up from behind the couch. A face follows. Dark eyes hidden under heavy-lidded eyelids flick between the four of us.

Colton makes a choked sound, and even though Erik is now turned away from me, I can feel him rolling his eyes.

"Who's this?" Bently asks.

Erik says something in French, and while I don't know what he says, he seems to be addressing the girl. Bently's lips inch up in a smirk.

The girl stands, grabbing her purse and slipping on her shoes. She's clothed in a pair of silky gray shorts and a tank top. She takes one of the three wine bottles, and muttering something to Erik, she leaves. I wouldn't say she slams the door, but she definitely puts effort into it.

We stare at the door. It's that or each other or the flowers.

"So . . ." Bently drawls forcing us to take stock of one another.

Erik picks at his fingernails. "I'm a grown man. Can't I have a wine night?"

The look Colton sends Erik clearly says not to test him.

As per usual, Erik ignores it. "Look, my own family exiled me. I made the best of it. Am I now supposed to put my life on hold because France also hates me too?"

Colton steps toward him, his shoulders squared. "And how could anyone ever hate you, my dear, dear cousin?"

Erik stands up straighter, and I throw an exasperated look at Bently. He shrugs.

I make my way past Erik and Colton and slip into the living area. I grab the blue flowers from the vase on the coffee table.

Erik puts a finger on Colton's chest. "You're just an arrogant—"

Colton's jaw tightens. "You think everything—"

"Do you really expect everyone to bow—"

"Life must be so hard—"

I throw one of the flowers, hitting Erik in the back of the head. He jumps, reaching to where I hit him.

"Can you continue this later when the French aren't about to beat down the door?"

Colton crosses his arms. "Where's Andrew?"

"He pops up every now and then."

"Erik," Bently snaps. "Do you or do you not know where he is? There's an Amoris killing people left and right and leaving Expiration Dates. France wants you and him, and they don't know you don't have the ability to give Expiration Dates. For them, they see the Mark and think of the entire Society."

Erik looks shocked. "An Amoris? Here?"

We nod.

Rubbing his jaw, Erik leans against the back of the couch. "I really don't know where he is, but we have a house that we share. A safe house. Either of us can go, but since I don't have a way to contact him, I can't know if he's there."

Bently pulls aside the curtain near the door and peers outside.

Colton turns his back on Erik and walks to the other end of the room, near where the kitchen starts. What was it like to have grown up around two people who betrayed your brother so viciously to the point they tried to kill him? Colton has betrayed his brother but not like that.

I've known Erik for less than a year, and I've seen him change so much. But he and Colton are the same age. They've always been together.

"Where is this house?" Colton finally asks.

"The middle of nowhere of course."

Bently lets the curtain fall back in place. "A car just pulled up."

"I do have neighbors."

Shaking his head at Erik, Bently pulls the backpack off his shoulder and plops it on the couch. "Do you have weapons?"

"Do you need to ask?"

I inch toward Colton in the kitchen. "France is already going to be ticked," I say to him. "Should we really bring weapons into this? I don't think Jonas will appreciate coming home to a war with our strongest ally."

"If they find out about the Amoris"—Colton reaches into a cabinet and pulls out a glass—"there will be a war regardless, and most likely with more than France."

The last thing we want is another world war.

He fills the glass with water and chugs it. When he's finished, he sets it down on the counter with a thud. "Erik, do you have a car?"

He nods.

"Then I suggest everyone use the restroom now. We're not pulling off on the side of the road if we end up in a car chase. And regardless, I'm not pulling off even if the road is empty and the skies are shinning just so you can ignore the great gift of indoor plumbing."

Have you checked out the pilot for Expiration Date? I've been reading your comments and know some of you are disappointed that it's not exactly the same as the book, and I want you to know that you are being heard and that I understand how you feel. It happens with every adaptation, I think. This process has been crazy and difficult but also fun, and I'm really grateful for this opportunity. Even if the pilot wasn't what you were expecting, I really hope you can still support it so that it can get picked up and become something really, really cool that we all will enjoy! 

https://youtu.be/BXE3UimLsYM