I wondered if she’d ever wiped my memory, or my mom’s, or the other Elders’.
The thought was horrifying.
I was so wrapped in my thoughts that I didn’t even hear Liam step out onto the patio. “Everything okay?” he asked.
His voice shook me from my patio pacing, and I looked up, staring at his perfect face swathed in moonlight. All the pain of him leaving me, even though I now understood the reason, came rushing back.
I nodded. “Cam?”
“He’s good.”
We were quiet again, and I looked up to see him staring at me.
“I…missed you,” he said. “All I’ve done is think about you every night for two weeks.”
His realization shocked me. He’d slept with me, and then he’d told me we could work together professionally because we had a common interest. Then he’d left me in the middle of the village and denied my invitation to live here. It had cut me deeper than I’d expected, and no matter how much I wanted to jump back in, I couldn’t.
He reached out for me, but I shrank back. “You hurt me. I…need time.” The upset in my voice was further proof of how much he’d wounded me.
He pulled his hand back, a cold mask falling over his face. “Probably best. Everyone I love dies, anyway.”
He spun then and walked away, his black wings smoking at the tips as he disappeared into the house.
Everyone I love dies, anyway. Had he just lowkey admitted he loved me? My brain short-circuited for a moment.
His mother. Obviously, he was talking about his love for his dying mother, but…the way he’d stormed off made me feel like I had made a horrible mistake in rejecting him.
That night, I lay awake for hours, thinking of him feeding her soup and imaging if I’d had to watch my own mother die a slow and painful death. What kind of person would that have made me?
I didn’t envy Liam, and I regretted rejecting his touch.
The next morning, my body seemed as heavy as a sack of sand. I was tired, hungry, and felt like shit for brushing Liam off. All night, I’d kept seeing his frail mother in my mind’s eye and the way her hair hung in limp chunks around her face.
It had given me an idea. A potentially dangerous idea…
After showering and getting ready, I headed downstairs. Cam was in his human form, shirtless and sitting at my dining table, eating a huge plate of food.
“How are you not full yet?” Elle was looking down at him incredulously. “You’ve eaten half the food in the house!”
Cam shoved a piece of toast into his mouth and grunted at her, but the way he checked out her ass when she walked back over to the fridge made me wonder if there was something underlying their mutual hatred.
“Glad to see you healed.” As I scanned the fine hairline scars on Cam’s abdomen, I realized Liam hadn’t come down yet. Good—it gave me more time to think over what I was going to say.
Cam swallowed his food. “Yeah, about that.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks for helping me. I clearly misjudged you.”
Wow. Wasn’t expecting that. “You’re welcome.”
Elle cleared her throat loudly. “And what about me? I carried your dying ass on my back all the way from Central Park!”
Cam gave her a slow grin, and by the way it knocked the anger off my bestie’s face, I could tell it affected her. “Nah, I didn’t misjudge you.”
Elle was holding an apple, which she promptly chucked at Cam’s head. In one swift move, he caught it and took a bite, giving her a grin.
When she smiled back, I knew we were in trouble.
“Let’s move out.” Liam’s dark and gravelly voice came from behind me, and I froze.
Spinning, I drank in his lithe form. As fae, it was hard to conceal our emotions. The wings never lied, and Liam’s hung limp at his sides.
“Hey, can we talk privately for a minute?” I whispered.
“We really should head to Idaho and get those crystals before my dad and his men hide them,” he mumbled.
I frowned. “It’s important.”
He glared at me, and I realized then just how badly my rejecting him last night had hurt him.
“Please?” I asked.
He sighed and followed me as I walked up the stairwell. We stood awkwardly in the hallway together.
“What’s up?” His arms were crossed, jaw clenched. He was so pissed at me.
I rubbed my temples, so fucking tired from the lack of proper sleep of late. “I couldn’t stop thinking about your mom last night.”
His wings snapped stiff, and his mouth popped open. “What do you mean?”
My throat tightened with emotion. “I mean, I have a crazy idea…”
He frowned, apparently confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Remember that healing water I got that healed your stomach and the crystals?”
His eyes lit up. “You think? But the healing stones made her worse.”
“We could go back to the healing pool and ask the High Priestess.” I shrugged. “She could tell us if it could heal your mom. Maybe if she drank some, or if we made her a bath of the water.”
Liam looked surprised. “You would do all that? For me? My mom?”
“Liam, we’re soulmates. I know you don’t know what that means, but—”
“You said I hurt you. You pushed me off.” He crossed his arms, and his jaw ticked.
I threw my arms up in exasperation. “You had sex with me and then dumped me in front of the entire village! I have the right to be a little pissed. That doesn’t mean I don’t still care for you.”
A slow grin crept across his face, and he stepped closer to me. “So, you’re saying you missed me back?”
I rolled my eyes. “A tiny, minuscule amount…yeah.”
“Shut up.” He leaned in to capture my mouth in his.
The second our tongues touched, a whimper escaped me. I’d
