“Is everything all right?” he asked.
“Um.” Holly shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I had a bad dream. That’s why I woke up in the first place.”
“Oh.” Johnny’s face melted into a sympathetic smile. “How about I stay with you?”
Holly chewed on her bottom lip. “Would you mind?”
“Not at all. My selfish motives aside, it’s important you get your rest. I can’t imagine you’ve gotten much sleep in the last week.”
“Almost none.” Holly pulled back the covers and crawled into bed. “It didn’t feel like it at the time, but now I feel like crap. My limbs feel like they’re filled with wet cement. I’m both starving and too full to think about eating.”
“Sleep deprivation isn’t something you want to fuck around with,” Johnny said with a knowing nod. “Especially now that you’re going to go through Maiden boot camp.”
“That’s a fun spin on it.” Holly curled against Johnny’s side as he slid under the covers. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his cheek on top of her head.
“I try to make ancient prophecies and shifter wars fun where I can,” he replied. “Comfortable?”
“More so than I’ve been all week.” Holly sighed sleepily.
Already, it was getting difficult for her to keep her eyes open. Sleep had her in its grip. She almost drifted off when images of cage bars and snarling teeth filled her subconscious. She shot up in bed with a cry.
“Shh.” Johnny’s arms were around her, and his soothing voice filled her ears. “It’s all right. You’re all right.”
“I don’t know what happened.” Holly’s voice was thick with unshed tears.
“Your brain is simply trying to deal with what happened, that’s all. Your body is safe. Once your brain figures that out, you’ll be all right.” Johnny slowly lowered Holly back down against her fluffy pillows.
“You sound like you know what you’re talking about,” Holly murmured, her eyes already closing once more.
“I do.”
Holly’s eyes sprang open.
Of course, Johnny knew what he was talking about. He’d probably spent hundreds of nights like this after his parents died.
“Johnny,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking and I—” She felt one callused finger press against her lips.
“No need to apologize.” He stroked her hair slowly and gently. “If I can use what I learned healing those wounds to help you, I’ll gladly do it.”
“I’m sorry you have to do it in the first place,” she replied. “It’s not fair.”
Johnny’s parents were killed in the battle between the Silver Spruce Bear Clans and the clans of Golden Oak fifteen years ago. The Golden Oak shifters wanted to return to the dark ways. The Silver Spruce Clans were able to stop them before things got out of hand but at great cost. Johnny wasn’t the only one who lost family. Keller had lost family as well. His father.
Holly often wondered if the Maiden looked for a vessel at that time. She made a mental note to ask next time she conversed with the Maiden.
“No.” Johnny sighed. “It’s not fair. But, because of my parents, the Golden Oak clans didn’t get their way. I truly hoped that would be the end of it, but I guess not.”
Holly propped herself up on her elbow to look at him.
“We’re going to smash them,” Holly said to him. “We’re going to drive them into the ground for what they did to me and for what they took from you.”
That’s my girl, the Maiden’s voice purred in approval.
Some privacy, please? Holly fought the urge to roll her eyes.
She felt the Maiden’s presence slip away. She’d have to get better at detecting when she was being listened to.
“I like the fire in you.” Johnny smiled. “I’d really like to see it turned on the bastards who think the dark ways are the right way.”
He lifted his head off the pillow, his eyes darting to Holly’s mouth.
She dipped her head, closing the distance between them. Their lips touched softly at first, but their kiss quickly deepened.
Johnny wound his hands into her hair, pulling her against him. He rolled, gently pushing Holly onto her back once more.
Holly sank into the pillows and wrapped her arms around Johnny’s shoulders. Something sparked to life inside her, something she hadn’t felt since before her kidnapping.
Lust. Desire. Need. Want.
She took his bottom lip between her teeth and bit down softly.
A deep groan tore from Johnny’s lips before he broke away. “If we keep going, you’re not going to get any sleep tonight.”
Holly arched up into him. She felt the hard length of him press between her legs.
“I don’t have a problem with that.” She sighed.
“Neither do I.” Johnny bent down to kiss her again, but he pulled away too soon. “However, I care too much about you to let you push yourself even further than you already have, even for this.”
“How noble of you.” Holly smirked.
“I’d like to think so.” With a grin, Johnny rolled off of Holly. He laid on his side, behind her, and wrapped an arm around her.
Holly rolled onto her side and slid closer to him so her back was pressed against his chest. She arched into him, pressing her ass into his groin.
“Not fair,” Johnny groaned, his lips pressed against her neck.
“Totally fair.”
CHAPTER SEVEN—Loch
Loch sat at the kitchen island, staring at Garret’s back as he fried up more food than a family of ten could eat in a day. It was more food than Loch ever had in his home at one time. A pang of envy dug into his stomach, but he willed it away. It wasn’t Garret’s fault that he grew up with so little.
“Is
