Yet, she did.
She trusted him enough to go to a bar with him, to follow him into the woods, and to walk her to her room.
“Where do you sleep?” she asked.
Trevor walked past her door and stopped one door over.
“Right here.” He grinned.
“You didn’t think to mention that?”
“At first, I didn’t think you should know. I wanted you to feel comfortable even if that meant thinking I was far away.”
“Sound logic…kind of.” Holly nodded. “Is your room comfortable?”
“I’ve been living here for years,” he replied. “It’s very comfortable. You have a bigger room, though. I splurged on the luxury suite.”
“How can you pay for this? Living here for years can’t be cheap. Neither can renting the luxury suite.”
“Mrs. Sanders gives me a good rate. Also, I’m swimming in inheritance.”
“I thought your parents were alive,” Holly said.
“They are, but my father is too batshit to handle our finances. I thought my mother would take over, but she didn’t. She signed everything over to me. They have an account they use to pay for my father’s care and mother’s upkeep. I get to use everything else.”
“And you use it to live in a hotel?”
“Purchasing property doesn’t seem like a wise idea right now. A war zone tends to tank property values.”
“Ah ha!” Holly whipped around with a huge grin on her face. “That’s your master plan! Start a war, tank property values, and then buy up all of Golden Oak and Silver Spruce.”
Trevor put his hands up in mock surrender. “You caught me.”
“You would’ve gotten away with it too if it weren’t for some mystical wall that doesn’t give a damn about the rules of reality.”
“Rules of reality,” Trevor said thoughtfully. “You might be on to something there.”
“As fun as standing around, theorizing about magic walls is,” Holly said, “I think I’m going to go lie down.”
“You need to sleep off your rampant alcoholism,” he joked.
“I’m curious to see what kind of hangover springtime fruit punch will give me.” She opened the door to her room but didn’t quite step inside. When she looked at Trevor, he was still in the hallway, watching her. “Thanks for trying to make my birthday fun,” she said. “In a weird way, it was.”
“No problem.” He smiled.
She stepped into her room, then hesitated. When she stuck her head back into the hall, Trevor was still there. “For the record,” she said. “I trust you.”
“I trust you, too.”
Something warm and comforting bloomed in Holly’s stomach. When she smiled, it felt honest and true, something she hadn’t felt all day.
“Good night,” she murmured.
“Good night.”
Holly stepped into her room and closed the door. She listened through the silence until she heard Trevor open his door and go inside.
Without turning on any of the lights, she walked to her bed and sat down.
Her mind wandered back to the wall. She saw her shifters. They were looking for her, just as she believed they were. She just had no idea how close they were until today.
They must’ve only recently found the wall.
What kind of magic made it possible for her to see them as if they were taking a stroll through the park but not let them see her?
To her, they were in a park, yet all they saw was a forest. How is that possible? What did it mean?
Elise found a weak spot, but it repaired itself. That alone was concerning, but what if they looked for more weak spots? What if they ended up walking right into the center of town, unaware that everyone else could see them?
Elise would think of that, Holly assured herself. Elise wasn’t hyped up on shifter testosterone. She’d make sure the others wouldn’t charge through the town like morons.
Her breath caught in her chest, startling her out of her thoughts.
Something cold tickled her cheek. She brought her hand up to brush it away, only to realize she’d touched a tear. Another tear fell, then another.
Soon, she couldn’t stop herself. Her shuddering breaths gave way to jerking sobs that rattled her lungs and put a deep ache in her ribs.
Knowing they were out there looking for her was one thing, but seeing them… Seeing them was horrible. It shouldn’t have been horrible. She should feel grateful and relieved that she got to see them, even if it was for one too brief moment.
She leaped to her feet and began to pace.
No matter what she did, the tears kept coming. The sobs wouldn’t stop.
She didn’t know what would make it better. At first, she thought that going back to Pearl’s house—her house—was all she wanted. That wasn’t the case anymore.
She knew far more than any of her shifter males did. She had a chance to protect them for once. They didn’t have to know everything she knew. Their ignorance could keep them safe from whatever made that wall, from whatever hunted her.
The moment she thought she was going to lose Loch forever had been the worst moment of her life. Even though Trevor never had any intention of killing Loch, Holly hadn’t known that at the time.
Never again did she want to feel that fear.
If that meant keeping her shifters in the dark and going through this alone, then that was what she’d do.
She came to an abrupt halt.
She wasn’t alone.
Before she could stop herself, she left her room, walked down the hall, and knocked on Trevor’s door.
“You can’t borrow my shampoo,” he said as he answered the door. “My hair requires a specific formula; otherwise, it loses its luster. Have you been crying?” The playful glint in his eyes vanished.
“Yes.” Holly tried—and failed—to
