there like a slab of cold stone.
I wrench myself fully awake, gasping.
Will’s there, his hand closing over mine. “You okay?”
I blink off the vestiges of sleep and nod, unable to hide how much the dream disturbed me. Glancing around, I notice we’ve stopped. He’s standing outside the car and leaning over me.
“W-where are we? What are we doing?”
“Stopping for the night,” Will says. I peer through the darkness and notice Cassian’s figure etched against the night. “C’mon.”
I climb out of the car. Will takes my hand. The door slams as Tamra steps out, pulling her jacket close. “It’s cold.”
“I’ve got blankets, and we can start a fire.”
I shiver in the chilly night. It’s colder here. I can already detect a drop in the temperature from when we last stopped several hundred miles south. In the distance, great jagged mountains, purple against the black night, break the sky.
Tamra blows into her hands. “Can’t we stay somewhere with a roof and four walls?”
“Until we’re farther from the pride, we should stay low. Keep away from public places.”
I turn at Cassian’s deep voice. His stare is liquid dark in the night. Unreadable as usual except
“He’s right.” Will nods and it strikes me as odd that they’re in accord over anything. “Let’s set up camp.”
“I’ll gather firewood.” Cassian disappears into the trees, and I know he wants this. Time to himself. Away from the sight of me and Will.
Tamra and I help Will spread blankets on the ground and set up a ring of rocks for the fire. Will leaves and comes back with a bag of snacks we got from a gas station earlier. Tamra takes a bag of potato chips and drops down on a blanket.
Cassian returns and I pick a blanket to sit on, watching as he and Will work on getting a fire started. Again, this is strange, seeing them work side by side without trying to kill each other. And yet it gives me hope. Hope that we’re going to band together and everything will be okay.
They’re not having an easy time getting the fire to flourish — at least not quickly. I inch close and lean over the nest of sputtering flames and release enough steam so that the fire bursts to life. Will and Cassian jerk back.
Tamra laughs and edges closer, holding out her hands. “Nice. Thought it was going to take them half the night.”
“Show-off,” Will murmurs, draping an arm around me. We settle back down onto the blanket and the chill melts away in his arms.
Cassian rustles through the bag of snacks. I watch him from the corner of my eye, sensing his discomfort. He selects a bottle of juice and fades into the trees. Part of me feels guilty, that I should go after him and try to ease his discomfort. We’re bonded now. Fake or not, it can’t be easy for him to watch me with Will.
But I’ve been gone too long from Will. I don’t want to move, don’t want to leave the comforting circle of his arms. Not yet. Not ever.
“Let’s eat.” He stretches an arm and pulls the bag over to us. “What’s it going to be? Twinkies? Or Cheetos?”
I can’t remember the last time I ate junk food. Not since Chaparral. I snatch the pack of Twinkies from his hand.
“I knew you’d pick that.”
“Why?”
His lips move over mine. “Sweets for the sweet.”
Will takes care that I’m covered and pulls me close against his side. We share food and watch the gray clouds drift against the dark night. I drink strawberry soda until my nose tickles.
“I guess this is the date we never got a chance to have,” he murmurs, his breath warm on my cheek.
I smile, remembering that our first official date was interrupted by Xander and his cousins. “Well, it’s not that little Greek restaurant you promised me, but as far as dates go I’m having a pretty good time.”
“Strawberry soda, Twinkies, and Cheetos. You deserve better.”
Tamra groans and sits up, gathering her blanket and food. “I’m going to sleep in the car. I can’t survive a night of you two sweet talking.” She sends me a wink as she moves toward the car and I know that she’s not really annoyed — that she’s just giving us a chance to be alone.
We’re quiet for several moments, wrapped in each other’s arms, staring up at the night. “We’ll have that, Jacinda. Someday.”
I turn my face, almost bump my nose with his. “What?”
“Normal dates.”
I smile. “I’m not holding my breath for normal, Will. I just want us to be together. Safe. Happy.”
He runs his hand through my hair. “We will be.”
“We’re going to be fine. I’ll get us in and out of there. I know how the enkros work.”
I know I should ask him to tell me more about them, to explain more about the enemy we face. I know I should tell him about Cassian and me bonding, but my eyes grow heavy even as I try to keep them open. My last sight is of Will, eyes wide-open, staring up at the night.
I wake with a shiver — mine or Will’s, I can’t tell for certain. We’re tangled in each other’s arms; where one of us ends and the other begins is hard to determine. I wiggle free from the comfort of his body and rouse the fire back to life with one gust of breath. Crouching there, I sweep my eyes over our little campsite and notice that it’s still just Will and me.
Rising, I move to the car and spot my sister asleep in the back, the blanket pulled to her chin. No Cassian. The night is gray-blue in color. Dawn isn’t too far off. Did he stay away all night?
Frowning, I head in the direction he took. The dense forest immediately swallows me. I’m not scared, though. Not of nature or my solitude within it. My strides eat up the forest floor, moist earth cushioned with pine needles. Twigs crunch beneath my shoes and the cracking sound gains a rhythm.
I move without thought, but my course is set, routed somewhere deep in my subconscious as I weave a purpose-filled path through the thick press of trees. I’m led by my sense of Cassian. He’s somewhere close. I feel this. Feel him. In the distance, thunder rumbles softly.
The snap is subtle. There are so many sounds around me that I don’t pay it much attention. Noises are part of the woods.
And then it comes again.
Without actually stopping, I listen, angling my face. Several twigs and leaves break beneath the pressure of something heavy. It’s no small animal. No squirrel running through the undergrowth. Not Cassian.
The flesh at my nape quivers. I stop, hold my breath, and scan the ghostly shapes of the trees on every side of me. Releasing the breath I hold in my lungs, I ease down, squatting low, making myself as small as possible.
My fingers graze the ground, preparing to push off, bolt if needed. My bones begin the familiar pull, skin straining, itching to fade out and make way for my tougher draki skin.
The sound grows louder, stomping through the foliage.
Holding myself still, shrinking small, I become part of the landscape as I wait.
At last, I see the source of the noise.
A magnificent black bear lumbers between two trees, his shiny nose snuffling low to the ground as he makes his way. The creature lifts his shiny dark head, ears perked, nostrils working as he sniffs me out, scenting the air. He detects me.
With a huff the massive bear takes several aggressive steps in my direction. I rise to my feet, hold his stare, let him sense the animal in me… that I’m a creature like him, ready to fight back. He dips his head, ready to charge. Our stares lock for a breathless moment. Adrenaline pumps through me fast and hard.
