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I squeezed my eyes shut and I sent out the promise again, fingers on the stone. I sensed him close by. Felt him, smelled him--
"I knew I'd find you here," a voice said behind me. "Sooner or later."
My heart stopped and I knew I was hearing wrong, that it must be Daniel, come to find me, but my mind was still fixed on--
"Rafe," I whispered.
I turned. He was walking out of the forest and he was grinning and ... and there was no "and" because that was all I could think.
My eyes shut. I didn't want them to. I didn't care if it was an illusion, I wanted to see him one more time before the vision disappeared and I was left with that last horrible memory of him falling from the helicopter.
"I know I'm looking a little rough," he said. "But I didn't think it was that bad."
His voice came closer. "Open your eyes, Maya," he whispered. "It's me."
TWENTY-NINE
I OPENED MY EYES and when I did, he was right there, and all I could see was his eyes, those amazing amber eyes that I could fall into and--
I stumbled back. "You're not real."
"Mmm, actually, I am. Not a ghost." He brushed his hand over the tops of the tall grasses, making them sway. "Not a zombie either, or I'd smell even worse by now. Not a ghost, not a zombie, just a freaking insanely lucky guy."
"I saw you fall."
"The fall isn't the problem. It's the sudden stop at the end. Avoid that and..." He waved his hands down his body. "Apparently, you can survive."
"That's not... You can't..."
"Did I mention the insanely lucky part? Great thing about this island? Really big trees. Gotta love those redwoods, especially when they break your fall. Still it was a helluva hit and I've got the war wounds to show for it."
He held out his bare arms, covered in healing scratches. There were more on his face. I looked at him then, my first good look, as hope started to flutter in my chest.
Except for the scratches and a purpled bruise on his chin, he looked exactly as I remembered. Blue jeans, tank top, faded denim jacket, boots. Black hair curling over his collar. Brown eyes flecked with gold. Crooked smile threatening to burst into a grin.
"Got impaled, too." He lifted his shirt and turned around to show me what looked like a scabbed-over stab wound in his side. "Dislocated my shoulder. Passed out from the pain. When I woke up, the shoulder was fixed--one of the benefits of being a shape-shifter I guess--and the rest was healing. I was unconscious for a while, apparently."
"I ... I still--"
"Can't believe it?" Rafe shrugged. "I'm guessing a regular person wouldn't have survived. But we're part cat so maybe falls aren't so bad. I think I lost one of my nine lives though." He twisted to look at the stab wound. "Maybe two."
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him, and when I did, I knew he was real--the heat of him, the smell of him, the feel of him, the taste of him so incredibly real that it surpassed anything my memory could conjure up. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back, and it was like every other amazing kiss he'd given me, multiplied ten-fold. I kissed him until I couldn't breathe, and then I kissed him a little more, until I had to pull back, gasping.
"I have got to die more often," he said. And he grinned, that incredible blaze of a grin that made me kiss him again.
When we finally pulled apart, he brushed his palm over my still-damp cheeks.
"Your parents are okay, Maya," he murmured. "They've just left. The whole town left."
"I know. That's not..." I stepped back, out of his arms, and looked over at the fallen tree. "I came out here and I saw that, and I remembered us... You..."
He looked startled and ... something else I couldn't quite put my finger on, but definitely startled, like he hadn't ever thought I'd be crying over him.
"I dreamed you were alive," I said. "You were calling me and you needed help, and I wanted to go but..." I swallowed. "It didn't make sense. I told myself you couldn't be, so I didn't, and I'm sorry if--"
"You wouldn't have found me, Maya. If I called you, it was only in my dreams, when I was out cold. I never expected you to come after me. I should be dead." He tugged me into his arms. "I'm just really, really glad I'm not."
He kissed me, and it wasn't like the other ones, all fire and emotion. This one was achingly sweet and when we separated, the look in his eyes was ... almost sad.
