“Then you’ve come to Canada to study the birds or collect pinecones?”
“No.” Mollie was reluctant to tell a vampire anything about her, but she found herself wanting to reveal more to him because she liked him, even if he thirsted for blood. “My mom was from Canada, and she still had family here. Her last living uncle, and the last of her family, recently passed away. After Aida and I attended his funeral, we decided to take a more scenic route back to Rhode Island rather than sticking to the highway. We figured we’d probably never come this far north again; we planned to see more of the land and maybe hike some trails. It was supposed to be an adventure, but this isnotwhat I had in mind.”
“What about your mom? Why didn’t she come with you?”
“She died from breast cancer two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. She was diagnosed when I was eighteen, and she fought it for three years.”
He sensed her grief in the set of her shoulders and the avoidance of her gaze. “And then she lost the battle.”
“She didn’t lose anything!” Mollie retorted. “I hate when people say that. She struggled through things no human should have to deal with, and by saying she lost, it sounds as if you’re negating everything she went through before she passed. She battled cancer and beat it for years; that makes her a winner in every sense of the word.”
The vehemence of her words astounded him, but he understood what she was saying. He almost told her sorry again but suspected that would only make her angrier.
Mollie ducked her head to wipe away the single tear sliding down her cheek. It had been two years since her mother’s passing. For the last year of her life, Mollie knew her mother was dying, so she’d prepared herself for it, but it hadn’t mattered. Her heart still broke the day her mother stopped breathing, and she continued to grieve the woman who’d been her rock.
Mike rested his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. She stiffened beneath his touch, but she didn’t try to pull away.
“After she passed, I got custody of Aida, who was sixteen at the time. I was twenty-one. I swore I’d protect her and give her as normal a life as possible…”
Mollie’s voice trailed off, and she shrugged away from his touch. She didn’t feel like being comforted while her sister was in the hands of monsters. Not when Aida could already be dead too. For a second, she couldn’t breathe through the lump clogging her throat.
She’d vowed to keep Aida safe, and she’d failed.
“I don’t want to talk anymore,” she said.
“Okay.” Mike was beginning to realize part of the reason she didn’t reveal much about herself was because some of it was too painful, and though he wanted to learn more about her, he wasn’t going to push.
They didn’t speak again as they made their way through the woods and toward a hill rising high on the horizon. They were halfway up the hill when Mike caught the first, faint whiff of the ocean.
Chapter Fourteen
“Stay here,”Mike said when they arrived at the edge of the forest.
Before them, the hill rose another fifty feet before plateauing into something he couldn’t see. No trees or any other cover dotted the open expanse of land.
Mollie grabbed his arm when he went to step out of the trees. “You can’t just stroll out there.”
“I have to get a better understanding of our surroundings and what we’re dealing with.”
“Dying isn’t going to help you do that.”
“I’ll be out in the sun, and I’ll be fine.”
“But what if it isn’t a Savage lying in wait, or what if it’s a Savage who can still tolerate daylight? What if one of their human sidekicks with wooden bullets is out there? What if it’s a freaking trap?”
Mike squeezed her hand on his arm. “I can take care of a human.”
Mollie scowled at him. “Great, so you kill the human and end up being weakened by it too, or they put a bullet through your heart, and you don’t have to worry about any of this anymore.”
He had to see more of what they were dealing with here and try to learn if they were anywhere near civilization, but her terror weakened his resolve. “We’ll continue running parallel through the trees until we find someplace better to see what’s on the other side of the hill.” Judging by the increased briny scent on the air, and the distant crash of waves, it was the ocean, but that didn’t mean there wasonlywater out there. “But the day is nearly half over, Mollie. We have to figure out where we are, formulate a plan, and find somewhere to bed down before the sun sets.”
Mollie twisted her arm over to look at the man’s wristwatch she wore. Mike’s eyes narrowed on the watch as he wondered about its original owner, an ex-boyfriend perhaps? But if she still wore it, then it was most likely a current boyfriend. The idea of possible competition for her made his teeth grind together, but he could handle competition, and he would win.
Her forehead furrowed before she glanced at the sky. “I didn’t realize it was so late already.”
