“That’s an understatement.”
“The point is you’re still in danger. We need backup on this, and Asher’s the best demon for the job.”
“Best demon for the job? No, screw that. Wearethe backup. You and me. Just like always.” I tried to keep my voice steady, but it broke on the last word. After yesterday, I wasn’t sure I could put much faith in words like “always” anymore. As badly as I wanted it to be, always just wasn’t a promise anyone could keep. Not even Ronan.
He cupped my face and met my gaze again, his leaves-in-autumn eyes both gentle and fierce. In a reassuring voice that left no room for argument, he said, “Keeping you safe is my number one priority. I can’t do it by myself, and your new vamp-buddy Beaumont is useless during daylight hours.”
“Hmm. But not so useless at night, right?”
Ronan shrugged. “He’s not a bad guy to have in your corner. I wouldn’t have called him about the safe house last night if that wasn’t the case. But you vetoed that plan, and here we are.”
“Yeah, I vetoed it, because I’m not leaving.” I tugged the sleeves down over my hands, blowing on them for warmth. “So you’ve decided to trust Darius?”
“Trusting him was never the issue. I just don’t like that he…” Ronan grabbed my hands, his thumbs grazing the insides of my wrists. The spot where Darius had fed from prickled.
“Anyway,” Ronan continued, “someone’s out there taking out witches, and on top of that you’ve got the Grim Creeper on your ass, and the whole thing is just an epic cluster fuck.”
Grim Creeper.I might’ve laughed at that one, if there were anything even remotely funny about this situation.
“Ronan…” I fought off a shiver and looked into his eyes. As much as I’d rather not talk about what had happened in the alley—and had almost happened again with Sophie—I couldn’t keep him in the dark any longer. “Last night… That thing with Sophie? When he said all that stuff about inserting souls?”
“He’s crazy, Gray. He doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.”
“He’s Death, Ronan. Pretty sure he’s got his finger on the pulse, okay?”
“It’s not—”
“Listen to me. Please.” I had to tell him before I chickened out again. “The reason he showed up like that… It’s because of my magic. Something’s wrong. The other night in the alley, a kid died in my arms, and before I even realized what the hell was happening, I’d tapped into my magic. Somehow I…” I blinked away the images of her milky stare and those jerky, awkward steps as she shambled out of the alley, tears blurring my eyes. “I brought her back.”
Ronan went completely still. Through a jaw clenched so tightly I thought his teeth might shatter, he said, “Define ‘brought her back.’”
“I mean, one minute she was dead, and then I sort of…” I held up my palms like I had that night, and the slick, watery feeling of her soul came right back to me, making my skin tingle. “I basically…magically… pushed her soul back inside. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
“Like you tried to do with Sophie,” he said.
“Yes. Only I wasn’t trying—not with either of them. Something took over and it just sort of… happened.” I shivered, remembering the ghostly black trees that had infiltrated my magic place. Echoes of that coal-dark wood had stayed with me even now, and as much as I wanted to tell Ronan every last detail, I couldn’t bring myself to describe it. Talking about that place felt too much like going back there, and I never wanted to go back to that forest again.
I told him the rest though. About the man in the alley, Bean, how Darius had figured it all out.
Ronan was silent for so long, I was beginning to worry I’d finally pushed him over the edge.
“You can say it,” I whispered, my throat tightening. “I’m a total freak. I wouldn’t blame you if you bailed. Or notified the—”
“I can’t believe you’d eventhinkthat.”
I shrugged. It’s not that I didn’t have faith in our friendship—I did. But in my experience, once the first domino fell, they had a tendency to keep dropping.
“Gray, that’s not…” Ronan shook his head, blowing out a breath. He reached out and pulled me into a hug, pressing his lips to the top of my head. “I willneverbail on you. Or do anything to put you in harm’s way. Ever.”
My heart sped up, everything inside me suddenly warm and buzzing. Words likesafeandhomeandrealfloated through my mind, and I reached up to brush my fingertips over his lips, wanting to touch him, to feel him.
Wanting to kiss him.
Ronan wanted it too. I could see it in his eyes, a hundred moments just like this crashing through his memory, finally pushing us past the invisible boundary we’d both worked so hard to keep in place. None of that mattered anymore. Nothing mattered but this moment, the kiss we could no longer delay…
“Hey, love birds?”
Ronan and I jumped apart at the noise, and I turned to see fucking Asher O’Keefe waltzing into our private moment with another one of his maddeningly stupid smirks.
