“Let me try Jael.” Haley dug out her phone, but that idea turned out to be a bust. “Shoot. No service. Sooo… anyone got a flare gun?”
“It’s the trees,” I said. “This stretch of road is pretty spotty for cell phones.”
“You think they’re okay?” she asked. “What if—”
“Fuck! Hold on!”
There was no warning. No time to course-correct. By the time I crested the hill and saw Lansky’s taillights swerving off the road, we were already on a collision course with the jackknifed semi he’d clearly tried to avoid. We hit a fresh patch of ice on the downslope and the steering wheel jerked from my hands, and then we were spinning like a kid’s toy, picking up speed as we careened downhill toward the wreckage, rose petals of every color falling around us like snow.
Seventeen
GRAY
It was one of those moments where you’re lying totally still, holding your breath, willing your heart not to beat, and suddenly you feel the ground shifting beneath you, dropping away.
I was so certain I’d known what Emilio was going to say, so sure I could name the ghosts that had haunted his eyes every time I stared into them for more than a moment.
I tried to save them,I thought he’d say.But I couldn’t.Or,I should’ve been able to warn them. I should’ve seen the signs.Or maybe,I was just a scared kid. I ran and hid instead of being brave, and I’ve carried that shame ever since…
But to say that it was his fault? Thathe’dbeen the one to betray them?
I swallowed hard, willing my muscles to remain still, hoping he couldn’t scent the rush of pure shock flooding my body.
“Before we came together on this case,” Emilio continued, tightening his arms around me as if he were scared I’d bolt, “Elena and I hadn’t spoken for nearly twenty years. Did you know that?”
“Not… Not really,” I said, willing my heart rate to return to normal. My skin felt hot and prickly, but not because I was afraid of Emilio or anything he might’ve done in the past, no matter how terrible.
No. I was afraid—terrified—that when he finally confessed his greatest regrets, I wouldn’t have the words to make it better for him. To give him the absolution he’d been seeking most of his life.
“I knew that you’d emigrated here together after separating from your pack, but that was basically all,” I said. “Ronan never said much about it.”
“No, he wouldn’t have. He doesn’t know the whole story anyway—just the end.” A warm sigh escaped Emilio’s lips, stirring my hair, and he pressed a lingering kiss to the top of my head. “Actually, I guess I can say now that Ronan’s partwasn’tthe end. For a long time, I feared it was, but my sister… Things are… in flux right now. There’s so much… I don’t…”
I felt the sudden vibration in his chest, slowly turning into a tremor that shook the bed, and I realized he was trying—and failing—to hold back a storm of sobs.
All my words, all the right things to say, all the comforting thoughts, everything failed me. I didn’t know what to say, what to do, how to help him, so I did the only thing that felt right in that moment—I snuggled closer to him and wrapped my arms around him, drawing his head to my chest, stroking his hair. I channeled all my love for him into this moment, sending it to him, strengthening him, trying to let him know without words that it was okay to let go. To let every horrible, ugly, scary, fucked-up thing go.
He seemed to sense it, and he clung to me as he wept, burying his face in my shirt, his tears damp on my skin as they leaked out in an endless river. Soon, my own tears followed, my heart breaking for the lost wolf he’d been, the family he’d left behind.
Of all the guys, Emilio had always been the most sensitive, the most compassionate, the most in touch with the emotional side of things. But I’d never seen him so vulnerable, so exposed. Whatever had happened in Argentina, whatever guilt and shame and grief he’d endured, he’d stuffed it into a bottle and shoved it into the darkest part of his soul, keeping it locked away… Until tonight.
When he finally ran out of tears, my wolf stilled in my embrace, but he didn’t pull away. Didn’t roll over or try to mask his pain or pretend it was something else, or worse—apologize for the show of emotion, like so many men would do. Instead, he held me closer, inhaling my scent, his breathing finally smoothing out again.
Our bedroom overlooked the backyard, and outside our window, the wind howled like a banshee, ushering in another moonless night. A fresh blanket of snow had descended on Raven’s Cape, the windowpanes murky with frost. Throughout the rest of the house, we could hear the chatter of the witches, their laughter, their bickering, the occasional clink of dishes and silverware being set out on the table, Elena calling for wine and rum and a little more garlic in the sauce. It didn’t take a detective to figure out that she’d be preparing a feast tonight; Emilio had come through the worst of things, and everyone whose lives he’d touched wanted to celebrate.
But right now, tucked into our bed, there was only me and my wolf, safe and warm and well-hidden from the happy chaos unfolding in the rest of the house, and for a long time we clung to each other without words, twin flames flickering in the window on a dark night, illuminating the way home.
I had no warning for just how dark that night was about to get.
Eighteen
DARIUS
I blinked the fog from my mind, focusing on the skull-shaped indentation in the passenger window next to me.Myskull shape, I realized, rubbing the side of my head. Blood trickled from a gash above my ear, but it was already healing.
Fortunately, I had a hard head, and though I was a bit dizzy, it seemed I was no worse for the wear.
“Ronan? Haley?” I sat up slowly, still trying to get my bearings. Both of the front airbags had deployed, and everything around me was coated in dust and rose petals. "Everyone okay?"
