I glanced out across the wall once more and sighed.
I only hoped her strength would be enough to save her.
15
HALEY
There’s beauty in darkness. Remember that when we get where we’re going.
—H
Istared at the note, scrawled hastily on the back of a receipt for wool hiking socks and MREs, tucked under a vase of fresh flowers that someone had left in the guest room while I’d showered.
Not just any flowers, either.
Black roses.Myblack roses.
I couldn’t help the smile that spread on my face or the warmth that followed.
The biggest, baddest guy of the bunch, and when it came down to it, Hudson was just a big ol’ squishy teddy bear in the body of a stone giant.
Maybe I should’ve been mortified to discover I’d bared my soul tohimin the garden and not an inanimate statue, but I wasn’t. That covert wink had said it all. He really was a vault—safe and secure. Reliable. Strong.
Besides, I’d taken him on a deep dive into my ocean of crazy, and even after he’d shifted into a man with functioning legs, he hadn’t gone running for the hills.
He was a rock.
And honestly? Between the old flames Elian was stoking back to life and the new ones Jax was igniting, a rock was just what I needed.
Not that Hudson didn’t have the power to stoke flames.
Just that not everything with every hot guy had to be about sex.
Even though I hadn’t really… ahem…sungfor anyone other than myself in a long time. And I was a thirsty bitch who would’ve loved to share my vocal gifts with a partner. Hell, at that point, I was ready to put on a full-blown concert, complete with T-shirt cannons and pyrotechnics and a Madonna-style cone bra, if that’s what it took.
Alas…
Duty called.
I folded up the note and tucked it inside the pack I found on the bed. There were some clothes laid out as well—cargo pants, sports bra, a fitted moisture-wicking shirt, hiking boots, all in my size. They’d thought of everything.
I dressed quickly, finishing up just as someone knocked on the door.
“Come on in,” I said, knowing it wouldn’t be Elian. He wouldn’t have bothered with the knock.
It was Jax, the scent of campfire and lemon trailing in with him as he stepped inside and closed the door.
“Looks good on you,” he said. “Not that you can trust the opinion of a one-eyed demon, but…”
“Thanks,” I said with a smile. “I’m used to a different sort of look.”
“Short dresses?”
“Sometimes, yes. My other favorite is leather and metal. All depends on whether I’m hunting down bloodsuckers—”
“Or trying to drive your ex crazy?”
I laughed. “Yeah, well. Pretty sure my crazy-driving days are over. I’m Rocky Mountain Barbie now.”
