Being inside her tonight, sharing her with Jude, being so close to her… It was indescribable.
But it’s the laugh that does me in. Every fucking time.
The fact that anyone tried to take that from her… It’s beyond comprehension.
And it can’t go unpunished. It just can’t.
“Who were the others?” I ask suddenly, the calmness in my voice belying the jackhammering of my heart. “The boys who showed up in the tunnel.”
“I… I’m not sure I remember them all.”
“The names of those who’ve hurt us stay with us, scarecrow,” Jude says, and the raw emotion in his voice—another first—makes my chest hurt. “Even when they’ve long forgotten ours. That’s why the memories keep haunting us.”
“Do the dark fae still haunt you?” she whispers. “The ones who cursed you?”
“They do,” he says, and I nod.
Not a night goes by when I don’t think about the fae king. The soldiers. I’m sure it’s the same for Jude, Drae, and Rook. Just like I’m sure West knows the name of every one of her tormentors, even if she doesn’t want to speak them all out loud.
She sighs. “It was a long time ago.”
Jude frowns, tracing his thumb along her cheek. “No. It wasn’t.”
“I know why you’re asking,” she says, “and as much as I love your ‘burn down the world for your girl’ energy, you don’t have to fight my battles. Especially my old ones.”
“Yes we do,” Jude and I say at the same time.
She looks up at me again, her eyes like two bright jewels sparkling in the darkness. “Why are you guys being so adamant about this?”
“Because you’reours, Westlyn Avery,” I say fiercely. “And we protect what’s ours.”
“Draegan said something like that to me my first night here,” she says. “Back then it felt like a threat.”
“And now?” I ask.
“Now…” She trails off into a contented sigh and rolls onto her hip away from me, tucking her hands under the pillow and settling in for a good day’s rest. “Now it just feels like home.”
“Because it is,” I whisper, lifting the damp hair off the back of her neck and pressing a kiss there, just at the base of her hairline. West lets out a murmur of pleasure, but a white-hot spark sizzles painfully across my lips, and that cold, otherworldly darkness sweeps right through me again.
Stomach roiling, I pull back and take a look at her neck, but there’s nothing there but her smooth, unmarked skin.
“The sun will be up soon,” West says, her voice heavy with a mix of exhaustion and disappointment. “I hate that you guys have to go. I wish I could turn to stone, too.”
“No, my beautiful witchling,” I whisper, tucking her hair back into place and getting to my feet. “You don’t.”
“Get some sleep,” Jude says. “We’ll all be down in the kitchen eating Auggie’s night-breakfast before you know it, and no, that’s not a euphemism. Though I’m pretty sure the three of us could turn it into one.”
“And now we’ve gotthatto look forward to.” I force a laugh, then turn off the lamp on the nightstand. “Sweet dreams, West.”
* * *
Now it feels like home…
Her words are still echoing through my mind as Jude and I step out into the hallway. The moment the bedroom door clicks shut behind us, that cold wind races through my bones again, gripping my heart and doubling me over.
“What is it?” Jude asks, his hand on my shoulder. “You’ve got that heebie-jeebie look again.”
I nod. “Started when I kissed the back of her neck. I felt something—some kind of spark. Hurt like a bitch.”
