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My breath thickens in my chest. I look up ahead. Tanner’s a couple of meters in front, striding in the direction of the falls like they’re pulling him toward them. “Maybe he’s forgotten about it.”

“Forgotten that he offered to drink Nova’s blood and jump across dimensions to find Sam?” Luther hisses. “Doubtful, Kole. He feels Nova’s pain. He’s desperate to fix her broken heart. Plus, he and Sam had a different kind of bond. We all saw it.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, deliberately applying a little too much pressure with my sharper-than-normal teeth until they draw blood. The bitter taste fills my mouth and I roll my tongue over the pinprick hole, savoring the taste.

“Well, maybe he’s realized we should be spending our energy keeping her safe,” I say gruffly. As I speak, I know I’m wrong. I know Sam’s still a part of this, I just can’t believe Tanner’s way is how we’re supposed to reach him.

Behind us, Nova’s voice breaks my train of thought. “Guys,” she calls.

Instantly, I spin around, my heart thundering in my chest, ready to run to her if she needs me.

“I think the professor could use a break. He’s struggling.”

I stride over and put my hand on Mack’s upper arm. Nova’s right: his brow is clammy and his skin is pale. “We left too soon,” I mutter. “We should have stayed until you’d rested properly.”

“I’m fine. Just take this for me…” Mack shrugs his pack from his shoulders and I take it. “I’ll be fine,” he says. “Really.”

“Can’t we rest for a while?” Nova asks.

“No time.” Luther strides over and looks Mack up and down. “Would Snow be faster?” he asks.

Mack rubs his beard and closes his eyes like he’s either asking Snow the question or accessing the part of him that is Snow to find out the answer. “Not sure we can manage the shift,” he says finally. “You go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

“We aren’t leaving you.” Nova takes Mack’s hand and squeezes it. “No way.”

As Nova searches Mack’s face, I nudge her arm. At first, she ignores my touch—and the jolt of static electricity that passes between us—but then she looks at me. “You go ahead with Tanner and Luther,” I tell her. “I’ll stay back here with Baloo.”

She opens her mouth to object, but then presses her lips together instead. “Okay,” she says tightly. “Fine.”

As she strides away from me, ass moving tauntingly from side to side, I sigh and push my fingers through my hair. “Fuck,” I breathe, willing The Hunger to subside.

A thump on the back from the professor makes me start walking again. “She’ll come back to you,” he says quietly. “Just give her time. She’s hurting, but she’s not gone forever.”

I look sideways at him, but he’s concentrating on stepping over the raised tree roots beneath our feet.

If only he knew the power of what he’d just said. She’s not gone forever.

I repeat the words in time with the thud of my steps against the damp earth.

She’s not gone forever. She’s not gone forever. She’s not gone forever.

19

RAGNOR

“Elena?” The face of the woman I have loved for over twenty-five years blinks up at me. She has been sleeping since she arrived but now—finally—she is awake.

And she is just as perfect as she was then; long dark hair, pale skin, rose-pink lips, and a flash of freckles across the bridge of her nose. I have dreamed of kissing those freckles again for so many nights it seems almost impossible that she is here.

A smile flutters on her perfect lips, but then she frowns and looks down at her stomach. “The baby,” she whispers. “Where is the baby?”

My gut twists violently. We have been apart for a quarter of a century and the first thing she thinks of is the child?

“He’s being taken care of,” I tell her. “You can see him soon.”

Elena smiles again. A smile that could light a thousand suns. “Where are we?” she asks, her eyes leaving my face and darting around the room.

“A friend’s house,” I say softly. “Where you can recuperate in peace.”