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“Well he can probably smell it, too, cause he’s asking for you,” he said, smiling from ear to ear.
My heart leapt into my throat. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine, I was walking by his door and he flagged me down. He’s still in bed, just curious where you disappeared to.”
I exhaled and the tension in my shoulder eased by a fraction. “Fine. I’m tired. I’ll go check on him.”
“Myra’s getting ready to make a big family meal for dinner. We’ll wake you when it’s ready,” he said putting a hand on Shado’s shoulder.
I gave him a thumbs up and continued to the stairs. “Thanks.”
Jackson wasn’t in bed when I got to the room. I found him leaning against the window, surveying the backyard. Another fraction of tension melted from my shoulders, and I slid my arms around his waist, resting my cheek against his back.
He closed his hand over mine. “There you are.”
“You should be sleeping,” I said, inhaling the fresh cotton scent of his tee-shirt.
“I know,” he said with a shrug. “But I needed to get up and move around. I’ve been sleeping for days. I feel useless.”
“You’ve never been useless in your life,” I said, releasing him. “You’re smart, you're strong, you're brave. You’re the only thing in this world that keeps me sane.”
He turned and leaned against the wall, facing me. “I could say the same about you.”
“You’re sweet.” I chuckled.
“We need to find the shapeshifter before they hurt anyone else.”
“Let me worry about that,” I said. “Shado and I have got that covered. We’ve been gathering all the books we can to start researching variant shifters.”
His eyebrows rose. “Did you find anything?”
“About twenty textbooks of magical theory and reference. With some luck they’ll give us some kind of answers, but Shado kicked me out of the library.”
“Why?”
“I started yawning so she ordered me to come up here and get some rest,” I said.
He smiled and tugged me towards him by my belt loop. “Remind me to thank her. I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” I said, slipping my arms around him again. I scratched my nails over his back, and he growled in my ear.
“That feels g—” His eyes narrowed looking down at my face, and he frowned again. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head and dropped it back down against his chest. “Nothing.”
“You’re a—”
“Bad liar, I know.” I rolled my eyes and I pulled the letter from my back pocket.
His nostrils flared. “What’s that? It smells strange.”
“It’s a letter from Viktor.”
“What?” He blinked. “What’s it say?”
I flipped it over and showed him the seal on the back. “I don’t know yet. Will you read it to me, or just stay with me while I do? I don’t want to be—”
“Of course,” he said. “Whatever you need.”
