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I would have rather kept going until we reached the meeting place, but it became clear quickly we’d require a stop or two. While the drive itself could be done in about four hours, none of us were at our best and we had to take smaller roads to avoid the highways. Besides, our meeting wasn’t until the following day.
Hera and I were the only two able to drive. Wade, Kit, Knox and Brax all had been in Larkwood during their older years, meaning they’d never learned. Besides, they seemed exhausted from the fight.
It meant they’d all piled into the back of the minivan Bowen had given us for the trip, the four of them stretched out like some weird puppy pile. Hera remained awake—probably too keyed up to sleep since she wasn’t accustomed to such violence—and sat in the passenger seat beside me.
It was funny how quickly things could feel normal. We hadn’t talked since she’d escaped. In fact, we hadn’t really spoken since the morning after she’d crawled into my bed, when I’d spent the entire night with her in my arms.
Strange to think that one of the best nights of my life could have transitioned into the most difficult.
And yet, I didn’t have a clue what to say.
She squinted as she glanced out of the windshield, then gestured at a small cafe with a bright neon sign.
“We should pick up some food.”
I nodded and pulled the car off the road. “Yeah, you’re right. After injuries, it’s best to give shades plenty of calories.”
Even though the van bumped along the poorly maintained parking lot, none of the others stirred. I guess that showed just how rundown they all were.
Then again, we’d all had a rough few days.
I put the van into Park and glanced back to find Kit awake, staring back at me with his black eyes. Then again, despite his eyes having been closed before, I suppose wendigos didn’t actually sleep.
Still, he jerked forward with his chin, a sign that he’d stay behind.
Was he giving me time alone with her?
Judging by the way I’d found the two of them—by the dirt on both of their rumpled clothes—clearly they’d made up when they’d first found each other in that forest. It seemed he wanted to give me the same chance.
Which I wasn’t about to turn down.
I got out of the van, Hera following suit. We went into the cafe and placed an absurd order from the curt waitress. Then again, who wouldn’t be curt when someone ordered twelve burger meals at eight in the morning?
The waitress told us it would be a forty-minute wait, then waved us toward an empty booth.
Hera sat beside me in the corner seat, and my heart pounded faster than it had in the fight.
I really am pathetic, aren’t I?
Yet, knowing that didn’t change my reaction at all. She managed to make me ridiculous, to make me unsure when I’d always been confident in my world and my place in it.
“I’m sorry,”she signed.
So, it seemed we were going to talk about this. Then again, expecting us to just move forward without even addressing what had happened was probably a stupid hope.
“I get it,” I said even if I didn’t quite feel that.
A warmth covered my hand, and I dropped my gaze to see she’d set her hand on mine. Her gaze was soft, as if asking me to be honest, to tell her the truth.
And as it turned out, I was all but helpless against her. “I get why you did it, I do. I don’t like it, and I’m still terrified that it’ll get you killed, but I get it.” I sighed and stared out of the window. “I was never really angry at you for it. Maybe the problem’s that I never had any freedom, so I don’t get the draw. I was raised in a lab, learning that I never had a future, that there’s nothing else for me, but you didn’t. You tasted real freedom, so I get that you’d want that. Maybe I’m just a coward, but I get it now. Being out here, I think I understand what you were craving.”
She pulled her hand from mine to respond.“Will you stay with me, then? Will you come with me?”
I frowned, surprised that I even needed to say it. “If I wasn’t willing to do that, do you really think I’d be here? I made my choice, Hera, and it’s to stay by your side. Wherever that is, I don’t care, as long as I’m with you.” I kept the rest inside, the pathetic words like,‘please don’t ever leave me alone again.’
Still, the lines between her eyebrows implied she heard them, that she knew exactly what I couldn’t bring myself to say.
Her gaze darted from me and to the side, to a restroom off the side of the cafe, before she lifted her eyebrow.
