AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“If we’re going to run, we need to do it now,” Cohen says, and I know it’s not just a statement. He’s on the verge of begging me to leave with him.
I meet his eyes and shake my head. “I’m not running. But you need to go. You can’t stay here with us.”
“Like hell am I leaving you with these assholes who don’t-”
“Don’t you fucking dare say we don’t care about her!” Ezra snarls, taking one step forward to get right into Cohen’s face. “We fuckingloveher. So don’t you dare-”
Cohen’s brows are high on his forehead as he holds up his hands in a ‘calm down’ type move. “I wasn’t going to say that, Ezra. I was going to say ‘with these assholes who don’t know half the shit I do’.”
Ezra’s face flames and he glances over his shoulder at me, like he just realized he just shouted that he loves me. Thattheylove me.
My mouth is hanging open as Ezra looks away from me quickly, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Not really the way I wanted that to come out,” he mutters, stepping away from Cohen.
“They are getting closer,” Kohaku warns.
I spin in his arms and cup his face, looking into his beautiful orange eyes, wishing like hell I could see him with his foxy ears and tail one more time. “I need you to-”
“Join with you,” he finishes for me, pressing his forehead to mine. “You don’t wish for them to know you have a shadow.”
My mouth twitches into half a smile. “I don’t. Not yet, at least.”
He nods once and kisses the tip of my nose. “I will do as you ask, but remember that I will be waiting for you to call to me.”
I nod and kiss him one last time before he turns to vapor in front of me and then sinks into my skin. I feel him shift around until he gets into his favorite position, curled around my ribs with his nose between my breasts.
I turn to Cohen.
He’s already shaking his head emphatically at me. “I can’t leave you, wildcard. Don’t ask me to do that. Please, don’t fucking ask me to do that.”
My heart seizes up and I stumble over to him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and pressing my lips into his neck. “You need to go. If they catch you here, if they see you with us, they will kill you. And I can’t bear that, Cohen. Please. I’ll stay in touch. I’ll figure out a way to sneak out and see you. But please, please, don’t get yourself killed for me. I need you too much.”
His arms tighten around me, two immovable metal clamps that feel like he’s never going to let me go. “Fuck,” he murmurs against the top of my head. “Fuck. I want to open a portal and drag you through it with me. I want to get you away from all this bullshit, baby.”
“It’s only three weeks. We can handle three weeks.” I’m honestly not sure that’s the case. In the short time we’ve spent together, Cohen has become as necessary to me as the four boys from Septem Stellae, as necessary to me as air. I fucking need him. But that’s why he can’t stay. He can’t put his life in danger for me. Not when I know they’ve killed almost my entire family.
Desi.Fuck. I know she’s with Sam. I know Hardin’s sister will do everything she can to protect her, but… “Can you do something for me?”
His answer is swift. “Anything.”
A flick of my wrist has one of Hardin’s bracelets unclipping and floating over to me. I grip it in my hand and press a spell into its soft, worn leather, the runes for the casting erupting all over my skin as I do so. Not one of them says anything about my sudden show of magic. “I need you to take this to London, to Desi, and make sure she puts it on. I’ll try to call her before you get there to tell her what the hell is happening, but if she doesn’t… If I can’t, tell her everything.”
“Everything?”
I nod in confirmation. “You don’t have any gags on you. Tell her everything you know and impress on her how fucking important it is for her to be safe, to stay as close to Sam as she can, okay? Please?”
Cohen’s lips press into my forehead. “What did your dad tell you, wildcard?”
I glance over my shoulder at the four members of the coven that want me dead and shake my head. “Later.” I hate I don’t trust them. I hate I don’t feel like I can share what he told me with them, but I can’t guarantee that they won’t put the safety of the coven in front of my life again.
“Sweeney!” Fielder’s voice is full of warning. In response, I throw up an illusion around me and Cohen. One that hides him from view until I can get him away from here.
Cohen pulls back and cups my cheeks. “I’m going to kiss you, wildcard.”
My fingers dig into his wrists as I nod in agreement. Icy green eyes darken as he tips his head down, brushes his lips over mine softly, reverently, very at odds with the situation that we find ourselves in. His tongue licks against my lips almost playfully and when I part to let him inside, he groans.
It’s not very long. I wish we could stand here and make out for hours, but I hear the helicopter getting closer and even with my illusion in place, I know I need him to leave, to be safe.
He pulls back reluctantly. “If you need me, you call me right away, wildcard. I mean it.”
