AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Dare assured me, his voice remarkably calm. “But even if they’re not, I’m not going back to check on them. Not if it means leaving you alone. Riot would kill me if I did that, and so would Wild, once he’s back in his right mind. They’ll be okay, Grace.”
“I’ve never seen Wild like that,” I whispered. He’d looked at me like he didn’t even recognize me.
“Don’t take it personally,” Dare said firmly, hands flexing as though he was struggling not to reach for me again. “Honestly, that restless energy had probably been building up for a long time—it’s been days where the most physical energy Wild used was walking. That’s not enough for a Keres, especially when we’ve been witnessing violence at every turn, triggering his bloodlust.”
My heart hurt, a fresh wave of grief washing over me. Wild always seemed so strong, so immoveable. I’d been vaguely aware that the violence we’d witnessed was hard for him to deal with, but even through the bond, he’d locked down the full extent of his struggle.
“Don’t feel guilty, Grace,” Dare said in a low voice, scanning my face. “There’s nothing you could have done. Losing Bullet…”
Dare sucked in a pained breath, his gaze dropping to his lap.Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, I chanted, looking up at the porch ceiling and blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. Riot and Wild were who knows where, Ihadto keep it together.
“He was right to keep me away,” Dare rasped. “He knew his future was uncertain after I showed up—”
“No.” I shook my head. “No. Isavedhim. We avoided that fate. This… This is Gaia. This is all her.”
I gulped down oxygen, trying to keep the tide of feeling at bay, but the warmer my skin grew under the sun’s morning rays, the more everything inside me hurt.
“Let it out, Grace.” I didn’t protest as Dare pulled me back into his embrace. “Don’t fight what you’re feeling. It’s scary and it’s painful, but it’s only going to hurt more if you keep it bottled up inside.”
I gasped, a sob tearing free of my body before I could help it. Then another, and another. The hurt I’d been trying to hide had escaped, and I’d never be able to run from it again.
Chapter 27
Icouldn’tsleep.
The guys shared the two big rooms in The Lodge, equipped with bunk beds, but Harbor had set up a trundle for me in the enclosed front porch so I had some privacy as the only female who lived at the campsite.
That was before the endless night.
It wasn’t safe for me to sleep there alone after the sky turned dark—not when the campsite, already self-sufficient, had become such a tempting target for people who needed supplies. We’d filled the lodgings with human families, shared everything we had, but it hadn’t been enough to keep the peace.
Everyone was hungry. There wasn’t enough wood to burn to keep the chill away. And no matter what Harbor said about protecting myself, I couldn’tnotuse my gifts. If the world was ending, what was the point holding back? If I could ease the physical suffering of the humans who had only the faintest understanding of what was going on, then I would.
But the stars had returned. The sky had gone from pitch black to dusky twilight. The freeze was finally ending.
For all the good it did. Everyone was still starving and desperate. They’d turned to violence to survive, and that instinct wouldn’t disappear just because the sun was shining again.
Whichever goddess had done this—we were leaning toward the Goddess of Night—had forever ended life on earth as we’d known it.
“Mercy?” Harbor whispered, slipping into the hallway where I’d been pacing at midnight after his watch shift ended. “What are you still doing up? Is Sterling snoring?”
I shook my head, almost managing a smile. My trundle had been moved to one of the boys’ bunk rooms for the time being. It had been empty most of the time since one or two of them were always on guard duty. I’d wanted to help, but they were all far too over-protective, insisting I manage the supplies inside the camp instead.
“What is it?” Harbor pressed. “You’ve been off all evening. Did you… Did you not want the darkness to lift?” he asked hesitantly.
I blinked at him. “Of course I did.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d said something like this. Sometimes, I felt like Harbor didn’t know what to make of the fact that my soul bond was a daimon. If he thought it made me a little daimonic too.
“It’s just… I don’t know. I feel weird.Off. There’s a sort of… emptiness in my chest, that I can’t explain.” I frowned to myself, massaging the spot above my breastbone.
Harbor stepped into my space, resting his palms on my shoulders. It wasn’t unusual for him to touch me this way, offering comfort, but I startled at the strangeness of the sensation today. It felt different, somehow. He smelled so good—like pine trees and fresh lake air. I was eye-level with his chest, a small peek of tanned chest visible where the top two buttons of his plaid shirt were undone, his jacket unzipped.
His breathing was labored, and I realized that mine was too, my breath catching in my throat.
I was…
I wasattractedto him. Harbor wasn’t my soul bond. It shouldn’t be possible, and yet I wanted nothing more than for those hands on my shoulders to pull me close, for him to kiss me like there was nothing in the world he wanted more.
