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And that was more than fine with me.
Fuck my lunar tie. I was trading up. I was getting my fey princess. Nothing was going to stop me.
I kept walking through the trees. We’d be to town soon and then we’d find somewhere to eat, but until then I was going to enjoy holding Cosette.
I pressed my nose to her head and inhaled her sent—memorizing every note—so that if we were ever separated, I’d be able to find her.
She was afraid of what was going to happen and that was okay. It meant she loved me just as much as I loved her. But nothing was going to keep us apart. I wouldn’t let it.
Chapter Sixteen
COSETTE
The sound of a car driving past woke me up. I lifted my head from Chris’ shoulder and he stopped walking.
“You feel better?”
“Yes.” I dropped my legs to the pavement. I was a little embarrassed about passing out on him, but I’d slept hard. “I’m sorry for making you carry me.”
“It was my pleasure.” His voice was deep and thick, and I knew by the way he drew out the last word in pleasure-dripped sexiness that it was clearly a joke.
I gave him a shove, but he grabbed my hands and pulled me close. “You said that like you copped a feel, but I know you didn’t.”
“How do you know? You were asleep.” He waggled his eyebrows, but his grin was sweet.
“Because even if you want to flirt, you’re too nice to do something like that.”
He gave me a mischievous grin. “You sure about that?”
“And even if you had, I wouldn’t have minded.”
He stopped walking and threw his head back with a loud groan. “You tell me now?” He started walking toward me, eyes narrowed. “You’re right. I am too nice.”
“I know.” He might’ve been joking, but I wasn’t. I took a few quick steps to walk backward in front of him so that I could watch his face. “You help your friends whenever you can. Putting your life at risk against horrible odds. You’re giving up everything to be with me—”
He held up his hand. “I’m going to stop you right there. Breaking my lunar tie is purely selfish. Have you seen yourself? You’re hot.”
I laughed, because I knew that wasn’t what this was about between us. He was trying to distract me from giving him a compliment.
Another vehicle drove by—a decades-old pickup truck that rattled so loud even I knew it wasn’t going to be running much longer. I turned around in a circle. We were on a small paved road with a faded center line and small one-story buildings gathered together ahead. Trees lined the road on both sides, and I knew we’d probably exited the trees a ways back. But it was a little disorienting waking up in a totally different spot than where I’d fallen asleep.
Chris stepped up beside me. “You okay?”
“Yeah. This is the town?” I hadn’t come here when we saved Chris. Van had been in the town, but I’d stayed on the pack’s land.
“That’s right. You’re currently entering Stoney Spring, Texas, known for not much of anything.”
I knew he was making a joke, but he was right. The place looked deserted. Aside from a couple of cars, no one had passed us. We were alone on the street.
Chris started walking again, and I matched his pace.
“I used to hate this place. My wolf used to push me to protect them, but I couldn’t even protect myself. I got in so much trouble trying to run interference, and… It was a burden.” He was quiet for a second. “But when I look at
it from this side of things, saving them was how I finally managed to be saved. That hatred was misplaced, and maybe soon I can be in a position to help. It’s not looking great…”
I took in the small main street. There was one traffic light off in the distance, but it didn’t have power. There were boarded-up shops peppered up and down, left and right, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if a tumbleweed appeared, rolling down the street. A few trucks and beat-up sedans were parked around, but even as we got closer to the buildings, the streets were still empty.
There was a squeaking noise, and I turned to see a faded, peeling sign swinging on one rusty chain and advertising a now-closed boutique.
