“When I get there, can we talk?”
My stomach flipped before dropping altogether. The soft, plaintive note of Connor’s voice tugged at me. I tried holding it together and reminded myself that I didn’t owe him anything, but it was hard to keep in mind when I could hear the apology waiting behind his words.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and held my breath to keep from saying anything I might regret. We’d been friends, once upon a time. I didn’t want to lose him altogether, but what he’d done…I could have died. Didn’t he care?
Cerri burst through the door, snatched the phone from my hand, and held it to her own ear. “Just get the bag. We don’t have time for your babbling.”
She hung up and passed the phone back to me. My stomach still lurked on the floor. Slowly, breathing out to release the tension in my chest, I took the phone back from her. Cerri said nothing. She slung an arm around my waist and led me back to the counter where I could lose myself in my work.
Ryder
Bri left around dawn.I couldn’t say that I missed her presence. She reminded me too much of home, a place I could never go back to. While Bri belonged to Thunder Pass, I had given up my right to call that the place of my heart. No one there wanted me to return. I knew that as well as the back of my own hand.
Alone in the apartment, I thought about leaving. I spent hours thinking about leaving. It wasn’t just Beryl’s curse that kept me here. Each time I thought about getting in the car and driving until my gas tank was empty, my dragon reminded me of Ness.
Alone, Ness didn’t have the strength to defeat Alvin. She was a small shifter. Though she’d recently discovered her arcana, she had little control over it. I didn’t want to leave her alone just yet, even if I knew it would be safer for everyone if I left.
Beryl’s medallion sat heavy on my chest. I couldn’t leave, even if I wanted to. She would use her fae magic to keep me coming back time and time again. The fae queen thought I would be a pawn in her game, but I refused to play into her hands. She would not control me.
I ran a hand through my hair and tugged, hoping the pain would clear my mind. The hours slipped by, and still nothing could help me focus.
When there came a knock on the door, it opened before I could even get up to answer it. I expected Bri, but Ness blew through. She was shorter than Bri by several inches. Where Bri was all flame with her bright red hair, Ness’s cloud of dark curls framed her sun-kissed face.
She fixed her stormy eyes on me. I expected her face to hold the indignation she carried around like a shield, but her expression wavered. I shot to my feet and made it halfway across the room before I could stop myself.
She lifted an eyebrow.
I cocked my head as the gears in my mind started turning. I took in the bags under her eyes and the literal bag over her shoulder. “What are you doing here?”
“Your girlfriend asked me to babysit you, so you could babysit me.” She paused, her brow lowering as if she heard what she’d just said and realized it made no sense. She shook herself. “Bri wanted us to watch over each other tonight. She thinks that you went to Beryl to get drunk. Maybe the two of you should talk about that.”
Ness pushed past me and slumped on the couch. It didn’t take long for her to sigh and throw herself down onto the cushions. She rested her head on her folded hands as I stepped around the couch to look down at her. She seemed smaller and weaker than normal. The urge to pull her into my lap rose, but I quickly squashed it.
Memories of what I’d done while drunk on the faery wine returned to me. I’d tried to kiss her, more than once. The memory of her, nearly pliant, in my arms came back in a rush that made my hot blood run south. I coughed and turned away from her just in case anything popped up.
“I don’t have to tell her anything,” I said.
Ness made a sound in the back of her throat. “That sounds a lot like something I said. I think you’re still mad at me for withholding information, so maybe you shouldn’t do that to Bri.”
I clenched my fists tight. Ness was right. Because of her secrets, I’d gotten trapped here. I’d forgiven her, but that wouldn’t change the situation. Eventually, Morgan would find me. He would descend upon Lakesedge and his warpath towards me would leave behind nothing but destruction.
“She deserves to know what’s going on,” Ness said. She paused, perhaps thinking. “Bri seems really nice. I’m happy for you.”
Taken aback, I blinked. I had no idea what she meant by that. “Ah, sure. Bri is a good person, I guess.”
The air between us thickened with tension, but neither of us dared break the silence. I kept my back turned to her. Ness’s words made no sense to me, but that might have been my dragon’s fault. The damned beast kept sending my thoughts tumbling back to the drunken haze that had almost pushed me to do something I wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Was that true, though? That night, the night I’d been poisoned, Ness had been the only thing keeping me anchored to the world of the living. I hadn’t thanked her for that. Her weight, her scent, everything about her had made me want to stay alive. I had no way to explain what her presence did to me sometimes.
Instead of thanking her, I asked, “Do you want a pizza?”
That was how we ended up on opposite ends of the couch while some mindless sitcom played in the background. Maybe Ness was paying attention to it, but I couldn’t. My attention wandered to her every few moments. I studied her thick lashes rimming her tired eyes. She seemed smaller than I remembered.
Leaning forward, I cracked open the pizza box, grabbed another slice, and pushed it into her hands. She scowled at it until I grabbed another slice for myself. She’d been in a lot of fights recently. The smell of blood reached my nose, a memory from the night of the hunt. Ness had returned from the hunt with her calves shredded.
If she hadn’t been eating enough to heal those wounds, then her body would never fully heal. Shifters required a lot of energy. She needed to be more mindful about taking care of herself. I wouldn’t always be here to do it for her.
Though, it didn’t feel like that anymore. When I considered leaving, I couldn’t think of anywhere I wanted to go. Before, I’d let the call of the road drag me along with no real intention of stopping. Now that I had spent time in Lakesedge, the land called to me.