The Blood that Binds (Thicker than Blood Book 3)

by Madeline Sheehan

  The many voices mixed and melded together. My heart began to pound, its fitful rhythm ringing loudly in my ears. “What happened?” I asked hoarsely. No one answered; no one even looked at me. “What happened?” I screamed. “What the fuck happened?”

  The cabin fell silent, all eyes on me. Joshua, who’d been pointing to a large map on the wall, hurried through the crowd. “Willow,” he said gravely, his solemn expression as serious as ever, his eyes shining with tears.

  My vision wavered and narrowed until Joshua was all I could see—every line, every unruly hair, each and every pore. “He’s gone?” I gasped through air that felt too thin.

  “No-no,” Joshua rushed to say. “Willow, no. He’s alive—they’re all alive.”

  “What?” A wave of relief washed over me, so strong it caused my knees to buckle. “He’s alive?” I rasped, grasping for the wall. “Logan’s alive?”

  Maria pushed through the throng of people, grinning through her tears. Pulling me into a crushing hug, she cried, “They’re safe. My Jimmy, your Logan, Xavi, Lei—they’re all safe in Everdeen.”

  What followed was a celebration amid a whirlwind of information—Leisel’s team had managed to locate Xavi’s team, trapped only a handful of miles up the highway from where we’d lost Davey. Together, both teams managed to finish turning the second horde away from Silver Lake. Though, try as they might, they couldn’t turn the original horde from its current path—a road that would take them straight to Everdeen if they were to continue on unobstructed. Making a split-second decision, Leisel decided to head to the lesser camp and alert them of the approaching danger.

  There was talk of evacuating Everdeen, of possibly helping to fortify their gates, and a dozen other strategies that I’d already forgotten by the time I’d slipped into bed for the night.

  All I cared about, all I could focus on, was the grainy sound of Logan’s voice coming through the radio, telling me he was coming home.

  Willow

  “Would you stop your dang fidgetin’—you’re more worked up than a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rockin’ chairs.” Britta eyed me over a mug of steaming Calamus root tea.

  “They were supposed to be home yesterday,” I said irritably, pacing the length of the small room. “Joshua said it could take them up to four days to return. Which means if they’re not back today then—”

  “It don’t mean nothin’,” she interrupted. “Time works differently out there, you know that. Hiccups happen ya can’t account for. Take my dang foot, for example.” Britta gestured to her bandaged stump with a frown. “Ain’t exactly how I saw myself endin’ up, but here we are. Gotta account for them hiccups.”

  “I love you, Britta,” I said, grabbing the foot of her bed. “But I don’t understand you. If I’d lost my foot…” I trailed off, shaking my head. Truthfully, I had no idea how I’d react to losing a limb in a world like this one—a world where you relied on your physical prowess more than anything else.

  “Aw, shoot, there ain’t nothin’ to me, sugar. I’m just a girl wantin’ to make the most of what I got left. And speakin’ of makin’ the most of shit—do ya really wanna be lookin’ like that when Logan rolls in here? If that were my man comin’ home, I think I’d want to be lookin’ my best.”

  Glancing down at my dirt and sweat-stained work clothes, looking over my soil encrusted fingernails, I groaned. “Shit,” I muttered, wiping my hands on my jeans, merely smearing the dirt around. “Shit.”

  “Go get fancy,” she said, pointing at the door. “Go spit shine that gorgeous face of yers. Go now, ‘fore he gets here!”

  I’d just finished with my hair when I heard it—the unmistakable sounds of celebration rising up through camp. Heart leaping into my throat, I gave myself one last look over in the bathroom mirror. My hair, after having been wound in a tight knot all day, now hung in long loose curls around my shoulders, and I was wearing the top Logan liked; the black button-down with a bow at the collar. I took a steadying breath and then I was bursting outside, leaving the cabin door swinging behind me and flying across the grass. I wasn’t the only one running, though I couldn’t tell who I was running alongside; I had a single-minded focus: to reach the gate, and Logan, as quickly as possible.

  The gate was open, vehicles pulled in single file as I reached the wall. I slowed to a stop, frantically searching the faces inside each vehicle as they pulled past me.

  “Maria!” Jim shouted from the open window of a truck. Jumping from the moving vehicle, he tackled his fast-approaching wife, crushing her to him and spinning her through the air.

  Behind Jim’s truck, a fortified SUV was rolling to a stop, all four doors flinging open. Logan emerged from the passenger seat, looking dirty and disheveled, wearing a backpack slung over his shoulder.

  My lips split into a smile even as tears filled my eyes. Breaking into a run, I shouted his name. Logan spun in my direction, going still at the sight of me, his hands falling limply to his sides—as listless as the lifeless expression on his face. Confused, I began to slow, my gaze moving to the man exiting the seat behind Logan.

  Tall and slim, the man was cleanly shaven, with short blond hair cropped close to his head. I didn’t recognize him, and yet… I absolutely knew him.

  I staggered to a stop, my hand moving to my mouth, heart sputtering in my chest.

  “Willbraham!” His face split into a wide, familiar smile. And then he was running, reaching me quickly and lifting me straight off my feet. As he spun me around, his scent engulfed me, strange and unfamiliar and yet… the most familiar thing in the world.

  “Luke,” I gasped, gripping him tightly as we continued to spin. “You’re… alive.”

  “It’s insane—this is so crazy insane!” Lucas was shouting between bursts of happy laughter. “I thought you were both dead. You know, I went back to the farmhouse looking for you. And then I searched the ravine and I found all your stuff at the bottom and I thought… I thought I’d lost you both.”

  The three of us were alone in our cabin—Logan sitting at the table, me on my bed, while Lucas paced the space in between, talking animatedly. I hadn’t said much, while Lucas couldn’t seem to stop. At the gate, his excitement had rapidly drawn the attention of everyone in camp, and as the three of us quickly became Silver Lake’s focal point, Leisel had suggested we move our reunion to our cabin.

  “I broke my arm when I fell off that cliff. See?” Lucas bent down on one knee before me, pulling up his shirt sleeve, revealing a mass of pink and white scar tissue. I reached out to touch him, changing my mind at the last second and clasping my hands back in my lap.

  “I twisted my ankle pretty bad, too,” he continued, tugging down his shirt sleeve. “I almost didn’t make it inside that car before they got me. I was lucky, you know? They’d been down there so long I think they were half petrified. If they’d been Runners, they definitely would have got me.

  “I don’t know what happened after that. I think I passed out and when I woke up, it was dark and the Creepers were gone and it took me forever to find a way out of there. And I was so out of it and disoriented, and I got so turned around…” Lucas trailed off. “Anyway, Logan told me you were sick, too. Like really, really sick and that the doctor here saved your life.”

  At the mention of Logan, I looked to the table; our gazes crashed together, each of us quickly glancing away.

  “Willow, come on—you gotta say something.” Lucas’s hands grasped my thighs. “Talk to me! Tell me how you are!”

  I swallowed and tried to speak. “I, um, I’m sorry,” I whispered, wringing my hands. “I guess I’m just confused. Have you been at Everdeen this entire time?”

  Lucas shook his head. “Just these last two months. After I crawled out of the ravine, I’m not sure how many days passed before this guy found me—his name’s Anthony, only everyone calls him Ant. He fixed me up as best he could, but it was weeks before I was good on my feet again. After that, we ended up staying at the farmhouse for a little while�
�that’s when I found your gear at the bottom of the ravine and I thought… well, you already know what I thought.”

  I merely blinked at him, speechless. Lucas had been at the… farmhouse? All this time… all that pain… and all we’d needed to do was wait for him to return to us? The revelation was agonizing, as was the realization that if Logan and I hadn’t left the farmhouse that we would have never happened. My eyes cut to Logan again, finding his head hanging low, his gaze on his feet.

  “Once we ran out of supplies at the house, Ant took me to Everdeen. He’s from there, you know? He’d been there for a few years until he’d lost his friend in this freak accident and decided to head out on his own for a while. Crazy how things work out, right?” Lucas let out a low whistle. “If Ant hadn’t lost his friend—if he hadn’t been out there and found me when he did—I wouldn’t be here right now.”

  “Crazy,” I repeated dumbly.

  “So crazy,” Lucas agreed, squeezing my thighs again. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Both of you. And living together.” Chuckling, Lucas glanced around the room. “How the hell are you both still standing? I figured you would have ripped each other to shreds by now.”

  My cheeks flamed hot. Lucas had no idea just how badly we’d shredded one another. Or how often. And on how many surfaces inside this cabin.

  “Yeah, well, we haven’t had to see that much of each other. We work long hours.” Logan spoke for the first time, staring across the cabin with a flat, hard look in his eyes. I watched him briefly, willing him to look at me, desperate to know what he was thinking.

  “That’s right, you have a job. Logan said you work in the gardens—and you’ve been scavenging—tell me about it. Tell me about everything!”

  Rubbing my hand over my forehead, I shook my head. “I don’t even know where to begin,” I said softly. “I don’t know what to say or what to—”

  Lucas pulled me off the bed and to my feet, wrapping his arms around me. “You don’t have to say anything,” he murmured, dropping his face in my hair. My cheek pressed against Lucas’s chest, I could see Logan out of the corner of my eye, his eyes on me, his flat expression giving nothing away.

  “Aw, Will,” Lucas whispered, squeezing me tighter. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”

  My mouth floundered and my eyes filled. “Me too,” I whispered hoarsely, my eyes still locked with Logan’s. “I thought… I thought I’d lost you forever.”

  Logan

  Both body and mind balked at the events unfolding before me—Willow and Lucas reunited, in each other’s arms once again.

  Jesus Christ. No matter how much I’d prepared myself for this exact moment over the last few days, nothing could have truly prepared me for how I would feel watching it play out in real time.

  It was excruciating. It was enough to send someone straight into madness. To make someone do something they’d definitely regret. It was enough to make me wonder if I might understand my father, and what he’d done, far better than ever before. Because the thought of losing Willow to my brother had turned my mind to a very dark place.

  “I still can’t believe it,” Lucas said, pressing a kiss to the top of Willow’s head, and another to her forehead. “We’re all alive. We’re all together again.”

  Crazy was the least of it. Sheer fucking insanity better described the events over the last week and a half. From the moment we’d arrived at Everdeen, straight through till now, I’d been existing inside some sort of hellish psychosis—trapped somewhere between the joy of finding my brother alive… and wishing he would have stayed dead.

  “And look at this place—curtains and carpets. Paintings on the wall.” Lucas gestured to the wall of paintings Willow had salvaged. “It’s so homey. Who decorated? You, Willow?”

  As they continued to embrace, I was tracking his hands—one hand was ruffling through her hair while the other toyed with the fraying pocket on the back of her jeans. A wave of heat rose in my throat. Mine—the lone word pounded through me like a battering ram, despite knowing better. Willow wasn’t mine; she never had been. Willow had always belonged to Lucas, and vice versa.

  Even knowing that, I still wanted to break his fingers. Every. Single. Fucking. One.

  I shot out of my seat, stalking toward the door. I had to get out of there, away from them, before I imploded. “I’m hungry,” I bit out. “I’m going to grab something from the dining hall.”

  “Wait up,” Lucas said. “Why don’t we all go? I’m starving—Willow, you hungry?”

  Willow, who’d untangled herself from Lucas, was glancing awkwardly between us. “I guess so,” she mumbled.

  “Great,” I muttered miserably. “Let’s all go.”

  All eyes were on us as we entered the dining hall, the din of noise dropping as everyone turned in their seats to stare.

  Lucas was oblivious; he was still reeling from seeing Willow again and marveling over all the make-do machinery in camp. Meanwhile, all the unwanted attention had caused Willow to pale. Her steps unsteady, she looked as if she might pass out at any second. I fought the urge to grab her—I’d been fighting that urge since the moment I’d seen her. To grab her and kiss her and tell her how fucking sorry I was for leaving her—a decision I’d regretted since finding Lucas alive.

  “You’ll have to forgive everyone, Lucas,” Leisel announced, standing from her seat. “We’re not usually so rude.”

  “Please, join us,” she continued, gesturing to the empty seats at her table. “And let me formally welcome you to Silver Lake. I know that I speak for everyone here when I say that we’re so happy you’ve been reunited with Logan and Willow. I know I’d give anything to find someone I loved alive and well, as would anyone else here.” Sending a pointed look around the room, curious expressions instantly shifted to somber nods of agreement and individual conversations quickly resumed.

  “This place is great,” Lucas said around a mouthful of food—a vegetable stew that I hadn’t touched. “Ant told me there was another camp but he never mentioned how good you guys have it. Everdeen is still using outhouses.” Shoveling another spoonful of stew into his mouth, he said. “And after what that horde did…”

  Our group had reached Everdeen with more than enough time to help evacuate the small community; however, we weren’t able to prevent the dead from trampling through it, leaving a considerable amount of damage in their wake.

  “Of course, we’ll be helping in whatever way we can,” Joshua murmured. “I’ve already spoken to Marcus—we’ll be sending our next trading party with as many supplies as we can spare—free of charge.”

  “That’s awesome,” Lucas said, nodding. “Maybe I’ll go back and help—you could come, Willow. And meet everyone.”

  Willow and I glanced up at the same time. The thought of her leaving… the thought that I might never see her again… I felt instantly sick.

  “Oh, um, yeah. That would be… great.” Willow resumed poking at her stew, not actually eating any of it. I found myself scrutinizing her, noting the weight she’d lost since I’d left.

  “You should eat something,” I growled softly.

  Willow’s eyes widened in my direction before blinking back to her plate. “I’m just not very hungry,” she mumbled.

  “You’re not eating, again,” I accused, just a little too loudly, and a little too angrily, drawing the attention of everyone in earshot. Again Willow’s eyes shot to mine, wide and full of accusation, and I cursed inwardly, biting down on the inside of my lip. I hadn’t meant to scold her.

  “I think she looks great,” Lucas said, smiling at Willow. “And I’m glad to see some things never change.” Looking to Leisel, he chuckled. “They’re always fighting, right? I can’t even remember a time when they didn’t.”

  To her credit, Leisel’s expression gave nothing away. Smiling and nodding, she said, “They’ve definitely had their share of disagreements.”

  “I can’t even imagine what it was like without me to play referee. These two
fight about everything—they literally invent stuff to fight about!” Laughing heartily, Lucas grabbed hold of one of Willow’s hands, threading his fingers through hers and tucking their joined hands in his lap while I fought back a surge of envy and rage so potent I was temporarily breathless.

  Uncomfortable laughter tittered around the table; even Willow was forcing a smile. I couldn’t seem to do anything but sit frozen in my seat and try not to throw my plate of food across the room.

  Still smiling, Leisel placed her hand on Joshua’s arm. “Did I hear you mention that it might rain tonight—maybe Logan could help you hang the tarps over the unfinished cabins?”

  I stared at Leisel, stone-faced. There wasn’t a single person at this table that thought it might rain tonight. Most people hadn’t survived this long without forming an up close and personal relationship with Mother Nature.

  Joshua coughed into his hand. “You know what, I think that’s a good idea—Logan, would you mind giving me a hand?”

  “Happy to,” I bit out. Leaving my untouched food, I was out of my seat and across the room before Joshua had even stood. Outside, I didn’t bother waiting for him, seeing as there wasn’t actually any rain to be concerned about. Forgoing the path, I cut straight through the grass center of camp, headed toward the water.

  Marching myself across the rocky beach and onto the boat dock, I folded my arm across my chest and peered into the water beyond, watching it ripple softly toward the shore, gently rocking the docked boats in time with the waves… leaving me wondering how long it would be before Lucas was gently rocking inside of Willow.

  Violent, ugly things welled up inside me; slapping the palms of my hands over my eyes, I spun away from the water with an angry growl.