Dangerous Calling (The Shadowminds)
Page 26
“I guess you guys thought of everything.”
Diana held up a bag full of candy bars and instant hot chocolate packets. “Yep. Everything.”
* * *
That night, Shane and I slept on the back porch overlooking the swamp. We zipped our two sleeping bags together to make one big one and set up a ring of citronella candles around us. They were there to keep the mosquitos away, but they were pretty romantic too. Somewhere out in the swamp, two owls called to each other.
“I seem to remember you promising not to look for me,” I told him. He was curled around me from behind, so I couldn’t see his face, but I felt his chest move when he chuckled.
“Technically, I didn’t. I just came along for the ride with Ian and Diana.”
I frowned. “How did you even know I’d be here?”
He laughed a little more. “Come on, Cass. Give me a little credit.”
“You snooped?” I whacked him on the arm that circled around me, twisting so I could see his face. His skin was dark gold in the candlelight.
“I didn’t snoop.” He caught my arm and held it. “I figured it out. And then Diana confirmed it.”
I grumbled something about interfering fortune-tellers and turned to fit myself against him again. Shane kept hold of my arm. I looked out over the open expanse of swamp, the dead zone ironically brighter without a lush canopy of leaves to block out the moonlight. Out here, away from the city, I could see what seemed like millions of stars.
“It hasn’t really gotten better, has it?” he asked softly.
I focused on the way his fingers traced patterns on my arm. “Not really, no.” Ian was eight feet away through a single layer of flimsy wood. Even with Shane’s body this close to mine, I could’ve counted the guardian’s heartbeats.
“It will.”
“Is that what Diana said?”
“She said you weren’t going to kill me.”
“I guess I’ll have to trust that she’s right.”
He turned me so our eyes could meet. “Cass, I would’ve come regardless. I would’ve given you time, but I wouldn’t have let you go forever.” He brushed hair from my face, his fingers trailing gently over my scars, his body bracketing mine. “When are you going to figure it out? We’re in this together.”
“I’m scared,” I admitted. “What if I can’t get control of it? And then if you anchor—”
“Then I won’t anchor until you get control of it.” He propped himself over me on both arms. “You said you would marry me, Cass Weatherfield. I don’t know why you thought I’d let you get away.”
I should’ve been worried. I should’ve been demanding that he leave, demanding that they all leave, stay away where it was safe. But for the first time since I’d felt the cravings, I also felt like I had a shot at getting through them without someone ending up dead. For the first time since I’d arrived, I looked out at the darkened swamp and felt something like hope. I twisted my engagement ring and watched the stone catch the candlelight. Shane took my hand and brought it to his lips.
“Consider me happy to be caught,” I told him, and smiled as he bent his head to claim me.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781426898839
Dangerous Calling
Copyright © 2014 by A.J. Larrieu
Edited by Deborah Nemeth
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