by S. L. Hess
Devan’s face broke into a smile and the sight of it warmed her all over. His hand came up to smooth over her hair. “Get some sleep.” He commanded. In the next instance he was folding himself out the window and reaching in for the screen setting it in the frame for her to fasten.
“Make sure to lock the window.” He stood and walked off the roof. Laney gasped at his actions forgetting for a moment that it was like a step off a porch for him. A second later he was running swiftly across the backyard and disappearing into the woods.
Laney closed the window and locked it, and even though he was already gone she had a hard time tearing her gaze from where he’d disappeared.
He was back and he was staying.
∞ ∞ ∞
Devan turned after reaching the dark cover of the forest. He could see Laney staring out her window, trying to pierce the darkness with her normal human eyes, but he knew he was concealed entirely by the darkness. She was smiling as she turned away from the window.
Brett was having a difficult time understanding why Devan wanted to stay. He understood Brett’s confusion and knew if the roles were reversed he would be feeling the same.
The logical action for them to implement was a direct and immediate departure from this area, but as always things concerning Laney didn’t fall into the category of rational. At the moment Devan felt it was safe, and he wanted, needed, to be near her.
That instance in the woods, when she had declared her feelings, was etched in his memory. It didn’t seem possible that she felt the same for him that he did for her…but she did, and instead of being disgusted by his genetic mutations she appeared partial to them. She had called his eyes amazing.
Thoughts of seeing her tomorrow, and the next, and the next, brought on a deep sense of satisfaction...and peace. It was inconceivable the emotions Devan felt for her, but when he tried to see ahead to the future without her, he couldn’t. It was black, void of any true life. He had told her in the woods that things wouldn’t have worked out between them, and he knew it was true, but the desire to spend more time with her over-rode any and every other action he might take.
So he’d pressed Brett to remain, and he had eventually conceded when Devan had assured him that all the wolves had been disposed of and that the chips had been relocated to another state, and when he’d guaranteed that there was no surveillance of any kind.
How long Devan was going to be able to stay was another matter entirely. He and Brett knew that lingering in any one place for too long was dangerous, so eventually they would have to leave Silverton. Devan normally wasn’t one to not face the facts about something, but in this instance he pushed that detail to the back of his mind to worry about another day.
All the excuses he’d made about not being able to have a relationship because of what he was and what he could become seemed unimportant at the moment. The apprehension was still there, but it was pushed back to the far recesses of his mind.
Devan’s need for Laney was too great, and the pain he’d experienced when he’d been parted from her had been unbearable. She had a powerful influence over his logical reasoning, and also his corporal. For three days he’d ached both emotional and physically to be back in her presence.
Brett expected to leave Silverton in a few months.
Devan’s instincts were intensifying and they were telling him that it wasn’t going to be that simple.
The End
Book Two Transhuman out soon