by Lila Kane
Logan turns away, and I lower my forehead to my knees again, breathing in and out.
Faye touches my shoulder. “You did good,” she whispers.
I can’t answer.
“He’ll come around,” she says softly, kneeling next to me. “I promise you.”
Chapter 19
A few nights later, Myra invites me over for dinner. I find the same outfit I wore when I went out dancing with her and Cheyenne. The one Logan drooled over.
I’m taking a step out of my comfort zone. I’m going to try to wow him because tonight is the night I need to ask them to help me. To come to Shadow Hill. I know Myra will agree. I don’t need to convince her. But Logan will be more difficult.
And I need him there with me. Our group needs him. Selfishly, though, I want him there.
Stepping out of the car, I take a deep breath for courage, and then lose it immediately when I see Logan standing on the sidewalk waiting for me.
My heart skips, and I barely make it across the street on my heels. He reaches out a hand to steady me, and the familiarity of his fingers on my arm almost makes me lose it right there. I have to fight to keep my composure.
“I’m–I’m sorry,” I say, suddenly feeling shy. “Am I late? Or–”
“No, you’re right on time. I wanted to talk to you a minute before you came in.”
His eyes are steady on me, making my chin dip. He smells so good. Like the forest. Like trees. And always like secrets. I wish he’d open up to me.
“How’s Myra?” I ask.
He glances to the window of her apartment with a smile. “She hasn’t stopped doing things–everything–since the fire. Since you healed her.”
“Wait. You think I healed her?”
His lips curve, charming me. “Are you going to make me say it?”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“I think you healed her. No, I know you did. She hasn’t felt this good since we were kids. She won’t stop baking, and she keeps talking about a bakery and…”
“Oh.” I take a step back. “I think I know where this is going.”
He blinks. “What?”
“You’re upset I put that idea in her head. About the bakery. But I swear to you it’s true. It’s one of those cute little stores down on Main Street, across from the library–”
He stops me by putting a hand over my mouth. “Okay, I deserved that. You expect the worst from me, and I understand. But you also seem to understand how much Myra means to me, so I hope you’ll overlook my rude behavior. I’m not mad you told her about the bakery. She’s so happy, I can’t find a lot to be mad about.”
“You’re welcome,” I mumble behind his hand.
He laughs. It sends a shock of pure pleasure through me.
“Oh, Logan, it’s so nice to hear you laugh. I’m–” I stop at the look on his face. “I’m sorry. I wish…”
He takes a step closer. “What? What do you wish?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing. Should we go up?”
He catches my arm again. “Hold on. I didn’t tell you what I wanted to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“Thank you.”
I smile. “Of course.”
“No, Willow. Really. Thank you.”
He leans in and my breath stops. My eyelids droop as my heartbeat picks up. Then I feel the soft brush of his lips on my cheek.
“Thank you, Willow.”
Even as I wish he would have kissed me full on the lips, I’m encouraged he’s opening up to me. I hope he stays this open for the rest of the night.
As we tend to do when we’re together, Myra and I enjoy too many glasses of wine, and I find myself wishing Cheyenne were here. Or that Ryan was here and I could see him and Myra in love again. I have to remind myself they’ll be together eventually. I just have to get her to Shadow Hill.
Suddenly nervous, I spin my wine glass in circles on the dining room table. Candlelight flickers at the center from three long, tapered candles. I try to think of a subtle way to ease into the conversation.
“Logan tells me you’ve been baking a lot.”
Myra nods, excitement in her eyes. “I was thinking about the bakery, too. I think it’s time I did something about it.”
I sit up straighter. “Really?”
“Really. I’d love it if you’d help me.”
Logan sends her a sideways glance. Clearly, she hasn’t discussed the idea with him yet.
“I–it’s–”
“Say yes,” Myra says.
Logan sets his hand over hers. “Give her a minute, Myra. Not everyone moves as fast as you.”
“No, it’s fine,” I say. I take a hasty sip of wine, and purposefully set it aside. I’ve already had too much. “I sort of need to move fast, too.”
“Move fast for what?” Logan asks.
Myra reaches out to me. “You need to tell him the whole story.”
My stomach clenches. I can’t tell him the whole story. The whole story involves a lot of him and I. A lot of love. Without it, the story doesn’t have as much weight.
“Can I?” Myra asks. “He needs to know how important it is.” She faces Logan. “We need to go to Shadow Hill.”
He just stares at her.
“Logan,” she says, exasperated. “Haven’t you heard anything Willow’s said about Kane? All those things he did, they’re still going to happen. And we can help stop it.”
Logan turns to me, one finger tapping the base of his wine glass. “What things?”
I squirm in my seat, strangely uncomfortable with his dark, watchful eyes on me. They hold me captive, like they alone can will me to spill everything, all my secrets. How I feel for him.
“He was going to kill my dad to find me,” I whisper. “He wants to become a full vampire, and he’s willing to hurt a lot of people to make that happen.”
His expression doesn’t change. He doesn’t blink or grimace, only continues to stare at me in a way that makes the wine go straight to my head.
“She’s telling the truth, Logan,” Myra tells him. “Why would she lie? Why would she come here and help me and then lie about Kane?”
“I don’t know,” he murmurs.
“Logan! You know Willow, or you did. You were in love with her and–”
I scoot my chair back so hard it tips. Snagging the back, I hastily straighten it, my cheeks flaming. “I should go.”
Myra stands, faster than me on her feet, and hurries around the table. “Willow, no, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything, but I know Kane. He’s evil. And I want to help. Logan told me he was looking for the Keeper of the Flame, and then you find us. I believe everything you said is true, and I want him to believe too.”
But I can’t meet Logan’s eyes now. Myra just told him he falls in love with me. Or he did. It’s like her telling him where his heart should be. And while I want his heart in that exact spot, I don’t want to scare him away.
“I really appreciate you having me over,” I mumble, turning around and searching for my purse. I spot it sitting on the table by the front door. When it’s hard to walk on my heels, I pull them off and send Myra an apologetic look. I reach for my bag. “I’ll just–I’ll call a cab. That’s probably best–”
“No, no, don’t go,” Myra says. “I’m sorry, Willow. I won’t say anything else, I swear. Stay for a while. Or if you can’t drive, stay the night. You can have my room.”
I give her a strained smile, hating that emotions are swamping me again. I knew this was going to be hard. I knew it. And I just need to suck it up and keep going. I made a promise.
“Really, Myra. It’s fine.” I fumble for my phone. “I’ll go.”
When I finally pull it out of the depths of my purse, a hand closes over mine, and a gasp lodges in my throat. I lift my eyes, surprised to find Logan standing in front of me, smelling like the woods and killing me with his tenderness.
“Don’t go,” he says softly. “It’s a lot to take in. But I’m willin
g to listen.”
I almost turn my hand over in his, to cling to the fingers that have driven me wild in the past. I focus on evening my breathing, but my heart won’t stop racing.
“What’s that?” Logan asks.
Thrown for a minute, I step back and fumble for a response. “Wh–what?”
His eyes dip to my necklace, which has come out from under my dress. Panicked, I wrap my fingers around it, trying to hide it from his view.
“It’s nothing–just a ring, but–”
“It looks familiar.”
“No, it’s not–wait!”
But he doesn’t wait. He pries my fingers lose, stronger than me, and stares at the ring. His gaze flicks to mine. “It looks like my grandmother’s.”
Still overcome by panic, I bob my head in a short nod. “It is.”
“Where did you get it?”
Myra hovers behind Logan several feet, her eyes wide. She’s heard everything. She makes a tell him motion with her hands, and I sigh.
“I got it from you, Logan.”
He drops the chain, stepping back like it burnt him.
“See?” Myra begins.
She starts to explain to him again, but he holds up a hand. “Not now, Myra. Just…take a break from this, okay? I need some air.” He’s eyeing the door like it’s his only escape. “Willow, thank you again for helping Myra. If you decide to stay, you’re welcome to use my room. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
And then he walks out the front door without looking back.
It seems too intrusive to sleep in Logan’s room, even though we’ve been more intimate than he can ever imagine. I take Myra up on her offer to sleep in her room, and she takes Logan’s space. He hasn’t returned yet, and every moment he’s gone, it hurts my heart a little more.
Sitting in Myra’s pajamas on her bed, I finish up a phone call with my mom, letting her know we’ll need to plan to leave for Shadow Hill later this week. She lets me know she’s been in touch with Ryan.
I have to ignore the flicker of excitement I feel to see him. He won’t recognize me either. He won’t know how much he was there for me, or remember the little rental he let me live in when I first got to Shadow Hill.
There’s a knock at the door, then Myra walks in. She’s carrying a tray with some kind of bread I can smell from here, and a cup of tea.
“More food?” I ask, giving her a smile.
“I haven’t felt well enough to bake this much in a long time. I studied in Paris, you know–” She catches herself, and shrugs. “Of course you know. I probably told you, right?”
“Logan did, yes.”
She sets the tray by the bed. “He’ll come around, I know it. He just needs time to adjust. It’s someone mapping out his destiny for him, and that’s not an easy thing to accept for most people.”
“Trust me, I understand where he’s coming from.”
She sits next to me, taking my hand with a sigh. “But it’s hard for you. You love him.”
“I do. He’s the one for me. He’s everything. I–” I blink and shake my head.
“Willow, I’m…I feel bad. But it’s meant to be, so I know it’ll work out.”
“You do?”
“Of course.” She stands. “I’m a firm believer in meant-to-be’s. They always work out. But it can be hard on the heart in the meantime.”
“Very true.”
She points. “Drink your tea. Sleep. We can talk about Shadow Hill in the morning.”
“Faye wants to leave by the end of the week.”
Myra stops at the door and nods. “Whatever you think is best. I’m with you on this, Willow. I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything. You’re my friend.”
She flashes a smile. “We’ll take care of each other then.” She turns her head when we hear the front door, then looks back at me expectantly. “Logan’s back. Do you want to talk to him or…?”
“No.” I pick up the cup of tea. “I’ll let him have his space.”
“All right. Sleep well.”
“Thanks.”
I settle down soon after she leaves. Sleeping helps. It makes me forget how close to Logan I am, but how far away he feels.
But this time, I’m swamped by memories. It’s not just a dream, it’s flashes of times Logan and I shared. Moments we were close, where we held hands, where we talked, where we made love. Like that last night in the rental before Kane came and took me.
It was shortly after Logan told me he loved me, and I knew. I knew he was the one for me. He kissed me with such tenderness and passion, I couldn’t imagine ever loving anyone as much as him.
Then Kane came. I dreamed of walking down the hall, just as I’d done that night. Of Kane calling me to the backyard, of his group surrounding the house. The wind that James made engulfed the house like a tornado, and I had to go with Kane so he wouldn’t hurt Logan.
And I remember the pain on Logan’s face as the amethyst hurt him, blocking him from coming after me. He had to watch as Kane took me away.
I sit up with a gasp, my heart racing and my head thundering in pain. My heart hurts so bad, I clasp my fist at my chest. Logan. My dream had felt so real, like I was there again. Like he loved me again. I can still feel his mouth on mine, his arms around me. And feel the heartbreak when Kane made me leave.
Throat dry, I climb out of bed and walk down the hallway in the dark. I make my way to the kitchen and fill a glass of water. I barely make it to my lips before the first sob slips out. Pressing my hand over my mouth, I sink to the floor. The tile is cool on my legs, the cabinets hard at my back.
But I can barely feel it above the pain in my heart and the tears streaming down my face.
“Hey,” a voice says softly.
It’s Logan’s silhouette in the darkness. I’d forgotten he was asleep on the couch. Scrambling to my feet, my breath hitching, I set the glass on the counter. “Sorry. I’m sorry–”
“Don’t,” he says, filling the space in front of me. “Don’t apologize. Just…”
He sighs and pulls me into his arms. I cling to his shirt as sobs wrack my body. He only holds on, waiting for the tears to slow. He runs one hand down my hair and murmurs soothing words until I’m finally able to pull back.
I rub the tears from my cheeks, hating that I just fell apart in front of him.
“I–this is–”
“Please don’t apologize again,” he says, and there’s something like pain in his voice. “You’re crying because of me.”
“It’s not your fault.”
He releases a breath. “No, it’s not. But you’re dealing with this all alone.”
“No. I have Faye, and now Myra. It’ll be okay.”
“You have me, too. I don’t know exactly what that means yet, but I’ll go with you to Shadow Hill.”
I blink, staring up at his shadowed face. His arms are still wrapped around me. I don’t want him to let go. “You will?”
“I will.”
He brushes his thumb on my cheek, wiping away more tears. It’s the most tender gesture he’s made to me so far, I’m afraid I’m going to start crying again.
“I’m sorry I woke you,” I say. “It’s–I had a dream, and–”
“It’s fine,” he says quietly. “I had a dream, too. I was already awake.”
“Yours didn’t happen to have Kane at the end of it?” I joke. “And a shapeshifter and a witch that made a–”
“Windstorm,” he murmurs, straightening.
“What?”
He shakes his head. “No, we didn’t have the same dream.”
Already blushing, I ask, “What about the first part? Was I in it?”
He clears his throat. In the first part, we’d been making love. “Yes.”
“Logan, that wasn’t a dream. It was a memory. One of my memories. You and–and me–and then Kane came to get me to help him.”
His chest moves up and down in short breaths. “A memory?”
I nod.
&nb
sp; “God.” He steps back and shoves a hand through his hair. “That’s not–that can’t be right. But it felt so real.”
“Because it was real. All of it. And everything you felt.”
“Kane took you away from me,” he murmurs.
I lift my hand, slowly reaching out, afraid he’ll back away. When he doesn’t, I touch his cheek, my palm cool against his warm skin. He leans into it slightly, and swallows.
“She told me about you, you know,” he says.
“Who?”
“Morgan. The witch you were talking about. She…you were right, I was looking for you. She said I needed to find the Keeper of the Flame to help Myra. She said we’d meet, and I’d…”
“What?”
“I’d fall in love with you.”
My breath catches. He’s close enough for me to stand on my toes and press a kiss to his jaw, but I hold myself back.
“Then she got angry,” Logan continues.
I nod. “Because she cares about you.”
“She didn’t want it to be true. But…it looks like it is.”
“It is,” I repeat. “All of it.”
He glances down at my necklace. “You’re still wearing it.”
My heart thumps hard. “I’m sorry–here, you should have it back.”
His hand closes over mine. “No, keep it for now. I gave it to you for a reason, didn’t I?” he asks with a wry smile.
To marry him. “Yes.”
“When? Where?”
“Are you sure you want to know? I don’t want to mess up the future or–”
“I want to know.”
“It was a few days before I left–uh, before I came back here. In the garden outside your house.”
“In the garden.” He smiles. “Sounds about right.”
“I told you.”
“And now I believe you.”
Relief floods me all the way to my toes. Then I realize I’m still standing barefoot in the kitchen in the middle of the night. “I, uh…you should get back to bed–I mean, sleep–”
“Willow.”
“Yes?”
“Just kiss me already.”
My mouth opens in surprise, and he covers it with his own. His tongue tangles with mine, soft and demanding at the same time. My whole body explodes with sensation and happiness.