Maybe I’ll go see him at work tomorrow. Getting out of this building, getting some sun, might be good for me.
Sleep mostly eludes me, nightmares leaving me gasping and shaking and sweating under the duvet, but I still feel a bit more optimistic as I head in the direction of Hallowed Grounds the next morning. I’ve not sent Drew a text to let him know I’m coming, but he doesn’t finish for another hour, so I figure I can get a coffee and wait for him to be done.
I’ve not heard anything from the twins. With the sun overhead, it’s easier to worry less about it. Surely they’d havebeen in touch by now if that fight ending abruptly had cost me my wolf.
Besides, they said they’d be fair. They can’t lie. No one could possibly think that’s fair.
And Kieran hasn’t been by to talk to me again, which means that Asher maybe did keep seeing me at a fight to himself. Maybe that’s what Sorrel and Celyn are dealing with. Will we have to move? I don’t know about any other fae hotspots in London, but maybe I can ask Sparrow the next time I see them.
Someone falls into step beside me, derailing my train of thought. I glance over and come to an abrupt stop when Asher smiles back at me.
“I’m not here to scare you,” he says.
The street is busy. If I run, I’ll only attract attention, and that’s exactly what I don’t want. Asher knows it, too. He must have been following me since I left our pack house—there’s no way he came across me by chance.
But why didn’t I sense him? I can smell him now, close as we are, and although I can’t feel magic, I don’t think he’s suppressing his scent. I take a deep breath. No, I can smell him. There’s an honest edge to his scent, an earnestness that surprises me.
Only for a second, though, as I realise, with mounting horror, just how much my senses have weakened over the past few months.Anyonecould sneak up on me if I’m not paying attention. Fuck.
“I’m meeting someone,” I say. People move around us like we’re a pair of rocks in a gentle stream. “I have to go.”
“Who?”
“What?”
“Who are you meeting?”
I stare at him. Will he let me go? I can’t fight him. I won’t win, for one thing, but I also think that’s something he reallywouldtell Deacon about.
“Drew.”
Asher frowns, looking up and down the street. “He’s at work?”
“Yeah.”
“And when does he finish?”
I press my lips tightly together, but Asher just looks at me, apparently having all the time in the world to wait for me to give in. He probably does have plenty of time. I’m the one who just admitted they were on a deadline.
I could lie. I could tell him that Drew’s already waiting.
“In an hour.”
“Can we talk now, then? I promise you’ll be with him before he’s done.”
Promise. It’s a heavy word for him to throw out there so easily, but when I look at him, I think he means it. I tug nervously at my shirt and nod. “Yeah, okay. Here?”
“No,” Asher says and offers me another smile that I don’t return. “Come on. There’s somewhere we can go.”
Chapter Five
Asher
IknowQuinnwantstorun. It doesn’t take a genius to see it. But he doesn’t, and if he tries, I won’t let him.
No point going to a café if we’re not going to buy anything, so I lead Quinn down another street, to a patch of grass in front of a block of flats that will serve us well enough. Quinn frowns when I drop into the grass and folds himself down slowly. He holds himself stiffly, apparently nervous to be anywhere near me.
That doesn’t surprise me, though I find I do not particularly like it. I’m not sure why. I want him not to be afraid of me, I suppose.
