I rub my hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her.
“It would take a lot more than that to kill me.” I sigh. “I’m so sorry about Sally.”
Wren starts crying all over again, holding onto me like I’m the only solid thing in her world.
“She was a really good person,” I say, and I mean it. Sally was always kind to me, even when I was being an asshole.
Wren pulls back, her face wet with tears. “She was the best. We were really good friends.”
“I wish I had let her call her husband,” I mutter.
“No.” Wren shakes her head. “You were right to dissuade her from doing that. They might check my phone log…all of our phone logs.” She pulls away from me completely. “I’m so angry with myself.” Her eyes darken with emotion.
“Why? You couldn’t have done anything. If we had stayed, if I hadn’t shifted, we would be dead too. You can’t blame yourself, Wren.”
“I don’t blame myself for what happened.” Her eyes blaze. “I blame them. I only wish I knew who ‘them’ were. I’m so damned angry I dropped my cell phone. I had video footage of everything that happened. I recorded them killing the anti-vaxxers. Shooting Sally, even though she clearly wasn’t a threat.” Her face crumples, and more tears roll down her cheeks. “But I let my phone go when you grabbed me. It fell.” She makes a noise of utter frustration. “If only I’d held onto it.”
“Hey.” I close the distance between us. “That isn’t your fault either. I had to get us out of there. It had to be quick. You could blame me for being too rough.”
She shakes her head. “No, that would be wrong.”
“Blaming yourself for dropping the phone is wrong, too.”
“I guess so.” She sighs. “It slid under the corner cabinet. I’m sure they’ll find it. It’s probably broken anyway. It fell quite hard. I only wish…” She groans.
“Stop beating yourself up. You never know; they might not find it. Right now, it doesn’t matter. It’s done. We can’t change or undo what has already happened. We need to move forward, Wren.”
She nods, swallowing thickly. “You’re right.” Her lip wobbles, but she bites down on it.
“We have to try to get to shelter and find somewhere to hole up for the night. Somewhere safe. Somewhere they wouldn’t look for us. I figure we still have a few hours of daylight. Once we have some food in our bellies, we can plan our next move.”
“We have to stay alive, Grim.” Wren looks determined again, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t do something to me. Makes something stir inside me, even though it terrifies me. My dragon wants her. He likes her. He tried hard to mind-bond with her…twice.
Thank fuck it didn’t work. It nearly did. So very nearly.
“We have to expose those bastards, whoever they are. We have to go and see Sally’s family and let them know that she was thinking of them. That she loved them.” Another tear tracks down her cheek.
“We will,” I tell her. “We’ll find a way. We should go now. I would prefer not to be out in the jungle at night.”
She nods and then, thank fuck, she puts the blouse on. The one that carries my scent. My dragon approves way too much. The bastard can go to hell.
We start walking. I pick a direction based on the position of the setting sun and the lay of the land.
“Do you know where we’re going?” she asks.
“Yes. At least, I think I do.”
“Youthinkso?”
“I’m pretty sure I know where we are.” I look up at the sky.
“Pretty sure.” She chokes out a laugh that sounds like it might turn into a sob at any second.
“I’m sure, Wren.”
I take her hand and squeeze. My dragon likes it so much that I drop it immediately. We’re just friends. I can’t give her more, and I refuse to hurt her. That means keeping things strictly and clearly aboveboard at all times.
21
