Tessa’s eyes widen in confusion.
“I know what you are, big man. We will meet again.”
“You’re right,” I say. “And next time, I won’t stop.”
He bolts.
The tires of his rental spin in the icy drive. Then he’s gone.
And I turn to her.
She’s shaking now, but not from fear. Her breath comes in shallow pulls. I step toward her slowly.
“I didn’t mean to—” I start.
But she walks into me, presses her forehead to my chest, and wraps her arms around me like I’m the one who needs comfort.
“I knew he’d find me eventually,” she whispers. “I just didn’t think I’d be strong enough when he did.”
“You were,” I say. “Youare.”
She tilts her head up. “You would’ve killed him for me.”
“Without a second thought.”
“And Mary stopped you.”
“Because she knows what I’d lose if I did.”
She stares up at me, eyes shining. “You’d lose me.”
“Yes.”
The words are barely there, but they hang in the cold like a vow.
Later, when she’s tucked in bed and Mary’s finished checking every window, every door, every goddamn creak in the house, I sit in the dark by the fire, heart still thundering like war drums behind my ribs.
I almost lost her.
And not to the Blood Moon. Not to the beast inside me. But to a man in a coat with papers in his hand and venom in his voice. A man who saw her as property. A man who almost convinced the world she was broken.
But she isn’t.
She’s the strongest thing I’ve ever known.
And I can’t lose her.
The Blood Moon is coming—I feel it in my bones, in the heat under my skin, in the way the air tastes like copper and anticipation. But this time, I’m not afraid for myself.
I’m afraid of what I’ll become if she isn’t standing beside me when the moon rises.
17
TESSA
There’s a moment—right before you decide to speak a truth you’ve buried so deep it’s fused into the marrow of who you are—when your entire body turns traitor. My hands shake despite the warmth of the room, my stomach churns like something feral’s trying to claw its way out, and my mouth dries up even though I’ve rehearsed the words a dozen times in my head.
But I don’t turn back. I can’t. Not now.
