“Meredith.”He picks me up and puts me back into the bed again before I can get to the door. “Stay in your bed.”
I laugh. “Nope.” I try to roll myself out of the bed again. He growls and climbs into the bed with me, wrapping his arms around my waist and tugging my back to his chest. “If I stay in bed with you, will you give me the hidden ice cream?”
“Go to sleep,” he grumbles.
“I lied.” I yawn, and Orion stills next to me.
“What about?” he demands. So grumpy. “Humans lie constantly.”
“I do remember something before I was eight and left alone at the orphanage. I have one memory and I see it when I close my eyes. It’s a night sky with a million stars, and there are fireworks being set off. They were a brilliant gold, and I felt nothing but pure joy. I’ve never felt like that before or after.” My eyes drift shut. “It’s not the night sky from the human district, so where is it? I always look to the sky…because it’s all I have of my past. I only have the stars…”
Orion never responds to my confession. I realize, moments later in the quiet, that Reed controls water and there was some in the bottle… He made sure it landed on me. I’m going to kick him when I see him next. Or kiss him again. Or kick him. He deserves both. “Mere, sleep. Stop thinking and mumbling about kissing.”
“Yes, Mr Grumpy Man.” I sigh. “You smell the best, Ori-boy. I love maple syrup.” He tenses against me, but I don’t care, and itdoesn’t take long before I’m falling straight to sleep in his arms, wondering why the hell he stayed when he hates me.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I’m never drinking again.Never, never, never.Not with wolves who cheat using water magic and dare me to kiss them. Oh, goddesses, I really did that. Never drinking again. I repeat my new motto as I open my eyes to the bright sunlight from the window. I’m not alone. The sunlight abruptly disappears and shadows fill the room instead, slithering like snakes and curling around my body. My mouth dries and my heart is beating so fast as a weight falls onto my bed, pinning me under the sheets. Any fear I had disappears when the scent of midnight air brushes across my senses and I see it’s him. My monster is back.
His wings almost cocoon us in a bubble, dragging the room into a grey darkness, and his powers must be the shadows to do this. His hand is around my throat in a heartbeat, firm but not painful. My eyes widen as he stares down at me and growls. “Do not let him sleep in your bed again,” he snarls at me. “I had towatch him hold you for eight hours, ten minutes and thirty-one seconds. That is exactly how long I will spend ripping the wolf to pieces when I am free.”
“Who? It’s too early for this,” I mutter innocently. I know he means Orion, and he is being all stalker-ish again. I’ve decided that a group therapy session is very important in our future.
He leans down and nips at my bottom lip with his teeth, and I hiss in pain as I taste a drop of my blood. “Do not trust the wolves, love, and do not risk anything for them. They are lying to you.” The muscles on his chest tighten, and his face convulses in pain. Worry overrides how mad I am at him for biting me, and I reach for my monster, but he climbs off me. In seconds, he’s out of the window, shutting it behind him and disappearing across the forest with those powerful wings.
The room smells like midnight and maple syrup… I’m gonna be sick. Practically running, I jump out of bed and rush to the bathroom. I throw up all the drink from last night into the toilet until my stomach remotely starts to feel better. Never drinking again. Nope. Did I boop Orion on the nose?Fuck my life.
When I finally have the strength to stand, I get in the shower and clean myself before brushing my wet hair and getting changed. I’ve just finished putting my boots on and I am wondering where Tannith is when my door is knocked twice.
“Come in,” I shout.
Reed opens the door and raises his hands up to gently hold on to the frame above his head, making his shoulders flex in a way that’s too delicious. Maiden, I’m staring. “How are you feeling?” he asks with a knowing smirk. I’m still mad at him for using his magic to land the bottle on me.
“I feel like I’m never drinking with wolves ever again. Like ever.” I groan. “You don’t play fair.”
“No, not when it comes to you.” He laughs and stops so fast that I worry something is wrong. He breathes in deeply. “Wait.”His eyes narrow on mine, and his jaw clenches. Twice. “Next time, you need to shower for longer if you want to wipe the smell ofhimoff you.”
“Who?” I innocently bat my eyelashes.
“The monster who is stalking you. He was here, wasn’t he?” I don’t say a word. “Don’t worry. I’m planning to kill him if he comes for you after we leave the Folkland.” I don’t say anything, keeping my face carefully blank, even though something protective rears up in my chest, not wanting Reed to touch him. He’s my monster, and he makes me come in my dreams. I’mnotgiving him up. Reed sighs. “But I came up here because, well, can you come down to the kitchen when you’re ready? We need to talk.”
I hate when people say that. He leaves before I can tell him that my anxiety is going to make me throw up again until I get down to the kitchen. You can’t just saywe need to talkto someone and then not talk to them right away. Not to people with anxiety like me. I’m going to overthink it a million times and get myself in a mess. A normal person might be okay with it, but not me. I throw myself back on the bed, which really does still smell like my monster and Orion.
Tannith comes out from under my pillow and nudges my arm before climbing up to my shoulder. “I thought I nearly died when I saw the monster dude leaning over you in the bed. It’s okay to have a monster kink, but it’s not okay to do stuff when I’m in bed too. There has to be a line somewhere.”
I laugh, needing this, needing her humour to chase away every worry. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” I clear my throat. “The last trial was weird, and it felt like something big changed between us all. Reed nearlydiedfor me. Blackfire did the same in the last trial, and Orion still hates me, so it’s fine with him. Then the drinking game last night…it was messy. Everything issomessy now, and now Reed wants me to come and talk to him.”
“I gathered that something changed when the one that you sayhatesyouwas in bed with you most of the night, making sure you were breathing, by the looks of it. He left earlier this morning only when he was sure that you were okay. He didn’t sleep, Mere, he just watched you.” My heart pounds. I didn’t think he stayed all night.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I thought I hallucinated him carrying me up to bed, to be honest. What am I doing, Tannith? I came into the Folkland with one thing in mind, saving you, and now…”
“You’re growing feelings and letting people in. It’s weird, isn’t it?” If she could smile, she would be. Instead, her mouth full of sharp teeth widens in a creepy way. “You should go downstairs and talk to him.”
“What if they hurt me?” I whisper. “What if they see the burns and they are disgusted?”
“What if they don’t? What if they see you as the beautiful, brave and amazing person you are?” she counters, and I feel my eyes welling up. “People hurt each other all the time. Life is messy. But you still have to keep living it, Meredith, okay? That’s the whole point of life. You think that you’re broken, undesirable and all these things that you convinced yourself of in your mind, but none of it was real or true. Now that reality is here, they have seen the real you, and it’s okay to let them love you. I know you’re scared, which is completely understandable with everything you’ve been through andstillare going through. But I’m telling you, as your best friend, as the one that’s seen you through all of it, get downstairs and talk to that man who looks at you like you’re his entire world. I may have been with men. I may have had more experience in some ways than you, butno onehas looked at me the way that wolf looks at you.”
I kiss the top of her weird scaly head. She blinks up at me. “I’m so happy you’re my friend.”
