I’d brushed hands with death and escaped, and as I tilted my head back and let Phoenix dump what smelled like alcohol across the wound he’d left on my shoulder, I realized…
It was dangerous how easily I could get addicted to the feeling of Phoenix breaking me apart.
CHAPTER
EIGHT
PHOENIX
My bite marksdecorated Aubrey’s throat, and the sight of the bruises blossoming in the same place I wanted to put a collar was enough to make me realize I was willing to do something drastic to make sure that was the only outcome possible.
His eyes opened the second I got out of bed, but it didn’t really matter. What I wanted was outside the tent, which meant he just watched me silently as I pulled on my shirt and stepped out.
There’d been mentions of a letter, and I’d found him close to the old train station.
A resort.
I was pretty sure I already knew what I was doing, but I wanted to double check before I went out of my way and put in the effort of moving my entire group. Usually, when we found a place like this and settled, we stayed for at least afew weeks. We combed the buildings around us for supplies and found any food we could carry. If we were lucky, we’d find weapons, though that was happening less and less. I was sure things had been easier to find years ago, when the rain had first started.
Thinking of the rain, I closed my eyes and inhaled. It had been a while—red storms were my favorite time. No one wanted to be out in them, no one wanted toriskthe infection, but my pack embraced it. We embraced the way it made our blood sing, our bones feel like they were on fire.
The best time to hunt was when the rain sent all the prey into their little dens, closed off and too afraid to run.
My attention drifted back to Aubrey’s backpack. When I fished out the bloodstained letter and folded it open, my brows knitted together.
To Iris?
Who the fuck was Iris?
But as I read, I realized the person in the letter was probably long since dead. It was from when the rain had first started. Back when the place Aubrey obviously had his sights set on was probably still functional, a haven someone thought they could go to if they wanted to be safe.
It hadn’t taken long for the world to realize that there wasn’t really anywheresafe. Sure, I’d heard of cities that had somehow escaped the worst of the rain. There were apparently safe havens where you could benormalif you wanted. Mythic places where safe was a word you could actually believe.
I’d also heard of cities where they threw infected and carriers alike into pits and let them fightto the death. At the end of the day, nowhere was safe, because everywhere hadhumans. As far as I was concerned, they were more dangerous than the rabid ever could be. The idea of a safe haven, some place where everything wasgood…
Bullshit.
It was all bullshit.
Which meant this resort called Paradise was probably more of the same, but it wasn’t like we had anywhere else to go. I didn’t move with a location in mind—and if it would give me a chance to see Aubrey willingly fall to his knees for me again?
Well.
I double checked the letter and walked over to Blythe, who was already out and cutting some piece of wood she’d found into the shape of an animal. I’d picked her and Zero up a few months after I started wandering on my own. They were twins, both with dark hair and darker eyes that were full of the desire tosurvive. We’d all taken each other in, and everyone else we’d picked up along the way were our little strays. Some came, and some went, but Zero and Blythe always stayed.
“Ever heard of a place called Paradise?” I held the bloodstained letter out to her, but she didn’t bother looking up from what she was carving.
I was pretty sure it was a cat.
“Resort a few days’ trek up the coast. I think you used to get there by train before the world went to shit.”
So I was right, and Aubrey’s reaction to the train station and the way he’d put his hand on those faded letters told me it was something hewanted.
He’d been an awfully good dog last night, hadn’t he?
There was nothing wrong with giving him a little treat.
“Perfect.”
