NICK
The last thing Nick wanted to do was go back down into that hidden crypt.
The feeling as he had run down those steps, the awful oppressive dread, the terror that something had happened to Maeve…his heart still ached with it and his stomach tied itself into a knot.
She was safe now, safe with Patricia. Away from Wildewood Hall. That was all that mattered.
Well, not quite.
He and Alex sat in the study now, where he had followed her after her abrupt departure from the kitchen, both of them avoiding looking at the chair propped up against the wall where the hidden door was. He was trying not to think of what lay beneath them like a gaping mouth. Alex was still reading an email, a look of fixed determination on her face. When she had finally turned her phone back on, the number of notifications had been astounding. After she had spoken to Arnold, she had spent an hour placating and calming the rest of them.
They really cared about her, worried about her. And they had a better idea of what they might be facing here than he did. If they were that concerned, he knew it had to be serious indeed.
They might be the epitome of gung-ho Americans, especially that Gabe, but in this case…in this case they were terrified. And determined to protect her. From the house, from him, perhaps even from herself.
Nick just wanted to retreat into the woods and let them sweep him away. The storm would rouse them and in that wildness he could forget himself. Perhaps forever. Now Sally and Theo were gone – and theyweregone, he could feel it – and Maeve was safe with Patricia, there was nothing to keep him here, was there? Except Alex. He couldn’t leave Alex to face this alone.
Maeve had made him promise. Alex had saved her, and she had saved Sally’s spirit, helping her escape with Theo…of that he had no doubt. His daughter had been very clear on what she had seen and what had happened, and despite her youth and what others believed, Maeve wasn’t actually given to flights of fancy. Nick had smelled the wild woods as he rushed down those stairs. The scent of them had washed over him and through him, so powerful that he thought he was plunging headfirst into the clearing with the stone circle, the heart of the wild wood, rather than the darkness under the house. At first, he had thought he must have brought it with him. But he didn’t. Alex had called it, somehow, called the wild to save his daughter. It had to be Alex. The dead couldn’t do it, Maeve was too young, and there was no one else here.
Nick owed Alex everything.
But that wasn’t all.
Hewantedto keep her safe, he realised. Hewantedto make sure that no harm came to her. Not just as the guardian of this place, its protector. He wanted Alex safe. More than he ever had anyone other than Maeve.
Even Sally.
Sally had never needed him. Not really. He was a symbol to her, some kind of manifestation of that which she served. He represented the woods. But she had never loved him. He had adored her, worshipped her, served her.
But she had never made him feel the way Alex did.
Nick drew in a breath and held it, until his lungs strained. How was that possible? He barely knew her, not really. And yet…
For years he had felt bound here, tied to the woods, to Sally, and now…now that was gone. The tether broken.
Sally was gone and Alex had been the one to help her escape from whatever had trapped her spirit here. He hadn’t even been there to say goodbye. Theo had come for her. And she’d gone gladly.
And that was all right as well. He had said goodbye to Sally long ago. Perhaps even before she died. When he saw her with Theo, when he understood that she didn’t really love him. Not like that.
And perhaps he had never really loved her either. He saw that now.
It was a world away from what he felt now for Alex.
He just hadn’t known. He’d never realised the intensity of the emotion.
Was this love? This burning, desperate feeling, this need to hold her and shield her, this desire to be better for her, to deserve her.
The shock of it made his heart pound. It couldn’t be. He barely knew her.
But she had saved and shielded his daughter. She had given herself up to the wild. He owed her everything. And even if she hadn’t…
She was more like her brother than she would care to admit. So easy to love. And he had loved Theo in spite of everything that happened. He’d never stopped loving him.
How could Nick possibly know what he was feeling? If any of this was real? Or if the house was playing games with him? How would he ever know?
‘—need to have a proper look at that thing,’ Alex said.
He jarred back into reality. ‘What?’
