Ryker whispered, “Holy fucking shit…”
Pride burned through me.
Rowan shifted back, wiping blood from her mouth with a shaking hand.
At first, she didn't move.
Stared in disbelief at the dead beast at her feet.
Then she lit up with a huge, wild grin.
“I killed it!” she yelled, throwing her hands in the air. “Whateverthatthing is, I killed it myself! How’s that for helpless, Cade!? I killed it!”
Nobody corrected her.
Because she did it.
Rowan Mills had taken down a wraith.
Alone.
And in that moment…
Crane was becoming something new.
Something powerful.
Chapter 19: Rowan
Iwoke slowly, cracking my eyes open. Every muscle ached, heavy and sore. The air smelled metallic.
I shifted and froze.
Sticky.
I looked down and recoiled. Black goo, partially dried and varying in texture from tacky to crusted, covered my clothes and sheets.
“What the heck?” I muttered.
Then it clicked. “Oh. Right. Wraith blood.”
“Disgusting,” I added, wrinkling my nose.
“You fell asleep in the convoy last night on the way back.”
I jolted at the sound of Cade's voice, twisting toward the doorway. I hadn’t noticed him standing there, half in shadow, arms crossed, watching me the whole time.
“Jesus, you scared me!” I said. “You really need to start announcing yourself if you’re going to lurk in the shadows while I sleep.”
Cade’s mouth pressed into a thin line. Not amused in the slightest.
“You fell asleep in the convoy on the way home. We didn’t want to wake you,” he said evenly, ignoring my comment.“But we’ll probably need to burn those sheets.”
I stared at him, incredulous, then looked down at myself again, scrunching my nose. “I cannot believe you let me fall asleep likethis.Gross, Cade.”
Then everything slammed back into my brain at once.
The photograph.
