Then Vincent whistles low. Three times. The signal to regroup.
Time to go.
Once we get past the boundary line, protected by more tripwires, Rory grips the back of my neck, fists his hand in my hair, and brings his mouth down on mine. The kiss is more like him mauling, and I let him bite, growl, and groan. I give him the edge he needs. He’s high on the battle, but I know how hot that blood runs. Unleashing it on me helps ground him, leashes the beast again by just a hair, but it does what he needs.
Then, we fall in line. I know we’re headed for the underground tunnel leading to the mine.
“What’s next?” I ask Raphael.
Vincent answers instead from behind us, tight-jawed. “Protocol Z.”
My heart drops. No. No, not that. Not after everything.
Ten years. Ten years building that place. My hands raised every single cabin from its moldy, rotted skeleton, every beam. Blood, sweat, and marks from my hands restoring the cabins. But the barn, the butcher shed—all mine. I did it so we could have a future. Soshecould.
Her greenhouse. God, her greenhouse.
And now we’re leaving it behind.
“The animals?” I ask Vincent.
He nods. By the end of the night, he will have contacted his last resort for the animals. A farmer an hour away, who offered us a place to stay for a year in exchange for us working that farm. Raphael hunted, traveling until he found this place.
The woods burn behind us. Explosions ripple through the trees from more landmines. Flames attack the bark like demons come to feast. The smoke chokes the stars.
I slow my pace, glancing around at the cabins. The loss is sinking.
Then, Rory slaps me on the back of my head.
“Fuck! What was that for?” I bark at him.
Rory narrows his eyes on me before gripping my shirt, yanking me forward. Vincent stops, but not Raphael.
“Don’t be doing that, my wood boy,” Rory tells me. “Won’t help ye at all. Remember the punk ass little kid who’d never care when I stole his carvings. You just swiped more wood. From chairs. Tables. Broken broom handles. Firewood. Kept getting better. We’ll find a new place. New fucking palette for ye. Build a new place. Better than ever. All that matters is us. And her. Got it?”
I nod. It doesn’t ease the loss, but the hope lets my heart beat again.
We get to the tunnel, following Raphael down.
The air is damp and tight. The further we go, the more I feel like I’m being swallowed. At the end, the mine gapes like a throat. We make our way past the dungeon with the hanging chains, then turn the corner to find Jude next to the pit.
My spine tenses. Every bone in my body hardens.
Because he’s wrapping a bandage around his shoulder. He grits his teeth, yanking it tight. Uses his mouth to knot it.
I don’t speak. I can’t.
I cross the distance to the pit in three sides, hoping against hope. But it’s not on my side.
My heart doesn’t sink. It detonates.
She’s not there.
Just the bone ladder. The one she made to climb out. The reason she was never going to let this place take her.
It was when I really fell for her. That moment. That grit. How she staggered into the cave bedroom with vengeance as she cursed us out.
And now?—
