“I love you, too,” he murmured and between one breath and the next, he was asleep. I couldn’t let go quite as easily, but holding him close, my mind still adrift with pleasure, I could at least drift and keep the disappointment of the day at bay for awhile.
My blinks grew slower, heavier, and the last thing I saw before sleep eventually claimed me was Alex’s beautiful face, resting on my shoulder.
Chapter 17
Alex
“Ifeellikeanidiot.”
Donovan leaned in and kissed my cheek, his hand resting on my shoulder. “Do you want me to go to the kitchen?”
“Would you mind?” I looked up at him, wincing.
“Let me know if you need me,” he said, simple as that, and gave my shoulder a little squeeze before retreating to the kitchen with his coffee, out of sight of the living room.
With no idea exactly how I’d appeared to Ori’s friend Rian that day in the bookshop, I was doing my best to recreate it. Thanks to our afternoon nap, it was now just after midnight, and Donovan and I were both awake.
The snow that had pounded Lowery’s Crossing all day was slowing, but fat flakes still drifted by the window, illuminated by the pale light of the moon. With the drifts shin-deep and temperatures below freezing, there was no guarantee of a search for Landon DeVor, so I had to try to do my part.
Focus, Alex.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to call up some of the meditation techniques I half-remembered from my earlier attempts. Fortunately, the breathing exercise I’d learned to stave off panic attacks as a teenager also worked best for helping me focus. In for four, hold for four, out for four. I counted out each one, letting myself fall into the rhythm.
In. One, two, three, four. Hold. Find Landon. Out. One, two, three, four. In. Find Landon. Hold. Find Landon. Out.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the world around me faded, narrowing down to each measured breath and the thought of Landon. The pictures Donovan had showed me took shape in my mind unbidden, the still images slowly shifting, becoming clearer. I’d seen Landon around town, but in my memory he’d been younger, not the tall, awkward teenager he was now.
Just as quickly as his image appeared, though, it shifted again, from a smiling kid posing for a picture to a scared teenager, blond hair tangled, blue eyes wide with fear. Then he was moving, running, darting through trees and looking at something over his shoulder. Something crashed through the underbrush behind him, chasing him. I couldn’t see what it was, but I felt his fear.
No, not fear. I felt his pureterror. Whatever was behind him wanted him dead. I felt it just as clearly as he did. Snow hampered his steps, slowing him down, and the thing behind him drew closer, nearly nipping at his heels now.
Landon’s entire focus was on the thing chasing him. Fear blinded him and he never saw the ledge coming up in front of him. Desperate to escape whatever was chasing him, he ran right over the edge. I felt it when his stomach dropped, when he put his foot down on nothing but empty air. The fall seemed to last an eternity, but only a few seconds passed before he crashed to the ground and a loudcrackechoed through the narrow gully he landed in, followed a moment later by a cry of agonized pain. I saw him from above now, saw the way his leg twisted at an unnatural angle, clearly broken.
Whatever chased him heard his cry, too. I couldn’t see what it was, but Landon did, his eyes going wide when he looked up. He was easy prey now, unable to run, and it knew it. Landon scrambled backward, desperately searching for somewhere to hide. I could only watch as he cast around, finally spotting something just as the person or creature or whatever chased him jumped off the ledge.
Crawling, dragging his injured leg behind him, Landon pulled himself across the frozen ground toward the dubious shelter he’d found. Calling it a cave was beyond generous. It was more like a narrow divot formed by fallen rocks, not nearly big enough for a person to hide in, not even a skinny teenager. It was, however, just big enough for an adolescent coyote to squeeze into.
As I watched, Landon shrank in on himself, a thick coating of gray and brown fur pushing through his skin. His body twisted, bones popping and shifting in a way that had to hurt, but if it did, his fear of whatever chased him dulled the pain. In seconds, a lanky coyote pup pushed into the narrow opening in the earth and disappeared from sight.
A furious snarl echoed through the trees when the hunter realized it couldn’t reach its prey. I still couldn’t see what had chased Landon, its shape nothing more than a shadowy blur, but whatever it was, Landon and I both knew it would kill him if it reached him. It settled on the ground in front of Landon’s hiding spot in wait, like it knew he had to come out eventually.
The images in my mind began to blur, the edges going dark until it disappeared and I opened my eyes to see my ceiling fan above me and my fat cat looking down at me from the arm of the couch, judging me with pale gold eyes.
“Donovan,” I breathed, numb and dazed. I don’t know how he heard me, but a moment later he was there, sitting on the floor beside me and taking the hand I stretched out for him.
“Any luck?” he asked. His thumb stroked across my knuckles, soothing, giving me something to focus on. He paused after just a few seconds, though, frowning. “You’re cold.”
A shiver snaked down my spine, chasing away the numbness and leaving behind a chill I was far too familiar with. No ghost had come to me, but my body didn’t seem to realize that and wrapped me in the cold armor of shock to blunt what I’d seen.
“It’s fine. It’s not that bad,” I promised. Compared to other times, this was nothing. “I think I know where Landon is. Kind of.”
“Come here.” Donovan gently tugged me up and into his lap, hugging me tight and chasing away the worst of the cold. Only then did he ask, “what did you see?”
“I think it was real. I don’t think I could make up something like this.” Even knowing what I did about paranormal beings existing alongside us, it seemed too crazy to be true. “Something was chasing him through trees. It looked like it was right up near the foothills.”
“Something?” Donovan repeated. “Not someone?”
Trust a detective to immediately pick up on that. “That’s right. I know it sounds crazy, but it didn’t feel like a person.”
