“And where will you go?” she challenges.
I shrug, more habit than thought. “Back to the life that suits me best. Away from people…. and civilization.”
“But what if you’re meant to be back here with us?”
“Ash bonded.” I lean against a rock, trying to steady myself. Doesn’t help a sharp headache’s pressed into the back of my neck and shoulders all morning.
I can’t decide if it’s better when Eliza goes away or stays. Both feel excruciating for different reasons.
“Yes, he did, and you won’t believe what happened.”
“I don’t want to know,” I counter.
“You do?—”
“Magdalena, stop it. I want no part of it. Of this.” The hum. The way the mountains called me back. Now I understand. Ash awoke something bigger than he can comprehend. Bigger than this ranch or county. Something that should’ve stayed dormant.
“Well, youwillcome to the wedding?” she asks, hope threading her voice.
“Human customs. Human ways. Mere bandages that won’t stop a festering wound.”
“Guthrie,” she scolds. “You know better.”
Damn, I regret agreeing to the cell phone. Making myself available to communications like this. But Eliza wouldn’t have it any other way, calling it a company phone. To reach me when she needs me—what she’s paying for.
In the distance, columns of dust rise from the sinewy black asphalt. A raised white dually, beat up by too many miles and horse trailers, appears.
“Have to go. Back to work.”
“Kael, youwillcome to the wedding.”
More like break it up.
“Best stay far away, Mags.”
“Guthrie? What are you thinking?”
“Don’t want to know.” I pull the phone from my ear and end the call. Wildbloods breeding with humans again.
My guts tighten, face a grimace by the time the dust cloud and Eliza reaches me.
“Howdy,” she greets, jumping down. “Morning gone all right?”
“Fine.”
“Good. Let me get changed and throw together some lunch. Then, we’ll ride out together. I have something I want to show you.”
Her brown eyes burn like cinnamon, sweet as dark honey. Her button nose scrunches as she eyes me. “Not even halfway through the day, and you already need another bath.”
“Comes with sleeping in fields,” I drawl.
She puts a hand on her hip. “That’s why you should start sleeping in the house.”
“No way.”
She freezes for a moment, mouth working as if she wants to say more. Instead, she shakes her head, hissing under her breath, “Stubborn as all get out.”
“Alfalfa’s almost straight again,”Eliza says, side-eyeing me from the saddle.
