She passes me the phone. “You better respond to him. He’s mad that it’s me.”
The twins return with piles of food. We all settle in, and eventually, Emily and the twins fall asleep on my bed while watching the last movie.
I forgot to text Shadow back so I read Emily’s replies. I stifle my giggles. Only Emily can get away with talking to Shadow like that. I glance over at her sleeping form. What are you hiding, Em?
A motion at the foot of my bed grabs my attention. Suddenly, Shadow stands in my room wearing a fitted black V-neck shirt and dark gray sweatpants. He looks younger, dressed like that, and it takes my breath away. He motions with his head for me to follow him and leads me to my bathroom. Just inside the bathroom door, he pulls me to him and kisses me.
When he pulls away, I murmur, “You’re turning into a creepy stalker.”
He smiles. “Emily called me an out-of-control hormonal teenager.”
I laugh. “I know. I read her texts.”
He tucks my hair behind my ears. “Just so we’re clear, I amyourout-of-control hormonal teenage stalker.” He kisses my forehead. “Besides, you didn’t text me back, and I missed you.” He lifts me up onto the bathroom counter.
“I just saw you,” I counter.
He rests his hands on either side of my waist, leans down, and kisses me. “That was hours ago. If you messaged me back, I would have stayed in my apartment and spent the night texting you.”
I roll my eyes with a smirk. “No, you wouldn’t. You would have come here anyway.”
Smiling, he says, “Maybe, but just for a goodnight kiss.”
Chapter 29
Disaster of an Interview
SHADOW
Seven Years Ago
For two days, Jessica and I text back and forth. For three nights, I sneak into her room and transport us to my apartment in Territory Five. We spend three glorious nights talking and kissing. I restrain myself to keep the kisses to a minimum, touches light, so I don’t get carried away.
We lie on my couch facing each other, and I run my fingertips along the scar on her arm, relishing the tiny electrical pulses at my fingertips. I watch her face as she talks to me, loving her animated expressions.
“Is it weird that I don’t feel it like I’m supposed to?”
“You mean this?” I ask as I continue to trail my fingers down her arm.
“I feel the tiny electrical impulses against my skin. I mean the connection, the bond. Emily said she thinks you’re my true mate, but I don’t feel that pull.”
I smile. Of course Emily picked up on it. I can’t hide anything from her. “It will strengthen after you transition. Then, you will bemylittle hormonal teenage stalker,” I joke.
She scrunches her cute little nose. “I guess it’s a good thing I can’t transport, then.”
I kiss the tip of her nose. “I don’t think I would mind if you stalked me. It would make me feel like I’m not in this alone.”
“Shadow! I asked you a question!”
I quickly turn my head to Anders, who sits on the opposite side of Chris, in the dining room of the training facility. The large picture windows let in the natural light of the midmorning sun. Light glitters off the silverware placed on the tables covered in white linen strategically placed around the vast room. In full guard uniform, I wait here for Jessica to arrive for her second interview. When I left her, she was excited over her renewed sense of purpose to be in the guard. I am not sure what happened between the time I left her and now. She’s running late.
“I told her what time to be here,” I say, my tone flat, like I’m bored, so he doesn’t sense my anxiety.
“That’s not what I ask?—”
The door opens, stopping him mid-sentence.
“Have a seat. You’re ten minutes late,” Anders bites, motioning to the single chair placed in front of the long rectangular table where the four of us sit. This is the table reserved for the Leads and on occasion myself when I used to come in to observe the recruits during meals. The usual dinnerware settings were removed to conduct this interview.
