Charlie bent her head to kiss the top of his. “It’s okay, baby,” she whispered. “I’m okay.”
“Where have you been?” he choked.
“The tunnels were blocked after the cave-in, so we had to make our way across the island,” she explained as she cradled his head against her chest.
Dylan’s small fingers dug into her back as he tried to burrow closer. Jack rested his hand on her shoulder, and she lifted her head to gaze helplessly at him. He squeezed her shoulder before bending to kiss her temple. Releasing her, he rested his hand comfortingly on Dylan’s head before walking over to talk with Mal, who was inspecting the newcomers.
“They’re not Savages,” Mal said to him as LeNae, Kirha, and Clifford settled around the fire and accepted the bowls, carved from rocks, Sheila handed them. Miguel and Darlene joined them, and Jack heard them explaining to the newcomers what was happening on the island.
“What’s in the bowls?” Jack asked.
“Blood,” Mal replied. “A deer fell into the same pit you did. We drained it and saved the blood. The humans have been living off its meat.” Mal turned to him before glancing at Charlie. “We weren’t sure you two were still alive.” Mal’s words trailed off as he shrugged. “Glad you made it back.”
“So am I,” Jack said and gazed over at where Dylan was still holding on to Charlie. He didn’t think the boy was ever going to let her go again.
“What happened?” Mal asked.
Jack told him about the hunter they encountered in the tunnels and what happened. “How bad was the tunnel collapse?”
“Most of the ocean-view tunnel is gone.”
Mal’s gaze dropped to the bite marks on Jack’s neck before he glanced at Charlie then back at him. Even without the marks, the scent of their mixed blood would let vampires know she was his mate, but Jack would never hide her bite on him.
“Dylan’s been holding up well,” Mal said. “This is the first time I’ve seen him cry, but I don’t think he’s slept since you left, and he hasn’t eaten.”
“It had to be tough on him,” Jack said as Charlie leaned back and pulled Dylan’s head out of her chest. The joy radiating from her while she gazed at her son made him smile. “I think we’re getting off this island soon.”
Mal lifted a questioning eyebrow at him as Valerie handed Jack a new shirt. He slid the black shirt over his head as he explained to Mal what they witnessed with Mike and Doug.
“You think they’ll come back for you?” Mal asked.
“Iknowthey will, and they’ll bring reinforcements.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Charlie wokeup gasping for air; her hand went to her throat as she gazed around the darkened tunnel. The depressing images of her dream followed her into waking, and she couldn’t shake the unseeing eyes of the dead man from her mind.
“Charlie?” Jack whispered from where he sat against the wall, keeping watch over her and Dylan while they slept.
Charlie clasped his hand when it reached across the shadows toward her. She clung to it as she struggled to center herself. Though he hadn’t done it since their first months on the island, Dylan asked to sleep beside her tonight, and she couldn’t tell him no. However, instead of staying in the main cavern where they usually slept with everyone, except for Mal, the three of them settled in one of the tunnels that dead-ended.
“I’m okay,” she murmured. “I’m okay.”
But was she trying to convince herself or Jack?
She didn’t know the answer, but she had to tell him what she’d seen. The thought of it left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she didn’t know how to form the words that would break his heart.
“Jack,” she breathed.
The hair on his nape rose when he heard the distress in her voice. “What is it?”
Charlie rested her hand on Dylan’s shoulder; the feel of his steady breaths helped calm her and give her the strength she required for this. She glanced down the tunnel, thinking maybe they should go somewhere else, but if Dylan woke and discovered her gone, he might panic.
He was the strongest kid she knew. He’d handled being kidnapped, hunted, and her becoming a vampire with more ease than she ever could have hoped for, but thinking she died in the cave-in had rattled him.
She kept her hand on his shoulder as she revealed to Jack what she saw in her dream. She could barely meet his gaze when she told him about seeing the body of his friend in a bathtub while his other friend poured ice around him. Through the connection uniting them, she felt Jack’s disbelief.
“It could have been a dream,” he said.
