“So am I. Thank you for your help, Gus.”
Gus nodded but didn’t move. Willow looked away from the uneasy man as he remained standing and uncertain before Declan.
“Go back downstairs and stay with your family,” Declan said. “Forget all about this, okay?”
“Okay,” Gus muttered and turned away.
He walked down the hall and descended the stairs. Declan turned and lifted the stairs back into place. For now, he would leave Gus’s family with no memory of them, but he would most likely have to use them again. As much as the idea of doing it turned his stomach, he and Willow would have to feed if they continued to be trapped here.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Willow watchedDeclan from the corner of her eye as he leaned forward in the chair. He’d gone downstairs an hour ago to retrieve some of the lumber from the garage and a couple of knives. They each had a five-gallon bucket before them as they worked to carve the wood into stakes.
From down the hall, the distant thump of Gretchen’s music pulsed through the air. She’d retreated to her room shortly after Gus went back downstairs. At first, Willow welcomed the distraction; now, she was contemplating smashing to pieces whatever was playing that music.
Declan’s knuckles were white as he held the wood and twisted it in his hands. His fingers moved with swift assuredness as chunks of wood fell into the pail. The red highlights in his hair shone in the sun streaming through the window; it also emphasized the rigid set of his mouth.
Despite the fact the day had progressed peacefully after this morning, the tension in him was steadily ratcheting up. With a careful procession that spoke of his stress more than his tensed muscles, he set his last stake on the pile beside him.
Turning, he lifted his jacket off the floor from where it lay beside his swords. He removed a lollipop from an inner pocket and tossed the wrapper into the bucket before sticking the candy in his mouth.
“You eat the lollipops when you’re stressed,” she stated.
Declan glanced at her before shifting his attention to the window. Nothing moved on the street, and he hadn’t seen a car in fifteen minutes. He should be glad it was so quiet outside; instead, it was making him crazier.
At least he’d known where they were and what they were up to before, but he hadn’t seen any of the searchers in hours. Of course, they’d moved onto other areas of town, but he still hated not seeing them.
“Sometimes,” he said.
“Do you like them?”
“I hate them,” he admitted.
Maybe, when they were free of this town and she wasn’t in danger anymore, he wouldn’t require them, but he doubted it. Willow calmed him far more than meditation, yoga, and the lollipops ever had, but as long as she was a member of the Alliance, she would always be in danger.
Hell, as long as she was alive, the Savages and demons and the hate they spread were a threat to her and everyone else in the world.
Willow studied the riddle of a man she’d bound herself to for eternity. “So why suck on them?”
“Because they help keep me from killing.”
Her eyebrows rose at this revelation. “I betthatnever makes it into a commercial.”
“What, you don’t think‘save a life, suck on a lollipop’would make a good slogan?”
Willow chuckled as she set her last stake on top of her pile. She slipped the knife into the bucket and set it beside the chair. Drawing her legs up, she tucked her feet under her ass as she turned to face him.
“It would definitely get me to fork over my money. How does a lollipop keep you from killing?” she asked.
“Using them not to kill wasn’t my original intent with them.”
“Then what was?”
“Originally, I really did want to see how many licks it took to get to the center of it. That commercial got stuck in my head until I decided to answer the question myself. But when I tried one, a palate that’s accustomed to blood didn’t take kindly to the influx of sweet.”
“Bet you won’t see that slogan either.”
Declan chuckled as her eyes twinkled with amusement. He’d never get enough of her radiant smile and the joy that lit her face when she wasn’t terrified or angry.
