Page 97

Using the wall for balance, I hobbled to the door, slipping out the crack without touching it in case the hinges squealed. No other sound stirred in the house, making me wonder if anyone noticed my near tumble in the first place.

The office door sat open with the couch bed all made up, but no sign of Shira or Corbin remained.

Out in the living room, I found a sticky note on the dividing wall with Shira’s scrawl reading:

Corbin and I are out getting groceries. Be back soon. -S

I left the note where it was and cast my gaze around the living room. Blankets sat folded on the armrest, and Fox was nowhere to be found.

“Fox?” I called softly when I reached the bathroom door. I knocked gently, but the door fell inward, revealing another empty room.

Panic crept up my throat, but I tried to rationalize it, assuming he went with Shira and Corbin last minute, and Shira simply forgot to add his name to the note.

Yet I couldn’t understand why they would all leave. I thought at least one of the shifter boys would have stayed behind to protect me and Everly. Even if I could handle myself most days, I had no firm base to throw a hatchet, and I’d be hard pressed to get away if we had to make a run for it. Everly was in no state to run either.

I swallowed thickly. It’s fine. They know this place is safe. They didn’t ditch us.

Unless... They did ditch us. Maybe Fox and Corbin thought they’d done enough. Everly and I were free, and now was their chance to get away too. Good deed checked off.

I would have paced had my ankle and knee allowed it, but it was a struggle every breath when dull pain radiated up and down the limb.

Sitting down on the edge of the sofa, I forced my racing heart to steady and for my erratic breaths to even out. One deep breath, one long, slow exhale. Then repeat.

I did this a total of ten times before succumbing to the tide of panic I couldn’t keep back any longer.

Fox was gone. Corbin and Shira might not be back anytime soon. For all I knew, something happened while I was asleep. Arthur could have shown up. Another shifter could have lured them all out, and the note was a sham.

Nothing made sense when I shot to my feet, hobble-running to the door. I whipped it open, eyes wide and roving in search of the car. Any car. A car that I could steal if I had to—

A spot of ink on a backdrop of white standing at the edge of the driveway silenced every screeching alarm in my body with one look.

Fox froze, brows lifted curiously as I flew out of the trailer without a coat or shoes to speak of. He looked like he was on his way back from somewhere with red-tipped ears and rosy cheekbones, his hair windswept from the walk. Stunned, he stood quietly with a bouquet of tulips in his left hand.

White tulips.

I took one staggering step down, letting the door to the trailer fall shut behind me. A wince crinkled the corners of my eyes, and he instinctively jolted forward, arms out to catch me even if he was too far to do much good.

That look alone, his reaction of zero hesitation to get to me, had me limping down the rest of the steps as fast as I could. He matched my pace, though his strides were quicker in getting to me. The very moment we collided, every flurry in the sky stood still, suspended in time for our wild, fervent kiss.

At least, that was what it felt like when his warm lips crashed into mine. Flowers completely forgotten, he gripped me by the small of my back, holding me flush against him with his fingers curling in the back of my sweater. I sagged against him, letting him hold me up and take most of the weight off my weak leg.

Clusters of flurries stuck to our lashes and the fringes of our hair, getting between our mouths every time we angled our heads another way. The little bursts of cold on my tongue made the kiss that much more intense as I gasped for breath, throwing myself back into him if we ever came apart for more than a heartbeat.

I didn’t care what came next. I didn’t care if he was a wild beast and I was out of my depths. He was my wild boy now, and I was never letting go. Not even if I had to move heaven and earth. Not even if I had to shoot every enemy in our path.

We broke apart with heaving chests, but he didn’t release me. My bad foot remained cocked an inch off the ground.

“I thought you left or something happened to you,” I whispered, feeling like he deserved an explanation as to why I appeared in the doorway in a panic.

Fox leaned in, our foreheads kissing as he took a deep breath. “I’m not stupid enough to run away from you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw what you did for Everly. I know there are no limits for you when it comes to going after the people you care about.”

My heart lurched against my ribs. “That’s true. You know I would do that for you, too, don’t you?”

“I’m starting to understand that.”