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TREVAN

I was right.

This was a terrible fuckin’ idea.

I lay on my back on the couch in the pitch of night.

A flimsy blanket covering me.

My heart beating loud against the shadows that climbed through the space.

Elena’s bedroom door was closed, but I could feel her spirit radiating from the other side.

A siren’s song that was far too fucking somber.

Didn’t know how I knew, but I just did.

I guess I’d always had a good gauge on her.

Her moods.

Her needs.

Her fears.

We’d managed the night okay.

She’d spent most of the time in her room unpacking the rest of her things while I’d been outside, scoping out the surroundings and making sure we hadn’t missed any vulnerable spots in the area of her apartment.

Obviously, a security system had been installed, but that didn’t mean we weren’t covering every other base.

I’d had a large limb cut down from a tree that sat too close to the balcony for my comfort, and two new locks had been added to the front door, plus locks to every window.

Every measure we could think of was in place.

Still, I was on alert.

Forever vigilant because when you got complacent, the people you cared about got hurt.

But the hurt I could feel emanating from her room was the kind that had already been carved.

Scars that made themselves known in the shadows.

In the quiet hours when everything else was silent except for the ghosts that howled.

I shifted in discomfort, squeezing my eyes closed like I could force myself to sleep.

When I’d come back upstairs after doing a circuit of the property to make sure it was clear, Elena had been fresh from a shower.

Black hair wet and sticking to her bare shoulders. Dressed in a black tank and sleep pants that hugged every curve.

Goddess written in sequins across her small breasts.

Her face glowing and devoid of makeup.

Those freckles you could only see when she wasn’t wearing any dappled across her nose and cheeks.

I’d nearly come out of my skin, though I’d played it off and pretended like I was spent and ready to sleep so she’d head to her room to give me some space.