“Eww.” I wiped my hands on my jeans. “Just eww.” Damn teenagers and their lack of hygiene.
A shadow fell across me, darkening the broader alley. I knew, but couldn’t stop myself from looking up. Clayton was suspended in the air above me. His eyes were wide and unseeing. His chest heaved as his fingers flexed open and closed at his sides, waiting for a chance to put them to use.
I glanced at Figment still clinging to my shoulder. Her beady eyes stared up at him, disbelieving, which did nothing for my confidence.
“What do we do now? He’s going to wait us out or catch us on the other side.”
“Keep going.”
She ran a paw over my hair.
“I’ll distract him and you run for the Jeep.”
“No, Fig—” I tried to catch her, but she was gone, scampering over the rocky outcroppings until she cleared the gap. She soared into the air, landing on Clayton’s face and sinking claws into either cheek while using her body as a blindfold.
“Run. I can’t hold him for long.”
“I can’t just leave you.”
“Please, for both our sakes, you must keep yourself safe.”
“Fine, but if he hurts one hair on your head, then when this is over, his ass is grass.”
Scrambling over the uneven rocks, I made my escape. A sliver of daylight grew until I burst through it, out the other side, and into the campground. The Jeep sat alone in the empty lot, salvation within easy reach. Gravel crunched beneath my feet, bogging me down when I needed speed.
I skidded around the driver’s side, yanking the door open and hauling myself inside before tugging the door shut with a solid
whack
. Keys glinted in the ignition.
In an instant I realized he’d known this would happen. Why else would he have left the keys? And Figment. He’d even brought along a chaperone. As the flood of clues I should have noticed compounded, I felt doubly the fool. I’d known he struggled against his desire for me, and still I had made him bring me here to this isolated spot where I’d further baited him with kisses.
With a harsh twist of my wrist, the engine turned over and cranked. Spinning wheels and spraying gravel, I sped towards the trail leading to the highway. My foot couldn’t press the pedal down hard enough. The engine thrummed, vibrating through a rough patch until the road turned smooth.
I drove, hard and fast, watching the road while casting glances in the rearview mirror. With the top gone, he could reach in and pluck me from my seat. Not a happy thought.
The hairs on my neck prickled as if dozens of tiny spiders paraded across my nape. I looked up to see Clayton gliding overhead, thrusting his wings to pull ahead of the speeding Jeep. I stomped the gas pedal to the floorboard. He sailed past me, gaining a few car lengths before he stopped and hovered in the center of my lane with outstretched arms.
I slammed on the brakes, knowing it was too late to stop. Tires spinning, the Jeep swung sideways as the grill smashed into Clayton’s hips with a shattering crunch.
His body flew backwards, tumbling over asphalt until he rolled to a stop on his back with one wing twisted beneath him and the other twitching and broken beside him.
“Clayton!” I leapt over the half door. My feet smacked the pavement as I ran to him. Dropping to the ground, I lightly touched his shoulder. He winced and half-opened hazy blue-gray eyes.
“You idiot. I could have killed you!”
His chest rattled on his next indrawn breath. “I would have hurt you.”
“You wouldn’t have hurt me.” I didn’t know where the certainty came from, but I didn’t question it. I stroked my fingers across his ruined cheek. “Clayton—”
“Shh.” He pressed a kiss into my palm. “It’s my fault.” His eyes drifted closed. “Always you, Maddie. Always.” Then he went still.
I shook his arm, but he didn’t move again or speak. I shoved from the ground and ran to the Jeep, searching under the seats and in the console, finally finding what I sought in the glove box. A cherry red cell phone, an exact replica of the one Figment had produced that morning in my bedroom.
My knee-jerk response was to call Emma, but I didn’t trust her not to make things worse. I swallowed, tasting my pride slide down my throat like sandpaper, and punched in Dana’s number instead.
“Hello?”
“You’re home.”
“Of course I am, silly. Parker is home from school because of swelling in his leg. I think the cast is too tight.” Water ran in the background. “Did you need something?”
I stared at the hulking mass of demon sprawled in a crumpled heap across the road. “You have to help me.” I tamped down my fear and tried to steady my voice. “Clayton took me on a hike.” Her silence told me she hadn’t known. “Something happened and I…I ran over him.”
“You
what
?” I heard something break, like maybe she’d been doing dishes when I called and now had one less to dry. “You mean with a
car
?”
“It was his Jeep.” Hysteria was creeping up on me. “Look, he’s passed out and I need help to move him. Please help me.”
“Calm down,” she snapped. “Where are you?”
Peering through the windshield, I noted a metal sign a few yards ahead. “We’re at mile marker twenty-nine, just before you reach Emasen.”
“Don’t try to move him. I’ll get help and meet you there.” The line died.
I tossed the phone in the passenger seat and walked back to Clayton, dropping to the pavement. He lay so still. I took his hand in mine and held tight, brushing a curl from across his forehead.
“Stupid, stubborn, male. You didn’t have to do this. I would have survived anything you could have done to me.” I stroked his bruised cheek with the backs of my fingers and smoothed over his busted lips with my thumb. “You have to be okay. I can’t lose you too.”
Regrets weighted my conscious. Even when I heard the distant hum of engines, I couldn’t lift my head. I slumped there, holding his hand, forcing his fingers to mesh with mine, and felt my heart fragment. Brakes caught and tires squealed over blacktop. Two sets of doors opened, one shut. And I still couldn’t look up.
I almost believed if I took my eyes from Clayton that he would leave me, and I couldn’t go through that again. I’d just begun to live, to think beyond today and look forward to waking in the morning. I couldn’t lose him. I wasn’t strong enough.
“Clayton.” Dana’s high-pitched cries succeeded in snapping my head up. “What has she done to you?” She shoved me aside, breaking my connection with his hand so she could kneel where I had knelt, checking his pulse before turning on me. “How could you do this to him?”
“It was an accident. I didn’t mean for him to get hurt.”
She looked over my shoulder. “Why were you driving his Jeep? Why was he chasing you?” Her eyes narrowed. “He tried to claim you, didn’t he?”
“No. Maybe? I—I don’t know what happened. We were hiking. I fell, and when he caught me, he went crazy and told me to run so I did.”
Dana’s shoulders hunched over Clayton. “You could have killed him. Maybe Jacob wasn’t in the wrong. Maybe it’s been you the whole time.”
One of the males she’d brought for backup, Mason I think his name was, spoke up. “You don’t mean that. Madelyn wouldn’t hurt a fly and you know it. This is all a misunderstanding. Clayton will set the record straight when he wakes up.”
“If he wakes up,” she sniffed, dabbing her fingertips under her eyes.
Mason waved to another, taller male to step forward. Together, they lifted Clayton and carried him to the rear of Dana’s truck. She lowered the tailgate, and blankets spilled out from where she’d lined the bed of the truck in preparation for his transport. The Evans Inn logo flashed in black relief on the topmost comforter, leaving me no doubt of his destination.
Making my way back to the Jeep, I crawled inside and shifted into gear, then followed the speeding trucks back to the inn.
Chapter Twelve
I drummed my fingers in slow succession across the steering wheel. There wasn’t a single vacant parking space left at Evans Inn. Dana must have reached out and touched every branch of the colony’s phone tree to have the lot filled so quickly. The overflow of vehicles hugged either side of the road, forcing the oncoming traffic to straddle the dotted line in turns to fit through the narrow gap.
Peering through the windshield, I spotted a stretch of curb large enough to accommodate the Jeep. As luck would have it, the only open space shared the diner’s side of the street. I sat close enough to smell today’s special and have my stomach rumble in response.
My feet itched to hit pavement, torn between running to Emma and going to Clayton. The temptation to tell my sister what I’d done and leave her to fix my mistakes tightened my fingers on the door handle. I hated that weakness in me. Relaxing my hold on the lever, I slipped my hand into my lap.
I cared for Clayton. I had been the one to hurt him and I would be the one to face him. I could understand Harper’s insistence that he clean up his own messes now, and respected his memory more for knowing he’d done the right thing no matter the cost. I would follow his example.
“Aren’t you going in?”
I started to find Figment, back on four legs and collared, sitting in the bucket seat beside me.
“Hey, I was worried about you.”
“Clayton sent me away.”
Her fey voice sounded lost.
I twisted to face her. “Can’t you, I don’t know, pop in to see him?” Whatever the source of her magic, it clearly didn’t suffer the limitations of anything I’d encountered.
“I promised him I would stay with you.”
Streaks of wet fur slicked to her cheeks. I didn’t think dogs could cry, but what did I know?
I scratched behind her silky ears and she leaned into my hand. Maybe Emma was on to something with this pet thing after all. Any other time, this contact would have felt nice.
A horn honked behind me as traffic started to back up. “Come on, girl. Let’s go see Clayton.”
Her tail thumped against the seat, and when I opened my door, she was the first thing through it. When I joined her on the concrete, her trotting gate forced me to jog to keep up. We reached the crosswalk before I realized we were being watched.
Standing to either side of the inn’s door were the males I’d seen earlier. The ones who had come with Dana to fetch Clayton.
Mason stood bulky and blond, blue-eyed with a grin creasing well-worn laugh lines. The male to his right was taller, leaner and less familiar. I crossed over to them.
Mason tipped his head. “Miss Madelyn, I don’t know that you’ll want to head in there just now. Dana has the women frothed up over Clayton’s condition.”
His partner’s gaze traveled over me. He didn’t look interested as much as irritated. “He’s right. She’s organizing a witch hunt and I’m afraid you’re the one left holding the pointed hat.”
I met the man’s quiet eyes. They were cold, and one didn’t match the other. Arctic blue clashed with vibrant green. A long scar began on his forehead, crossing over his nose and through his right eye to emerge at his temple before vanishing beneath his shaggy chestnut hair.
“I have to see Clayton.”
“You shouldn’t be left alone with any male until the next forty-eight hours have passed. You’ll have plenty of time to talk later.”
My ears burned with embarrassment. Figment pressed against my ankle. “You’re counting down the days?” Had everyone known about my cycle but me?
The male’s bicolored eyes crinkled at the corners, and I had the feeling that didn’t happen often. “We were trained to know, sweet.”
“Dillon.” The single word rang with warning.
My pulse kicked up a notch.
And Dillon knew it, too, because he smiled before continuing. “Your mother felt certain slave’s talents lied in areas beyond guarding a lady’s chamber door. Even First Court ladies have itches in need of scratching.” His fingernails lengthened and darkened. “And I found they liked my claws just fine.”
Figment snarled, moving to position herself between Dillon and me.
“That’s enough.” Mason’s glare said plenty.
Dillon leaned back against the inn’s siding. Speaking to no one in particular, he said, “She should move along now. Not that I don’t appreciate her
bouquet
, but I would like to avoid Clayton killing me for doing what I’ve been trained to do.”
Mason frowned at the male before turning his attention back to me. “He’s right. If you have to see Clayton, make it fast and then get the hell away from any males you’re not looking to claim.” He ran a hand through his unkempt hair. “It’s nice seeing you like this. Like someone reached in and turned all the lights on. It looks good on you.” His cheeks pinked.
Mine did too. “Thanks.” I stepped forward. “Excuse me.”
I passed between them and entered the lobby with Figment close on my heels.
The inn’s interior was classic country bed-and-breakfast with rich reds and gold covering the walls and floor. Comfortable, overstuffed furniture filled out the space. The cloying scent of potpourri hung heavy in the air, fighting it out and winning over the individual fragrances worn by the women milling around the room.
It was like I had walked in on a town meeting no one had seen fit to invite me to. Not that the old Maddie would have come. The males were right to warn me. All Dana needed was a bonfire and pitchforks because she had stoked the anger and indignation in the room to a fevered high. Mob mentality seldom worked out well for the target of all that pent-up confusion, and I could almost feel the bull’s-eye painted on my chest.
Dana stood with her back to me and addressed the room. “I’ve never seen anything so, so brutal.” She sniffled. “Madelyn just stood there, looking at Clayton like he was dirt on the bottom of her shoe. If the boys and I hadn’t happened to drive by, why, she might have left him out there to die alone.” Then she hammered the nails into my proverbial coffin. “She’s Askaran. What’s one more Evanti life to her kind?”
My fingers pinched the heavy seams of my jeans to keep me from snatching every perfectly coiffed hair from her head. Conversation ebbed as I reached Dana. I wanted to clean out my ears because I could not have heard her correctly. She glanced over her shoulder, caught sight of me and glared. Her next words, however, I heard just fine.
“You have a lot of nerve showing up here after what you’ve done.”
“I came to see Clayton.” Several faces scrunched up as if suddenly smelling something foul. Belatedly I realized the “something” was me. Obviously, I didn’t hold the same appeal in mated circles as I did among the unmated. That was good to know.
“Haven’t you done enough damage?” Dana crossed her twiggy arms across her thin chest. “I won’t let you upset him when he needs to rest.”
“I never meant to hurt him. You know what really happened. It was an accident.”
Her flushed cheeks darkened with embarrassment she was quick to cover. “What I know is that we all helped keep Clayton’s secret. We all wanted what was best for you, and this is how you repay us? Attacking our leader? His protection keeps our homes and families safe from your kind.”
She addressed the room. “You know what I think? I think she couldn’t stand looking in Clayton’s face and seeing the likeness of his brother. I think she wanted him dead too, because he looks like her precious Harper.”
I took a step closer. She took a step back.
“You met him three days ago.” She made her case before the others. “And today you almost killed him. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“Are you accusing me of something?” Dana was no Evanti, and in my hands her brittle human bones would break.
A throaty growl rumbling from down the hall ended our standoff.
“Let her come,” Clayton said.
And I answered, “Let them try to stop me.”
His words were my assurance. As I spun towards the sound, Dana’s grasping hands slid over my arm without purchase. Her location became distant and unimportant to me as I broke into the short hall leading to the first-floor suites.
Shrouded in darkness, a single shaft of light filtered through the narrow crack of a door left ajar. My palm rested on the satiny oak-stained panel for a second before I pushed inside.
Clayton sat upright on the bed’s edge with his beautiful wings draped across his shoulders at rest. When he looked up, they flushed from carmine to scarlet, and he used glamour to conceal them from me. His shirt was gone, baring smooth skin bandaged with darkly tinted gauze. Pain emanated from him, so intense I took a step back before he thought to conceal that too.
“I didn’t expect to see you so soon.” His gaze roved over the ceiling, not seeing me at all.
“I was worried about you.” I stepped just inside his room.
“Leave the door open,” he said, and I did. “You shouldn’t have come. It’s not safe for you to be alone with me.”
“We’re not alone,” I reasoned with him. “There are dozens of colonists in the den and guards posted at the front door.” I pointed to the bed. “We still have our chaperone.” Figment lay pressed firmly against his thigh, her eyes blissfully closed and at peace by her master’s side.
He relaxed. “Good. That’s good.” His arms opened and I went into them, bracing my palms on the tops of his thighs and kneeling between his widespread legs.
He sat unmoving as I leaned my face against his bare chest and wrapped my arms around to where tension coiled low in his back. His muscles tautened beneath my fingers while mine went lax. Relief surged through me, and something more. Sheltered by this male’s body, I felt safe, protected. I felt like I’d come home.
“What happened out there?” I pressed the words into his skin.
“I succumbed.” His cheek came to rest atop my head. “I thought I could resist the call to mate, but I couldn’t.” He swallowed, dropping his hands to fist in the covers at his sides. “When you fell and your heart was racing, your body pressed against mine.” A shiver coursed through him. “I couldn’t resist.” Fabric tore. “I didn’t want to resist.”
I felt him tense and shift. “It’s okay,” I said as he gripped my upper arms gently. “It was my fault. I could tell you didn’t want to go, but I made you take me anyway.” He set me aside as he stood. “I’ve gone about this all wrong. Let me make it up to you.”
He ignored my concern and angled his chin towards the door. “I’m sorry you had to deal with Dana. She’s not usually so rabid, even where I’m involved.”
I pushed to my feet too. Looking so far up to Clayton put a crick in my neck. “It’s okay. She cares about you and she doesn’t like the idea of competition.”
“Damn it, she’s a friend, nothing more. I’ve tried to help her. I felt sorry for her, but after the way she treated you, even that label no longer applies.”
I shouldn’t have asked, but I blurted it out anyway. “Has she always been…just a friend?”
His eyes blackened. “Yes, she has never been more than a friend to me.” They shimmered into sterling awareness. “There has never been anyone for me but you.”
My hand raised to my throat, then slid lower to cover my heart, grateful for the cage confining it. “But you stayed away. Because Harper loved me?”
Clayton’s dry laughter was harsh, but self-directed. “I stayed away because you loved him. If I had only to risk my brother’s happiness…” His voice trailed off.
I couldn’t believe him. A male like Clayton wouldn’t have waited…how long
had
he waited? “I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t expect you to say anything.” He lifted a hand to quiet me. “You’re the next best thing to my brother’s widow. I have no right, no reason to hope you would claim me.” His hand dropped. “Please, just leave. I don’t want you to see me like this.”
“I—”
He lashed out, knocking a vase filled with flowers to the floor. Glass shattered and flowers rolled free of the wreckage. “You don’t owe me anything. God knows you don’t owe me any kindness. Not after what I’ve done to you. What I want to do to you.” He walked to the far corner of his room, turning his back on me. “Take Figment with you. You’ll need protection for the last two days of your cycle.”
So he was counting down the time too. I blinked back tears. “No, I’d rather she stayed with you. I’ll go to Emma. She’ll take care of me.” Like always. “Can I see you again? When this is over?”
He nodded once, sharply. He braced his forearm against the wall and leaned into it while he waited for me to leave. I backed out of his room and bumped right into Dana.
“Leaving so soon?” She slammed the door closed in my face.
I didn’t answer, just turned to leave when she grabbed my torn shirtsleeve. I glanced down at her hand and she released the fabric.
“I just thought you might want to know Jacob was released from custody today.” She looked thoughtful. “Something about the mix of pheromones and caffeine impairing his judgment kept them from pressing charges.”
My fingers trembled, so I shoved them into my pockets. “Clayton—”
“Doesn’t know and won’t know until he’s recovered.” She smiled and wiggled her fingers in a mocking wave. “Drive safely now.”
She slipped past me, cracking the door open and slinking inside Clayton’s bedroom. I almost reached out, but kept my hand at my side. He said there was nothing between them and I believed him. Whatever Dana’s game, it would end now, and I didn’t have to be here to witness it. I trusted the male and his word completely.
As I started down the hall, the big picture of my life blurred around the edges, refusing to let me call the image’s entirety into focus. Understanding eluded me while questions left simmering in my mind reached the boiling point. Clayton had exhausted the supply of answers he was willing to give, but I knew where to find more.
As I made my way through the den, the women shuffled aside to let me pass. The few males present kept their bodies between their wives and me. A few looked interested. A few more looked worried, but whether for me or Clayton I wasn’t sure. I felt the weight of their stares on my back as I pulled the front door open.
Crossing the threshold, I realized my mistake. It was dark and I was trapped. The visit with Clayton, coupled with Dana’s interference as I came and went meant I was leaving later than planned. And wasn’t that a happy accident? I would have to call Emma to come for me, which wouldn’t be pretty since I hadn’t bothered to call and tell her where I was in the first place. I spun back towards the door and stumbled as I passed the males still pulling sentry duty.