The moment grew awkward more quickly than Aiden had anticipated. One minute, the three of them were staring down at Zarek’s dead body as they basked in their triumph, and the next, the effervescent energy in the room dissipated. It felt like Reece and Lex both wanted to move or speak, but out of some misguided sense of decorum, neither wanted to be the first to do it.
As for him, Aiden would have been glad to spend the rest of his life stuck in that moment, knowing that he was part of something. That his existence mattered. That he was living in the world rather than outside of it. He hadn’t felt like this since he defected from both Circle Daybreak and the Night World and it was surprisingly nice.
His throat tightened painfully when Reece finally broke the stillness to take Lex’s hand, interlacing their fingers. She turned towards her soulmate, offering him her smile while she presented her back to Aiden. “Are you okay?” she asked Reece softly. She ran one hand over his arm and chest. “Are you hurt?”
He smiled at her, gently combing her hair back from her face. “I’ll be all right,” he replied. “What about you?”
She gingerly touched her cheek with a humorless laugh. “He backhanded me upstairs, but I’ve had worse.”
“Your lip is bleeding,” he remarked.
Lex licked at the blood a little sheepishly. “No, it stopped. I tried to use blue fire on him, but I just couldn’t get it to work.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m grateful for that now because he really wasn’t worth the risk.”
Reece shook his head in awe, gazing at her as if he had never seen her before. And in a way, he hadn’t. With his new preternatural vision, the vampire was seeing for the first time all of the tiny, subtle details of her beauty that Aiden already knew so well. Aiden envied Reece that; he wished that he could wake up to see the world with new eyes.
“You shouldn’t have come here for me,” the newborn vampire said to Lex.
“How could I not?” she asked incredulously.
“Oh, I don’t know. It sounds pretty simple to me,” he joked. “You could have just not come.”
“Right,” she scoffed with a smile. “Like you would have been able to stay away if the tables were turned.”
Reece looked at Aiden over Lex’s head. “I thought I told you to take care of her,” he said in a dry, but good-natured tone. “You should have stopped her.”
Aiden felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth in spite of himself. It was a rare occasion that anyone spoke to him this affably. Normally, he wasn’t very good at this sort of thing, but it was an incredibly generous gesture on Reece’s part, given the circumstances, and he couldn’t bring himself to brush it off. “Believe me, I tried. She’s too damn stubborn.”
Lex glanced over her shoulder at Aiden with a happiness in her eyes that he hadn’t known she could feel. “I am not,” she said, feigning indignation.
“Please,” Reece snorted, drawing her attention back to him. “Remember last year when I tried to get you to give up caffeine?”
“I told you that I would if you could give me one good reason,” she retorted.
“How about so your hands won’t shake all the time?” the vampire suggested.
Lex shook her head. “That doesn’t bother me. It keeps me nimble.” Then she looked at Aiden again. “Come on, back me up here.”
He wanted to keep the conversation going, but he was too stunned by it to speak. In all the time he had spent with Lex, he’d never seen her so light and free. Subconsciously, Aiden had assumed that the way she interacted with Reece wouldn’t be very different from the way she interacted with him. He’d thought there would be quiet strain, solid walls, and silence. Not once had he imagined that they would be like this—so giddy and playful. Looking at Lex now, Aiden didn’t even recognize her.
Reece cleared his throat, breaking the growing tension in the room. “I’m going to go check on Lindsay.” He brought Lex’s hand to his lips to kiss the back of her fingers before releasing her.
Aiden frowned as he watched Reece cross the room and crouch down next to the young human girl who was lying on the floor. He hadn’t realized that she was even here. In fact, he’d been so angry with Lex when he walked out on her that he had completely forgotten about Lindsay. God, if he hadn’t come back here to help kill Zarek, she would be trapped in an inconceivable hell by now and he wouldn’t have known or cared.
After a minute of coaxing, Reece was able to rouse her. As soon as her eyes fluttered open, Aiden turned on his heel and rushed up the stairs. He couldn’t explain it, but he just didn’t want Lindsay to see him there.
He had almost reached the door on the ground floor of the warehouse when Lex’s telepathic voice seized him. Where are you going?
Almost against his will, he turned to face her. It was dark, but he could easily make out her silhouette as she stood at the top of the stairs with her hand on her hip. I don’t know, he replied as aloofly as he could. Out of the city.
She raised an eyebrow at him. Aren’t you going to say goodbye?
He mimicked her expression and crossed his arms over his chest. Any particular reason I should?
Her weary sigh swirled through his head. You’re still mad at me.
No. It wasn’t even a lie because he hadn’t really been mad at her to begin with. If he didn’t keep his distance from her, though, he was afraid that he would never be able to leave here, and this was hard enough already.
The light in her eyes dimmed until she looked more like herself. Well. I want to thank you for coming back.
He shrugged helplessly at her earnestness. The last time someone had really thanked him like this was back when he was working for Circle Daybreak, and he hadn’t cared much for the sentiment at the time. Now Lex’s gratitude made him feel uncomfortable and self-conscious in his skin. Why were she and Reece being so nice to him?
Silently, he and Lex stared at each other. There didn’t seem to be anything left to say and they should have gone their separate ways, but neither of them moved.
How did you know that Zarek wasn’t as invincible as I thought he was? Lex finally asked.
I didn’t, he told her.
To his surprise, a tremulous smile captured her lips. But you fought him anyways, she said as she came closer to him.
Aiden wanted to take a step back, but he stayed rooted to the floor. He shrugged again. What did I have to lose?
That admission saddened her, he could feel it. As if compelled, she moved even closer so that he could feel her warmth. She was invading his space and the temptation to grab her, pin her against the wall, and ravage her mouth was almost more than he could endure.
You saved our lives, she said.
I didn’t do it for you, he replied harshly.
She stopped moving, seeming stricken. Her quick intake of breath echoed throughout the empty space between them. Oh, right. I forgot that I’m not worth it.
He clenched his teeth. What do you want from me, Lex? You want me to tell you that I would do anything for you? You, who are so damn worried about your soulmate overhearing this conversation that you won’t dare have it aloud?
I’m not worried about him hearing, she snapped. It’s just that this is the first time in my life that I’m not afraid of having someone else’s voice in my head and it’s because of you. And I wanted you to know that.
Aiden was startled. He’d known that was the first time she had initiated contact with him and the longest that she had willingly maintained it, but the significance had been completely lost on him. A foreign sensation tore through him and after a moment, he recognized it as shame. It forced his head down as blood rushed into his face, making him wish he were anywhere but here.
I’m…I’m sorry. The words felt useless and terribly inadequate. Damn it. Having a conscience was intolerable. How did people live like this?
Lex let out a slow, soft breath. “This was doomed from the start, wasn’t it?” she asked him. Without telepathy, her voice sounded so small and distant, even though she was only a few feet away.
“Probably,” he agreed. In the end, they were too alike. They only brought out the worst in each other.
She caught his gaze, her eyes burning into his. “I wasn’t using you, Aiden,” she swore.
“Don’t,” he said with a sad smile. “Let’s not do this. No strings attached, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember,” she said with a hint of bitterness. “But when we made that deal, we forgot about the one string that neither of us has any control over.”
“The soulmate link,” he sighed.
She nodded.
Unable to help himself, Aiden moved into her and touched her face. The link hummed, reverberating through his fingers, up his arm, straight to his heart. “So what are you saying, Lex?” he asked. “That you want to leave him to come with me?”
He knew the answer even before he posed the question, but still he found himself holding his breath. When she shook her head ever so slightly, he felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I left because I thought I was ruining him, but after seeing how wrong I was about Zarek…I need to find out what else I was wrong about.” She laughed nervously. “Does that make any sense?”
“Given that I’m biased and more than a little insane, I’m the last person you should be asking,” he said.
“I think you understand better than you’d like to admit,” she said pensively. “If Genevieve were still alive, wouldn’t you want another chance? Knowing what you know now?”
Aiden didn’t dare contemplate that. It was pointless. He was sick of what-ifs.
Cupping Alexandra’s cheek, he brushed his thumb over her lips. It was wrong and he knew it, but this was the last time he would be able to touch her like this. And honestly, even with a conscience, he was not above making this difficult for her.
“You know,” he said softly, “I had a dream yesterday that Eve left me. I was calling out to her and she pointed to something behind me and told me not to look back. When I turned around, you were there.”
“Aiden—”
“We were back in the alley,” he carried on heedlessly. “You were holding me. I looked up at you and there was something in your eyes that I never knew I wanted to see. And it meant everything.” He paused, knowing that he was going to regret this question as long as he lived, but he would never have another chance to ask. “Was I really dreaming that?”
“Aiden—” she whispered, her eyes wide with sympathy.
“Was I?” he demanded.
She bit her lip and shook her head. “No,” she breathed. “But—”
“Don’t,” he said again. “I know the score. I don’t need your pity.” He just needed her, or so he’d thought. The dream had felt like a prophecy, telling him that it was time to let go of the past—to let go of Eve—and find his future with Alexandra. But strangely, her confession didn’t warm him as much as he had thought it would.
Lex hesitantly reached up to hold his wrist while he caressed her cheek. “For what it’s worth, I know what you are, Aiden. I always have.”
It was meant to comfort, but it was the most cutting thing she could have said. Still, he forced himself to smile.
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Lex stiffened and Aiden reluctantly let go of her. He barely had time to step away when Reece appeared at the top of the stairs with Lindsay at his side.
“Aiden!” the girl cried excitedly. He stood perplexed as she left Reece and ran to him, throwing her arms around his waist. “I wish you were here before. I tried to kick in a window like you did to the door of that house, but I think I broke a toe.”
He laughed shortly. “You have to push through with your heel. The kick has more power that way.”
“So, Lex,” Reece spoke up, no doubt trying to stop Aiden from giving a ten year-old advice on breaking and entering. “I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but we’ve got to go down to the Daybreak compound.”
“What?” she groaned. “Why?”
The vampire threw a pointed glance at Aiden. “It’s a long story, but Karissa and Nick were taken into custody by these Daybreakers from Vermont. I just made a couple of calls and found out that they’re being held at the D.C. compound until transportation can be arranged.”
“Hold on,” she said. “Nick was arrested by Circle Daybreak? Our Nick? Did the apocalypse come while I was unconscious?”
“I told you, it’s a long story. We’ve just got to get down there so I can think of some way to get them out. Not to mention get the charges against me dropped as well.” He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. “You think Anton Parish will accept a bribe?”
“Not likely,” Aiden snorted. “The man is laced way too tight.”
“Tell me about it,” Reece grumbled, retrieving his cell phone from his pocket. “Looks like I’m going to have to call Thierry.”
This was it. This was the moment that Aiden was supposed to realize that this was no longer his business. He was supposed to bow his head and leave, grateful that Reece wasn’t going to turn him in to Circle Daybreak. He was supposed to go back to the lonely, sterile, meaningless existence that Zarek had so succinctly described. The vampire’s words hadn’t really bothered him earlier, but now as he tried to summon the will to move, he suddenly knew that he didn’t want to go back to that life.
He couldn’t.
As Reece started to dial, Aiden grabbed his arm. “Wait,” he said. “I have a better idea.”
“Hunger strike! Hunger strike! Hunger strike!”
Karissa sat on the floor of her cell and dragged her plastic lunch tray back and forth across the metal bars, creating a clanging racket that echoed through the hall. There weren’t many prisoners on this wing—just her, the lamia in the cell across from her, two shapeshifters a few cells down, and three witches at the end of the hall—but she had gotten a few of them to follow her example and the others were so busy yelling at them to shut up that the din was loud enough to make her ear drums bleed. She could only imagine what it was doing to the wolf shifter who was guarding the door to the wing. To be honest, she felt bad for him because the guy was only doing his job, but her demand was so harmless and simple that she couldn’t understand why Daybreak wouldn’t just agree to it and save everyone a raging headache.
Her uneaten breakfast and lunch were sitting on plates in the corner of her cell, but even from that distance, the scent of the food taunted her. There were eggs, bacon, toast, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, baby corn, and a slice of apple pie. It probably wasn’t the highest quality food in the world, but she was so hungry by this point that even the congealed macaroni and cheese clumped next to the chicken looked heavenly.
No, she couldn’t give in. She had to stay strong.
“Hunger strike!” she shouted with renewed conviction. “Hunger strike!”
The thick steel door at the end of the hall opened and the noise abruptly stopped as a lamia that appeared to be about thirty years old entered. He was tall, with sandy brown hair, and he was dressed in a rather gorgeous Dolce & Gabbana suit.
Karissa had never seen him before, but the other prisoners clearly knew him. “Hey, Troy,” one of the witches jeered as he passed by. She threw a handful of her own mashed potatoes at him, catching him on the shoulder. “Nice suit!”
Everyone on the wing broke into laughter and even the wolf guard cracked a smile. The lamia, however, calmly wiped the potatoes off him and kept walking until he reached Karissa’s cell.
“Miss Gigena,” he addressed her.
Putting her lunch tray down on the floor, she stood up, trying to hide the way her head was spinning from her low blood sugar. She couldn’t afford to let anyone from Circle Daybreak know that she was ready to kill for a chocolate bar. Or a steak. Or a gallon of ice cream. Or a plate of Buffalo wings. Or a bag of salt and vinegar chips. Or a pizza with fresh tomatoes and extra cheese and pepperoni…
Focus, Karissa!
Sticking her arm through the bars of her cell, she shook the lamia’s hand. “Who are you?”
“Troy Silver,” he replied. “Head of Penitentiary Affairs. I understand you are making quite a ruckus down here.”
Karissa smiled. “Who? Me?”
The lamia wasn’t amused. “I am here to inform you that if you and your friends do not be quiet, I will have a spell cast that will silence you by force.”
“Go ahead,” she challenged him. “See if I care. You can take my voice, but as long as I have this—” she picked up her tray and banged it against the bars a few times “—the so-called ruckus will continue.”
Troy took a step back, wincing as if the sound had personally offended him. “What is it you want?” he asked with exaggerated patience.
“Like I told the witch-bitch who brought me to this hellhole, as well as the human guy at Intake who was overly friendly with his hands, and Wolfie guarding the door over there, I want to see my boyfriend. His name is Nick Camden and he was—”
“I know who he is,” the lamia replied. “But that isn’t going to happen.”
“Why?” she demanded.
Troy gave her a knowing look. “I will not have my prisoners getting together and conspiring to escape. This is why we separated the two of you in the first place.”
She snorted. “He and I don’t need to escape. We’ll be out of here soon enough anyway.”
“I very much doubt it.”
“Doubt it all you like. In the mean time, I guess I’ll have to think of some way to keep myself busy.” She raked the tray across the bars again.
“Fine,” Troy said. “Then perhaps I’ll have a spell cast to put you to sleep. Or I’ll have you taken down to solitary confinement on the twenty-fifth floor.”
“Then perhaps when I get out of here,” she replied, imitating his huffy tone, “I will call up every Daybreaker I know and tell them exactly how I have been treated here. I will tell them how I was starved and beaten and molested—”
“None of which is true,” the lamia argued.
Karissa gave him a bright, guileless smile. “I’m a really good liar, you have no idea. And I’ll have all of these prisoners backing me up, won’t I guys?”
“Damn right!” the vampire in the cell across the hall shouted.
“You still won’t have any proof, Miss Gigena. We have cameras in here.”
“They can only see the hallways, not inside the cells,” she pointed out. “So you can’t prove that it didn’t happen.”
Troy seemed flustered and Karissa had the feeling that he was getting close to his breaking point. “No one will believe you and a bunch of convicts over me.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But I don’t think this compound needs any more bad publicity after what happened here last year, do you?”
The lamia gaped at her. “How do you know about that?”
“Oh, I’m willing to bet that I know more about it than you. I know that the war is coming and people are cracking,” she repeated Reece’s words. “Daybreak can’t afford to have any of its members doubting the sincerity of its principles. And a scandal like mine—true or not—is bound to have people talking.”
Troy opened and shut his mouth angrily, his face turning a dark shade of red. In the end, he just sighed, “I think I hate you.”
Karissa laughed. “I know. And I sympathize, I really do. Now let me see my boyfriend.”
After glaring at her for another moment, he turned to the wolf shifter. “Thomas, open the door, please.”
Cheers filled the wing as the bars slid open. Karissa grinned at the other prisoners and took a small bow. “Thank you, everyone. You’re too kind.”
Irritated, Troy grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall. “Hey, easy on the merchandise,” she warned, swatting at his hand.
“Police brutality!” one of the witches shouted. “We saw that!”
Ignoring them, Troy led her out of the wing and into a small conference room next to the elevator. “Stay here,” he ordered. “I’ll get Nick. And don’t try anything—we do have cameras in this room.”
As the lamia locked the door behind him, Karissa took a deep, anxious breath. Biting her lip, she began to pace. “It’s okay,” she whispered to herself. “He’s okay. He’ll be here soon.”
She hadn’t seen Nick since the fight at Lex’s townhouse when the Vermont Daybreaker, Mina, hit them both with what felt like a lightening bolt. It had knocked Karissa out and when she came to a few minutes later, she’d been face down on the floor, her hands cuffed behind her back. Nick had been lying next to her, still unconscious and bleeding profusely from a head wound. Then the Daybreakers had hauled her up, kicking and screaming, and shut her in one car while they stuffed her boyfriend into another.
No one would tell her if Nick was all right or where he’d been taken. After the stories Reece had told her about this compound, Karissa feared the worst.
A few minutes later, the door opened and Troy came back in the room with Nick following close behind. She practically shoved the lamia out of the way as she ran up to her boyfriend and threw her arms around his neck.
“Hey, baby,” he said as he held her close. “I heard you were causing some trouble.”
She jerked back and examined his forehead. There was no cut. No blood. Not even a bruise. “They healed you?”
“Of course we did,” Troy snapped. “We’re Circle Daybreak, Miss Gigena.”
“Buddy, I don’t even know what that means any more,” she replied.
The lamia shook his head in disgust. “You have five minutes. I’ll be right outside.”
Once they were alone, Karissa brushed her fingertips over Nick’s forehead again as tears welled up in her eyes. “I was so scared,” she whispered. “No one would tell me anything. It was just like the night at the hospital after you were attacked. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“I’m fine, Kar,” he assured her. “Really, it was just a scratch.”
“Good,” she sniffled. “Because you can’t die on me, Nick. Ever. Understand?”
He smiled. “Yeah. And the same goes for you.”
“Deal.” She sighed in relief and for the first time, she realized how exhausted she was. Tiredly, she sat down on top of the conference table and tugged Nick down next to her. “So where are you being held?”
“Just one floor down,” he replied. “And the entire wing can hear your chants and banging through the ceiling.”
“Really?”
Nick nodded. “I never thought the day would come that you would give up food for any reason,” he said dryly.
“Well, desperate times and all of that,” she replied. “I just had to see you.”
Something in his expression changed. He had been smiling at her, playing with a lock of her hair, but suddenly he looked down at her with such intensity in his hazel eyes that it stole her breath. Cupping the back of her neck, he kissed her softly, pressing her body tightly against his. When they finally broke apart to take a breath, he murmured against her lips, “Marry me.”
Karissa’s heart stopped and her eyes snapped open. She couldn’t have heard that right. The stress and hunger must be making her delirious. Yes, that had to be it.
Very slowly, she drew back so that she could see his face. “What did you say?”
The words came again, clearer and more insistent this time. “Marry me.”
She scowled and gave his chest a hard shove. He skidded back on the table and looked at her in shock, but she cut him off before he could speak. “Nicholas James Camden, I haven’t slept in two days, I haven’t showered since we left Montreal, and I haven’t eaten in a freaking eternity—”
“It’s been sixteen hours.”
“Whatever.” She pointed a finger at him threateningly. “I am tired and dirty and starving and this is not the time to be screwing with me. I will kick your ass, I swear to god.”
Nick got up off the table and stood before her. Taking her hands in his, he said, “I’m serious, Karissa. You’re an incredible woman, my best friend, and the only girl on earth who would try to incite a prison riot just to see me.” He smiled ruefully. “And you’ve got to be the only girl who would threaten a guy with bodily harm when he’s trying to propose.
“I love you,” he professed. “Kar, I love you with all of my heart and soul, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So please, will you marry me?”
She sat there for another second as his words sank in and then she launched herself up into his arms. “Yes!” she cried. “Hell yes!”
He kissed her hard, his fingers sliding into her hair to hold her lips against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, fisting the fabric of his shirt at his shoulders.
“You know,” he said, pulling back slightly. “You promised me a conjugal visit.”
Karissa smiled mischievously. “I don’t think Troy would appreciate it if he walked in on that, baby.”
“Good,” he growled passionately, leaning in to kiss her again.
She whined loudly in protest when she heard the door of the conference room open. “It has not been five minutes!” she snarled as she turned around.
But it wasn’t Troy standing in the doorway. It was Reece.
“Cahill,” Nick greeted him. “You here to spring us or join us?”
He gave the witch a wry smile. “Just call me your knight in shining armor.”
As he spoke, Karissa noticed the sharpness of his canines and the new eerie light in his eyes, and a cold shiver ran down her spine. “Oh my god,” she gasped. “You’re a vampire.”
Reece looked away from her. “Zarek,” he said in a husky voice.
Nick stepped forward to examine his friend more closely. “How is that possible?” he asked. “You’re twenty-four.”
“I don’t know,” he replied as he moved back to avoid Nick’s scrutiny. “Zarek was almost five thousand years old. I guess his blood packed a punch.”
Karissa held up a hand. “Wait. He was five thousand?”
“He’s dust,” Reece nodded.
“Sweet!” she exclaimed. “So where’s Lex?”
“She’s upstairs in the infirmary with Lindsay. They’re both fine, but Lindsay…lost some blood,” he said vaguely. “I thought she should get checked out before we take her home.”
“How did you get us out of here?” Nick asked. “Did you have to call Thierry?”
“Actually, no. I made a deal with Anton directly. He agreed to release you as well as speak to the director of the Burlington office about having all the charges against us dropped.”
The witch eyed his friend. “And what did you give him in return?”
“Aiden St. Helen,” Reece replied. “Anton has been itching to get his hands on him for a long time.”
“You nabbed Hellraiser?” Karissa asked in disbelief. “Damn, that is seriously impressive.”
He gave her a tight smile. “I wish I could take credit for it, but it was Aiden’s choice.”
Nick frowned. “He turned himself in? Are you sure this isn’t some kind of trick? He did something like this before.”
“Lex can see into his mind, and she swears that he doesn’t have any ulterior motives,” he assured him.
“What are his motives, then?”
Reece shrugged. “I think he was just tired of running.”
“Well, remind me to send him a thank you card,” Karissa said. “But right now, can we please get the others and go? We’ve got some celebrating to do.”
The vampire shook his head. “Celebrating Zarek’s death?” he chided her sarcastically. “How very un-Daybreaker of you.”
Karissa grinned up at Nick. “No, we’ve got something else to celebrate.”
Reece looked back and forth between the two of them, cocking his head to the side, and she realized that he was reading their thoughts. It was a pretty creepy sight. “Congratulations,” he said. “I guess Jase won the pool.”
Nick gave him a curious look. “What pool?”
“Oh, the rest of the team and I placed bets on when you were going to propose.”
Karissa rolled her eyes. “Are you freaking kidding me?”
“How much?” Nick asked.
She punched his stomach lightly. “Quiet, you.”
The witch draped his arm over her shoulders as they walked out of the conference room together. “Man, we’re not even married yet and you’re already abusing me.”
It wasn’t until they reached the elevator that Karissa noticed that Reece wasn’t with them. She went back into the room and found him staring off into space as if he was in a trance.
“You okay, Cahill?” she asked him.
He seemed startled. “Yeah. Sorry, it’s just…things are louder now. Noises, people’s thoughts. It’s easy to get lost in it.”
There was a quiet sort of grief in his voice that worried her. With a frown, she went to his side and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry…I wasn’t thinking. This must be hard,” she said sympathetically. “I know how much being a witch meant to you.”
“It’s okay,” he replied a little too quickly. “I’ve still got some of my power. Plus, I’m faster now. Stronger. And I’ll be young and pretty forever. It’s the best of both worlds.”
He was lying. The words didn’t even sound like his own. He wasn’t acting like the cold, curt person that he had been over the past few months, but he still wasn’t himself. She had the feeling that something had happened with Zarek—something beyond the obvious. She was about to question him further, but Nick came up behind her and squeezed her hand, shaking his head slightly.
Sighing, she nodded in silent agreement. Maybe it was better to give Cahill some time and space to get used to the change. If he was still acting strangely after that, though, she was going to confront him. If she had learned anything over these past few days, it was how bad things can get if you let them fester.
Karissa gently tugged Reece’s arm. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s make like a leaf and get the hell out of here. I need to eat before I keel over.”
Part 18
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