A while later,when the others are sleeping, Nova unfurls herself from the middle of their tight little bundle and pads over to where I’m sleeping. Alone. Propped up against a large wooden crate.
“Luther?” She sits next to me and pulls the blanket so it covers us both.
I don’t reply or open my eyes.
“I know you’re awake,” she whispers.
“No,” I say, “I’m not.” But when she sighs and moves as if she’s about to leave, I give in. “Okay. I’m awake.” I look down at her. Her neck is bruised and ugly. Kole’s not a vamp, so he makes a hell of a fucking mess when he bites her. “Are you alright?” I touch my fingers to the wound.
Nova doesn’t flinch, just leans into me a little. “I wanted it,” she says as if that answers my question. Frowning, she picks at a loose thread in the blanket. “Luther?”
“Yes.” I can’t get enough of the way she says my name. I look away from her because my dick is starting to pay attention to her, and I’m pretty sure she’s had enough for one night.
“I can’t be the only one to have noticed that there are five of you here,” she says.
“Last I counted,” I reply.
“And the prophecy saysfated to five.”
“It does.” I can feel her staring at me, and I finally give in.
When I meet her eyes, she says, “Is that why I feel the way I do when I’m around you?”
I swallow hard. My heart beats fast in my chest. Clearing my throat, I ask hoarsely, “How exactly do you feel?”
“Like I want to kill you and fuck you at the same time,” she laughs. “Like if I let you get too close, I’ll get hurt. But like I want you so much I don’t care.”
As her words sink into my skin, I rub my palm over my shaved head. “You think I’d hurt you?” Does she see the irony? She thinksI’llhurt her, but Kole’s the one drinking her blood?
After a moment’s silence, she replies, “It’s not a thought. It’s a feeling… like if I let myself fall for you it’s destined to end badly.”
“You don’t feel that way about the others?”
“No,” she says. “I don’t.”
A cross between rejection and anger hums on my skin. At the same time, I feel vindicated. I knew there was a reason I shouldn’t let myself fall for this woman. She doesn’t trust me. She sees something in me that I’ve always seen in myself. She knows I’m no good for her. “Then you should trust your gut,” I tell her, turning away and jerking the blanket from her lap. “And stay the fuck away from me.”
24
TANNER
The screech of metal-on-metal jolts me awake. Kole’s head is on my stomach. His hair is loose, with one arm stretched up above his head so his fingers touch the base of my throat. Nova’s sleeping on his chest, curled into him like a kitten, and his other arm is wrapped tightly around her. Even in his sleep, he’s keeping her close.
Behind Nova, Sam’s arms are looped around her waist, his knees tucked up beside hers. He’s been through the most out of all of us, yet somehow manages to look soat peacewhen he sleeps. Perhaps it’s just because he’s finally with Nova. Safe.
When I look up, Mack and Luther are already awake and watching me. Mack’s sitting with his back against a large wooden crate. Luther, sitting next to him, slides his bag over so I can position it behind Kole’s head and slide out from beneath him.
He stirs, sweeps his lips over Nova’s forehead without waking, and moves the arm that was slung over my torso to hug her instead.
“They look so content, don’t they?” I ask, pushing my hair back from my face and smiling at them. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of seeing Nova like that; cocooned, safe, happy.
“We’re nearly there,” Luther says. He’s avoiding looking at me. He lost control last night. It doesn’t sit well with him but if he’s expecting me to be pissed, he’s wrong. I just wish he’d get the fuck over himself and admit he needs Nova as much as the rest of us.
“Let them sleep,” Mack says, although he looks like he hasn’t caught more than a few minutes since we boarded the train.
“Is it a long journey to the commune?” I accept the flask of almost-cold coffee Luther’s offering and take a long sip. I wince then raise my eyebrows at him. Obliging, slightly reluctantly, he wraps his hands around it and heats it for me.
“I’m not sure.” Mack pulls his cell from his pocket and pinches the map to zoom in on the area where we’re expecting to find Kole’s family. “Maybe an hour? Two?”