So rather than trying to run from the connection, from the bond that tugged at me, I followed it. I walked through that door I’d discovered during my first dream, when I’d spoken to him after the forming of our bond.
And the moment I saw Kit, I nearly collapsed. He looked so much as he had before, the sight threatening to yank me backward, to Larkwood, to the hell of that place, but also tohim.
He lifted his gaze to mine, and his black eyes widened. Any doubts I had disappeared in that moment, in the hunger there that said he wanted to consume me.
He came forward in such a rush that I backed away—not that it mattered. He slid a hand behind my neck and yanked me against him, lowering his head until he took my lips in a kiss that was nothing like the ones he’d given me before. Those had been innocent and sweet, but now I suspected he’d held himself back the other times.
He heldnothingback this time. His mouth took mine, deep and aggressive, not letting me have an inch of space, and even though I didn’t feel his touch as I didin person, even though the tingle from it wasn’t quite right, it made my heart speed and my body crave so much more.
Except I couldn’t lose myself in this, not when we had important things to discuss. I set my hands on his chest and pushed away.
Not that he let me go. He broke the kiss but left his large, strong hand on the back of my neck, keeping me up against him as if afraid I’d get away again.
Staring up into his fathomless black eyes managed to blank my head, to steal all my thoughts.
“You should have told me.” His voice was dark and so similar to that terrifying one he used to command others.
I dragged my tongue over my bottom lip, missing the taste of him but glad I could at least speak with him here. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” He let out a harsh snort before yanking away from me and moving to pace. It seemed he had energy he didn’t know what to do with. Perhaps he thought doing that would keep him from grabbing me again? “What does sorry matter? You could have been killed! I knew you were planning something, but never would I have suspected anything likethis.All the years at Larkwood I’ve spent, and you managed what no other shade ever could.” He paused to stare at me as if he couldn’t understand me, as if I were something different all of a sudden.
“It wasn’t me,” I said.
“No? Because it sure seems like it to me, seeing as you are not here.”
“It wasn’tjustme,” I clarified. “The only reason we pulled it off was because I wasn’t alone. The Warden could anticipate any one shade, but she couldn’t keep ahead of us when we worked together. That’s whyLarkwood worked so hard to pit us all against each other, but because otherwise, we are too powerful.”
Kit took a deep breath, his chest rising then falling as he exhaled. Finally, he faced me again. “That’s what you don’t understand. Only you could have done that. Brax, Knox and Wade had been here for years, but they never managed to work together. You brought them together—you gave them reason enough to put aside their petty disagreements. I don’t think you understand just how amazing that is.”
His praise made my cheeks burn, so I turned my gaze from his, unable to hold that scrutiny. “You and Deacon didn’t get into any trouble, right?”
“No. Your trick with Deacon worked to throw suspicion off him. Larkwood is already almost back to normal. It seems as if nothing at all happened. A new bridge was put up the next day between the North Tower and the main building, and with the reinforcements, the Warden gained control again by noon. It’s strange how such a violent event can so quickly be swept away.” He shook his head, then offered me a hard look. “Are you really okay?”
I nodded, struggling with how to answer. “We’re all safe. I won’t say the escape went without trouble, but we got out uninjured.” I paused, then forced myself to go on. “You know, I would have taken you with me if I thought you’d come, right?”
He offered me a smile that lacked humor. “I wouldn’t have gone. I didn’t believe it possible to do what you did. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.”
But now we were at the point I couldn’t turn away from. Even if I wanted to keep things like they were, I owed him the truth. “I need to tell you something,” I said.
He furrowed his eyebrows, as if the very words were unpleasant. “That doesn’t sound good.”
And it wasn’t good. Kit believed his daughter was human, that she lived some normal, happy life somewhere, completely ignorant of the horrors of Larkwood and shades. While he missed her, no doubt, her living the happy life she wanted to no doubt eased him.
Discovering that wasn’t the case would hurt him, but he still deserved to know.
“I was taken to the North Tower,” I explained, unsure how to start the conversation. His expression pressed me to continue. “I saw what Project Corrander was. You probably saw it as well.”
“Those shade soldiers,” he responded. “A few showed up to guard the Warden until reinforcements came.”
I nodded, rubbing my hands together to try to ease the anxiety inside me. “I also met the shade who created them.”
He went still at that, a frown appearing on his features as he put it together. Leave it to Kit to figure things out so quickly. “A few shades can do that, but if you’re talking to me, I assume it’s a wendigo. To think they had one so close and I never knew...” He shook his head. “No, I suspected, I think. Sometimes, I felt a presence, but I brushed it off as nothing more than a desire to find another like myself.” He went still, and when he brought his gaze to mine, anger rested there. “I remember something before the escape, this anger that struck me, and someone trying to pull you away.”
“You saidmine.”
His eyes widened. “So that wasn’t just a feeling?”
I shook my head. “It was real. The wendigo wanted to turn me into one of those soldiers, had expected to,but when they felt your bond with me, they decided not to.”