“You’re useless,” I sighed. The pup made an adorable little barking noise, which was probably supposed to be filled with righteous anger. I reached over and scratched behind her ears. “Sorry. Let me amend that. You’re useless in terms of information gathering. Don’t ever seek out a career as a librarian. On the other hand, you’re a wonderful wolf sitter. Keep up the good work on that front.”

The pup laid her head back down, appeased. I started to pull my hand away, but at her whine it went right back to where it was.

“I told you, knowing more about Thaumaturgics isn’t going to change anything.”

“And I told you I wanted to know what it is they’re accusing me of.”

“Knowledge junkie.”

“Hallucination.”

He threw a hand dramatically over his heart and fell backwards. Nicole saw this as a grand opportunity to see how his face tasted. “Your lack of faith wounds me,” he said through giggles.

Even though it’d been daylight the entire time I was there, the sun started rising over the lake. Dawn was coming, and with it my last day on earth. Suddenly, I felt very, very tired. Not the boy I need to sleep variety, but the kind that settles into the very fiber of your being. The kind that leaves your heart heavy and soul weary.

I lay back, my head resting mere inches from Alex. Nicole nearly burst from the excitement of having a new face to torture with her sloppy puppy kisses. I echoed Alex’s giggles as her warm puppy tongue tickled my ear before bounding back over to her original prey. His eyes met mine as he batted playfully at his attacker. I tried to smile but couldn’t seem to get the corners of my lips to comply.

“Can you give us a minute?” Alex asked Nicole. She gave him a couple more kisses, then came to drop one on my cheek before disappearing into the forest.

“She’s very considerate,” I said when her absence and silence became a little awkward.

“She has her moments,” he agreed. His hand stretched out and found mine. His skin was warm and soft, though I could feel callouses on his fingers.

“I don’t want to wake up.”

“I know.”

“I’m scared.”

His hand tightened on mine. “I know.”

The tear darting down my temple felt like lava. I didn’t bother wiping it away, or any of the ones that followed. I didn’t say anything else, because there was nothing left to say. As the sun continued to rise in the sky, I just lay there, holding his hand, looking into familiar grey eyes I would never see in the living world again.

Almost made me glad I wouldn’t be in the living world much longer myself.

“You’re going to wake up soon,” he said as the sun breached the top of the trees.

My lips quirked as I repeated his refrain. “I know.”

He pulled himself up to his elbows without releasing my hand. “I need to tell you something before you go.”

“Okay.”

He sat up the rest of the way, pulling me with him. We were sitting face to face with my back to the morning sun once we got settled. The rays played over his hair and face. His jaw was set. His eyes blazed. To me, he looked like one of God’s avenging angels.

“Promise you’ll believe me.”

Another repeated line, another quirk of the lips. “I promise to try.”

Without warning, he grabbed my face and kissed me. It wasn’t the passionate, goes on forever kind of kiss I’d grown accustomed to, but it curled my toes all the same. When it was over he stayed close enough I could still feel his lips move against mine. “This is real, and I didn’t leave you alone. I have always loved you, and I will love you until the end of time. Now, wake up and live.”

Chapter 26

Even after I woke up I could still feel where Alex’s lips touched mine.

This is real, and I didn’t leave you alone.

I wanted to believe. As my fingers traced my still sensitive lips, the need to believe was a loud, hungry thing inside me. And where was the harm in giving in? This was the day of the trial. While I wasn’t sure exactly how the Shifter legal system worked, I knew these weren’t the kind of people to leave their guilty sitting on death row for years and years. I wasn’t being melodramatic when I told Alex I thought this was my last day on earth. Logic said I wasn’t going to be breathing when the sun rose tomorrow morning.

There was a knock on the door, the signal for me to stand in the middle of the cage, hands up in the universal criminal pose, while my breakfast was delivered. Mrs. Akay walked through the door in her usual fashion - head of graying dark hair down, steps small and quick. She never spoke, never looked at me. In a new and different move, Travis followed her into the basement while Rocco had the honors of keeping the handgun leveled on my head.

“Before you whine about the lack of nutrition, you should know Talley told us to feed you this crap,” Travis said with his slow drawl.

My normal breakfast tray included eggs, toast or biscuits, sausage or bacon, fruit, and milk. This morning the only staple item was the milk. Along with it was a box of Cap’n Crunch, a giant bowl, a spoon, and a can of Mello Yello.

“You should be so lucky as to have a friend like Talley Matthews.” My voice actually hitched a little as I said it. Excellent. It was going to be the kind of day where I got all teary eyed over cereal and soft drinks.

“She’s good people,” he agreed. “You know she’s coming to see you later today?”

“Please don’t be kidding me,” I whispered.

Travis smiled as Mrs. Akay brushed past him. “Nope. I’m not much of a joker, especially the mean kind.” He closed the door and engaged the lock. “Stefan reckons if you can be a good girl all day a couple of pre-trial visits won’t hurt anything. You are going to be a good girl today, aren’t ya?”

If it meant I got to see my friends one more time I would be anything they wanted me to be. “Saint-like.”

“Glad to hear it.” Instead of going out the door that led to the basement stairs, he leaned against it. “I’m on Scout Duty this morning, and I’m not really feeling up to the drama of an attempted escape.”

I grabbed the cereal and poured half the box into the bowl. It wasn’t like calories and sugar were going to make much of a difference at this point. “Well, I would certainly hate to inconvenience you.”