Page 76 of Echoes of War

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, a finger wagging in my face. “You love him, don’t you?”

Smacking her finger down, I shushed her, begging her to lower her voice. “I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

“It’s okay to care again, Amaia, open yourself up.” Sloan said gently, “I hate to say it, but I was wrong. He’s good for you. You’ve … settled into yourself with him around. Like you’re not hiding who you are, not a single part of you.”

“Okay, I’m with him. Your niceties are making me queasy,” I groaned, tossing my head back to wrap my curls into a bun.

Sloan playfully shoved my shoulder. “I’m being serious. When you first got here, when my cousin did what he did, everythingabout you said you were defeated. Like you were struggling with a reason to keep moving forward, to stay alive. We both were.”

I shook my head, not ready to accept any of what the wordloveentailed. “When he looks at me, Sloan, it’s like he sees something worth looking at.” I turned back to face her, keeping my words hushed and between us. “I know what that means. So many people give me that look, but two of them had love in their eyes while they gave it to me. And now, I think there may be a third. That scares the crap out of me.”

“Somethingin this world needs to scare you. I’d say that’s healthy, considering not much else does.” Sloan said, her signature Moore eyes boring into my damn soul.

I offered her a loose smile that gave way to a small pout. “Tell your momma I said it was nice to finally meet her. I left a map to Lola’s home in case you want to bring Violet and some of the younger kids there before all hell breaks loose. We’ll let her know to be on the lookout for some fiery red hair once we get there.”

Sloan was fiercely protective of Violet. I’d seen her once in the two months that we’d been here. She kept her away, off with her mother and a few of the other leadership kids. I understood, told myself to take no offense to it. If there wasn’t a face to put to the name, then her little girl could have a chance of dodging the fray. Kids were not off limits in war, at least not with enemies. Especially a child of someone in charge. If you kept them alive and they were old enough, they would grow up with vengeance to pay.

While Sloan had nothing to worry about with me, I knew she would never fully trust the rest of the group, not even her cousin. It had been one of her cousins, after all, who had betrayed them all. So off Violet stayed, away from anyone who could identify her upon capture.

Still, it melted my heart to hearAuntie Maiajust that one time. Something we had spoken so much about in The Before. When we thought there was a chance of our kids growing up alongsideeach other. Now, I wasn’t even sure if I even wanted children, not if I could help it. To bring someone into a world that was full of uncertainties would be cruel.

“Thank you, I’ll consider it,” she said, words ringing with a hint of truth. “Though me and the other mommas here will probably sleep best knowing our babies are okay by a short walk over to the shelter.”

“Remember, don’t stop until you hit forty feet. From there, all the Earth elementals you can spare need to put their energy into building the shelter out, and quickly. It should be enough to keep them safe from the worst of it. Oh! Don’t forget, you need a code that changes to let anyone?—”

Sloan’s hand reached out to cover my mouth, my words lost to muffles. “Maia! Okay, okay. We went through this twice already. We’ll be okay. It’s time for y’all to go if you want to make it to thebrujasbefore dark. I had a few people go out to clear the road enough for the two of you to get through to St. Paul on his bike.”

“Thank you.” I pulled Sloan in, hugging her tightly. “I meant what I said. When you’re ready, there’s space for you at Monterey Compound, all three of you. Anyone else that wants to come too, we’ll make room.”

Her only response was to turn me around with a slap to my ass. “Goodbye, my forever friend, goodbye.”

I swung my leg over the other side of Alexiares’ damn motorcycle. He pretended to crank it obnoxiously a few times, earning a scowl from Sloan, whose hands now crossed against her chest in dismay. Clutching onto him for dear life, I watched my only remaining friend from The Before disappear into the distance.

With a flash of my power, I tossed a small flame into the sky. One final goodbye.

The desire to run into Finley was nonexistent for the both of us. Cutting through St. Paul was the smarter route rather than risking getting caught skirting around St. Cloud again. We made it about thirty miles outside the city before hitting a roadblock.

I’d grown relatively comfortable on the bike now, well, as comfortable as I could get. Resting my head on Alexiares’ shoulder was an added benefit. Every negative parcel of energy in my body was sucked away, dissolved from his mere presence.

That was something I had missed in the months since Jax’s death. Except this was different. Where Jax would take my troubles on as his own and help me shed them, Alexiares made me forget about them completely … to an extent. It was hard to forget you were on the back of a death-mobile. But when the wind was whipping past your skin and the idiot driving it went out of his way to swerve to make your heart jump, it was very possible.

Alexiares slowed to a stop. I squeezed tight against his waist thinking he was about to pull some bullshit to piss me off.

“Why are we stopping?” I asked.

He chuckled, prying my hands from him, and took a deep breath. “If you opened your eyes for a few seconds, princess, you’d see that the road is blocked off.”

My heart dropped into my ass and my eyes shot open. I peered over at the road sign falling over toward the right, White Bear Lake. This was wrong, I felt it in my gut.

“That’s weird,” I mumbled. “Sloan said she had them clear a direct path here.”

“It’s Sloan. Did you really expect her to have full insight on the ins and outs of her orders? They probably stopped here and turned back before they’d have to close in on St. Paul,” Alexiares said, irritation heavy in his voice, his accent pulling through theway it always did when he got a bit ruffled. It was sexy as hell, made me want to take things a step further and piss him off more.

“Be nice,” I teased. “Believe it or not, she’s grown rather fond of you in her own weird way.”

“I’ll be sure to send her an invite to the wedding,” Alexiares grumbled, kicking the stand down on the bike and hopping off. He grabbed his pack, tossing it over his shoulder, brows wiggling with acknowledgment that he was privy to the game I was playing.

My heart skipped a few beats.He’s trying to fuck with you, I told myself. Forcing myself to recover with humor, I glared at him mockingly, leaning back on the bike as if I were comfortable on it. “Quit mouthing off and help me see if there’s a way around.”

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