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I ignored the kitty when he chuckled as the morning air slapped me in the face.

8

“Are you okay?” Alice glanced at me, asking the same question from a minute ago.

We ended up hunkered in what looked like an abandoned warehouse next to the stopped train, which they picked as our escape vehicle. It turned out that we were in the middle of nowhere. Everywhere we looked we encountered flat fields as far as our eyes could see. There was not a house in sight, little less a store. So we spent the day stretched out between large crates waiting for night to fall. I was weakened already, and the daylight didn’t help at all. Dominic carried me on one shoulder and Johnathan on the other like sacks of potatoes, much to my embarrassment.

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” Offering her a small smile, I squeezed her thigh in reassurance. “It’ll take a lot more than blood loss to kill an Atua.”

“That’s not reassuring, you know,” she mumbled, while Dominic tensed where he was laying across from us facing the crates. “You think some of them were still alive at the house before we left?”

“No.” That I was sure of. Those I fought were all decapitated, and I had no doubt Dominic had no mercy, as well. That was when I remembered the one on the kitchen floor. “What happened after the breadknife was spelled to your hands, Alice? With the Atua,” I clarified when she gave me a confused look.

“I panicked.” She took a deep breath and held it before bowling it out through pursed lips. “I thought he was going to kill me, so I closed my eyes and swung the knife at his head. I swear that I didn’t feel any resistance, so I thought I missed him. When I felt warm liquid spray all over me, I had to look, and by then he was on the floor with his head barely holding onto his body. I didn’t mean to do it.”

“I know you didn’t.”

“Then I heard you fighting in the hall, so I didn’t care anymore.” She was staring at her hands, which were folded in her lap like they were a foreign object. “I thought we were all going to die, you know.” My heart broke when a tear trickled down her face. “I’m not an Amazon warrior like you, but I wanted to help you both. So I just screamed and kept swinging the knife around. It was passing through everything like through butter. How is that possible?”

“Magic,” Dominic and I answered at the same time.

“I’ll scout to see if any humans are still around.” The shifter rolled to his feet. We saw a couple of them, probably the train driver and whoever was recording the arrival of it on the stop. “If they are gone, might as well use this place to continue our interrogations. I have no need to carry the fucker around anymore.” Before we could say anything, he disappeared between the crates.

“He was really worried about you, you know,” Alice murmured, while I stared unseeing at the spot where Dominic disappeared.

“Hmm?”

“Dominic.” She leaned closer and lowered her tone. “When you started going down, I didn’t have time to do anything apart from scream your name, but Dominic was next to you before you were halfway down. He caught you, and I’ve never seen an expression like that on anyone before.”

My head turned slowly so I could look at her face. Her eyes were swimming with unshed tears, and the lungs shriveled in my chest. I wasn’t breathing, wishing for her to continue talking and to keep her words to herself at the same time. Nothing good would come of it, and I knew it. I had no right to know what Dominic felt or why. We were enemies stuck together due to circumstance, and he proved time and time again that he would never trust me. I should tell Alice I didn’t want to know.

I stayed quiet.

“It was the same look my father had when my mother died.” Alice swallowed thickly. “I don’t think even he looked that terrified and devastated, to be honest. It took me a good hour of talking non stop for him to release you. He was clutching you to his chest like someone was going to steal you from him.”

“Alice stop …”

“No, you listen here, Brooklyn.” Her head swiveled as she craned her neck to see if the shifter was coming back. “I haven’t known him for long, but I already know he is a prideful jerk. And you are as stubborn as a mule.” My mouth opened to argue that fact, but she waved a hand in my face. “Don’t bother denying it. I had to force our friendship on you, remember? You were like a robot the first few months, talking in short sentences and thinking if you threatened me I’d do what you asked.”

My mouth snapped shut remembering the exact thing she was describing. Back then, I didn’t want to get to know her as a living being. I needed someone to do the things I couldn’t without being discovered, so I treated her like a means to an end. Shame crawled up my neck, heating my face.

“I’m not telling you this to make you feel guilty.” My human friend was too observant for he own good. “What I’m trying to say is, you two are made for each other if both of you get your heads out of your asses and stop overthinking shit. I know those Atutatua are evil; it doesn’t take a genius to see that. But you are not them, and Dominic can talk smack and growl till kingdom come, but he knows it too. I’m just saying, don’t let them stand between you.”

“Atua,” I corrected her absentmindedly, her words swirling through my head.

“That’s what got your attention from everything I said?” She glared at me mockingly.

“I’m not sure he would ever lower the walls he built around himself enough for anyone to even take a peek at the real Dominic.” Her eyes narrowed further. “He is too broken, Alice.”

“And you are not?” She snorted ungracefully. “Those are all excuses, trust me. We are all broken. And you know what? That’s okay, as long as that’s not an excuse to stop living.”

“Who knew you were so wise?” I chuckled, nudging her shoulder with mine, but I had to admit, if only to myself, that she had a very valid point.

“It’s all wisdom gathered from fortune cookies.” Giggling, she gave me a bump in return. “I’m starting to get a headache without the glasses.” Pressing the heal of her palms to her eyes, she rubbed them.

I was on my feet placing myself between her and the scraping sound of a shoe coming from further in the warehouse. My balance was off, so I kept a hand pressed on the crates, but if anyone tried to hurt Alice I had no doubt I’d rip them to shreds. I had enough energy left to kill a handful of Atua left in me.

“It’s me.” Dominic’s voice proceeded him.