Page 119 of The Stone Initiation
“I’ll get you back to your dorm,” Serath said, voice low.
“I’ll do it,” Selas said. “Then we need to get her to the lab. We need to find out how she got into the forest in the first place.”
Good point. We’d forgotten all about that vital fact in the heat of the moment. Oh god. I’d just let him eat me out on a watchtower. Shit, had anyone seen us?
My face heated.
“It’s alright,” Selas said. “You’re okay.” She flew closer. “We only just got here, and the other towers are unmanned.”
“Serath, we should go.” Orix hovered closer, wings flapping, every so often to stay airborne as he waited. “Now.”
I didn’twanthim to go, but Ineededhim to leave. The push pull of mind over primal instinct was almost unbearable.
Serath dropped a kiss on my forehead, lips lingering for a moment, then stepped away from me. “Just a few more weeks and you can get on with your life. We can do this, Cameron.”
I nodded and told him what he wanted to, needed, to hear. “Yes. We can.”
He morphed then leapt into the air to join Orix, leaving me with the bitter taste of lies in my mouth, because after what we’d just done, after the moment we’d shared, I wasn’t sure walking away would be that easy.
CHAPTER51
We managed to get to my dorm room undetected. Selas waited on the platform outside my window while I ducked inside to grab some clothes.
I’d started explaining what had happened tonight, how I’d fallen asleep and ended up in the forest, but she asked me to wait till we got to the lab to save repeating myself. “Willowman should be up,” she said from the platform. “He doesn’t sleep much.”
I locked myself in the washroom and rinsed off my muddy feet before dressing and pulling on socks and shoes.
My hair was a mess, windswept and knotted, so I ran a brush through it quickly and yanked it back into a ponytail. I looked flushed, my eyes too bright and big in my face.
I looked almost pretty.
“Cam?” Selas knocked on the door. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” I pulled open the door. “Let’s go and find out what the hell is wrong with me.”
* * *
Willowman’s labwas in a cottage hidden behind the omega building. He had his own yard with a white picket fence and what looked like an impressive herb garden.
All the downstairs windows were lit a warm and inviting amber.
Selas led the way up the path and knocked on the door.
“It’s open,” Willowman called from inside.
The aroma of licorice wafted out as Selas pushed open the door and ushered me into a cozy sitting room that sported a crackling log fire. A tattered rug covered dark wooden floors and a battered green sofa with orange scatter cushions faced the hearth.
Willowman sat at a worn wooden table with a cigarette in his mouth and a model set on the table in front of him. His shirt was open, leaving his tight abs on display. He looked rumpled and comfortable, and younger here in his environment.
His attention flicked from me to Selas, then back again. “What’s happened?”
Selas pulled out a chair and nodded at me. “Sit.” I obliged. “Cameron ended up in the woods tonight.”
Willowman’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Impossible. I checked the wards myself.”
“I know, so the question remains…howdidshe get in?”
He fixed his golden eyes on me. “What did you do? How did you get in?” His accusatory tone rankled.
