Page 53 of Fangs
He grinned. “By your crew.”
Your crew.Maybe it was the exhaustion, but those two words brought more tears to my eyes, and I furiously blinked them away.
He stood and set the thermos on a small table before grabbing the chair. “I can move this back where?—”
“You can leave it there,” I blurted out, and he looked at me in surprise. “If you want to.”
“You ok?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just…”
“S’alright, Em, you can tell me.”
“I don’t want to wake up in a different place.”
He sat in the chair and leaned his elbow on the bed next to me, grey eyes fixed on me. “You won’t wake up anywhere else, I promise. I’ll be right here.”
I lay back, relieved. Mac picked up a book lying on the small table and flipped it open to a page with a folded corner.
“What are you reading?” I asked.
“Nemo found a whole stash of books in Madame’s office.” He looked up at me and smiled. “This one’s about building greenhouses.”
“What other kinda books?—”
“No more questions,” he interrupted with a smirk. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.”
I muttered some choice words at him, and he huffed a laugh.
“Hush.” His eyes met mine over his book, crinkling slightly with humor.
I glared at him, vaguely remembering him saying that to me months ago while we rode Violet together.
“Don’t hush me,” I grumbled and was rewarded by another quiet laugh.
In the silence, the only sounds were the crackling of the fire and the whisper of pages turning. He was beside me every time I opened my eyes—a quiet sentinel.
10
The knife slipped in my bloodied hand.
“Angel,” Juck wheezed. “I loved you.”
I jerked the knife free from his chest, nearly gagging at the awful squelching sound.
“Trust me, I’m keepin’ you safe. The gods gave you to me?—”
“Stop,” I begged hoarsely, my hands clenching around the knife.
“I’m protectin’ you! You don’t know what they’d do to you!”
“Youhurtme!” I spit out, shaking.
“I loved you,” he insisted, reaching out to touch my face with a bloody hand. “I only did what I had to to keep my Angel safe.”
I stabbed the knife into his chest again, but he caught my wrist and ripped it out with a sudden, horrifying strength. He sat up despite the bloody wounds in his chest and smiled. Pure terror froze me in place.
“You really think it’d be that easy to kill me?”
