Page 83 of The Hero Within
The pair of them stared at each other.
"What Colton will face...?" Eden repeated, her eyes narrowing. "What will Colton face if we enter Cortez?"
Gold-bronze eyes turned on her. "The Confederacy leashes their wargs, Eden. If they get their hands on him, they'll lock him away in one of their military prisons and never let him out. Or they'll kill him."
Chapter Sixteen
Everything was packed,and he'd resupplied with Shadow Rock's generosity. Johnny looked around the small room he'd shared with Eden. Not a sign of them remained behind, only their scent.
It felt weird, staring at the empty room. Everything had changed between him and Eden in the space of a single night, and yet there was no visible evidence of it. Only a thickening feeling in his throat, a pressure behind his ribs.
Eden was getting to him.
Getting?Asked a sarcastic part of him he tended to think of as his inner asshole. It liked to throw truth bombs in his face.
Fine. Gotten.Johnny rubbed his chest.You are so fucked, Johnny-boy.
Because it was clear she didn't feel the same way.
What the hell had he been thinking?That they could ever have something between them? That there was any sort of future between them after they'd gotten their hands on this cure?
He was half tempted to ask Arik what was in that fuckingkaga, because he'd forgotten for a second who he was.
How many times did he have to reach out, only to have the brutal truth thrown in his face?
Years of living on Cane's leash had taught him not to yearn for anything for himself, or else Cane would destroy it. The one time he'd given into his aching loneliness, he'd brought hell down upon Eden, and torn her life apart.
And then he'd finally managed to break Cane's hold on him for just long enough to put a bullet in the bastard's head.
In the months following Cane's death, he'd had this static sort of buzzing in his head, as he tried to put himself back together. For the first time in his life, there'd been no consequences for his actions. No reason not to make his own way, and do what he damned well wanted.
He'd searched for his mother, but by then it was too late. There was no sign of her, and nothing but ashes where their homestead had been. The Colton's kept to themselves, and nobody he spoke to in the nearby towns even knew who he was talking about.
He'd found a town. Bitter River. He'd walked in out of the darkness to find the residents celebrating a local marriage. People. Laughter. Dancing. A welcome he hadn't expected to find. He'd stayed one night. Turned it into two. Then a week. Started thinking maybe he could find a place to settle, when one of the local widows rested a hand on his shoulder one night and smiled at him as she offered him a drink.
And then he realized the truth when he woke from a drugged stupor to find himself in a cage. He didn't belong anywhere. Bitter River had sold him out to fucking slavers to keep them off their own backs.
He should know better than to want more from Eden.
All he'd end up doing was get his fingers burned again.
Or worse.
I don't know what you want from me, but if it's anything more than what happened here last night, then I don't think I can give it to you...
Yeah. Bullet to the chest right there.At least she was fucking upfront about it, but he didn't understand why he couldn't simply bury the faint nudge of hope inside him.
Brisk footsteps echoed along the stone floors outside. He'd recognize that determined stride anywhere, and his chest hitched as he girded himself. It had been an hour since he'd seen Eden and he'd managed to pull himself back together, but the second he heard her coming, the warg within started scraping its claws along the inside of his skin.
Johnny hauled his pack over his shoulders, settling it into position. Grabbing Eden's pack off the floor, he’d started toward the door when she burst through the flimsy curtain, her curls tangled in a ponytail and her face flushed with color.
"I can't let you do this," she blurted, pushing a hand against his chest.
He captured her hand against his chest, a little shocked she was touching him after what she'd said earlier. "Do what?"
"I've been speaking to Arik and Lincoln about the Confederacy." Eden looked up, her dark lashes framing the intense green of her eyes. "You can't come with me to Cortez City."
What the actual fuck?
