Page 38 of Splintered Shadow
He knew two things with certainty: Harol would pluck the feathers from his back for endangering Sarah, and he would protect her from anyone who would harm her, including the king.
Sarah
The medic fussed over the road rash on her back and then fussed at Vekele for not cleaning the wounds immediately. The antiseptic stung, but the numbing agent erased any discomfort. At no point did anyone mention severing the bond.
The medic then declared her “as well as can be expected” and gave strict orders not to be dragged through the forest by her ankles or fall through ceilings.
Basically, no fun at all.
“It’s not like I did either on purpose,” she said, brushing out the puppy. Vekele had set up a tub in the small yard just outside the kitchen. The puppy didn’t like the water, but he enjoyed having the soap massaged into his fur. More water ended up on her than on him, but she didn’t mind. “You smell good… Cerberus? No. Don’t give me that look. It’s a classic name.”
Talking kept the puppy calm enough to rinse off and brush out. Vekele lurked at the edges, never intruding but nearby if the puppy suddenly attacked. For all his growling and snarling at Vekele, he wouldn’t attack. She knew that. They were pack now.
“I like him,” she said, keeping her voice soft and soothing. “He’s taken good care of me. We can trust him.”
She liked Vekele for more reasons than that, but that had been the start. He used his body as a shield to protect her in the temple. At the time, she’d been too scared to appreciate the feel of his lean form against hers. He was gorgeous: tall, dark, and elven. That attitude, though, was an acquired taste. Still, her heart skipped a beat when his lips twitched with a smile that he was too regal and proud to display.
He listened to her. He noticed what foods she liked. And if he didn’t think she noticed the way he pretended to read while listening to every silly word she said to the puppy, he was fooling himself.
And the way his eyes went black when he was in badass mode, with wings outstretched like a dark angel…
Wow. That was super-hot, and it was super inappropriate for her to be objectifying him like that, but wow. It should have been terrifying, but it was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.
Sarah looked over her shoulder at Vekele lounging on the steps outside the kitchen doorway. Late afternoon sunlight picked out silvery strands in his hair. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, exposing his forearms. Amazing how that look was universally attractive.
He glanced up and she looked away quickly, pretending that she hadn’t been checking him out.
The puppy pushed his nose against her hand. His opinions on Vekele were far less complicated. No trust. Tolerate only for pack.
“For our pack?” Such a strange concept to wrap her head around.
She scratched behind the puppy’s ears, giving him her undivided attention. Finally dried, his fur was silky soft but had the odd habit of wanting to stand on end and wave, as if caught in a breeze. Majestic? Sure. Creepy? Definitely.
“I didn’t know about your family. I’m sorry about what happened to them,” she said. “I didn’t know. I just fell. They were protecting you.” The bond connecting them felt tenuous, a flimsy thing made more of optimism and wishful thinking than fact. She wanted to believe that he understood her and kept talking, if only to process her thoughts.
Twelve days. She’d been gone for twelve days. She knew days had passed, but she hadn’t counted. They blurred together.
The milk’s gone bad, and the tomatoes will be rotten.
She didn’t know why her first thought was of expiring food in her fridge, but there it was. How long before people realized she was gone? She hadn’t been friendly with any of her neighbors, and she didn’t live anywhere near her friends. That had been the point of moving away, to escape memories.
She called her mother once a month. Seraphina wouldn’t notice anything amiss for a few weeks.
Trisha would know something happened. When Sarah didn’t show up for drinks, she’d drop by the apartment. Most likely to yell at Sarah for standing her up and not having the decency to cancel via text.
The bookstore would call when she didn’t show up for her shift. If her manager would be bothered to go to her apartment to check on her, she had no idea.
She couldn’t have been the only person this happened to. Everyone had a phone, right? There were more phones than people on Earth. How many didn’t get the update? Even if less than one percent of phones had the glitch, it was a staggering amount.
How long before anyone noticed she was gone?
Trisha, her mother, and her boss. Maybe.
That was sad. She hadn’t always been so isolated, but apparently, she did a better job at hiding from the world than she expected.
The puppy nosed at the hand holding the brush. She stopped brushing.
“Sorry, too busy wallowing in my misery,” she said. “I was just thinking about home. My family’s gone too.”
