Page 181 of Where Broken Wings Fly

“You should lay down and get some rest.”

“I can’t sleep. Not without them.”

Right on cue, the door creaks open again and two faces peer into the room. While Zach looks terrified of finding me in a state, Killian looks more afraid of the intensity of his own feelings. They refuse to move from the doorway.

“Can we come in?” Killian pleads.

I reach out a hand. “I need you to hold me.”

His mouth hooks up. “That I can do.”

Tentatively approaching, they find their own place in the bed. Micah stretches across the end, a hand tightly wrapped around my ankle. Killian climbs in and traps me against his broad chest, above the roar of his heartbeat.

Zach is the last to slip in next to me, burying his face in my stomach. I slide my fingers through his hair, stroking the lumps of his skull. His breathing is shuddered, afraid.

“I’m sorry,” I say again.

Killian tightens his iron-grip. “I won’t hear it.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Zach adds.

Between all three of them, I feel the weight lifting from my shoulders. The darkness of the room swallows their individual lumps beneath my sheets until I can’t tell where they end, and I begin. We’re all entangled as one.

Micah strokes the inside of my ankle. “Rest, Willow.”

“You’re not alone,” Zach murmurs.

Killian grunts in agreement. “We’re here.”

I can face the future with them at my side, but I know how this cruel life works. Nothing lasts. Especially not the good things. If I don’t self-destruct, then the world will do it for me. Then… all of our hearts will be in the firing line.

CHAPTER 33

MICAH

SOMEONE TO BREAK YOUR HEART - EMMA JENSEN

Zipping up my bulging backpack, I strap the two-person tent to the outside and tighten the cords that hold the whole thing together. It weighs a tonne, but I want tonight to be perfect. We’ve got a lot of gear to haul with us.

I’ll drag the damn thing up the mountain without complaint to keep the promise I made to Willow. Not only is this my first date with her, but it’s also my first ever date. I’ve never been with a woman, let alone one that I love.

“I don’t know about this,” Zach worries.

Ignoring his shadow looming over me, I test the backpack’s weight. “You need to ease up. She had a wobble, it happens. Time to move on.”

“A wobble? Seriously?”

“Making a big deal of it won’t help her. You’re gonna drive her away if you keep suffocating her. Getting Willow away from town for a night will be good.”

Killian stares at me from inside the kitchen where he’s brewing his lunchtime cafetière of extra strong coffee. He’s barely slept in the last few days, too busy watching Willow like a hawk, even when she’s asleep. The incident really shook him up.

“You’ll keep her safe?” he deadpans.

“Jesus, Kill. I can take care of Willow and I think I’ve proven that.”

“You got stranded on a mountain in February.”

“And we had to rescue you,” Zach piles on.

---