Beyond(33)

He lifts his mouth from my skin. “We found some supplies. Come on, we’ll find something you like. We found some tinned tuna. You could eat that with crackers.”

My eyes widen. “Tuna and crackers sounds heavenly.”

He kisses my lips and lingers there. “Are you okay now with the whole Jordan thing?”

I shrug. “You’re mine now. That’s all that matters. I’ll have to deal with my jealousy.”

“I get it, you know. If I had to be around any man that had touched you I don’t know how I’d handle it. Lucky for me, you saved yourself for me.”

I puff out a breath. “Lucky for me you didn’t save yourself. Someone needs to know what they’re doing between the sheets.”

He laughs. “Does my experience please you wife?”

“Only when I don’t have to see the women you’ve been with,” I grumble, crossing my arms over myself.

He sighs and kisses my forehead. “I only see you Olivia. No one else.”

“I’m being petty, I know,” I reply on a sigh. “We have bigger issues to worry about.”

“You’re feelings are important to be baby. I don’t want you upset. But you know what? You have nothing to worry about. I’m so f*ckin’ happy to have you in my arms right now.”

“And I’m happy to be here,” I whisper back.

I love you.

I want to say it, but the words don’t come.





“I heard something about you,” Dane says the next morning. I was in the river washing my face.

“What?”

“You killed one of the beasts. With an arrow. From a tree.”

He looks impressed.

And proud.

“I did,” I reply. “Those things are damn scary. Are there many around here?”

Dane looks out over the distance. “More and more each time I leave the walls. I think they eat the zombies though.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“If anything happened to you Olivia…” he trails off, returning his gaze to me. “I want you home.”

“I’m fine,” I say. “As you can see.”

I lower my voice. “I saw my mother.”

Dane visibly cringes. “Christ Olivia.”

“You knew then,” I state.

He steps into the water with me, and pulls me against his chest. “I knew. I’ve seen her around the walls. She looked just like you. Evan made sure none of us went near her.”

“Dane… I…”

“What baby?” he whispers.

“I told Jase to kill her,” I blurt out. “She would have hated it, living like that. I couldn’t see her like that.”

He rubs my back, exhaling deeply. “That must have been a hard call to make, but I think you did the right thing. I wouldn’t want to live like that either.”

“I feel like Dad kept so much from me.”

“He wanted to protect you. You’re everything that’s good in this world Olivia. There isn’t much of that out there anymore. Everyone just lives for themselves.”

I lift my head up. “You don’t. You help everyone. Protect everyone. You’re amazing Dane.”

I grin as I see his cheeks redden.

“I don’t know about all that,” he murmurs. “But it means the world to me that you think that of me. To be honest, the need to protect you… It consumes me. It’s a little f*ckin’ scary.”

He scrubs his hand down his face, looking frustrated. “I want you back behind those walls. Now.”

I roll my eyes. “I’ve made it this far and I’m fine. And now that I’ve been out, don’t think I’m not going to come out here again.”

The muscles in his throat work as he swallows. “We’ll talk about it later.”

“I’m a capable woman Dane,” I tell him quietly. “I know you want to protect me, and I love that, but I’m a not just your wife. I’m a leader and a warrior too.”

He groans and buries his face in my neck. “I know, trust me, I know.”

We stay like that for a while, our ankles in the water, our bodies pressed against each other, his face in my neck.

“We need to get going,” he finally says. “It’s never safe to stay in one place for too long.”

I nod. “Okay. Dane?”

“Yes beautiful.”

“Is there any tuna left?”





We had to walk back through Aaron’s camp, and to be honest, I was crapping myself. I hadn’t told Dane about what had happened and neither had anyone else. We still had a few hours before we got there, but I was already envisioning what was going to go down.

Sam must have been thinking the same thing because he mutters, “Few hours until we’re all killed. Except you, of course.”

I roll my eyes. “He won’t do anything to you.”

He whispers. “I let you go in that tent with him! Dane is going to gut me and love every second of it.”

I can hear Jordan in front of us, telling Dane how nice it is that he doesn’t care how close I am with other men.

Bitch.

She’s trying to start shit, I know she is.