Anomaly (Causal Enchantment #4)(4)
“It would’ve happened eventually,” I interrupted his attempts to lay blame on himself, though I knew the guilt sat heavily on his shoulders. It also sat heavily on mine. “You heard Sofie and Veronique. The witches had been planning this for months. We’d be no better off, had you not come.” That wasn’t entirely true. Veronique would still be in her marble tomb, there’d be no fledglings running around, ravishing the city. Viggo would not be on a rampage. I didn’t need to highlight any of that.
Curling into his comfort, I added, “And I’d just be alone. Or dead.” Selfish, yes, but after all I’d been through, I needed to be selfish, even for just a little while. That meant blocking out worries of my impending blood-crazed state and the end of world, because apparently the Fates had already decided how that would play out. That meant focusing on the here and now.
“Do you regret coming? Having to go through all this again? Everything you were looking forward to is going to be gone. You’ll be back in ratty clothes and living in a cave soon enough.”
Caden smirked. “I never cared about any of that. I would’ve stayed in that hellhole for eternity as long as it meant you were staying with me.”
“I guess you’re going to get your wish because this will be a hellhole soon enough.”
Caden lifted my chin, meeting my eyes, and whispered, “Can we not talk about that for now?”
I nodded. Leaning in, I let my lips settle slightly parted against his jawline, inhaling the scent of his skin, a thousand times more intoxicating than any scents or thrill of pursuits. If anything could make me lose control, it was the guy sitting next to me.
His muscles shifted beneath my mouth. “Is my shirt going to survive this?” The laughter in his tone was unmistakable as he stretched the front of his black shirt to highlight the eight long gashes, courtesy of my razor-sharp fingernails and overzealous urge in the moments after waking. “See? I’m already in ratty clothes,” he joked.
“That was an accident,” I murmured, adding a quiet, “Shut up.” The teasing should’ve turned me scarlet—it always had—but I felt no heat in my cheeks. I grinned. “Hey! I won’t blush anymore!”
Caden pushed me back into the snow, fluffy snowflakes landing and melting on my new thick, long eyelashes. I sensed the dampness and chill beneath me, as well as the instability of the wall itself, but none of it challenged my comfort. His bottom lip brushed against one eye and then the other to catch the flakes before pressing his forehead against mine, his arms settling on either side of my head.
“I’m going to miss that,” he admitted with a hint of sadness, grazing my cheek with the backs of his fingers. “I’m going to miss all of your little human tendencies.”
The smile slid off my face as that reality settled in. Caden had fallen in love with the human version of Evangeline Watts, with her naiveté, her insecurity, her honesty. I wasn’t human anymore. Would that change his feelings for me? Would he decide that I’d changed too much?
He must’ve sensed my worry because he quickly settled his mouth over mine in a slow, deep kiss. “But I’ve got so many other things to look forward to.” He rolled against me, settling into the space between my thighs. I wanted to be closer, though. As close as we were back in France. He shifted into me as my legs coiled around his hips. The sound of rocks tumbling to the ground below barely registered, my focus riveted solely on this creature hovering over me as he pulled my shirt up and over my head.
*
“How was the hunt?” Sofie’s Parisian lilt carried through the forest as she approached the kiln. I shouldn’t be able to see her in the darkness but I could, as if it were daylight, her deceptively delicate frame cloaked in a long, black coat, her red hair a flame against the white backdrop. Max peered up at us, his three hundred pounds of black canine muscle enough to terrify any sane person.
That’s right. Hunting. That’s what we were supposed to be doing for the last few hours. Caden and I shared a look. What would Sofie say when she found out that I hadn’t so much as batted an eye at the black bear, or the two deer that followed? I could blame Caden for distracting me. That would only work for so long, though. As soon as the delivery from the blood bank run arrived, my irregularity would be obvious to anyone watching.
Or maybe my natural urges would suddenly kick in and all this worrying was for nothing. I had to count on that.
“Fine,” Caden lied for me. “How are plans coming along?”
I sensed the atmosphere around us shift in a way I never could as a human, the prickles spiking along my neck as if a presence had invaded the short peace we’d found. “That’s why I came out. Things are escalating faster than we’d anticipated. It’s time to come back inside.”
Her last words hadn’t escaped her lips when Caden’s arm suddenly roped around my waist, surprising me. We flew off the top of the kiln and sailed through the air, landing softly in front of Sofie and Max. Despite the somber mood, I smiled at the grace in which my kind could do that.
Sofie spun on her heels and started back toward the mine.
“When are we heading back to New York?” I asked.
She looked over her shoulder, holding me with her pale mint-green eyes for a long moment, before shifting to Caden. “Tonight.”
Caden tightened his grip on my hand as we pushed through the snow.