Page 93 of Winterfall Destiny

"I do now," I whisper. "Recently, everything changed. I felt I belonged with you. All of you."

"Belonged?" Maeve's brow pinches. "Are you leaving again?"

"Do you want me to?"

Her cheeks redden. "We need your help to kill Gabriella and deal with the First, so don't you dare run away again, Tobias." I look at my feet. "Because if you do, I'll follow, and you'll regret being such a fucking coward."

My head snaps up. "No, Maeve. I won't leave."

"Ever?" I open my mouth to respond, and she shakes her head, interrupting. "Stop talking about this. I'd like to return to the others now," she says stiffly. "We'll discuss this another time. At least I found information I wanted tonight."

"You wanted to know about my past?" I ask in shock.

Her eyes narrow. "Information about Dominion recruitment. You know, the whole reason we came here tonight?"

"Shit. Yes. What did you find?"

"I'd like to return to the others," she repeats. "I don't want to be alone with you right now."

"Understood," I mumble and hurry to catch up with Maeve as she strides away.

Neither of us speaks a word as we take the short walk back to the house, but as we reach the white wooden gate, I take her arm.

"Don't worry, I won't burst into the place and tell everybody," she says, not looking back.

"That isn't what I wanted to say to you." Her eyes turn to mine, void of tears, hard and expectant. "I love you, and I'm sorry I've hurt you again because I'm exactly what you say. A coward."

"You haven't hurt me. I'm too numb to feel anything for you right now," she says and unlatches the gate. "I must be, because the shadows never came."

The light silhouettes Maeve as she opens the door, walking inside without another word. Maeve's right—I have a job to do. We work together and however much my stupidity pushes at me to walk away, that's impossible. Leaving now would be a bigger betrayal to her than any of this. Taking a steeling breath, I follow.

34

ASH

Something felt off about Maeve and Tobias when they returned with their findings—maybe someone bothered Maeve at the club? Or Tobias again? The guy frustrates me because I witness how confused Maeve acts around him sometimes. Tonight, they returned with a definite edge to them that wasn't with the pair when they left.

Maeve and Tobias didn't stay away as long as I imagined either, but Maeve dug info out of a girl's mind: new recruits are meeting at a location nobody recognises—dim, dirty brick walls and arches leading further into darkness. Another part of the place in her vision? More significantly, she told another that those who pass a test will be advised of the next stage.

Tobias remained silent, apart from briefly mentioning the recruiters' names but surprisingly had less to share and paid attention to Maeve's findings, as if he didn't know.

Weird.

Afterwards, Maeve headed upstairs alone, and Tobias poured a drink before walking into the small garden behind the house. Jamie disappeared upstairs too, excited by the new information, researching as usual, and since Andrei followed, I stayed away.

The place that we're staying has an awesome TV. Expensive. Big screen. All the streaming channels. Nobody else shares my enthusiasm, but then nobody else relaxes. Ever. At night I stay down here, and watch shows, anything to get my mind off the shit that follows me around most of the day.

Andrei's the only other one of us who switches off, but on his own. I'm unsure what to say to him now that he's changed, still annoyed with what he put us through because he's so bloody blasé about what happened. I heard about Andrei's behaviour shortly after he returned, when he attacked Tobias, and I'm on edge. Andrei lost his temper big time the day Anastasia took Maeve and frightened the hell out of me when he threw Jamie to the ground and threatened him. Now he's more unstable?

I take a swig from my beer and flick through shows, searching for one that'll occupy me until I fall asleep. I'm half an hour into the action movie when someone heads down the stairs. Soft footsteps. Maeve. Light sneaks in from the hallway as she opens the door.

"Sitting in the dark again, Ash?" she says, a smile in her voice.

"Yeah." I twist around to look at her. "I thought you'd be asleep or something by now."

"'Or something'?" Maeve chuckles.

Instead of walking to the kitchen, Maeve flops onto the sofa beside me and rests her head against my shoulder. I lift an arm so she can snuggle into my side, and her arm drapes across my waist.

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