Page 32 of The Secrets of Roan Island

“Give me something. Is it a plant? An animal?” I examine the library shelves, trying to determine the system of organization, but it’s already clear there isn’t one. Books are haphazardly shoved onto shelves. Papers are sticking out of journals, strewn across tables, or lingering in piles. There are stacked wooden boxes, some covered with tops, others open and spewing more paper. There are models and fragments of samples. I don’t know where to begin, except my eyes stumble on the paper Shemaiah handed me.

Before I can cross the room to read it, Noah sighs, drawing my attention. He uncrosses his arms and runs a hand through his already messy hair, grabbing hold of it as if it might ground him. “The Mavarri are… animals. Extinct.” He releases his hair and partially turns away. “Look in the books. Just the books. Trythe fourth shelf from the right of the main door. I haven’t read those in awhile.”

“What are you interested in finding?”

“It doesn’t concern you.”

I narrow my eyes and put my hands on my hips. “It’s difficult enough to research when you know what you’re looking for. Impossible when you don’t. Why are you being so cryptic?”

“Just find what you can.”

I huff and cross my arms over my chest. “If you’re not going to give me more than that, I might as well do my own research. I’m certain I could learn plenty.”

“I don’t care,” he barks with too much feeling for the words to be believable. “Just stay out of my way.” He brushes me off without a backward glance and returns to his laboratory.

I go back to the library, picking up the paper I dropped from Shemaiah. Maybe he gave me more than Noah. Instructions. A clue.

But when I turn the paper over, there are only a few words in a looping, casual script, and they have nothing to do with the Mavarri.

If Noah’s eyes go black, run.

I glance through the open door to Noah’s laboratory and catch him looking back, watching me.

17

Noah

With a curse, I hurl a beaker at the wall, where it explodes with a satisfying crash. Ruby looks up from where she's sitting at one of the tables out in the main library and gives me a narrow glare before returning to her reading. I watch her bend toward the book, sliding a lock of her dark hair behind her ear as she gets a closer look. I can smell her from here, the enticing scent of the forest on a rainy day that speaks to me on a primal level, more so than anyone else I’ve ever encountered in my life.

I kissed her. I fucking kissed her! Worse yet, I almost bit her. What the hell was I thinking?

My brother is an infuriating bastard. I can’t believe he led Ruby down here. And so close to the new moon, when all of us are fighting our primal urges. Fuck!

The scratch of a pencil across the page grates at my already tense nerves, but it’s followed by a resonant hum from Ruby, erotic in its innocence.

My stomach tightens as I imagine barging into where she’s sitting, bending her over the table, and burying myself inside her while I feed, then groan because I’ve already started across the lab toward the door. With a quick turn, I put the table between me and the exit, gripping it so hard the metal buckles.

Shermaiah knew what would fucking happen, how I would fight this. He’s fighting it as well, though I know my existing attraction to Ruby is making it harder to withstand the pull of the new moon tides. The lake surges, the rain surges, every bodily fluid in me surges. But I had to open my big mouth and tell him I was sending her away. This stunt is because of that.

I don’t know what she’d do if she found out what we are, how she’d respond. There are moments when I wonder if she’d understand. When I see the veil that shutters her eyes as she grapples with the things she’s been through, I can almost believe she might empathize.

Then I come to my senses. If she knew what happened at Solstice—what my father has done, what we’ve all done—she couldn’t keep quiet. And she wouldn’t keep looking at me with those heated glances. Her ideals wouldn’t allow it. She’d get out of here as quickly as she could and tell everyone.

Hammish will never allow that if he learns she’s been down here. He’ll insist she stay until Solstice, and then I’ll have to watch her die because I’m no closer to finding a way to prevent it than I was at Summer Solstice.

A soft knock on the door interrupts my spiraling thoughts and a glance at the clock tells me I’ve been stewing for hours. Ruby looks more drained than she did when she first walked into the library. Her dark hair sags from its updo, tendrils escaping its hold. Her hastily donned dress is a touch wrinkled. Despite all that, I can’t think she’s anything but breathtaking.

“I found something interesting about the Mavarri.”

I hold up my hand to keep her where she is, and she stops. “What?” I growl. I wasn’t expecting her to find something so quickly, not with how little I gave her, not with the fact that most of the manuscripts are written in a different language, and I didn’t offer her translation glasses. My stomach churns at the thought of her putting things together, figuring out what I am.

Ruby tenses. “Can I show you?”

I don’t want her near me, afraid I won’t be able to control myself. And simultaneously, I do want her near me. I want to sink my teeth into her and drink my fill. I glower at her instead. “What is it?”

She approaches tentatively, holding out an open book. “You probably already know this, and since I’m not sure what you want me to look for, it might not matter. But, did you know Mavarri mate for life?”

I did know. “Why does it matter?”

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