Page 119 of For Dear Life

“Why didn’t you come back to the academy?” I demand and his walk continues backwards along the entrance hallway, my hand still on his chest. “I worried!”

“I wanted time out,” he says. “I did not have a good few days back there.”

“Neither did anybody else,” I retort.

He scoffs, but Leif’s amused. “Right. I call dibs on the worst.”

“You should’ve come back to Thornwood. We should be together,” I blurt. “All four of us.”

Leif steadies himself on the wall and pauses, both of us in a corner close to the academy entrance. “You worried about me?” he asks quietly.

“Good grief. Of course, I did. Nobody would tell me where you were for a week. Even Dorian.”

At the mention of his name, Leif’s energy spikes with nervousness.

I slant my head. “Leif? Did my father do something to you?”

“No,” he says softly and gazes at my face before touching a spike on the tiara. “I hardly recognized you when I walked in.”

“Apparently a shared experience this evening.” I straighten.

“Yeah, when I’ve sat at Mum’s place picturing the next time I saw you, this wasn’t what I imagined.” He dips his fingers beneath the pendant, and my skin tingles as the rough tips brush me. “I’d all kinds of things I planned to say to you, but again, I didn’t expect this weird welcome.”

I take his hand away and untense my shoulders. “Right. Tell me everything that happened to you,” I say. “I need to know what to fix.”

He brushes one of the artful hair curls from my face, his eyes soft. “Thank you for believing in me. For helping, Violet.”

“You’re a nice guy, remember?” I smile. “You didn’t deserve any of that.”

“I missed you,” he says quietly.

His scent with the subtle shifter earthiness adds to the realization just how much I missed Leif too and needed to see him tonight. Here’s the guy I hugged when he asked; the one who taught me affection and comfort, and who left a strange void when he wasn’t with us after everything settled down. Leif epitomizes larger than life in almost every way, and I’ve hated how everything that happened to him must’ve affected the gentlest of people I’ve ever met.

“Your absence unsettled me too. I—”

Leif’s body suddenly engulfs mine, and I’m instantly squashed into an encompassing embrace to match a forceful kiss. A large palm holds the back of my head, as if our lips meeting breathes life into him. There’s no darkness edging him, no magical buzz, and his scent doesn’t trigger desire for another’s blood. He’s Leif. Just Leif, joining with me in a shocking, strangely natural, although a little disconcerting, way.

His hands slip along my sides, and I startle as large palms close over my backside.

Good grief. I yank my head away and place a hand over one of his. “Well, that was exceptionally brave.” I peel his fingers from my ass. “And you’re lucky—if Rowan had tried that the first time he kissed me, I would’ve broken his fingers.”

Leif barks a laugh, and I scowl. “Oh. You’re serious.” His hands disappear beneath his arms. “Sorry. I uh… Sorry. Shouldn’t have done that without asking.”

“No need for an apology. Your bones are intact, therefore, I’m no longer resistant to the idea of touch from a select number of individuals.”

The energy between us that I noticed the first time we spoke alone on the lawn makes less sense than that caused by the bond with Rowan, or Grayson’s blood, yet he affects me in the same way.

When I say we should all be together, I think of the strange synchronicity between Eloise and my fathers, at the emotional bond between them all that creates our family. The three men orbit around her, Eloise the gravity that holds them in place. I can’t imagine my fathers always had the closeness they do—or that I’d cause the same situation with guys. But I am.

“I don’t think we should stand here together. Not if my presence overwhelms you in such a way that you lose your mind and kiss me.” He gawks as I hold out a hand, fingers spread to take hold of his. “Grayson and Rowan will be waiting.”

Somewhat stupefied by my comment—and I expect the response to his unrequested mouth mashing, Leif allows me to take his hand, but as I walk away my arm pulls tight. “Wait. I need to talk to you,” he says.

“I thought the kiss was in lieu of the talking?”

“No. About my time in custody. Something did happen that I haven’t told anybody about.” He darts a look around. “But I can’t not tell you.”

An uneasiness clutches at my chest. If someone hurt Leif... Or… “About the investigation? I’m aware that although some are now held accountable, we haven’t found who’s really behind all this, and I will continue to investigate. Do you have new information?”

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