Brothersong (Green Creek #4) - T.J. Klune Page 0,79

We’re going to be okay. You and me. We’re going to live. And maybe it won’t be perfect, but we’ll figure it out. We’ll make ourselves a home. I don’t know what this is between us. I’ll trust you to know what’s right for you. But I just want you to know that I’m here if ever you’re ready. It scares the shit out of me, but I know it’s worth it because I know you are. I’m sorry I didn’t see you for who you really were. You helped to fill in the broken parts of me, and I didn’t even realize it, not until it was too late. I don’t want to ever feel like that again. I came for you because you deserve to have someone at your side, someone who doesn’t want to hurt you.”

He whined, pressing against me. His fur was warm, his wolf body hot.

“I don’t know what this means or what it could be. But I think I want to find out. My father told me once that when I found you, when I found the person I was supposed to be with, I’d know. I didn’t believe him. I wasn’t like Joe or Kelly with their wide eyes and belief in something like magic. I get it now because of you. So whatever you want. Whatever it takes. You’re with me now. Where you belong. And I’m not going to take that for granted again.”

He laid his head on top of mine, breathing in deeply.

We stayed there until the sky began to lighten.

shift

“We move quick,” Gordo said. “No matter what happens.”

We stood just inside the doorway of the cabin. Joe and Kelly were grim but focused. Gordo’s tattoos were glowing but muted. Gavin paced the interior of the cabin, nose to the ground. He stopped near the bed. He sneezed and shook his head before grabbing my pack between his teeth. He carried it to me, set it at my feet. He looked up at me, head cocked.

“You’re with me?” I asked him, and it felt like such a loaded question.

His eyes flashed violet.

And for a moment, I thought I heard a voice in my head. It whispered carter carter carter.

I reached down and took his face in my hands. “Stay with me. At my side.”

His tongue scraped my palm.

Gordo was watching us when I looked back at him. He arched an eyebrow.

I said, “We don’t stop. We don’t look back. No matter what happens.”

Gordo grinned, wild and bright. “Goddamn, I’ve missed you. You asshole.”

And then he opened the door.

“TWO TRUCKS,” Gordo said as we jogged through the trees. “You said yours still runs?”

I nodded. “It should.”

“I’ll drive. Joe and Kelly in the other truck. Gavin in the back. He can’t stay as a wolf for long. We’ll come across people soon enough. They’ll see him.”

“We can worry about that once this place is behind us,” Kelly said. He was breathing harshly, a thick stream of fog pouring from his mouth. “I hate it here. It’s like poison.”

“It’s him,” Joe said. His eyes were red. “He’s infected this place. I can feel it. The woods are dying, like he’s sucking the life from everything around him.”

I told myself the chill I felt was from the air.

THE TRUCKS WERE STILL PARKED in front of the house where we’d left them. I wondered if anyone would look for the hunters, if they’d be able to track them here. It didn’t matter. We’d be long gone if that ever happened.

There was a newer truck parked at the rear that hadn’t been there before. Joe told me it was Ox’s. He’d replaced the one that got wrecked when we fought in Caswell. I shuddered at the memory of the children raining down from the rooftops, their eyes vacant, their claws dripping with blood. I hoped they never remembered what had happened.

Kelly grabbed me by the hand as he stopped next to my truck. I looked at him.

He said, “This is real. I need you to know that. This is real. We’re here. We came for you, the both of you. You’re awake, Carter. I swear you’re awake.”

I hugged him tightly, breathing him in, relishing the beat of his heart.

“There’s time for that later,” Gordo snapped. “Get to the truck. Don’t get stuck trying to turn around.”

We separated. Kelly looked like he was going to say something else but stopped himself. Gordo was right. We had to focus.

Joe squeezed my shoulder before pulling Kelly toward the truck.