the couch where I dropped my coat when I first got here. “But thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Of course.” He grins as he grabs an empty backpack and stuffs it full of water bottles—then reaches into the closed cabinet under one of his bookshelves and pulls out a box of my favorite granola bars and adds a couple to the bag.
“Where’d you get those?” I ask, a little surprised and a lot touched.
“I ordered them when we first got together, along with some Pop-Tarts in case you’re ever hungry when you’re hanging out here. They came when you were…” He waves a hand to encompass everything that happened. “So I put them away for when you got back—and here you are.”
“Here I am,” I repeat, nearly swooning at the way he takes such good care of me, even when I don’t know he’s doing it. “Thank you,” I say again.
Jaxon rolls his eyes. “Stop saying that,” he tells me as he zips the backpack before picking up my coat and helping me into it. “None of this is a big deal.”
“That’s not true,” I say, snagging his hand when he would have started for the door. I wait until he turns toward me to continue. “It’s a very big deal to me, and I appreciate it.”
He gives a little one-shouldered shrug, but I can tell he’s pleased by my words. Still, looking at him out here in the light, I also realize the tiredness I saw on his face from earlier wasn’t just sleepiness. He’s feeling drained, even though he won’t say so. I can tell, from the open books scattered all over the table by the window, he’s been burning the candle at both ends researching the Unkillable Beast. We know it’s on an enchanted island in the Arctic, but he wanted to learn more about it to help us prepare. Plus, he’d mentioned earlier trying to find a weakness.
My chest tightens. I know the horror is weighing on him of what Hudson could do if we bring him back with his abilities.
“Ready?” he asks, taking a step back. “It’s almost nine.”
“Almost ready,” I answer, wrapping my arms around his waist. As I do, I reach for the mating bond, which is easy to find after last night, when I discovered all the different threads inside me.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
Instead of answering, I grab on to the black string with green streaks and start channeling a bunch of energy down the mating bond and straight into him.
“Stop!” Jaxon pulls away. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” I answer. “But I’m doing this.” And now that I can hold the mating bond in my hand, it doesn’t matter if I’m touching Jaxon or not. I’m not letting go of it until it looks like Jaxon has all the strength and energy he needs.
“What are you doing?” Hudson demands. “You can’t just send all your power into him! What are you going to do when you need it?”
I smile at Jaxon, but I’m answering them both. “I can do anything I want—and what I want is to take care of Jaxon.”
Hudson throws his hands in the air. “Maybe you’ll feel differently when you get your ass handed to you on the practice field today.”
My breath hitches. I know he meant to hit back at me, but I’m still surprised when I feel the punch in my chest. Just a reminder I’d started to let my guard down around Hudson, started to believe he really thought I was stronger than everyone else gives me credit for. And I have no idea why finding out that he doesn’t suddenly makes me so sad.
Besides, he’s completely wrong. We have a plan, and now that I can shift into my gargoyle, I know it’s going to work.
Win the Ludares tournament and get the bloodstone.
Grab a bone from a graveyard.
And well, yeah, stealing the Unkillable Beast’s heartstone feels a little iffy, but Jaxon is positive we can do it.
Once we do all that, we’ll get Hudson out of my head once and for all—and he won’t be able to hurt anyone else. Jaxon can finally get some sleep and we can maybe, maybe have a normal end to our senior year.
Or, you know, at least completely doable.
For the first time since I learned Hudson is stuck in my head, I can’t help the smile spreading across my face. We’ve got a plan: Win the game. Get the bone. Kill the