Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson Page 0,21

smacked me in the chest. “Are we going to patrol as wolves or humans?”

“You want the practice as a wolf?” I asked skeptically.

He shrugged. “Might as well.”

“Okay,” I said. “I don’t know much, but I’ll teach you what I know.”

“I know,” Blake said drily.

I was worried that Blake and Skyla were here, and I was worried they were wolves… but for the first time, I felt a flicker of hope.

Maybe things were going to be okay.

Chapter Nine

Maddie

* * *

That night, I woke in the middle of the night and laid there in the narrow bunk above the seats. Jensen and I had both managed to fit, although I nestled against him with my head on his shoulder, my leg thrown over his. That was how we liked to sleep when it was just the two of us anyway, our bodies twined together. The swaying of the train and constant rumble of the tracks made it hard to sleep, because I couldn’t forget I was in a different world.

When Jensen had climbed into the bunk and then leaned over to offer me a hand up, Silas had said, “I’m not even going to fight you for her.”

“Good, because you’d lose,” Jensen had said, although the banter between them was friendly.

Rafe had ignored us, staring out the window at the rain drizzling down the glass. He looked as if he had a thousand more important things on his mind.

I wondered if he still did, or if he’d managed to get some rest.

I pushed aside the curtain and glanced down at the dimly lit cabin. Rafe was still in that seat by the window, his arms crossed over his chest. I thought he was dozing at first, but then he said, “You’re creeping me out, Maddie.”

“I thought you were asleep.”

“It’s not better if you stare at me when I’m asleep.”

I rolled over Jensen, then I dropped to the ground, landing lightly on my feet.

When Rafe raised his hands toward me, I settled into his lap. His arm wrapped my waist, and I found the nook in his shoulder where my head seemed to rest perfectly. For a few long minutes, the two of us were silent, watching the rain pound against the window. The only other sounds were Jensen’s and Silas’s soft breathing from the bunks above.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked him finally. I knew where my thoughts kept returning—to the campus, to the Fae world. Our team was scattered through three worlds, and my heart felt a little broken, as if I was only whole when we were together.

He rested his chin on top of my head. It took him a while before he answered, “Nothing I can fix from here.”

“You’re worried about them all. I am too.”

He nodded, his jaw pressing the top of my head with the movement. Then he said, “I’m sorry you’re awake in the middle of the night. But selfishly…”

“You need to get some rest,” I chided, but there was sudden warmth in my chest because he admitted he needed me—or at least, that was as much of an acknowledgment as Rafe was probably capable of. It wasn’t easy for him to need anyone.

He was a work in progress, that man of mine. But I could live with that. I was a work in progress too, and none of my men seemed to mind.

Rafe suddenly tensed, his gaze locking on something outside the car. I followed his gaze, almost too late to see the billboard that we whipped past.

WANTED, read the top of the billboard. Underneath that headline were six black-and-white portraits: two women and four men.

One of them was unmistakably the incredible Silas Zip.

“So much for no one will know me in my hometown,” Rafe muttered. “I swear that boy is the stupidest genius I’ve ever met. Or the most brilliant idiot. I can’t decide.”

“You’re still mad about the gambling,” I guessed, in case he wanted to talk about the Silas situation.

“Mad is a nice way of putting it,” he grumbled.

It was cozy sitting in his lap, his hard muscular body against mine, his corded forearm draped across my lap. A spicy, warm scent always seemed to cling to his skin, even without my wolf senses. I rested my head on his shoulder, enjoying a few quiet moments.

“It’s all going to work out,” I promised.

Just then, a hard knock resounded on a door down the hall.

Rafe closed his eyes briefly. “You had to say something optimistic. Why do I have a feeling that knock’s