“Is that … Yeti One?” Julian whispered, shocked.
“I think so, but … if it is why is he growling at us?” He wasn’t focused on us, I realized. Something behind us had his attention. Slowly, stiffly, unable to breathe, I turned to see what had this werewolf’s fur in a bunch.
About ten feet away, half hidden by a wide bush, a tall, tawny-haired form stood in the shadows. Caden, his hands in his pant pockets and watching in silence, his expression set in a way that didn’t hint at an ounce of fear, but he certainly wasn’t comfortable, either. I wasn’t sure if Yeti One had issue with Caden because he was a vampire or because he stood in the shadows, spying on us. How long had he been there? What had he heard? Cold fear crawled through my insides with icy slowness, taking its time until every inch of me was filled with guilty dread. I replayed the conversation in my head. We had been careful, guarded with our words, right? But what exactly did we say?
His cover now compromised, Caden stepped forward. Yeti One took this as his leave to disappear into nothingness, pleased that he had exposed the intruder. Caden offered me a small crooked smile.
“Cooled off yet?” I felt the heat creep up in my cheeks, embarrassment quickly replacing anger. “You need to come inside. You’re frozen,” he scolded.
Another wave of stubbornness hit me. “No, I’m not,” I said, as my body hunched inward to ward off the cold, now deeply rooted in my bones. Not convincing. Judging by his sigh of exasperation, Caden didn’t buy it, either.
Caden’s gaze shifted to Julian and with it, the already frigid temperatures plummeted to an arctic chill. His smile disappeared, replaced with what I could only describe as a look of restraint—like he was envisioning launching Julian into the hedge. Now I see what Julian’s talking about.
“Can I talk to my girlfriend alone?” Caden asked, his voice low. My heart skipped a beat. Yes, he had already professed his love for me, so him referring to me as his girlfriend should be nothing. And yet, in all the turmoil and doom tainting our daily lives, that identity reminded me that my one shining ray of light hadn’t abandoned me.
“Go ahead,” Julian answered, his own voice taking on that cocky harshness he’d used with me upon our first meeting. “Are we okay?” he asked softly, grabbing my hands and squeezing.
I answered with a small smile. “Yeah, we’re okay. Or we will be.”
He struggled to stand, using my shoulder as leverage, and then walked past Caden without even a glimpse in his direction, disappearing inside. Caden, on the other hand, glared after him the entire way. Only when Julian was gone did Caden step into the gazebo. “I know we seem cold and heartless sometimes, but …,” he began, his voice drifting off as he took the seat Julian had just vacated.
I gazed at his profile, at this beautiful but tortured creature. I was bursting to touch him. To lean up against him, to feel the contours of his shoulders beneath my fingers, to nuzzle my nose into his neck. Yet that little voice inside my head warned me against it for so many reasons. You’re no good for him! It whispered. You’re morphing! Soon, your touch will kill him! It reminded me. You may as well let him go now! Gritting my teeth, incapable of controlling myself, my hand cautiously reached forward, halting inches away from his, unable to close the distance. My throat clenched as jade eyes shifted to lock on my face, revealing nothing about the thoughts behind them. They slid down to study my hand hovering dangerously close to his but still, silence. Say something, Caden. Anything.
Suddenly, his fingers closed over my hand. He squeezed tightly, the contact waking up my entire body. I released the breath I’d been holding for far too long. My touch wouldn’t harm him yet. I leaned in against him.
“You guys are right. I know that. I just overreacted.” I admitted, pressing my forehead to his cheek, inhaling his scent. Caden’s body shifted as he wrapped his arm around my back. He didn’t speak.
“Girlfriend, huh?” I smiled, peering up shyly into his beautiful face. He returned the smile but I couldn’t help notice the twinkle missing from his eye, in its place, disquiet. Something was bothering him. I felt my own smile fading in reaction. He scooped me up and pulled me onto his lap, his strong arms wrapped around my waist.
“Do you know what drew me to you?” he asked quietly, his eyes rolling over my entire face, pausing on my mouth.
“My humanlike qualities,” I said, grinning.
“Well, I guess so.” He paused. “You are so human … so innocent.”
“You mean naïve?”
One side of his mouth raised into a half-smile. But then the smile melted away, replaced with a stony mask. “I mean honest. It’s like you couldn’t lie. I loved that about you.”
Couldn’t. Loved. Past tense. My stomach did a nosedive into my frozen feet as dread surged. I didn’t know what was coming next, but I sensed it wouldn’t be good. Caden’s gaze shifted away from me. My mouth worked around a few words but finally gave up, incapable of forming them.
“Your honesty is what sets you apart from all the deception swirling around us. All the lies, the deceit. The vampires. This life that I’ve lived for seven hundred years. I knew I could trust you not to lie to me … until now.”
Like an arrow driven through my heart, Caden’s words paralyzed me with their crippling pain. The cold no longer mattered. I felt nothing but utter and complete wretchedness. “You can trust me,” I whispered, forcing the words past the giant lump in my throat. “I would never lie to you.” Liar! You’re lying right now! Omission is lying!
Caden’s jaw tightened. He paused before speaking again, as if hesitating. “Maybe not lie but … there’s something you’re not telling me. About Julian.”
My insides spilled out of my feet now and hit the cold snowy ground. Even with the Tribe’s magic masking my secrets, that inner toil over holding Julian’s secret was still obvious enough to Caden. Again, my mouth opened to speak but failed to form the much-needed words of defense. How could I deny it without it being a lie?
Caden’s hand found its way to my chin. Pinching it, he turned my face to meet his again. “I tried to kill you, Evangeline,” he said slowly.
I frowned, confused by the sudden change of topic. “Yes, but—”
He cut me off with a soft shushing sound. “And then you were sent out into exile for an indefinite time. It could have been forever. You knew nothing about what was going on. For all you knew, I was a blood-crazed evil maniac who had used you to get here. You were imprisoned with that guy. He’s not bad-looking, I guess.” Resentment seeped into his voice. “I’d understand if something … happened.”
“Happened?” I echoed, trying to get his meaning, my brow crinkling as I focused on the ground beside us, thoroughly confused.
“You know … between you two?”
Happened … My jaw dropped as the realization hit me. Of all things, I hadn’t expected that. Caden was … jealous? Seriously? I turned to find him watching me, his face expressionless, unreadable, but his stare screaming loudly. He believed there was something more to Julian and me than friendship, and he was jealous! Of course! No wonder he’d acted that way around Julian! If this wasn’t such a serious situation, I may have laughed. Caden? Like I could so much as bat an eye at another man after you?
Before I could speak, Caden started again, his jaw taut. “Don’t deny it, Eve. Don’t you dare even think about it. I heard you guys talking. Now. Before, when we first got here. I heard it all. And the looks you give him every time he’s with Amelie. Like you can’t stand it …”
In shock by this sudden change in direction, I furiously rifled through my memories of my conversations with Julian. I couldn’t remember exact details. We were careful about what we said. We hadn’t mentioned anything about the tattoo or the Sentinel. There was nothing! Nothing at all! Maybe … were we too careful? Were we so vague that, to an outsider lurking in the bushes, could it have been interpreted as a romantic tryst? And of course I couldn’t stand seeing Amelie and Julian together. They were doomed.
I slid my arms from Caden’s neck and folded them over my chest, studying the snowy ground as I struggled to form thoughts. Caden knew I was hiding something. Denying would make it worse. It would only drive a larger wedge between us. But I couldn’t tell him Julian’s secret. I’d be a death sentence for my friend. What did I do? Let Caden think I had cheated on him? Well, was it cheating? Under the circumstances … he’d all but given me the green light to do it. He had tried to kill me, after all.
A sick feeling roiled through me as my brain negotiated with my heart. As much as I despised the idea of Caden thinking I had been with Julian, it was his ego or my friend’s death. I had to choose. This moment would either kill Julian or save him. I knew what I had to choose. The lesser of two evils. Hadn’t I just finished saying I could never lie to him? Before I could chicken out, I forced the words out in a rush.
“It was only that one time.” Those six words wrenched out my insides. I didn’t dare look up as hot tears streamed down my cheeks, for fear of him seeing through my lie.
At first, only silence met my admission of guilt. But then I heard the sharp intake of air. Caden’s arms dropped from my body to his sides, ripping off a chunk of my humanity he loved so much with them. He said nothing. We sat in agonizing silence for what seemed like forever.
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, I hazarded a glance up. Caden’s eyes were distant, the pain of betrayal dancing within them. This was a thousand times worse than if he had stormed off. “I’m so sorry!” I cried. I’m sorry for lying to you.
“Did you …,” he began but didn’t finish, his jaw clenched.
“It was just a kiss!” I blurted out at the same time that he began shaking his head. “No, wait, I don’t want to know.” He rubbed at his brow with his fingertips.
I so desperately wanted to grab that hand and pull it to my chest, to have him tell me it was okay. But I dared not touch him or test him in any way, afraid of how he would react to my supposed betrayal. So I simply sat on his lap and waited.
Finally, so slowly, those strong arms found their way back to me, wrapping around my body once again, pulling me against his chest. “Please forgive me,” I managed to whisper beyond the sharp lump in my throat.
My body jolted back within his grasp as he pushed me away from his chest. He leveled me with an incredulous stare. “Forgive you? For what? There’s nothing to forgive! After what I did to you, I have no right to be angry.” Leaning back against the bench, he lifted his arms to cradle the back of his head. I watched quietly as he stared up at the sky, his Adam’s apple jutting out provocatively. With hesitation, I reached up and traced it softly with the tips of my fingers.
“You’re everything to me, Caden. Please believe me.”
After a long pause, his arms unfolded from the back of his head and his fingers entwined with mine. He tipped his head back down to stare at me with a burning intensity. “I do believe you,” he whispered, pulling my fingertips to his lips, setting fire to them despite the cold.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if I turn into one of those things. If I can’t do this,” I whispered, choked with emotion.
Caden’s jaw set firmly. “It’s not happening. It won’t happen.”
“Yeah, but …”
“It won’t happen! Stop thinking about it!” he yelled, his voice carrying through the empty, cold night as he pulled my head close to his chest. Though there was no warmth coming from his body, it still ignited heat within me. Then, abruptly, Caden was sitting up straight, his attention riveted toward the chateau, a guarded expression on his face. Two seconds later, the baying of wolves confirmed it.
“They’re here.”
And just like that, our time in the sleeping garden under the winter stars was over. In the next moment, my frozen body was enveloped in the warmth of the chateau again.
“You need to go change into something warmer now, Evie. You’re going to end up with pneumonia,” Caden scolded, herding me toward the foyer.
“Come with me,” I whispered, grasping his hand before he could break free.
A smile touched his lips, sparking joy in me. Maybe it wouldn’t matter that Caden thought Julian and I had something after all. “They need me down here … Max? You around?” In seconds, the tip-tapping of those claws announced my werebeast’s presence. Caden gave my icy hand a squeeze and then let it drop. “Max will go with you and then show you the way down to the meeting place, okay?”
“I’m going to meet Lilly?” I asked, surprised.
Caden nodded and I could tell he wasn’t happy with the idea. “Sofie wants you there for some reason. She thinks it’s important.”