“Don’t track that slush into the house,” Lauren scolded Nathaniel. When I glanced behind me, I saw her catch his wrist and mouth the word “wait.”

In the kitchen, Will pulled off his boots, set them on the rug beside the glass doors to dry, and yanked off his long-sleeved pullover. I took it from him so he could brush off his jeans and smooth out his white T-shirt.

“You did a good job,” I offered, breaking the silence between us.

He didn’t look up. “So did Nathaniel.”

My insides swam as I watched him closely. “I can take care of your wet clothes while you shower.”

That time he looked at me. “You don’t have to,” he said.

“I want to.”

He nodded and watched me for a couple seconds before he disappeared into the bathroom upstairs. When Lauren and Nathaniel came into the house finally, I left the kitchen, taking Will’s snow-dampened clothes to the laundry room. I stayed in there, thoughts racing through my head. I wanted everything to be right between us. The churning of the washing machine helped to dull the roar in my mind. I went upstairs toward to my room, but I ran into Will in the darkened hallway. He was dressed in sweatpants and a slightly wrinkled white T-shirt, his hair still wet.

I stepped into him, wrapping my arms around his waist and sliding my palms up his back. He held me tentatively in return, but then he relaxed with a long sigh, shoulders slumping, and he buried his face in my hair at the bend of my neck. He smelled and felt so good and I didn’t want to pull away, not ever, but I reluctantly loosened my hold.

He smiled gently down at me. “How are you today?” he asked, sliding my hair behind both my ears with his hands.

I closed my eyes at his touch. “Better. I just feel tired all the time.”

“I understand,” he said. “You’ve been through a lot in the last couple of weeks.”

I didn’t have a response, so I just folded my arms to my chest and tucked myself into his body.

He dropped his hands to my shoulders. “Marcus and Ava want to hunt with us tonight.”

“Good,” I said. “We’ll need all the help we can get. I want them all dead.”

“We’ll get every single one of them,” he promised.

“Want me to make you lunch?” I asked, coiling my fingers around the hem of his shirt. “I know you need to eat. I saw you take some hits from Nathaniel.”

He winked at me and my stomach flipped. “I let him get me. I was beginning to feel bad for him. He spent half the fight on the ground, anyway.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re so kind. He has no idea.”

“Not a clue.” His heavy gaze fell to my lips and back up to my eyes, making me wonder if he was thinking about kissing me. “Why are you taking care of me?”

The question surprised me a little, and I had to think about a response. In truth, I hadn’t realized that was what I was doing. Was I taking care of him, or was I just being nice to him because I was sorry? “Because …” I started to say, but I quickly realized I still didn’t have an answer for him. “Do you want me to stop?”

“You have no reason to be good to me,” he said.

I couldn’t help noticing that he’d avoided my question. “I have every reason to be good to you.”

“After what I did?”

Perhaps he was right, but I had to try and fix this. I didn’t want to be angry with him. He was too important to me for me to hate him. “After what I did.”

He deflated with a sigh. “Ellie …”

“I’m sorry,” I said faintly, forcing it out of myself. “For everything. For running away from you. For blaming you.”

“It’s okay.”

“I thought running away would protect you,” I admitted. “It it was probably right to leave my friends and family behind, but not you and Nathaniel and the others. I didn’t do anything to punish you, please know that. I wouldn’t hurt you on purpose.”

He nodded. “I would never mean to hurt you either.”

I fought back a sob. “We’re both pretty messed up.”

He smiled. “We’re not meant to be perfect, and we never will be.” He bent over to kiss my cheek and let his hands fall to his side.

“Are you going to get a few hours of sleep before we hunt tonight?” I asked.

“I should. I need the energy.”

“Can I lie down with you when you do?”

He watched me gently, hesitating. “Of course. You should get some rest, too.”

“Let me make you lunch first,” I offered.

I took his hand and led him down the stairs to the kitchen. We ate with little conversation, and when we finished he helped me clean up. When we got to Will’s room, I rolled up the blinds and let the afternoon sunlight pour in before I climbed into his bed. He watched me quietly, and when I laid my head against the pillow and brought the blankets up to my chin, he climbed in beside me. I curled close to his chest, breathing him in, and he kissed my hair. All the tension melted away from me as we lay in the warm late-winter sunlight and fell asleep.

23

THE NEXT MORNING WAS COLD, SUNLESS, AND misty, and I was tense with frustration after last night’s unsuccessful hunt for Bastian and his goons. I went for a run with Will and took a hot shower as soon as we returned. When I came downstairs, I caught a glimpse of something large through the sliding glass doors in the kitchen.