Chapter Thirty-Six
EZEKIEL
She’s the first thing I see when I wake up, and just like all the other times, I feel my racing heartbeat slow a lot quicker than it would if she hadn’t been there.
“I’m here. You’re safe,” she says. “We’re still in the Cold Peaks, not far from the cabin. It’s only been a day since you were last awake. Khalil and Thorin are fine, and everyone’s safe.”
Her lips trembles and I shake off my own anxiety to pull her close. “But you’re not fine. What’s wrong, princess? Did something happen?”
As we’ve been doing for the last three months, she quickly runs down the day, ending with the news that her uncle was, surprise, surprise, a heartless piece of shit.
“I’m sorry, princess.”
She laughs, but it’s humorless while a tear streams down her cheek. “Kiss me, please. I’ve missed you.”
I give in to her demand and kiss her senseless before picking her up and wrapping her legs around my waist as I walk us back to the cabin.
Khalil and Thorin are lounging around the living room, pretending they aren’t tense and waiting for our return, but I see the collective sigh they release when they see us unharmed.
“How did it go?” Khalil asks as he sets aside one of the many magazines spread around the living room floor. “All good?”
“Yup. So how was Meera?” I ask as I take a seat in the recliner with Aurelia in my lap.
“She seemed happy. Healthy. The pups are huge.”
“Yeah, so big it doesn’t really feel right calling them pups anymore,” Thorin points out.
Aurelia gives him a withering look. “Khalil, be a dear and hand me that apple so I can throw it at Thorin’s head.”
Khalil hands it to her and as promised, she tosses it at Thorin, who raises a hand at the last minute and catches it in midair. He then leans back with a cocky grin and takes a bite out of the apple.
“Thanks, songbird. I was starving.”
Aurelia fidgets in my lap. I can tell she wants to go to him, so I sigh and unwind my arms from around her waist. Aurelia smiles softly at me over her shoulder and then crawls from my lap and into his. Thorin grips her thigh possessively, and she rolls her eyes at him.
I don’t get those two and probably never will.
“You ever thought about cutting your hair?” she asks him after examining the unbound strands falling around his face.
“You don’t like my hair?”
“I love your hair. I’m just thinking about how much hotter Brad Pitt was with shorter hair in Mr. who knows who else he’s brainwashed into his cult since then.
Someone with enough pull to have the airlines monitored no doubt. ”
“Um…” Aurelia raises her hand. “I can help with that.” When we blink at her, she scoffs. “I’m rich and famous, remember? I guarantee I have more pull than Isaac.”
“Are you forgetting that your uncle is in control of all of your assets?”
“Uh…no? Believe it or not, I have my own connections outside of Uncle Mars. Someone who tried her best to help me once. Before I knew the monster my uncle would turn out to be.”
“And she’s willing to stick her neck out for you again?”
Aurelia nods. “I know she will. I uh…” She begins to fidget in Khalil’s lap, twisting her fingers into a knot until he wrestles them free and kisses her palm to give her courage.
“You what?” he whispers. “It’s okay, Goldilocks. You can trust us.”
“I um…I called her. A few months ago. After the avalanche when the sheriff came for us.”
It’s an effort for Khalil, Thorin, and me not to react.
“Why?” I ask, remembering to keep my tone gentle.
Aurelia makes a gruff sound of frustration. “I don’t know! Because I wanted to prove to the sheriff, and that fucking smug therapist, and I guess myself, that even if I had a way out, I wouldn’t take it?”
“And if you changed your mind later, the sheriff was supposed to get a message to her, wasn’t he? That’s why he insisted on the daily check-ins.”
Aurelia nods with her gaze on the floor.
“Okay, so how fast do you think your contact can arrange a plane?”
Aurelia looks surprised at how quickly we’re moving on, and Thorin laughs when he sees it. “You could have left at any time,” he tells her. Aurelia narrows her gaze like she doesn’t quite believe him. “We weren’t teaching you how to hunt and survive out here for shits and giggles.”
“We’re not saying we wouldn’t chase you,” Khalil amends when Aurelia still looks skeptical. “It’s not in our nature to let you get away. You’d just have to be faster. Smarter.” He trails the back of his fingers down her bare arm. “But we’ve been working on that too, haven’t we?”
Aurelia looks shell-shocked, and we’re quiet as we wait for it to finish sinking in.
For her to remember everything we’ve demanded of her these past months in an effort to make her less dependent on us or anyone for that matter.
I see the moment it clicks; the tension coiling inside her muscles suddenly unravels and her body relaxes as she covers her face with her hands and then drops them again once she’s collected herself.
“Let’s call the sheriff,” she says.