Chapter 25
We make good time. Better time than I did on the way there. Burgundy is a skilled driver, and she is obviously familiar with these roads. She veers around pot holes and takes curves in a practiced manner and maintains an impressive speed.
In only a couple of hours, we’ve reached the out-of-the-way township where we halt only briefly to fill our tank with gas, and then I direct Burgundy back to my camper.
It’s deserted. I know it for sure even before Burgundy pulls to a stop in the clearing near the firepit.
No Molly. No Micah.
“Where are they?” Burgundy asks.
“I don’t know.” All this time, I’ve been waiting to get back home before I fully process what’s happened and make a plan for dealing with an impending threat, but this isn’t home right now.
Not without Micah and Molly.
“Maybe they’re hunting or something? Or he made a run for food?” I’m just guessing, but it seems reasonable. It’s not even noon yet. It’s possible he’s just out on morning business and took Molly along.
“Oh that could be. Should we wait then?”
“I don’t know. Let’s get cleaned up and changed and see if there’s something to eat, and then we’ll figure it out.”
The first thing I notice on entering the camper is a folded slip of paper on the counter. Everything else is clean and organized exactly the way I’ve always kept it. The main bed is made, and the second bed is folded back into the table.
But there’s a piece of paper folded on the counter with a kitchen knife as a paperweight.
I snatch the note and unfold it to read.
I waited an extra day, but I can’t wait anymore. I know something is wrong. I’m going to Logan. I can’t find and save you on my own, and he’s the only one strong enough to help. Molly is with me. If you get this, please come.
Always yours,
Micah
My hand is shaking as I stare down at the words. My throat aches, and my eyes blur over.
“What does he say?” Burgundy asks.
I can’t speak, so I pass her the note.
After she reads it, she looks up. “He loves you,” she says softly, sounding surprised, almost gratified.
I still can’t get a word out, so I nod mutely.
He does. I know he does. I still don’t really know why, but there’s no way I can deny the truth anymore.
I never should have left him here yesterday morning without a word.
It was as wrong as anything I’ve ever done.
He must have been so hurt. And then so scared when I didn’t come home. I really can’t believe I did that to him.
“So we go to Logan?” Burgundy asks after a moment of silence.
“Yeah.” My voice comes out with a croak, so I clear it. “We go to Logan.”
I know where Logan’s headquarters are located. Everyone in this region knows.
On the motorcycle, it takes about ninety minutes to get there, and once we get close, we have to stop at several checkpoints before we’re allowed through.
Everyone recognizes Burgundy and is pleased and relieved to see her, so we don’t face any holdups or extended questioning—not even at the guard post at the head of the driveway that leads to his main headquarters.
It used to be some sort of large commercial property, but it’s been turned into a fortress now. It would take a large army to wage an assault, and even then they might not be able to take this place down.
We’ve parked the motorcycle when a female voice shouts out, “Oh my God, Burgundy!”
It’s Lilah. I recognize her as she hurries across the courtyard as fast as her heavily pregnant condition allows.
Burgundy is all smiles as she closes the distance between them and hugs the other woman.
They’re good friends.
Better than any friend I’ve ever had.
For just a moment, I’m almost jealous, and I don’t even know why.
When they pull apart, Lilah turns to me. Before I can say a word, she hugs me too. “Thank goodness you’re all right. Micah has been beside himself.”
“He’s okay?” I ask as we separate.
“Yes. He got here a few hours ago, ready to storm a castle to rescue you. But he didn’t know where the castle was, so that made it difficult.”
“I know. I messed up.”
“Well, since you showed up with Burgundy alive and well, I don’t think you could have messed up too badly.” Lilah gives Burgundy another one-arm hug and gestures toward the front doors of the main building. “Come on. We’ve got to put poor Micah out of his misery.”
Lilah leads us into the main entrance, but our progress is slowed because nearly everyone we run into stops to greet Burgundy with relief and joy.
She’s obviously known and loved by everyone, and no one expected her reappearance like this, completely without warning.
She answers the repeated questions by saying she’ll tell the full story later. She needs to see Micah first.
We walk a long hallway until we reach a huge room that must have formerly been a large open office suite. Now it’s some kind of council room. There are people scattered throughout the space, but my eyes focus unerringly on the large table in the middle.
At the head of the table is Logan. I’ve only seen him a few times before from a distance, but he’s unmistakable.
Not huge or physically impressive but with an innate power that seems to exude from his pores.
His age is hard to determine. Somewhere between forty and fifty-five, I’m guessing.
His long hair is graying and pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck.
He has pleasant features and coldly clever blue eyes.
I look at him first, but my gaze doesn’t linger. I search the other faces at the table until I find Micah. He’s sitting near Logan and has clearly been talking to him. His expression is tense and openly anxious.
When Logan’s eyes move to the door, Micah’s follow them. Because I’m watching, I see the tension on his face break—break—when he sees me.
He says something I can’t hear as he stands up so urgently that his chair wobbles unsteadily.
He says something else as he approaches. This time I can read his lips.
Kat.
A sound behind me alerts me to the fact that I’m not the most important person here. I step out the way so Micah can see Burgundy.
It’s then that the broken tension on his face shatters.
With a little sob, Burgundy runs over and throws herself into her brother’s arms.
My throat is aching again as I watch them, as I see the desperate urgency in Micah’s arms as he holds her, as I see that he’s shaking.
Maybe I’m not a warm or a soft person. Maybe I’ve done a lot of things wrong. Maybe I turned into a grumpy, antisocial recluse who doesn’t like anyone except her dog.
Maybe I messed things up with Micah. I know I did.
But at least in my life I’ve managed to do one thing right.
I’ve done this.
They hug for a long time. Burgundy is crying and Micah is close to it when they finally pull apart.
They smile at each other, and Burgundy wipes away her tears before she turns toward Logan, who followed Micah across the room.
I hear him say, “Good to see you back,” before my attention returns to Micah. He’s stepped over in front of me with the strangest expression on his face.
It’s like he doesn’t quite know how to feel.
He might be angry with me. Hurt and indignant by the way I left him.
He might not trust me the way he used to.
He might be genuinely grateful for my part in saving his sister but also have decided it would be best for him to move on.
He might be just about to say so. It’s impossible to tell. His features work as he gazes down at me.
“I’m—” My voice cracks, so I try again. “I’m sorry.”
His face twists dramatically, and he reaches for me, pulling me into a hug just as tight as the one he gave his sister. He lifts me off my feet and buries his face against my neck. Mumbles, “Fuck, baby. Please don’t do that to me again.”
So I start shaking too. And maybe I make a very small sobbing sound.
But I don’t think anyone but Micah can hear it.