Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
EMORY
I watched as Maverick walked ahead with Aron and El, El signing something to him, her red dress muddy at the hem, swishing around her boots. The long sleeves had been cut, hanging in shreds around her arms. Maverick watched her intently, and I wondered what they were talking about.
We’d barely spoken over the last two days while we continued our travels through the Wilds. We’d come across a few different places where El thought Annalee might have been, only to come up empty, no Annalee in sight. I saw the disappointment in the downturn of Maverick’s lips, the way he stared hard at the ground like if he just looked closely enough, he could find his way to her. I wanted to reach out to him, touch him, kiss away his worries. But I couldn’t. Not after I’d so thoroughly rejected him.
It hurt me as much as it did him, but I doubted that would be any kind of comfort. So I stayed away, gave him space, and I hoped that one day maybe we could be friends.
Something told me I could never be just friends with the bone collector. Not after everything we’d been through together .
I tugged at the pocket watch hanging around my neck, the hand nearing the eleven. We still didn’t know what it was counting down toward, but I was growing increasingly concerned about what might happen when it ticked all the way back to the twelve.
“Was it the sex?” Driscoll asked from next to me.
“Excuse me?” I dropped the pocket watch, and it thudded against my chest as my head snapped in his direction. We walked under thickets of vines that had twisted and fused together to create a tunnel that arched above our heads. I hadn’t asked what danger they posed as we’d entered, but when I looked up at their wriggling forms, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“You and Maverick have barely spoken for two days.” Driscoll tilted his head, studying Maverick. “So was it the sex? Not what you expected? Did he call you the wrong name? Was it bent? Or maybe he just got on top of you and a few pumps later it was over. That’s definitely happened to me. Major turnoff. One time?—”
“No, Driscoll.” I lowered my voice, darting glances to our companions in front of us. “We haven’t had sex.”
He gasped. “You and Hot Professor haven’t even had sex yet?”
“No.” And now I’d never know what it felt like.
“That actually makes more sense,” Driscoll said. “I can’t imagine Hot Professor not being good at sex. He kind of seems like the type of guy who’s good at everything, you know?”
“I really don’t want to talk about this.” I crossed my arms.
Up ahead, Aron glanced over his shoulder, those blue eyes trained on Driscoll, before he turned back around.
I shot a curious glance at Driscoll. “You know what I think?”
“Um, no, actually.” He tugged at his curly hair. “I’m not a mind reader.”
I made a face at him. “I think you busy yourself with everyone else’s lives so that you don’t have to think about your own.”
“That’s rude.” Driscoll pointed to me. “And also a little true.”
“Is there something going on between you two?” I gestured between him and Aron.
His eyes widened. “Between me and him? The big, objectively gorgeous blond man who also happens to be a wolf?” He scoffed. “ No.”
“Why not?” I nudged Driscoll. “I think he’s into you.”
“He’s too nice for me.” Driscoll waggled his eyebrows. “I like the bad boys.”
“And where has that gotten you so far in life?”
“Fair point.” He tipped his head. “Aron is nice, and we all know how he looks naked, but no. I don’t think I’m the relationship type, you know?”
I stared him down as he avoided my gaze. “This is still about what Leoni said, isn’t it?”
“She’s supposed to be my friend.” He threw out his arms. “If my own friend thinks that about me, then it must be true.”
The vines slithered over each other, weaving in and out, knotting and twisting so it was hard to see where any began or ended.
“You think we should be concerned about those?” Driscoll pointed upward.
“I think we should be concerned about everything in the Wilds.”
The tips of a few of the vines poked out.
“Blood and earth, this place is so weird,” Driscoll mumbled.
“So why can’t you have sex with the hot wolf?” Aron turned around again, glancing at Driscoll.
He nudged me. “Because he’s nice, and I ruin nice things, okay? I talk too much and I’m too direct and I don’t have any kind of filter and?—”
“And because you’re selfish,” I finished for him.
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Maybe I still can’t get Leoni’s words out of my head.”
“Well, I’m not going to be able to convince you. All I can say is that if you find a spark of passion in this world, you should grab hold of it. If you have any interest in Hot Wolf Man, and he has interest in you, then go for it. Life is too short not to.”
“Hot Wolf Man?” Driscoll’s lips twitched. “Are you stealing my nickname system?”
“There’s not much of a system involved. You basically insert hot before some descriptive words.”
He stuck out his tongue at me, then straightened. “Well done.” He did a slow clap. “You completely distracted me from talking about you. ”
I skipped a few paces ahead, then turned. “I don’t want to talk about me.”
The vines above us rustled, dipping a little lower. The tunnel curved around, no end in sight. El had insisted this was the best path forward. Apparently the other route was through a field of flowers that emitted scents that drugged their victims so they could then trap and suffocate them.
“Oh, come on.” Driscoll pointed at me. “You both went to that lake, and we all assumed you were having sex, finishing what you started up against that tree. But then you came back all weird and distant.”
I sighed, slowing so Driscoll could catch up. “He asked me to marry him,” I admitted.
“What?” Driscoll shrieked. “Spirits below, are you having a wedding? Am I invited? Oh, please let me be invited. I love weddings. The alcohol. The sad mopey single people just begging to get laid. Did I mention the alcohol?”
“Shhh.” I clapped a hand over his mouth. “There’s not going to be a wedding. I said no.”
“What?” His shriek was even louder this time, making Aron, El, and Maverick turn to stare.
We both gave them strained smiles as they slowly faced forward once more.
“Why would you ever say no? You two are like a nerdy match made in paradise. You’re both obsessed with the most borings things. The other day, you debated if an old chipped cup was likely from the Hotoath or the Yaramo period.” He shuddered. “It was about as interesting as watching two turtles race.”
I pinned him with a look. “Are you done?”
“No, I actually have a lot to say on the topic. Is that foreplay for you both? Like do you get naked and talk history before going down on each other?”
I continued staring at him, and he zipped his lips. I blinked a few times.
“I have more to say, but I’ll be quiet now so you can talk.”
I didn’t want to get into the vision I’d seen in the lake. It was too painful to recount again. So I’d tell as much of the truth as I could .
“I spent seven years trapped in a life I didn’t want. My entire identity revolved around someone else. I can’t let that happen again.”
Driscoll wrinkled his nose. “Who says that’s going to happen again? You know not all men are sadistic, self-centered assholes, right? I mean, most are, to be fair.” He pointed at Maverick. “But that guy? He’s not one of them. He worships you.”
My stomach twisted at his words.
“Hot Professor has got it bad for you.”
The vision didn’t lie. That future I saw, it was so real. Everyone could say what they wanted, could deny that that’s how my life would turn out with Maverick, but I couldn’t shake the haunted look in Future Me’s eyes as she’d walked up those stairs while he was living out her dream. My dream.
“You can’t tell the future, Driscoll.” But the lake could. “You don’t know what’s going to happen to us. Maverick has always been wrapped up in his career. It’s the most important thing to him.”
“Well, until you came along,” Driscoll said.
“You don’t get to where he is by not being that passionate, that dedicated. I don’t blame him. I really don’t. I understand. I just can’t risk losing my identity again. Especially not when we have so much going on already.”
“I get it.” Driscoll laid a hand on my arm. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to be forced into doing anything. Especially marrying someone.”
I nudged him again. “That’s why it’s important that you live this life you have, Driscoll. Stop living through everyone else’s stories. It’s time to live your own.”
I glanced ahead at Aron, and Driscoll chewed on his bottom lip.
“We’ll see. I’m still not sure Hot Wolf Man can handle me.” His throat bobbed as one of the vines dipped down and wrapped around his arm. “Uh, what’s happening here?” he called ahead.
El turned and signed, her movements fast and jerky, like the vines taking notice of us was an imposition to her. She was definitely feisty, had hardened edges and tall walls I wasn’t sure anyone could break down. I supposed a place like this would do that to a person .
“The vines react to your fear,” Aron said. “Do not fear them, and they won’t harm you.”
“Oh, is that it?” Driscoll whimpered as the vine wrapped tighter around his arm, more vines taking notice and slinking down. One caressed his cheek.
Aron took a few steps toward us as more vines slithered around Driscoll’s body, tightening across his waist, his chest.
“If you’re afraid, there is another way to get the vines to release you.” Aron studied the slithering plants.
“What?” Driscoll asked, voice reaching a frantic pitch. “Magic? Fire? Frost? I can’t summon my earth magic without my hands.” He wiggled his fingers under the constriction of the vines.
“Not magic. If we attack, all the vines come down upon us. Just give them a secret. Each secret you give will make one vine return to its place.”
One of the vines wrapped around the back of Driscoll’s neck and rubbed behind his ear. His eyes widened. “Secrets? I don’t have any secrets.”
“Okay, don’t panic,” I said.
Maverick summoned a ball of fire, ready to launch it, but Aron held out a hand to stop him. “Everyone has secrets.”
“Not me.” He glanced around wildly. “I’m an open book. I tell everyone everything. That’s literally my entire personality.”
El signed impatiently as the vines wrapped tighter around Driscoll. A few more dropped down, one tickling my head, another poking Maverick in the shoulder.
“I have a secret,” Aron said. “I retain a lot of my wolf traits in my human form.”
One of the vines around Driscoll’s neck loosened. “What does that mean?” he choked out.
“It means I hear sounds impossible for human ears to comprehend. Including the conversation between you and Emory just moments ago.”
Driscoll’s eyes bugged out of his head, but the vine released his throat and retreated upward.
Aron stroked his jaw. “Another secret? I enjoy your openness. Another? You’re not going to ruin me. I’ve already been ruined. You don’t bring out the beast in me—you bring out more humanity than I feel like I’ve had in years. You don’t hide what you’re feeling. You don’t say something but mean something else. I like talking to you and knowing that what you are presenting is what you’re getting. I like you as you are, Driscoll.”
Driscoll’s mouth fell open along with mine as the vines around his waist unraveled, slinking back. A few of the vines still wrapped around his hands and chest.
That was so damn romantic. Tears pricked my eyes at all of Aron’s revelations. I knew something was going on between them. My gaze flicked to Maverick. I was happy for them. They deserved this.
El signed something, and Maverick glanced at her, then translated, speaking almost to himself. “I haven’t just been looking for your sister because I heard of her and wanted to keep her safe.” He stilled as he said the words, processing them while El kept signing. “I want to find her because if she found a way in, then maybe that means she can lead us out.”
Maverick’s jaw locked as he finished speaking, but El held his stare, almost as if challenging him to say something to her.
Another vine slithered from Driscoll’s chest and up into the tangle of plants overhead. It was working, but I didn’t know how to feel about El’s admission. It made me wonder what other secrets she might be keeping, and by the look Maverick had given me, he must’ve been thinking the same thing.
Maverick cleared his throat. “I’m afraid I’m not capable of loving anything more than my work.”
There it was. The dagger to my heart. Exactly what I’d feared all along. I looked away, folding my arms across my chest. I supposed I needed to supply a secret as well. I opened my mouth to say something, but then Driscoll spoke.
“I’m free.” He patted down his body. “I’m free. I’m free. Now can we please get the bloody spirits out of here?”