Chapter 23
Everly lay on the cold, wet ground, breathing in the scent of the earth.
Slowly and carefully, she pushed herself into a sitting position, her hair hanging in her face in a riot of damp, red curls.
Light rain ran down her face and shoulders and she shivered, reaching automatically for her sweater, only to find she was nude.
Pushing her hair out of her face, she looked around, and then down at herself, trying to remember what had happened. Bruises covered her torso and legs, and she moved her body a bit, assessing her injuries. She appeared to have none that were serious.
To her left, the building that held the lab her brother was kept in was a nothing but a pile of smoking bricks.
Turning her head to the right, she stared at the body lying there, feeling nothing but a strange numbness tingling through her body, starting at her hands and feet and working its way toward her center.
Matthew lay there, as naked as she, with a large wooden post stabbed through the center of his chest. As Everly crawled toward him, she searched for any signs of life.
But as soon as she got close enough to touch him, she realized it was too late.
He was gone. His face slack and peaceful.
She waited to feel sorrow at his loss. Rage.
Guilt. But she must’ve been in shock, for the only thing she felt was a sense of relief.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move in the grass.
Hawke.
Clumsily, she got to her feet and turned in a circle, searching for him.
Hawke lay facedown about twenty feet away, partially hidden by debris from the collapsed building.
As she made her way toward him, she saw his clothes were burned away, and the exposed skin of his back and part of his ass was red and blackened and blistered in places.
Everly knew nothing about burns, but she knew this was bad.
Very bad. She looked around for something to cover him with, to protect him from the rain, but found herself at a loss as to whether that would be better or worse, so she knelt down near his head, shielding him with her body, and carefully touched his hair.
His mouth opened as though he were in pain.
Her heart fluttered in her chest and her eyes immediately filled with tears. Angrily, she swiped them away. It seemed all she’d been doing the past twenty-four hours is cry. “Hawke?”
He moved again, and after a few tries, his eyes fluttered open, black as the night. They shot back and forth wildly for a moment before they focused on her bent leg, so close to his mouth. His upper lid pulled back and he flashed his fangs.
Without a thought to her own weakened state, Everly offered him her wrist.
To her surprise, he pulled back, rolling onto his side. “Help me up.”
She managed to get him into a sitting position. Then she offered her wrist again.
But he shook his head. “We need to get out of here.”
“You need to feed,” she countered. “Please, Hawke. Take it. It’s okay.” She shoved it closer to his mouth.
Taking her arm in both hands, his mouth twisted into a snarl. He looked at her once more, and when she nodded, he sank his fangs deep.
Everly winced from the roughness of the bite, and then sucked in a breath as he took his first draught.
Her body, numb with exhaustion and grief, woke up with a vengeance, flashes of dark heat shooting straight to her core.
She moaned as he sucked at her vein with deep pulls.
Dark eyes flashed open, locking on hers, and shivers ran up and down her spine, the air suddenly thick and hard to breathe.
Soon, he was sitting straighter and those eyes were roaming over her body.
Everly felt everywhere they touched her, like embers burning away the chill of the rain with sweet heat.
She felt the vibration of his growl. Heart pounding, her breath caught.
Her free hand touched his arm, his face, before dipping between her thighs to ease the ache there.
His eyes burned as he watched her. But it wasn’t what she wanted.
She wanted Hawke. So she contented herself with the feel of his strong thigh beneath her fingers and waited for him to finish.
As she watched him feed, a flush of guilt heated her cheeks and chest. He was injured. Her brother was dead. And here she was thinking about nothing but sex.
With one last pull, Hawke withdrew his fangs and licked her wound closed before pressing a fervent kiss on the sensitive skin. Releasing her wrist, he took her face between his hands and pulled her in for a kiss. “Thank you,” he told her, and then pulled her to him again.
Everly returned his kisses with wild abandon, rising to her knees to get closer to him before she remembered and lurched away.
Hawke cupped her cheek. “What is it? What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head. “No. No, of course not. It’s just…” The words tumbled over each other on her tongue, so finally, she just waved her hands around, taking in everything around them. Where they were. The rain. Her lack of clothes. Her brother. Him.
As though he were snapping out of a trance, Hawke jumped to his feet, bringing her with him. She barely caught a, “What the fuck…” before she lost sight of his mouth. She spun around, terrified someone had caught them. Someone from Parasupe.
But Hawke gripped her arm to get her attention and shook his head.
“No one is here. Not yet. But you’re right, honey.
We need to get the hell out of here. Gods!
I wasn’t fucking thinking.” He kissed her again, fast and hard.
Then he left her shivering in the rain as he retrieved her lab coat and brought it to her.
It was wet, and it had a few burn holes, but at least it covered her.
As she pulled it closed and buttoned it up with shaking hands, she turned to ask Hawke about Matthew, but Hawke wasn’t with her. He was over by her brother. She watched as he carefully pulled the large piece of wood from her brother’s chest, and then lifted him into his arms.
Silently, her heart in her throat, she waited for him to join her, and then they walked out of that place.
Together.
The ride back to the caverns was silent.
Hawke had taken off what was left of his shirt and laid it over Matthew in the back seat.
Every few seconds, Everly saw him checking the rearview mirror, but no one followed them.
She assumed most of the guards had gotten blown up in the explosions.
The ones who weren’t in the building had taken off and probably wouldn’t have a job come tomorrow.
They arrived back at the caverns with about forty-five minutes to spare before the sun came up.
Gathering her brother’s body from the back seat, Hawke took him around the back of The Caves, then went into the little storage shed the groundskeepers used and returned with a shovel.
Everly picked out a nice spot, and Hawke got to work.
Together, they buried him. Then Hawke gave her a few minutes alone, though he didn’t go far.
Everly stood in front of her brother’s grave.
She wasn’t used to this sort of thing, and she didn’t know what to say.
“I’m so sorry, Matthew. For everything.” Then she just stood there silently, thinking of the years they’d missed out on, and the ones they could’ve had. She didn’t cry. She just felt…hollow.
Hawke touched the back of her elbow. “We need to get inside,” he told her.
Everly nodded, noting the sun’s rays just beginning to lighten the edge of the horizon with orange. She realized she was freezing and immediately felt bad for making Hawke stand outside with no shirt on. With one last look at the fresh mound of dirt, she followed him into The Caves.
He escorted her to her new room and watched as she went inside and turned on the light by the bed. Now that they were back, she expected him to leave right away as he always did. Her brother was gone and no longer a threat. She fully expected to be next, one way or another.
But he didn’t leave. Instead, he followed her inside and shut the door. When she looked up, she found him standing there, staring.
“How is your back?” she asked. “I can look at it if you want. Do you need more blood? Or…or…” She came to a stuttering halt. Tears filled her eyes for the eight-hundredth time that night. “I killed him. Didn’t I?” Her knees gave out and she sank onto the bed.
Hawke moved then, rushing over only to stand awkwardly in front of her. After a moment, he kneeled so their eyes were level with each other. Placing his hands on either side of her hips, he was careful not to touch her. And that made her feel even worse.
“No,” he said. “You did not kill your brother.” His chin lifted. “I killed him. I had to, honey. There was no other choice. You were hurt, and I had to.”
She saw the words, but it took a few seconds for them to penetrate. “You killed my brother.” The words felt thick on her tongue. “You.”
Hawke sat back on his heels, his face expressionless, but his eyes held hers, begging for understanding. “Yes.”
She thought that over. “I’m not sure how I feel about this.
” Her hands felt like ice and she tucked them between her thighs.
“I’m not sure how I should feel about this.
” She searched his face, looking for malice or satisfaction or something that would make it easy on her.
But there was none of that. Only a deep sorrow around his dark eyes, and conviction to the set of his jaw that he’d done what he believed was right.
His bare chest rose and fell. “You can hate me if it will make it easier on you,” he told her.
“But it had to happen, Everly. He was too far gone. And I couldn’t let you be the one responsible.
I couldn’t let you live with that.” He paused.
“More than any of that, I couldn’t stand there and allow him to hurt you, so I did what I felt I had to do. ”
“I don’t really remember much except feeling so much rage when he came after you. After us. And then there was a lot of pain.” She shrugged. “Then I woke up and it was all over.”
“That’s all you remember?”
She nodded.
“Would you like to know what happened?”
She did, but not right now. She couldn’t handle anything else right now. “Not today,” she said. “I just want to get a shower and go to sleep.”
He pushed himself to his feet. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go.” Her heart lurched in her chest, but he didn’t leave right away. “Everly, you saved me tonight. I just…I want you to know that. You were beautiful, and brave, and fearless. And you saved my life. Thank you.”
With a gentle touch of his fingertips on her cheek, he turned and walked toward the door, and she saw the angry wounds on his back. Everly stood and caught his hand before he could go. “I wish you would let me help you with your burns.”
His eyes closed for a brief moment before he smiled at her. “It’ll heal, thanks to you. I just need a shower.”
“You can shower here,” she offered. The words had flown from her mouth without thought. Unsure where this need was coming from, she took a small step back, but she didn’t release his hand. However, after evaluating things, she stepped closer again. She needed him tonight. She needed him always.
Hawke gently pulled his hand from hers. “Everly—”
She stopped him before he could say it. “I know. We’re not supposed to be together.
Dragons and vampires don’t mix and blah, blah, bullshit.
” Everly looked down at her bare feet and his muddy shoes.
Then she raised her chin. “If you feel anything for me at all, please stay with me tonight. Just for tonight. And whatever happens tomorrow happens.”
His mouth twisted in disgust. But not for her. For himself. “How can you ask me this knowing I just killed your only family?”
She gave him a small smile. “You’re an honorable male, Hawke.
He was my brother, yes. But he was also dangerous.
He tried to kill you. He tried to kill me.
Twice.” She held up two fingers, then paused, hating to admit this part but knowing it was true.
“And he was beyond help. I know that now. It wasn’t his fault, but it was true.
Much as I wish it could’ve been different.
I may have saved you tonight, but you saved me, too.
If you hadn’t shown up, my stupid ass would probably have burned with the lab. ”
Taking her face between his hands, his eyes searched her own in disbelief. “Can you forgive me, Everly? Maybe not right now. But someday?”
“Yeah. I can.” And she realized it was completely true. “Someday.” She covered his hands with hers. “So, stay with me.”