Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Wilder
I’ve done everything I can to help Reid.
The color is back in his cheeks, and he’s just resting, sleeping deeply now.
I know he’d make fun of me for being a weirdo, but I can’t tear myself away from his bed.
I almost hurt him so badly. I could’ve killed him, and the only way they pulled me back from the edge…
My jaw clamps, tension tightening every muscle. Now Izzy knows my weakness, and I know she would never mean to hold it against me, but it’s still embarrassing. I’ve gone my whole life trying to hide the fact that my own father despises me.
“Hey.” Izzy’s voice is soft in the doorway as she comes into the room. She runs her hand across my shoulders, then sits beside me. “Everyone else is out there, eating Beth’s stew and war-planning.”
“Yeah.” I hesitate, chewing my lower lip. “Maybe you should go without me and Reid. I can stay here and watch over him, and I--”
“No,” she says, her voice firm, and I glance at her in surprise. She leans her head against my shoulder, and the shift in her attitude from stern to affectionate surprises me. “We need you, Noah Wilder. Back on the horse.”
I snort. “Clearly, I need you.”
All of them.
“Yeah, no kidding.” She raises her head from my shoulder, her eyes widening with exasperation. “We all need each other.”
“You don’t seem like you need anyone,” I said. “You were amazing without us and--”
“I was lost without you, you idiot,” she says, without any rancor. Her hands run up my shoulders, and I wrap my arm around her waist, drawing her into my lap, pulling her close to me. I can’t believe we have her back.
“You’re too good to me, Iz,” I say softly.
“I’ll call you an idiot any time you want,” she promises, and I almost laugh.
The curve of her ass across my lap, her weight as she leans into my chest, the soft, honeyed scent of her perfume, all those things make me feel like I can’t be as worthless as my father and Odin made me feel. Because she loves me.
Her palm slips across my cheek, holding me still as she presses a kiss to my lips. The two of us trade kisses back and forth, things heating up, until I hear the shift of the mattress.
Reid stares at us, his eyes wide.
“Oh shit.” I break away from Izzy, almost dropping her onto her ass.
She throws back her head and laughs.
“You are such a smooth operator,” she teases. “And here I was always so jealous of all the girls back--”
I groan and grab her tight against my body, covering her lips with mine to shut down that line of conversation. I don’t want to think about the other girls I used to distract myself from the way I missed Izzy.
“It’s a big house,” Reid says in exasperation. “Why don’t you do that somewhere else? Why in my room?”
“I was worried about you,” I say defensively.
“It looked like you were worried about Izzy’s tonsils,” Reid grumbles, scrambling up to a sitting position, but then he slugs my arm. “I’m glad you’re back, Wilder.”
“Thanks for looking out for me.” My eyes are drawn to the wounded flesh of his finger.
“It was nothing,” he lies, slipping his hand under the comforter, as if he knows exactly what I’m staring at. “I’m fine. Let’s go deal with these vamps.”
“You are not fine,” Izzy says in exasperation. “You were--”
She breaks off. No one wants to point out what Reid just survived--barely.
“Speared,” I say, since she won’t.
“And then healed, by my incredible best friend.” Reid throws the blankets to one side. “Come on, Wilder. Don’t be a wimp. Let’s go find some fanged fuckheads and ruin their night.”
As he pulls a t-shirt over his head, he heads for the door.
“Why are you like this?” I demand. “It makes it very hard to feel sorry for you.”
“That’s the point,” he calls back over his shoulder.
I sigh. I thought we were going to take the night to recuperate. I’m still reeling from what happened earlier. But maybe Wilder and Izzy are right.
Back on the horse.
The five of us sneak off campus. Van has a car stashed down the road, and I shake my head as we pile in.
“What?” Van asks, his tone mock-aggrieved. “They want to send me to a reform school, I’m going to deserve to reform.”
“That’s exactly what worries me,” Reid mutters.
“You’re still the good geek deep down,” Aiden says, slapping Reid’s shoulder.
Reid pulls a face. There’s something bothering him.
“Let’s get done before the godslayers come back,” Van says. “Then we’ll stay on campus and be good little gods.”
Somehow I doubt that.
It’s weird to drive back toward our hometown. As we travel, Van and Aiden fill us in on everything they’ve learned. I can’t believe they didn’t tell us earlier what was going on.
“No more secrets,” Izzy says, glancing around at all of us. She gives us each a meaningful look. “We all can trust each other. With the…darker parts. The parts the gods can use against us.”
We pass the exit for our hometown. We’re going just a little further, into the city where it was less likely any of us might run into their parents by accident.
“What’s your dark secret, Izzy?” Reid asks, his voice conversational.
Her brows arch. “My big dark secret is that I’ve always been hopelessly in love with a bunch of--”
Aiden wraps his hand over her mouth, and her eyes crinkle at the corners. “No name-calling.”
“Imagof,” she says through his hand. Then I’m pretty sure she licks him, because he pulls his hand away, half-laughing and half-wincing.
“I was going to say nice things about you,” she insists. But then her face clouds as she admits, “I’ve always wanted to have a family. To have my mom and my sister back. That’s… I don’t know what happened to them.”
“We’ll find out,” I promise.
Her lips twist. “Yeah, but we don’t know what we’ll find.”
“No matter what, you’ve got a family now,” Reid says.
The guys groan at him saying something so cheesy, and he rolls his eyes. “A fucked-up family of idiots--except for me--but whatever.”
Izzy grins, then leans over to press her lips to his, kissing him hard.
Who’s concerned about Izzy’s tonsils now?
“Knock it off.” Aiden twists in his seat, looking exasperated. “We’re trying to get into badass mode now. Talking about our feelings and kissing is not exactly badass.”
“Game faces on,” Van adds. He’s coming to a stop in front of a big house. He crooks an eyebrow as he stares at it, before he says, “Look at this place. Eight thousand square feet with a pool, and full of bloodsuckers. Feels like home.”
“Should we…ring the doorbell?” Reid asks.
“Might as well be polite before we get our killing on,” Aiden says.
“Calm,” Izzy reminds us.
We head up the expansive green lawn, but we never make it to the house.