Chapter 19 - Adalyn
All through the night, I felt Zephyr holding me. I woke up with our hands resting on my stomach, his hands so much bigger than mine. Comfort and peace settled in my bones. I hummed quietly, enjoying the silence.
Yet the training had ignited an urge in me to keep moving, to be up, doing something. I thought of when I had once sat at the Emporium’s desk for hours, able to sit still. Now, I felt restless. Like Zephyr did when he paced.
But there was a churning in my gut, a panicked feeling overtaking me that I was going to be sick suddenly. I tried to relax, thinking it was just that we were rationing food and I had expended more energy.
Just nausea , I told myself. Sleep it off.
But then I was bolting upright and sprinting to the sink, retching. My shoulders trembled as I held myself over the basin, gasping when my stomach heaved as I was sick. Zephyr was at my back immediately.
“I’m right here,” he said softly, his hand skimming up and down my back before he rubbed soothing circles into my spine. “It’s okay, Adalyn. I’m right here.”
I suddenly felt small and vulnerable, like I needed him there, and like if he moved even an inch, I would crumble. I reached around my back to grasp onto him. My hand slipped into the front pocket of his sweatpants, pulling him to me.
“Don’t leave,” I mumbled.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
I pressed my other hand to my stomach, groaning, as I rested my head on my forearm.
“Must have been something I ate,” I said. When I was sure nothing else would come up, I rinsed my mouth out with water and drank from the glass Zephyr handed me.
As his arm went over my head to reach over me for the water, I moaned softly at his scent, leaning back against him as I drank deeply. His hands settled on my waist as he hugged me close to him.
“You want to get back to bed?”
I nodded. Before I could start walking, Zephyr scooped me up and carried me back over. I let out a confused laugh.
“What are you doing?”
He froze as he slowly put me down on the bed. “Nothing. Just… In case you’re weak.”
“It’s just a stomach bug,” I muttered. But he was right. My legs felt like jelly, and my body felt too light to be comfortable. I went limp on the bed, smiling up at him as he tucked me back against his chest. It was strangely domesticated, and I hadn’t noticed how easily we had become accustomed to that until we had been forced to do it.
“Adalyn,” Zephyr began, but his voice trailed off before he could say anything else. “Never mind. Sleep for now, okay? No training today.”
“Are you serious?” I asked, my voice quiet and weak. “I need to pay you back for flooring me yesterday evening.”
He laughed quietly. “You can tomorrow when you’re feeling better.”
I was already falling back asleep when I nodded. Even as I drifted off, I clung to Zephyr, hating being even one inch away from him. It seemed like a new need had nestled in my body, yearning for his closeness and physical contact.
My dreams awaited me, and in them, I walked through an endless hallway with Zephyr at my side and a heavy feeling in my gut. He kept asking me if I was ready, and I kept questioning what for ? No answer came in response.
Zephyr was curled around me protectively when I woke up as if he anticipated anything attacking us down here. His eyes were lowered, awake but not watching me. The back of his knuckles brushed over my shoulder. He kissed the bare, freckled skin there, lapping it with his tongue where he had left a bite bruise days ago.
“Afternoon,” he said, his voice deep in his chest. I stretched, feeling better for the extra sleep.
“It’s that late already?”
He held up his phone. “It’s already gone two o clock.”
“Wow,” I muttered.
He only grinned. “What do we need to be awake for, anyway? You’ve got other plans?”
I laughed softly. I lay back against the pillow, gazing at him. His eyes were bright, fixed on me.
I brushed my hand over his tattoos.
“Which name is which?” I asked.
“Mine is the one on the left,” he told me, brushing my hand down the closely shaved hair on the left side of his head. His thick hair was flat, hanging over his forehead, and the back faded into a neatly shaved underlayer. “Zane is on the right.”
“You must miss him,” I murmured.
He nodded. “We were—well, we were brothers, but even if we hadn’t been, I’d have still found him, I think. We were bonded. Sort of unintentionally, we left my older brother out. I think he sort of became the man of the house following my father’s death, and we didn’t know whether to look up to him as a dominant presence in our lives or an older brother who’d still mess around outside.”
“Were you all shifters?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Zane and I had already shifted for the first time when my dad died, but we didn’t know a lot about it. Lucas, my older brother, taught us how to hunt and exist as shifters. My mom chipped in her knowledge where she could. She said she was surprised she managed to have three strong male shifter children, with her being human.” He shrugged. “I grew up a certain way after my father’s death. I turned to darker things to enjoy. Heavier music, tattoos to express myself, piercings. Zane was, like, my polar opposite in some ways. But we got these piercings together.” He pointed at his lip. “He got below his bottom lip done.”
He let out a quiet laugh. “On our way home, Zane was saying how our mom would kill us. But she didn’t. She only shrugged; told us we were nearly eighteen anyway. There wasn’t a whole lot she could do to stop us. After Zane’s death, I sort of veered even more into that aesthetic. I found… I don’t know, expression in it. Honestly, I felt cool.” He grinned at me, a self-deprecating thing. “People stared. Sometimes, I wanted them to, I guess. I wanted them to see who I was—that I wasn’t just a guy who lost his twin. It was me . I like art. Why not have it on my body, you know?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, entranced as I listened to him open up. I had the feeling with the way he switched between stilted sentences and then a full flow of words that he didn’t always open up but craved it.
He held up his hand. “Would you get tattoos?”
“I’ve always wanted to,” I said. “I’d love something down my spine. I know it’s cliché, but something like the phases of the moon. It's an element that deepens a witch’s power.”
“And shifters are associated with the moon, too,” he said. He froze, then, and looked at me, almost spooked as if he thought he was connecting us too much. Saying that our kinds had something in common.
I only smiled. “You’re right.”
Zephyr shifted position as he looked at me, his face propped up on his palm. “You’re beautiful.”
I blinked at the sudden compliment. I didn’t feel it. While my nap had restored me, I still felt dried out and groggy. My stomach was empty, and I was hungry, but I was scared to eat for now. I winced.
“What, you don’t believe me?”
“Feeling like this? I have a hard time believing it.”
Zephyr ran a hand down the side of my face. Something flickered in his deep expression that I couldn’t understand but yearned to. I reached out to wrap my fingers around his wrist and kissed his fingertips. I expected him to make the moment more intimate than affectionate, but he didn’t, and I realized he had stayed in some gentler moments with me like this sometimes.
I was glad. I didn’t feel sexy in that moment. I felt strangely vulnerable, even as I was protected in Zephyr’s embrace.
Our silence was broken by a ping on his phone.
Alex’s name flashed up: I’m giving you an hour to get up, get to a store, stock up, and return to your hideout. Don’t go to the villa or to Adalyn’s place. Go right back to your safe place, okay? If you see a demon, don’t interact with it. Be inconspicuous and alert me when you’re back.
Zephyr read the text and nodded. “We’ve done these things before. It’s like in and out as fast as we can.”
I nodded. “We have an hour?”
“To get up, to a store, and back.”
“And if we don’t?”
“It’s not about if we don’t but more about our safety.”
I nodded. “Well, we should get ready, then.”
And even though I didn’t feel like walking or like I had a lot of strength, I was up and moving, with Zephyr trying to pull me back to the bed with a suggestive smile. I batted him away with a laugh.
“Later,” I said. “Food first.” He sighed deeply and swung his legs out of the bed. I watched him stand up and stretch, all muscle and height, bulk strength, but with a deadly aim when a weapon was in his hands. I looked at his hands—hands that had killed but held me tenderly.
And yet, I no longer feared him.
He was the one I looked to when I was scared, now.
And I found myself knowing I didn’t want that to change.
***
Breaking out of the sanctuary for the first time in over a week was a breath of fresh air.
Sunlight filtered over my bare arms. I had thrown on Zephyr’s t-shirt from when we had arrived. Although it was far too big on me, it provided me with comfort, as I was surrounded by his scent. He groaned next to me, stretching out his body. He inhaled, and I did the same, smiling with the sun on my face.
“C’mon,” he said, “No time to waste.”
I could tell he was enjoying the fresh air, but he was also a man of determination. I knew he would keep us on track. Before he let me take any other step, he scoured the area, eyes peeled for anything in particular.
“Anything?” I asked. “I don’t sense anything.”
“It looks clear,” he murmured. “And Alex has Hec watching our route to the store. If anything appears as a threat, I’ll deal with it.”
“ I can deal with it, too,” I insisted. “That is why you’ve been giving me a speedrun training program.”
He paused. “I’d much rather you stayed away from it, Adalyn.”
I rolled my eyes, opting not to incite any argument about it. Thanks to Harper, I knew better than to get between a shifter and his protective streak. But Alex had protected Harper due to being his mate and the mother of his children. Zephyr and I… We weren’t like that. We didn’t have what they had.
Did we?
Definitely, not beautiful triplets that filled a home with joy. We didn’t have a home, history, an unbreakable bond that we’d fought for.
I glanced sideways at Zephyr, again doubting myself. What did I feel for him?
As we headed into town, Zephyr was scouring the area. People walked along town's main thoroughfare as normal, albeit more wary. They clutched extra pouches of what I assumed were herbs, or wore crystals around their necks. There were more flyers around stating a curfew and local witch protection advertisements. I wasn’t entirely for using our natural magic as a tourist attraction, but I genuinely hoped there were some witches who would offer their protective services.
I also hoped that some people weren’t just trying to make a little bit of cash on the side, feigning being a witch. We couldn’t see the beach from here, but Alex warned us that the demons were adopting their humanoid disguises.
We had to be careful. I knew that demons couldn’t quite blend their eyes. Where mine were a deep shade of brown, theirs would be pure onyx no matter what form they took. Their voices would always be whispery.
“Why do demons take on human disguises anyway?” Zephyr asked, as if he read my thoughts as we passed some townsfolk. I nodded to Hesketh, the man whose eldest daughter would soon be eloping to the mainland. He gave me a bright smile. I couldn’t help wondering if the demons on the beach were merely temporarily there. If they hadn’t been as settled in that location as much as Alex believed.
It could be a farce. They dispatch demons to an open area of land to distract the wolves while others infiltrated the town.
“Demons don’t masquerade as humans to permanently fool them,” I explained. Up ahead, the grocery store, next door to Adrian’s convenience store where I had worked, was open and blazing neon. “They only do it long enough to get into an area with humans. Once they’re in, they’re automatically more powerful and hold the upper hand. Then they can use them as their playthings.”
“Do they ever want to kill humans?” Zephyr asked. “I know they targeted Harper, but that was due to her involvement with Alex, right? You said the demons had been pretty dormant until we arrived.”
I nodded.
“That means we’re endangering this place,” Zephyr said. “I’ve never thought of it in that way.”
I shook my head. “I think it means you’re just coaxing out what was always the inevitable.”
“Why aren’t they provoked by witches in the same way they are with shifters?”
“My guess is similar to what you once said. Witches aren’t an offensive threat. We don’t fight; we retreat and protect. We hide behind a peaceful distance. We’re not a violent people.”
Zephyr’s gaze turned vacant for a moment. I thought of the Lindell witch who had gone against that in his eyes, the one who had murdered his brother. I didn’t know why. Zephyr likely wouldn’t know why. All I knew was that she hadn’t followed in our usual ways. We weren’t violent unless provoked; even then, it was a last resort due to our waning energy.
“Let’s get some food,” he muttered. As we headed inside, a woman stumbled out, laughter on her lips and a beer bottle in hand.
“Oh, shit,” she slurred. “Sorry!”
“Watch it,” Zephyr growled, pulling me close to his side, his eyes narrowed on the woman. She held up her hands. A snarl came from his throat when he saw the bottle. His hand whipped out and smashed the bottle from her grasp, sending it flying through the air, only to splinter on the ground. The remaining drink puddled out on the sidewalk.
“Hey!” she cried. “Asshole. What’s wrong with you? You gotta replace that!”
“And you ,” he said, voice pitched dangerously low. “Have you watched where you’re going?” His arm wrapped protectively around my waist. I only blinked at the woman when she looked at me as if to question Zephyr’s behavior.
“What the fuck,” she whispered, shaking her head.
She walked away.
“Zeph,” I groaned. “What were you like that?”
“She could have hurt you,” he muttered.
“Yeah? So?” I laughed, confused. “I grew up in Brooklyn, remember? People are always knocking into one another. It’s not a crime. I’m not made of glass.”
“No, but—”
A smash from inside cut him off, coming from Adrian’s store.
“Help!” A cry went in. It sounded like Adrian himself. “Help me!”
“Stay here,” Zephyr warned me, pushing me back around the side of the building.
“Zephyr!” I called, but he was gone, ducking inside. I saw the bright blue flash of light and gasped. Demons were in the store. I heard another shout and then the sound of tearing, snapping teeth, and a piercing roar.
Moments later, Zephyr walked out, black blood on his hands. He held a water bottle and held it out to me. Wordlessly, angrily, I uncapped it and poured it over his hands, washing them clean.
“Any damage?” I asked.
“Nothing permanent,” he told me. “Three demons. Disintegrated. But I feel bad for the guy behind the counter.”
“I used to work there,” I muttered.
“I’m well aware,” he snarled. He shook his head, his eyes dark. “If you still did… If you had been there just now…” He closed his eyes, as if the thought was unfathomable. But the fight had lasted minutes, and Adrian walked out, pale-faced.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you.” His eyes were glassy with fear, and he stepped back to invite us in. “Please—take whatever you need. Thank you for saving me.” His eyes remained on Zephyr until I saw me. “Adalyn?”
“Hey, Adrian,” I said, confused and still annoyed at Zephyr for pushing me out of the picture. What was with him today? It was like he thought I was breakable right after he had begun to train me?
“It’s been happening everywhere,” Adrian told me. “The demon attacks. I thought they were just stories, but…”
I panicked for a moment. “Did the Emporium get targeted yet?”
He shook his head. “No, but Hesketh’s was targeted a few days ago during the night, so nobody got hurt. A few bars were targeted, the grocery store was yesterday, and now me today.” His eyes landed on Zephyr. “We’re grateful for the return of the shifters. If the legends are true, they have returned to protect us and save us from this new threat. Hesketh’s was protected by a wolf, as was next door. And now this young man here has come to protect my store.”
His voice was weighed with gratitude. I gave him a grimacing smile before I pulled away.
“Thank you for your generosity, Adrian,” I said, not knowing what else to say to him. I ventured down the aisles where I had once worked and found Zephyr wordlessly dumping anything he could find into a basket.
I gave him a lift of my brow.
“What?” he asked, smiling. “He said anything.”
“Yes, but… It’s not polite to literally take anything.”
He shrugged. “I’m a literal guy.”
“Ugh,” I said. “What is with you today? Why did you make me stay outside? At the very least, I could have protected you.”
“I didn’t need it,” he told me, trying to shrug it off again as he wandered down more aisles, tipping food packets into our basket. He loaded up on anything he could find, from snacks to meals. “I went in, shifted, killed, and then left. I didn’t even tear my clothes. Why are you so upset?”
He sounded far too dismissive of the situation. I scoffed and shook my head.
“You always have to be the one, don’t you? The one to fight, the one to take charge, the one to control every situation.”
His eyes turned dark on me. “You have a problem with that, Adalyn? Because I seem to remember you didn’t when I had my co—”
“Enough!” I cried. “Stop it, Zephyr. Just… I can do things myself. Trust that.”
He glanced at me, his gaze flickering downward for a moment before he met my eyes once again.
“What would you have done in here?” he challenged. “How would you have fought three demons?”
“So you’re back to taunting me?” I spat. “Making me feel inferior?”
“No,” he said. “I’m only trying to prove that I made the right call when we didn’t have the luxury to consider all options. We had to go with the quickest solution.”
“It’s not about what I would have done,” I stressed. “It’s about working together. Wasn’t that the whole point of learning to coexist this past week? Knowing how to be around one another and see what sort of… I don’t know, what team we make?”
“Team,” he echoed, his face falling.
“I don’t know, Zephyr!” I cried. “I don’t know what we are or what’s going on here, I—”
He dropped the basket and surged forward to kiss me, cupping my face in his hands. I heard the automatic doors slide open in the store but didn’t care. I kissed Zephyr back, letting him nudge me into one of the shelves even when it dug into my shoulder. I moaned softly into his mouth, sucking on his lower lip.
He kissed me deeply, and I fell into the kiss, feeling the tension drain away. My annoyance still circled in my gut, but the intensity of the argument had gone.
But when Zephyr pulled back, his face was tight with anger. “ That is what’s going on.”
He gave me one last long look before picking up the basket and stocking up. I followed him, dumbfounded, down the store aisle. When would I have the nerve to speak up about the feelings growing in me for the past week?
The attraction I felt? The panic whenever he was too far from me, and I didn’t know where he was, like when he went exploring in the tunnels for more rooms? Or the tenderness I’d felt when we went to the stargazing room, and he had confessed to not knowing what people did on a date?
I was still angry that he had belittled my abilities again after we had formed a truce but I followed him anyway.
***
That night, I couldn’t stop thinking of how Zephyr’s words had again gotten under my skin despite our truce this past week.
How could he think of me as so helpless when I had proven myself to him? I had scared him several days ago. He had worked with me to start aiming my attacks to be on the offense more. Alex had said the demons had been avoiding the island's northern part, which meant that my shields had been doing something .
“I need to work on my shields,” I told Zephyr quietly.
“What?”
“My shields,” I repeated. “I’ll be safe when I leave here, but I want to go and work on them.”
Zephyr was on me in an instant, pressing me into the bed. “Like hell, you’re leaving here. We’re here for our safety. We haven’t been cleared to go out again yet.”
“I know,” I said. “I do, but… Zephyr, you still think I’m weak when I’m not. You heard Alex, my shields have been doing good. If more demons are attacking, I can add more and spread my protection. I can’t fight the demons in your eyes, but I can protect. That’s all you think, isn’t it?”
“No, no, Adalyn, that’s not—”
“It is,” I insisted. “The way you talked back in the store…”
“No, Adalyn—” he sighed, pressing his forehead to mine. “I didn’t mean that you’re weak or that you’re not capable of fighting. I only want to keep you safe . And you going into that store alone, or without knowing what was there, wasn’t safe.”
I gritted my teeth. “I can’t be kept under your protection forever, Zephyr. You’re not going to stay in Azure Cove, are you? How can you talk of safety and protection when you’ll be leaving here again? This isn’t your home.”
“It could be.”
The words came quiet in the silence of the cave. It was so quiet I thought I had imagined them.
“What?” I whispered.
Zephyr’s eyes met mine. “It could be my home.” He paused. “With you.”
I didn’t know what to say. Every thought left my mind, leaving only the urge to kiss him.
“You would stay here?” I whispered. “For me?”
“For us ,” he said. “I’ve never… Adalyn, this isn’t just a—I don’t know. But this is real . You and me.” He took my hand and pressed it to his chest. “Isn’t it?”
“It is,” I murmured.
“Do you feel it, too?”
I nodded. Because I did .
“It’s like a tether,” I whispered. “Connecting us. Through dreams, through this week… Through everything. Even our initial hatred and resentment.”
Zephyr’s expression turned soft. “I was always meant to find you. Fate didn’t bring me to the island to fight. It brought me to you .”
Tears prickled my eyes, and a giggle slipped from my lips as he folded himself over me.
“Don’t go,” he whispered, kissing me gently. “Don’t leave my protection tonight, Adalyn. Please.”
“I won’t,” I said, although it was a lie. I wanted this—everything he was saying—but I wouldn’t be weak in his eyes. I didn’t need to rely on his protection. I needed to prove my own strength to myself as well as him. Zephyr kissed me, and I almost let myself stay languishing in it, in the gentle affection, until he pulled away.
When we went to sleep, I stayed awake.
I slipped from the circle of his arms, grabbed my phone, and left the sanctuary.