“I can’t let you go after him. He fucking saved my life, and if you see it, then you’ll go after him,” I whisper, but I know my brother and uncle heard it too.
“See what?” Uncle Grayson asks, and Rex rolls his eyes while clenching his teeth together.
“So someone saved you and then left you bleeding and alone in the middle of no-fucking-where. Aria, tell us the truth,” Rex snaps.
“I am. It was the same guy who has been calling. He saved me from the ones who had me. There were three of them, and he killed them all.”
“Those people we found on the ridge,” Rex says to Jase, and they all let out a breath of relief.
“You found them?” I gasp.
Jase’s eyes look away, and he shakes his head.
“We thought you did it. We thought you went…”
His voice stops, his sentence left unfinished and dangling in the air with the tension it caused.
“Savage?” I ask in bemusement.
What would be so wrong with that?
Jase’s eyes stare out the window, his grip feeling differently on me now. I pull his face back to mine, and I see the heartbreak consuming his pale blues, forcing a wave of realization through me.
“You thought I went after my counter,” I sigh, my breath feeling too heavy for the car to hold.
His lips tighten, and then his head bows as he laces his fingers with mine.
“I don’t have a savage. My dad died, my Uncle Clay died, My Aunt Symphony died… I’ve watched so many meet their end, but I’ve never went savage once. You’re the only counter I want,” I murmur reassuringly, and his lips attack mine as his cool hands pull me tight enough to make my weakened body wince.
“Sorry,” he murmurs through tight lips, his grip loosening as he pulls my tattered remnants of a shirt out of the way for him to examine me.
“I’m fine… now,” I utter with a goofy grin, and his lips find mine again as his smile comes back to life.
One of his hands tangles in my hair, while the other grips my unwounded side. The chill of his breath excites every part of me to the point I just want to finish tearing my clothes off and have my way with him.
He pulls off my sweat jacket, and I avoid thinking of its origins as it drops to the floor. I curl in tighter, our kiss getting deeper, and then Unc and Rex grumble in unison.
“Where are the others?” I ask while pulling back before we forget my uncle and brother are in the car.
Jase bites back a grin, and then I curl into him again as Rex answers.
“We split up. The blood trail beside the tire treads looked too easy. We didn’t know if you were dropping us clues, or if they were faking us off. Our tracking skills aren’t quite up to par with yours.”
Ah.
“Any more blood?” I ask while realizing I’m still not healing as well as I’d like to be, my own blood still dripping on Jase’s clothes.
His chilled breath finds my neck as he strokes it gently, and I’m almost hoping he gets my blood in his mouth.
He withdraws instantly, his cheeks blushing. Everything about him becomes so much more defined as my night vision grows stronger from my more healed state.
“That’s all we had with us after having to heal so many after the fight. We arranged a blood drop, but an Unaligned fleet intercepted it. We were more focused on finding you,” Jase mumbles guiltily.
That’s fine. I’ll heal on your blood later.
His smirk pops up involuntarily, and his lips find mine again. I giggle a little to myself for how incredibly perfect I feel in his arms.
“I love you,” he murmurs against my lips.
