Avow

CHAPTER 36

Gabriel watched Heather’s pink toes wiggle as they hung in silence.

She was obviously freaked out, and why wouldn’t she be? Raven had drugged her and basically sentenced her to death.

He tried to cheer her up. “Don’t worry. We’ll get out of here and we’ll find the fountain and everything will be fine.”

“Except my brain since I’m going to go crazy. And then, you know, I might just die. So yeah. Everything’s totally going to be fine.”

Gabriel’s lips twitched. At least Heather was approaching her imminent death with a sarcastic attitude. Sarcasm he could do. Tears, he could not.

From the warehouse hallway, he heard Raven’s voice ring down the hall. “We’re moving them in just a minute, but keep them bound during transport!”

Gabriel’s spirits lifted.

“Hey,” he whispered to Heather’s downcast face. “We’re being moved.”

“Ooh, yippee. I can die while being transported.”

“No,” he lowered his voice even more, “we can escape.”

Heather blinked and her eyes lit up. “Oh yes! Let’s do that. Yes, yes, yes. How?”

“I don’t know.”

Her face fell. “Way to get my hopes up, Mr. Useless Immortal Guy.”

”Wait. I might have a plan.”

Gabriel explained his idea to Heather and, after arguing with him and throwing her two cents in about everything—she was so annoying—they finally agreed on an escape strategy.

So when the Ashmen entered to free them, Gabriel was feeling optimistic.

Two Ashman untied Heather first, as expected, and kept her hands bound in front of her as they stood her up and cut the ties around her ankles so she could walk.

The remaining three Ashmen did the same with Gabriel, keeping surprisingly tight grips on his arms as they pushed him toward the warehouse door.

Right before they reached the door, Heather started to cry.

She flopped to the floor and threw an all-out temper tantrum, kicking her legs and screaming bloody murder like an overgrown toddler.

Brilliant.

While the Ashmen were busy looking at Heather in confusion, Gabriel threw his elbow into the Ashman on his left, then the one on his right, before wrapping his bound wrists around the third Ashman’s neck.

Using the Ashmen caught in his hands as a shield, Gabriel spun around and shoved into the two Ashmen he’d just elbowed, knocking them both to the floor.

Seeing their comrades under attack, Heather’s guards came after Gabriel, leaving an incredibly loud Heather unguarded on the floor. As Gabriel struggled to avoid the Bluestone knives coming at his body and keep the struggling Ashman in his grip from slipping away, Heather rolled over and snuck her bare feet to the table.

Gabriel created more of a diversion by lifting the Ashman in his arms by the neck and tossing him into the two Ashmen to Gabriel’s right. A sharp pain cut through Gabriel’s forearm and he spun around just in time to block a second jab of Bluestone coming down at him from one of Heather’s Ashmen.

Gabriel led the fighting away from the table as Heather used the scissors Raven had left to cut her ties off before grabbing one of the blood bags from the bin.

Heather cut open the bag and dipped the scissors into Gabriel’s blood, coating them in the only substance they knew that could destroy an Ashman.

Gabriel was losing ground against his opponents and another sharp pain tore through his back as he spun around and tried to defend himself with his tied hands.

From the corner of his eye, Gabriel saw Heather charge at the Ashman nearest her and stab him in the back with the bloody scissors.

And holy hell, he couldn’t help but think that was a little hot.

Yanking the scissors from the crumbling body of ash before her, Heather threw them to Gabriel and he snatched them out of the air. Holding them in his bound wrists, Gabriel swung through the remaining four Ashmen until all that was left were piles of Ash scattered about the warehouse floor.

Heather ran over to him as he was cutting off his ties and they quietly snuck from the warehouse room.

Gabriel led the way with his hand stretched out behind him as if to shield Heather from, well, he didn’t know. But he just felt safer with his hand in front of her.

Outside the room was a long, narrow hallway leading to a single door.

Freedom.

Looking from side to side, Gabriel saw no other Ashmen.

He gestured to Heather and they soundlessly padded to the door. Gabriel stopped for a moment and braced himself, sure there would be a slew of Ashmen guards outside.

He slowly pushed the door open into the morning light.

He saw another warehouse. And then another.

But no Ashmen.

Looking to the left and right, he realized they were in the warehouse district of Avalon. The sun was rising in the sky and warming the ground beneath their feet as Gabriel grabbed Heather’s hand behind him and pulled her out of the hostage warehouse and into the day.

Gabriel took a silent breath and tried to evaluate the best way out of there. Heather’s hand was cold and small in his own as he gripped it tighter than necessary.

He crept along the side wall of the warehouse they’re been trapped in until they stood in the shadows between warehouse and caught their breath. If he could just get them to the base of the nearby hill, he could hide Heather in the shadows of hill’s trees and come up with an awesome and foolproof let’s-get-the-hell-out-of-here plan.

But in order to do that, he’d need to turn the corner up ahead and cross the front of the warehouse. The odds of Raven having some of her foul helpers stationed out front were good and the only thing Gabriel had left for defense was the pair of scissors in his hand.

It would have to be enough.

Creeping to the edge of the corner, Gabriel glanced over his shoulder to check on Heather. She looked alert and ready and not at all like she was going to cry.

An odd sense of pride swelled in his chest as he turned and faced forward. She could do this.

“Okay,” he whispered, “When we turn this corner, I want you to run for the hill and hide in the trees, got it? I’ll take care of any Ashmen waiting out front and meet you at the top of the hill when it’s safe. If I don’t make it there, just run.”

“What do you mean?” she whispered with big eyes. “I’m not leaving without you.”

“That’s sweet and everything, but if I bust my ass to get you to safety, you sure as hell better run for your life. Do you understand?”

She glared at him. “Yes.”

He got the funny sensation that yes really meant no, but he didn’t have time to argue with the tiny blond. “Ready?”

She nodded and he faced forward, still gripping her hand as he moved toward the front of the building. When he reached the corner, he took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

“Go.” he whispered to Heather as he rushed around the corner to the front of the warehouse and thrust her hand in the direction of the trees.

There were only three Ashmen standing at the ready and Gabriel slashed through them easily.

Too easily.

He heard Heather squeal and turned around to see a caravan of black vans coming to a dusty stop at the base of the hill, Heather already caught in the arms of two Ashmen who’d jumped from the moving vehicles.

Raven exited the nearest black van with a tired expression on her face. “Seriously?”

She raised her arm and pointed a gun at Gabriel—was it a tranq gun? He couldn’t tell—as another dozen Ashmen poured from the van behind her, armed with Bluestone weapons. “You think I’d let you escape that easily?”

The side door of another black van stood open and Gabriel’s eyes darted around, trying to come up with a brilliant last-minute escape plan.

More Ashmen climbed from the vans and Gabriel realized Raven had an army of Ashmen loaded into her nondescript vehicles.

Well this sucked.

Raven sighed. “I really want to kill you right now, Gabriel. Mostly because you’ve just been so obnoxious for hundreds of years. But since killing you might mess up my plans…” She pointed the gun at Heather.

“No.” Gabriel shouted before thinking.

Raven narrowed her eyes at him. “Protecting the damsel in distress, are we? Interesting.” An evil smile spread across Raven’s lips. “You know what? You’re right. I shouldn’t shoot Heather.”

Raven walked up to Heather, who was caught in the stiff arms of two guards and punched her in the face, knocking Heather’s head back. Blood immediately began to spurt from her nose.

“What the hell, Raven?” Blood rushed through Gabriel’s ears, drowning out all other sounds as he tried to get control of his instant desire to kill something.

Raven spun to face Gabriel with angry eyes. “Try to escape again and I’ll break her fingers.”

On his way to the basement, Tristan walked past the den and stopped. Inside, Scarlet was lifting bows off his wall of weapons and testing them out, looking for one to pack.

He leaned against the doorframe. “Can I just say how hot it is to watch you riffle through my weapons?”

She smirked as she chose another bow from the wall. “Yes, well I feel like Goldie Locks over here. This one is too small, this one is too big.” She frowned at the longbow in her hand before placing it back on the wall beside the others.

Tristan walked around Scarlet to the other end of the room and grabbed a smaller bow. “Try this one.”

She took the bow in her hand and tested it out with a smile. “Just right.”

He smiled back and for a moment the air was electric.

Dropping her eyes to the bow, Scarlet cleared her throat. “Is Nate back yet?”

Tristan shifted his weight and took a step back. Not because he wanted to, but because he knew he’d been pushing it with her all morning and he didn’t want to set her off. As cute as she was when she was angry, he didn’t like being the recipient of her temper. Not usually, anyway.

“No,” he said. “He’s still at the shack grabbing more bloodstained weapons.”

Scarlet looked out the den window. “We need to hurry if we want to make it to the Avalon forest before sunset.”

Tristan eyed her carefully, watching her shoulders tense as she turned from the window. “Why are you nervous?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought you couldn’t feel my emotions anymore.”

“I can’t.” He cocked his head to the side. “But I know you, Scar. And your nervousness is making me nervous. What’s wrong?”

She ran a hand through her hair and let out a slow breath. “I just want to make sure we get Gabriel back.”

“I won’t let anything happen to Gabriel.”

No question.

“I know,” she said quickly. “I know. I just…we just need to make sure Raven doesn’t take off with him and flee into the woods or anything. I don’t want Gabriel to become an ingredient in one of her witch spells or anything.”

Tristan looked her over. “Stop it.”

“What?”

“Stop lying. Or pretending. Or whatever the hell it is you’re doing right now. What’s going on, Scar? What does Raven want with Gabriel?”

“Nothing.”

“This is Gabriel we’re talking about here. Stop lying to me.”

She looked like she was ready to fight with him, but then her eyes went pained. “How do you do that? How do you love me so much even when you’re upset with me?”

He blinked.

“Like right now, you’re freaked out. You’re all worried about me and scared. But I can feel that you still have so much...” she shook her head in disbelief, “love for me. How do you do that?”

“That’s how love works, Scar. It’s unconditional and constant. You were the same way. In your past lives. Even when you hated me—even when I broke your heart,” his chest tightened for a moment, “I could still feel your love for me. Love is something that just…doesn’t go away. It never dies.”

She looked at him with pain and hurt and heartbreak in her eyes. “Promise?”

His heart cracked and the doubt in her voice . He gingerly touched her cheek.

“You could die—“

“I won’t.”

She let him run his fingers across her cheekbone and down to her lips. He cupped her face and looked into her eyes as his thumb ran along her lower lip. “I will love you forever,” he said, desperate to chase the sadness from her eyes. “Don’t ever question that.”

She looked lost and scared as she stared up at him and he felt hollow inside. What wasn’t she telling him?

“Touching again, I see.” Nate entered the room with a large, overflowing duffle bag. “Clearly, life is not a priority for either one of you.”

Tristan reluctantly pulled his hand away from Scarlet’s soft lips and stepped back.. “Did you get what we needed?”

Nate set the duffle bag on a table on the center of the room and started unpacking a plethora of bloody weapons, several bags of blood—presumably from his medical stash upstairs—and the map to the Fountain of Youth.

“Yep. I made a copy of the map. You know, just in case we do decide to negotiate with the mad witch from hell.”

“We’re not negotiating,” Scarlet snapped.

Nate raised his hands up defensively. “I know. I’m just being prepared. Like a boy scout. Or a coupon mom on Black Friday. So anyway, copy of the map? Check. I also grabbed the sturdiest weapons from the shack.” He looked at Scarlet. “Real creepy, by the way, how you stole Tristan’s blood in your last life and made yourself an arsenal in a haunted cellar.”

“It’s not haunted.”

“I don’t care. It’s still creepy.” Nate put the blood bags on the table. “Since you two are determined to use bows and arrows out there like Robin Hood’s band of thieves—“ he looked at Scarlet and smiled, “Thieves. How fitting—I’ll let you guys start coating arrows in Tristan’s blood,” he pointed to the bags, “and I’ll gather the rest of the camping equipment we’ll need and the bear spray.”

“Bear spray?”

“Yeah.” Nate nodded. “To ward off any angry bears. It’s a thing.”

Scarlet’s eyes grew huge. “Do you think there will be bears there?”

Nate shrugged. “I don’t know. But I love how you’re obviously more scared of bears than Ashmen and witches. It bodes well for you on this trip. Peace out, lovers. I’m off to find some long underwear. Try not to make any babies while I’m upstairs. You’d think I wouldn’t even have to say that, but seeing as you two were halfway to Babytown when I walked in here—“

“Just shut up and go pack,” Tristan said.

“Ooh, feisty.” Nate shook his head at Scarlet. “Tristan doesn’t like it when I talk about you guys having sex.”

“Neither do I. Geez.” Scarlet was blushing as she shooed Nate from the room.

Nate exited and Tristan and Scarlet spent the next half hour lacing arrows in blood and not making eye contact.

Nate had said “sex” and now the whole room felt like a sauna of forbidden tension. Just for that, Tristan was going to decapitate one of Nate’s Star Wars figurines. It was happening.

Scarlet cleared her throat for the third time since they’d been alone.

“What’s up?” Tristan dipped an arrowhead in the bowl of blood they had set up on the table between them.

She sighed “Can’t you just think about sex like a normal guy?”

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

“How are you not thinking about sex right now?”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking about.”

“Yeah, but I know what you’re feeling. And you’re feeling…happy. Where’s all the desire and want?”

He picked up another arrow. “Are you seriously mad at me right now because I’m not having lustful thoughts?”

“No. I’m just confused. I mean, I’m thinking about sex. But you’re over there coating arrows in blood and thinking about God knows what—“

“Star Wars figurines.”

“What?”

“That’s what I was thinking about.”

She blinked in confusion. “Star Wars figurines make you happy?”

He smiled and went back to the arrows on the table. “No. You make me happy. My happy feelings are because of you. My desire and want feelings—which I have plenty of—are also because of you, but I have those contained right now because I’m trying not to overwhelm you with emotions.”

“Oh.”

“Trust me,” he grabbed another arrow. “You don’t want me to think about sex when you can feel my emotions. It’s very intense. I could barely handle it with you and I had five hundred years of practice.”

She shot her eyes to him. “What are you trying to say? That I’m some kind of baby? I can handle it.”

He shook his head and smiled. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Try me.”

This was a dangerous game, but since only his life was at stake…

“Okay.” He shrugged and started thinking about sex. With Scarlet.

He watched as she stood frozen and the color drained from her face as everything he felt rolled into her. Then bright red color returned to her face and she looked like she might catch fire. He kept his eyes on her as his feelings stayed in the hottest parts of his being.

She looked at him with hungry eyes and moved her mouth to speak but no sound came out. He watched her breathing grow heavier. She dropped the arrows she held and stared at him.

He changed his pattern of thought and tried to calm his emotions so she wouldn’t do anything she regretted.

Once his thoughts were back on happy non-sexual things, he glanced at Scarlet, who was still frozen in place with red cheeks and parted lips.

“Scar?” He leaned to the side to look in her far away eyes. “You okay?”

She mouthed something and nodded, then tried again. “Yeah.” Her voice cracked. She was staring at the wall with big eyes. “I’m, uh…I’m good. I’m great.”

He went back to the arrows and smiled. “Told you.”

Scarlet blinked a few times and looked at Tristan. “We definitely need a chaperone.”

Heather frowned at her pink dress—now stained with blood from her busted nose—as she sat kitty-corner from Gabriel in the back of one of Raven’s evil kidnapping vans.

Of course the witch had a sinister black van with taped off windows and no back seats.

Of course.

Heather didn’t know where they were headed but the road they’d been traveling on for the past hour was super bumpy and whoever was driving the black van of doom—she couldn’t tell since she and Gabriel were partitioned off from the front seat like this was some kind of creepy limo—wasn’t making an effort to drive smoothly.

Gabriel was staring at her again.

He’d been glancing at her like a guilty puppy ever since Raven had clocked her in the face, and it was all Heather could do not to snap at him to quit looking at her like she was a broken doll.

Though that’s how she felt. Broken. Dirty.

She was like the one-armed Barbie with nappy hair at the bottom of the toy box—the Barbie that always ended up in the trash by the banana peels and smelly diapers.

She looked around the van. Boxes filled with what looked like camping gear took up most of the van’s back interior, leaving only a few feet of space for Heather and Gabriel to sit restrained.

Both their wrists and ankles were bound again. Raven had overseen the knot-tying herself this time, so the ninja knots were extra tight and impossible.

Gabriel leaned against the back door of the van. He was still shirtless and the Bluestone cut that marred his chest was just as split open as it had been yesterday, but no longer bleeding.

His giant body took up most of the space they shared and, even though he tried to keep himself contained against the wall, the nonstop bumps in the road kept shifting him closer to her, so every once in a while, their legs would knock into each other.

They hit another bump and she winced as her bruised face throbbed with the jolt.

Concerned eyebrows lowered over the brown eyes beside her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she snapped, not wanting his pity.

She closed her eyes as they rode along, thinking about her odds of survival. Would Raven hand Heather over to Scarlet? Or would Raven get the map and then kill Heather? Or would Raven kill Scarlet? And Gabriel? And anyone else who showed up?

The dire reality of her situation sank in and Heather felt her lip tremble. She had told her parents she was staying with Scarlet for the week, so no one would come looking for her. Her escape attempt with Gabriel had failed and now they were being hauled off into God-knows where with a posse of Ashmen who were probably going to slaughter them. And Heather would never see anyone she loved again.

A hot tear fell down her cheek as she thought of her family; her happy parents and her annoying brothers and her sweet little sister. She hadn’t loved them enough. She hadn’t appreciated them enough. She thought of all the things she’d never get to do; all the places she’d never get to see.

Another tear fell and Heather gave into the gloom she’d been fighting for the last twenty-four hours.

“Hey,” Gabriel said softly. “Don’t cry. We’re going to be fine.”

Hearing the plea in his voice just made her cry harder. “No, we’re not.”

“Yes, we are. Look at me.”

She opened her eyes and stared at Gabriel’s blurry face through her tears.

He smiled. “I’m Fierce Jaguar, remember? I’m not going to let anything happen to us.”

She huffed out a sad laugh. “I thought you didn’t have a code name.”

“Well after our kickass escape attempt, I figured a code name was in order.” He tilted his head, still smiling. “You were pretty amazing back there with your epic temper tantrum.”

“Yes, well.” She sniffed and the sharp smell of blood swirled inside her wrecked nose. “I have a little sister so I’ve seen my share of pouty throw downs.” The thought of Emily’s little face and blond curls brought tears back to Heather’s eyes.

Gabriel looked panicked. “And what about your badass scissor skills? You took out that Ashman without batting an eye. You were like Lara Croft.”

She sniffed again. “I would be a pretty awesome tomb raider.”

“No doubt.”

“But my boots would be pink.”

“Of course.” His crooked grin went sincere. “But seriously. You were pretty amazing today.”

Heather didn’t feel amazing at all. “Maybe next time we get kidnapped and try to escape, we should check for black vans first.”

He nodded. “Good call.”

Another bump in the road had her wincing again.

“Sorry I got you punched in the face today,” Gabriel said.

She shrugged. “It happens.”

He was still all guilty-looking, so Heather tried to lighten the mood. “How do I look with my bloody nose and swollen lip?” She tilted her face to one side, then the other, mock posing for his appraisal. “Sexy? Drop dead gorgeous?”

“You look…” he tilted his head, “brave.” He paused. “You are brave.” His features hardened and Heather realized he wasn’t joking.

Pride expanded in her chest.

She leaned against the van wall. “Well, hopefully my bravery can last through my new drug addiction and the consequential withdrawals I’m sure to be experiencing shortly.”

He nodded. “You can handle it, Tomb Raider.”

She shook her head. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I know.”

The van went over another bump and made a sharp turn, throwing Heather into Gabriel and causing them both to topple over. Heather landed on top of his bare chest.

His hot skin burned against her tear-stained cheeks and she immediately tried to wiggle her way off of him. Her bound wrists and ankles made it difficult for her to wiggle effectively, though, and the back of the van was too cramped for either of them to rollover completely.

Just when she’d scooted down to his stomach where there was more room to move, the van turned again, shoving her right back up his chest. Gabriel had his bound arms raised above her, hanging out in the air like he didn’t know where to put them.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered. With her hands pinned between them—and her arms accidentally brushing against several parts of his body—Heather started wiggling all over again.

“Heather?” Gabriel said, his arms still frozen in the air.

She wiggled down his chest until her face got to his stomach. Why were his abs so big? That couldn’t be normal. Or healthy.

“Heather,” he said again.

“What?” she started scooting again.

“Stop wiggling,” he said. “Please.”

She froze, tucking her lips in as she stared at the very large ab muscles right by her face.

“Okay,” Gabriel said calmly. “I’m going to hold you against me and sit us both up. So try to keep your face away from my body so I don’t hurt your nose, okay?”

Heather nodded at the ab muscle.

“And for the love of God,” he added, “don’t wiggle.”

“No wiggling. Right. Got it.”

Gabriel’s arms came down around her, his elbows bending so he could press her against him and he pulled her back up his body so she was now staring at his oversized pec muscles. Did he moonlight as a bodybuilder?

She shifted her nose away as instructed, turning her chin up so she was now staring at his face. At close proximity.

Very close proximity.

The van went over a few more bumps and their tangled bodies knocked together. Gabriel gritted his teeth and Heather bit back a smile.

She shifted her face again and her nose brushed against his skin.

“You smell good?” she accused. “How is that fair? You’ve been beaten and stabbed and kidnapped. You should at the very least smell like misery and hopelessness. Not,” she sniffed his chest again, “mountain rain or whatever the crap this is.”

His arms loosened around her. “Are you seriously smelling me right now?”

“Well maybe if you didn’t smell like a meadow—“

He sniffed her hair.

“Um, W-T-F, Gabriel?” She made a face at him.

“Why do you always smell like cupcakes? Hold still.” He took a deep breath and Heather’s body lifted as his chest filled with oxygen. She felt his body tense beneath her for a brief moment, and then he tucked her against him, twisted slightly to the side, and pulled them both up into a sitting position with his oversized abs of steel.

His arms were still around her body as they righted themselves and shifted into a haphazard sitting position. He slowly raised his arms back over her head, careful not to brush her nose as he did so until they were no longer tangled together.

Their eyes locked for a super awkward second and they both scooted in opposite directions, going back to their respective sides of the van. Not looking at each other.

Their bumpy trip continued, but the bumps were less awkward now that no body parts were rubbing together.

Scarlet growled when her seatbelt wouldn’t come undone. “I hate your car, Tristan.”

They had just arrived at the forest and Nate was already out of the car and digging through the trunk for his gear. Because his seatbelt wasn’t the spawn of Satan.

“Here, let me do it.” Tristan reached over and brushed her hand away from the demon clasp.

A zing of pleasure skittered up her arm at his touch and she really wanted him to touch her again.

No she didn’t.

Yes she did.

He easily undid the belt buckle and freed her hips.

“Thanks,” she said, giving the seatbelt one last dirty look before climbing out of the car.

She and Tristan went to the trunk and started pulling out their supplies as well.

Their trip to Avalon forest had gone by swiftly. After leaving the cabin, they’d stopped by Laura’s house, which was technically still Scarlet’s house, but it no longer felt like home to her.

She expected to be sad and emotional when she walked inside, but instead she felt…nothing. So she ran around and packed up clothes and shoes for herself and Heather and then she left Laura’s house without looking back.

“Don’t you guys just love road trips?” Nate smiled as he shrugged into his backpack.

“Meh,” Scarlet said.

Tristan shrugged.

“Well, I love road trips. Molly and I used to go on road trips all the time. We would pack up the car and just drive—without a plan. We’d just go and go wherever the roads took us.” Nate kept smiling. “It was awesome. Freeing, you know? And we’d listen to music and sing off key and talk until all hours of the night.” He nodded. “I love road trips.”

Scarlet smiled. She liked it when Nate talked about Molly. It made her feel hopeful. Like maybe Nate wasn’t permanently broken. Maybe he would find love again. Did he want to find love again?

Scarlet secured her backpack to her shoulders and strapped a quiver to her back as Tristan armed himself with more weapons than she knew a person could carry at one time.

Grabbing her compound bow and throwing it over her shoulder, she then tucked two knives into her waistband.

Tristan was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt—which was like his uniform, apparently—as he threw his own backpack on and started clipping things into place.

Tristan shut the trunk and looked at Scarlet. “So what’s the plan?”

“We’ll hike about a mile in to the cluster of large boulders where Raven and I met in my last life. Hopefully, that’s where Heather will be.” And Gabriel.

Scarlet’s palms started to sweat. “If we come up from behind the rocks, I think we’ll have a better chance of viewing the meeting place without being seen. We can scope it out and see what our chances are of rescuing Heather without negotiating the map.”

“Awesome.” Nate grinned. “This is like epic camping. With bad guys.”

“And potential death,” Tristan added.

“I know.” Nate nodded, still grinning. “Epic.”

Scarlet took a deep breath and started for the trees. The last time she’d set foot in this forest, she hadn’t come out alive.

Guilt pressed against her lungs as she glanced at Tristan.

History was about to repeat itself.