as I landed on it at an odd angle, but the bushes broke the worst of my fall. Rafe though… Oh, God. The sickening snap of that wooden stake slicing through muscle and bone as it impaled him would haunt me for the rest of my days.
I told myself he’d be okay. I wouldn’t lose him. Not now. Finn and Thora must’ve seen us fall. They’d get to him in time.
I scrambled to my feet, and a tiny sprite-like blur stopped in front of me. Thora vibrated on the spot as she came to a sudden halt.
My pulse raced so hard I could feel my blood pumping through my veins, my heart working overtime to keep me from passing out. He had to be okay. He had to be. Fear clogged my throat, slowing my speech, wasting the seconds that were so vital.
I latched on to Thora’s arm. “Rafe. He…” I couldn’t even say the words. The vision of us falling toward that wooden spike, of him throwing me and taking the deadly rod clean through his chest, burned behind my eyes. “You have to help.”
“It’s okay. Finn has him.” She lifted my broken wrist and her pearlescent sparkling light warmed my skin as her power flooded into me. She grimaced as her own wrist broke and healed and tiny scratches opened up on her face before closing again.
I didn’t even thank her. The moment she let me go, I ran to where Rafe had fallen. He was still on the ground with the spike through his chest. He’d gone sheet white. His eyes were dilated and sweat dotted his brow, but he was alive and aware. Finn stood over him with a bullshit smile on his face. Only the tight lines around his eyes betrayed his strain.
I shoved Finn. “Why are you just standing there?”
“Oh. Hey, Jocelyn.” He eyed Rafe, who grimaced in response. “See, I’m waiting for someone to lift our boy off the ground, since he’s sort of spiked into it. I can’t touch him yet, because I’ll heal the spike into him.”
“Then move.” I shoved him to the side and grabbed Rafe’s hands.
“What are you doing?” His face contorted with pain as our magic flared between us. “Let go. I’m too heavy. You could fall on top of me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” I blew a wisp of hair away from my face, beyond crazed with the sight of his bloody and broken body beneath me. Rafe was too strong, too imposing, to be in this position. “Now use your magic and help me.”
“You realize that as soon as I lose this spike, I’m bleeding out in seconds.”
I understood that just fine. The thing that was killing him was the only thing keeping him alive. What a perfectly fucked-up metaphor for our entire relationship.
“I’ve got you.” Finn gave him a cocky grin. “Though I must say, taking a stake through the heart and living is going to mess up that whole vampire mystique thing you’ve got going on, with your dark good looks and piercing, ice-cold eyes. The ladies who had no choice but to turn their attention to you once I was off the market are going to be disappointed to find out that you’re merely human.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Rafe rolled his eyes. “Remind me to kick your ass after you heal me.”
Gritting his teeth and punching his bright white light into my hands, he slowly began to lift himself as I pulled him forward. I kept him even and steady when his magic threatened to make him wobble. My stomach rolled as a sucking sound leached from his chest and blood began to leak through where the wood sawed into his skin as he freed himself from the spike.
“Oh, man. That shit is gruesome.” Finn made a gagging sound. “I’m not looking forward to feeling that in a few minutes.”
Finally, after a lot of swearing and near-puking from Finn, and quiet stoic resolve from Rafe, he was free. I clutched his hands in a vise-grip, pushing as much of my calming magic as I could into him, while Finn went to work. He swayed on his feet, but the color began to return to his face when Finn’s chest split wide open.
“Motherfucker.” Finn gagged again while Thora rubbed a soothing hand over his shoulder, keeping him as comfortable as she could while the healing magic did its thing. “Next time, do me a favor and aim for the concrete. No more holes in your body, please.”
“Let’s just hope there isn’t a next time.” Rafe’s voice was still thin and shaky, but he was otherwise unharmed. “Thanks, bro. I owe you one.”
Once he’d been fully healed, he let out a deep breath and patted his chest. The shirt I’d loaned him was a mess. There was a huge, tattered hole through the front and it was soaked in blood. He looked down at himself, his lip curling in disgust. Rafe prided himself on his appearance. He didn’t go anywhere unless he was put together in a suit. I hadn’t seen him in jeans and a T-shirt since we were kids.
And now here he was, standing on the main street in a bloody shirt and sweatpants. This must’ve been killing him more surely than the spike had attempted to.
He yanked off the ruined shirt and tossed it on the ground. And my throat went dry.
Rafe had always had a nice body—even when we were younger, he’d been something to look at on the beach. And the years had only strengthened those muscles. His chest was broader, his waist trim. A dark dusting of hair covered his pecs, and I wanted to run my fingers through it. Feel every dip and ridge on his abdomen. Run my tongue along that delicious V that was just barely visible above the rise of those damned sweatpants.
“You can’t look at me like that when we’re in public, buttercup. It’s indecent.” He’d meant it to be cocky, but the gravelly edge to his voice took all the bravado out of his words.
“You know.” Finn slapped Rafe on the back. “I thought Cole was crazy for wanting to lock you two up, but that fucker is too smart for his own good. We should’ve done this years ago.” Finn clutched Rafe’s shoulder tighter. “Can I borrow you for a bit?”
Without waiting for him to answer, Finn steered Rafe away, leaving me alone with Thora. An awkward silence settled over us. We’d recently learned we were cousins, but hadn’t really acknowledged it. Kenna said she was cool and Kenna didn’t bullshit.
Still. It was awkward.
“Um… thanks?” I cleared my throat. “I mean, thank you. For healing me. Not everyone in town would’ve done the same and I appreciate it.”
“It wasn’t a problem. Though Finn would’ve healed you too, you know.” She pinched her lips together. “He was the one who saw the two of you fall. He sent me to you because Rafe was worse off and he prefers to take the harder injuries himself if he gets there before me.”
I rubbed my arm. “Only because he took a Hippocratic Oath or whatever.”
She snorted. “Why does everyone seem to think we’re doctors now? We took no such oath. He would’ve done it because you matter to Rafe and Rafe matters to him. And because Finn is a good guy who gives a shit about people in pain.”
“I’m not discounting that Finn is decent.” He’d never been outwardly hateful to me, even though I was Public Enemy Number One in the Wilder and Ketner households, but that didn’t mean he was looking to do me any favors either. I could’ve lived just fine with a few scratches and a broken wrist. “I know you haven’t been back long, but I’m sure you’ve heard enough about me by now. And it was nice of you to look past that, is all.”
“I heard.” She stared over my shoulder, her eyes going hazy with memories that didn’t have anything to do with me before she met my gaze again. “Small towns like to talk. But when you’ve been the object of gossip a time or two, you learn how to listen to the things people don’t say because it’s not near as salacious.”
“What do you mean by that?” I pulled my hair over my shoulder, draping it in front of me. Was it possible that she knew the truth? Kenna wouldn’t have told her. I’d sworn her to secrecy years ago, and despite her constant protests, she’d always respected my wishes.
“I just think…” She tapped a finger to her lips. “A bride doesn’t run from her groom on their wedding day without reason. I’ve seen you around town. You don’t court drama and aren’t all that comfortable with attention. The gossips in town said you did it to make a spectacle of the whole thing, but that just doesn’t ring true for me.”
In the deep pools of her grass-green eyes, I saw a spark of something there. The same spark that lived in Kenna’s eyes. The same one that probably lived in mine. The three of us had a lot more in common than blood and fire. We’d been forged by the things we’d survived and came out stronger on the other side.
“So, yeah, I heard other people’s side of the story.” Thora reached out a tentative hand, and when I didn’t flinch from her, she squeezed my arm. “But despite what people around here say or think, Kyle Ketner was never your knight in shining armor. Real knights don’t ride up on a white horse and swing their sword to slay the dragon for the princess. Because they’d never treat you like you weren’t capable of slaying the dragon yourself.”
An understanding passed between us, the kind that could only be reached between two people who had walked in each other’s shoes. I didn’t know the full details of Thora’s life, but I knew enough about the mayor to have some inkling of how she’d grown up.
“I thought, maybe, when you didn’t come to see me after you found out we were cousins…” I didn’t mean for it to sound like an accusation, but it came out sounding like one all the same. I was too used to having my guard up to soften my tone.
“I didn’t come to see you because I wanted to give you time to get used to the idea. I went to Kenna first because she wasn’t being honest at the time about being the missing Leo, and I wanted to see if that was true more than anything else.”
“Okay. That makes sense.” Kenna was as protective of her reputation as I wasn’t of mine. She’d been a party girl back in high school and there were people who still refused to take her seriously because of it, even though she’d long since proven herself to be a capable and respected businesswoman in this town.
There were so many things I loved about this island, but the way people were never allowed to grow or change wasn’t one of them.
“Hey, I heard my name over here.” Kenna slung her arm around my shoulder and squeezed me tight. “Were you talking about how devastatingly gorgeous I am and how Galen is the luckiest man on this island.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not even close.”
“I know.” She tugged on my hair. “Obviously, I’m the lucky one. Speaking of which, I heard Rafe rescued you by jumping off your balcony. He can fly? That’s so fucking cool. Did you finally tell him the truth?”
I pressed my fingers into my temples. I’d forgotten that Kenna could be a lot when she wanted to know everything in detail immediately. “Can we go somewhere quieter to talk this out? There are too many people milling around.”
“Sure. We can go back to Galen’s—my—our cabin. God, that’s so fucking weird to say out loud, especially since I haven’t really gotten the chance to fully move in yet. Anyway, it’s probably a good idea if we move further inland.”
“That’s fine. Anywhere but here.”
Over the crowd that was still gathering in the street, talking with their neighbors about what happened when the hotel collapsed, I caught Maybell Ketner’s gaze. Her eyes narrowed on me and I could feel the poison she wanted to spew from here. Kenna caught sight of her too and steered me in the opposite direction, forever looking out for me. There was no way I’d be up for a confrontation right now. Not after I came so close to losing Rafe.
We made it about ten feet before I stopped and looked behind me to where Thora was still standing by herself. “Are you coming with us or not?”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “Oh. Yes. I mean, only if you want me to.”
“Of course I want you to, you’re one of us.”
“One of us! One of us!” Kenna chanted. She got extra bubbly when tragedies happened. It was like my hair or Rafe’s suits. We all had our armor.
The three of us skirted around the crowd, which gave us a wide berth. Over the years, I’d gotten good at picking up on the mood of the town. Especially at those godforsaken town hall meetings I was forced to attend before we lost the sun.
The current vibe wasn’t outright hostile, but it wasn’t overtly friendly either. I got it. The town was depending on us to fix this for them. Many of the people had already been forced from their homes and they’d just lost another place where they’d started to feel comfortable. They didn’t trust me, but they needed me.
The owner of Capricorn’s Coffeeshop, Gretchen Nguyen, had her arm around her wife as she slung a backpack over her shoulder. Steward Koning and Dale Samson sat on the retaining wall like it was a bench outside Constellations and people-watched. Betsy Newcomb flitted around, waving her hands and collecting gossip while her idiot husband chugged a beer and made eyes at Rosie Perkins.
Natalie Wierzbicki doled out quick housing options for those who stood around in a daze, looking dead on their feet and completely lost. She was the owner of The Groveling Gemini, the island’s romance bookstore (she had a few nonfiction and literary titles on hand, but she kept them in a dark and dusty corner of the store like a dirty secret). And she was highly involved in small business events. When others panicked, she organized.
These were people I’d known my whole life. Not all of them had been kind to me in the last few years, but they were still mine and I was theirs. Small towns were just like that. Even when you became persona non grata, you were still a thread in the tapestry.
And despite most of the island not giving a whole lot to me in the last four years, I still loved my home. I cared about the people in this town. It must’ve been the Sagittarius in me. At my heart, forgiveness was part of my genetic makeup.
My cousin Jackson’s little boy looked at me with wide, sad eyes as he clutched his father’s hand, and the guilt about holding back from Rafe for so long threatened to make another appearance. But I refused to give it any more weight. I’d spent enough time feeling guilty for things that were out of my control. Living in the past had only served to hold me back.
Kenna linked her arm through mine, then did the same with Thora on her opposite side, showing her solidarity with her chin held high. Encouraging us both to do the same. We walked up the road, our different shades of red hair glowing like embers under the moon’s light, probably looking like an ad for pumpkin-flavored beer.
Power sizzled off of us. We couldn’t access it without the Wilders, but we had it running through our veins and people could feel that. It was in the hope in their eyes. And the blame.
That was how it went when you had power. You got the perks and the backlash and you had to be strong enough to roll with it or sit it out.
If asked last week, I might’ve been on Team Sit It Out, but ever since I’d made headway with Rafe and aired out some of our history, my chest felt lighter and my belief in myself felt stronger. Like I could do this. I could do my part to defeat this curse. Because I’d really only been half myself without Rafe.
Not that I had him, necessarily. There was still a lot we hadn’t discussed, but we were talking to each other. Giving each other the benefit of the doubt instead of automatically thinking the worst. And touching each other without wanting to rip off our clothes.
That was a good start.
Kenna unlocked the cabin and ushered us inside. I hesitated briefly at the threshold, taking in the worn and comfortable-looking couch, the steamer trunk that doubled as a coffee table, and the ultra-feminine pink daisy-printed curtains that couldn’t have come from Kenna.
It was cozy and charming and I didn’t want to like it. Especially because I knew how Galen felt about me. It had been an issue early on in his relationship with Kenna. And I hated that he, of all people, judged me when he knew what it felt like to be an outcast.
Regardless of whatever headway I’d made with Rafe, I still had to work with the other Wilders. It was clear that defeating this curse would take all twelve of us. And I had no illusions about that meaning six pairs working individually. We formed a chain. But I wasn’t ready to deal with them yet, not until Rafe and I had a more solid understanding of each other.
I stood in the center of the living room with my arms crossed, unsure of where to sit or what to do. While Kenna technically lived here, it was still very much Galen’s home. I felt like an unwanted guest. I’d never felt like a guest in Kenna’s home before. Thora—who was infinitely more comfortable in this space as someone who’d been fully embraced by the Wilders, even during the years she was gone—started the coffee maker.
Kenna stared at me for a moment, her brows pinching together. “Why don’t we go sit on the back porch. It’s a nice night or day or whatever the hell time it is.”
I nodded, grateful that she’d noted my discomfort without me having to say it. The backyard was a long open field of grass surrounded completely by the thick tangle of the forest. Tall trees cast their shadows over the flat expanse of land, and fireflies blinked in and out as they hovered in the air. Thora joined us with two mugs of coffee, handing me one with the exact cream-to-sugar ratio I liked without me even asking.
I felt a kinship with Thora instantly, one that hit me hard and that I hadn’t been expecting. I didn’t connect with other people easily. Maybe I would’ve if I’d grown up with anyone other than Kyle as my best friend, but those “what ifs” were things I tucked away and refused to dwell on, for fear that I might start screaming and never stop.
When Kenna asked me what had happened with Rafe while we were locked away, I didn’t hesitate to spill everything. I’d always been open and honest with Kenna. She’d always been more than family to me. But it surprised me how willing I was to be just as candid with Thora. As I delved into the whole ugly history between me, Kyle, and Rafe, Thora only watched with quiet, knowing eyes. Nothing that I shared surprised her in the least.
Kenna spun the string on her sweatpants around her finger. “It’s interesting, isn’t it? How the three of us have a history with men who wanted to own and control us.”
“We’re fire signs,” Thora said. “We’re meant to burn bright. There are small, insecure people in the world who see our light and are afraid of it. They want to snuff it out.”
“And those who don’t?” I asked. “The ones who stoke our flames and let us shine?”
A small smile played on Thora’s lips as her engagement ring glinted in the moonlight. “Those are the keepers.”
