Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Erin quietly stepped out the door and shut the huge wooden barriers behind her. Then she sat besidethe doctor on the porch stair.

"I was going to wrap it pretty, the way girls like. Glittery paper and ribbon and fancy shit, but I need to tell you why I'm giving you this, and I don't write good."

"Okay."

He pulled a long knife from his belt, the blade gleaming in the sunlight. "I've made knives for all my Sweet young girls, and I know you like things that match." The doc swallowed hard and shook his head as he handed it to her, hilt first. "I wanted to make it small like theirs, but you have a big job to do."

"What kind of job?"

"I had a dream."

"About me?" she asked, her voice nothing but a shocked squeak.

"No," he murmured, leveling her with his wild eyes. "About her. About your job."

"Her?"

"He's going to ask you to leave, Erin. Don't go. Stay here. Fight. Fight even if you think it's over. Fight until you're dead. Fight until she's dead."

Erin stared down at the long, sharp blade of the knife in her open palms. He'd etched her tattoo into the silver near the handle and had carved J + E along the curve of the dragon's spine.

"Julian and Erin?" she whispered.

The doc nodded and ran his thumb under her eye. He frowned at the drop of moisture on the pad. "Soft powder witcher. Soft and full of tears. So soft you'll bring our warlock to his knees." He lifted that inhuman gaze back to her. "Save him."

Beaston stood and strode for a tree where a shiny, feathered raven sat on the lowest branch.

"Save him?" she called.

Beaston didn't turn around or answer. He simply held his forearm out for his Ariana to wrap her small talons around, and then he disappeared into the woods with his mate.

How could she save Julian from his own father? His own father! How could she save anyone? She was a sometimes-defective clairvoyant psycho seer—not a fire-breathing dragon and immortal vampire.

She wiped her still damp lashes on her shoulder and picked up the fine leather sheath that sat in the exact place the dov had. After sliding the blade safely inside, she clutched it to her chest and stared at the place the half-wild bear shifter had disappeared.

Erin felt completely helpless to fight against the force that was coming, but the doc had given her a twelve-inch blade and told her to do just that.

She'd felt a connection to the man from the first time she'd met him at the barbecue with the people in the Estates, but maybe her intuition of his brokenness didn't lie.

Perhaps the doc really was crazy like her.

"Have you seen him?" Erin asked Seb, who sat at the kitchen island, sipping a mug of steaming coffee.

Julian hadn't been in bed when she'd woken up an hour ago, and he hadn't shown up while she was readying for the day. And after searching all his favorite haunts in the house, he was still a no show.

"He's out on the terrace."

"There's a terrace?"

Seb chuckled and stood. He made a second cup of coffee and handed it to her. "I wanted to say something to you."

"Oh God, what did I do now?"

He laughed, and a blanket of relief slid over her shoulders. She wasn't in trouble then.

"You've done nothing but good. Listen, I know you didn't like me much for bringing you up here on false pretenses, and I wish I had a good excuse why I did it. All I can say is that you felt important. I went back to your file over and over for the last year, and I got chills every time I read it. And I want to say I'm sorry, but I also want to say I don't regret what I did." Seb canted his head and murmured, "You brought him back to life, Erin"

She took the offered mug of fragrant coffee from his hands and leaned onto the island. "I was really mad at you at first, but I already forgave you days ago. You brought me to Julian. You brought me to these mountains." She shrugged. "I get chills here a lot, too. The good kind. The kind where I feel like I am right where I'm supposed to be. So I guess what I'm saying is I'm glad you brought me here, and I'm glad you've been there for Julian. He's lucky to have a friend like you."

"We should come up with a crew name," Seb teased.

Erin snorted. "It needs to be badass."

"I'll get right on that."

"A pig, a powder, and a dragon warlock walk into a bar..."

"Don't finish that joke," Mason said, stifling a smile.

"The Pork Rind Crew."

"I'll take you to the terrace now."

And he did. Seb led her down past Julian's bedroom, down the dark halls with the old fashioned lanterns, down a narrow walkway surrounded by rock walls, and through a set of dark double doors to an opening in the cliffs. There were no windows separating the smooth rock floor from the woods below. And standing on the edge was Julian, a striking silhouette in his dark suit with his hands on his hips as he looked over his domain. He'd removed the bandages from his right hand, and from here, it already looked half healed, though scarred. More scars, and how many would his body bear before this was through?

Seb squeezed her shoulder and left her there.

The wind whistled through the opening, hard enough that it would likely blow her over if she got too close to the ledge, but Julian stood as if the wind did not affect him. As if he was part of the stone here. She couldn't even tell if he was breathing.

"You weren't in bed when I woke up."

"Were you worried?" he asked softly, though his voice sounded like gravel and was punctuated with a long rumble.

"A little," she admitted. He'd drawn into himself over the last week, and she hated that he was pushing her away. "I worry about losing you."

"You won't."

"No, I mean, I'm worried you'll push me away."

Julian turned slowly, his eyes glowing silver in the shadows of the cave terrace. "I..." He blinked slowly and turned his back on her again. "I think you should leave."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"It's not safe for you here—"

"It's not safe for me out there! Julian, you tried hiding your people before and it didn't save them. It didn't protect them. I'm staying here, with you. And your people. This is where I and my brother and my friend will stay. " Erin touched the knife on her belt just to reassure herself. She wore it everywhere now. "I understand why you sent the crews away. I do. But I'm not part of their crews, Julian. I'm part of yours. Don't send me away."

He huffed a single, humorless laugh. "I knew you'd refuse."

She approached slowly, wrapped her arms around his middle, and rested her cheek right between his shoulder blades. "Then why did you even ask?"

"Because I had to try, Erin." His hand slid up her forearm and rested against her hands, keeping her touch there, just over his heart. His voice rang hollow when he murmured, "This place feels empty without them."

She understood. He'd grown to care for the crews. The Ashe Crew and the Boarlanders. The Gray Backs and Kong's Lowlanders. They had become a part of Julian's mountains just as surely as the trees and forest animals.

"When this is all through, they'll be back." She hoped so because the pain and loneliness in Julian's voice had cracked her heart open.

"And what if it's never over? What if Marcus waits for years to come for me? To come for you? I'll miss their entire lives. I'll miss the babies growing up." Julian swallowed audibly and squeezed her hands as if her letting go right now would hurt him.

Shadows danced across the walls in the glow of the lanterns, and Erin cast them a frown. Restless ghosts, uncomfortable with this kind of talk.

Erin turned in her arms, and his lips crashed onto hers. These weren't the sweet kisses he used to tell her wordlessly that he loved her. This was allowing her to see the pain he was in. His lips were unforgiving as he deepened the kiss and thrust his tongue into her mouth. He let off a helpless sound and walked her backward. She gasped as her back hit the cold cave wall. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she bit his bottom lip and kissed him back so he could see how scared she was. He should see how determined she was to stay by his side despite that fear.

Something brushed her neck. A soft mist, like a tendril of fog, skittered across her skin, lifting gooseflesh. Erin jumped and pulled her mouth from Julian's.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Erin stood frozen against him, breathing heavily as something sat just above her senses. A vibration out of place, or a change in the wind. She looked to the lantern shadows on her left, and the shadowy figures that had been so restless before were melting into the walls. Julian followed her gaze as another tendril of air curled over her shoulder.

"Erin, what are they saying?"

There was a soft whisper of something. A word. So soft, she had to strain her sensitive ears. Fear pounded through her veins as she lifted her horrified gaze to Julian.

"Your ghosts are telling us to run."

A shadow covered the mouth of the opening, blocking out the sun, and Erin screamed as the massive head of a black dragon reached its long neck into the cave and opened his mouth. Rows of razor sharp teeth reached for them as the first clicks of a Firestarter echoed through the cliff opening.

"Go!" Julian yelled, shoving her toward the hallway.

Time slowed. Julian ran behind her, shoving her forward and shielding her with his back. She pushed her legs as hard as she could and screamed as heat blasted from behind them.

"Faster," Julian ordered. "Don't look back."

Flames filled the hallway just inches behind them and coming fast. She ran for her life. She ran for Julian's life because every instinct in her body screamed that he would never leave her to save himself.

Seb was there, waiting at the double doors. "Hurry!"

Erin's legs burned and gave out the second she passed through, and she watched in horror as Julian turned and helped Seb close the doors against the fire. Flames licked through the cracks, and Seb gritted his teeth in pain as the metal decorated bands on the door heated and turned red against his hands.

Erin looked down at her body. It was betraying her. The inner witch she'd always been able to rely on when she was scared was curled up in a ball in her middle, and her arms and legs were tingling as if they'd fallen asleep.

OH God. This was not good.

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