Page 23 of Raze
I climb up the lattice that’s mounted on the ground and stretches up to the roof. It’s a single story, so it doesn’t take me long to pull myself up there.
Jackson watches me like a hawk, unblinking. Like a predator staying completely still so as not to frighten its prey as it hops by without noticing the danger lying in wait. I suddenly want to know what he’s thinking. Where do his thoughts go when he’s up here, all alone? And what does he think about when he’s looking at me like he wants to devour me?
My entire body heats under his attention. Natural instinct tells me to run; to hide when he’s looking at me like this. But there’s a rush of adrenaline by defying it.
I’ve also never had anyone look at me the way he does.
I have his undivided attention. Me, the girl everyone forgot or left behind. The worthless failure.
But I don’t feel like that when his eyes are on me. I feel important. Special. Powerful. Because while he’s a danger to the rest of the world, I know he would never hurt me.
I scoot next to him, wrapping my arms under my thighs and then nudging him softly with my shoulder. “What are you doing all the way up here?”
Jack flips a throwing star above him and catches it between his thumb and finger. “I’m on lookout.” His voice is low and calm, but cold. Detached. It didn’t used to be that way on the island, but whatever happened to him since then has changed him in more ways than one.
“Are we expecting them to find us here already?” We’ve been here two days, and only Aiden has left to buy supplies from the small town we’re in. We are technically still in the city, but this town was here first and was absorbed by the city once it was built. A little forgotten town out in the woods and just far enough away from the city center to not hear the traffic.
It’s hard for me to sleep with so much quiet. Thankfully, Aiden bought us all clocks with radios for our rooms, so I crank the volume up for background noise, and it’s been enough to lull me to sleep.
“Not here, no. I have traps set in a perimeter that I’m keeping an eye on if anyone gets too close.”
“From here? Can you see them up here?”
He smirks. “No. But I don’t rely on sight as much as everyone else.”
I frown, confused over that. Then how…?
“I can hear it,” he answers my unspoken question. “If any of thetraps are triggered, they’ll make a sound that I’ll hear on the wind. It doesn’t work if I’m too far away or if I’m too distracted. But I can carry the sound to me if I know where I’m looking.”
“Jack, that’s…amazing. I didn’t realize you could do that with your gift. You’ve really mastered it, haven’t you?”
His smirk sharpens to a razor point. He tosses the bladed star up and then flips his hand palm up while keeping it aloft. “These are mostly parlor tricks. I’m nothing compared to the man who taught me this.”
“That Thorne guy?”
“Mm. Thorne. I learned control from him. I can control the air around an object or a person and use it to move it as I want. Or even sounds and smells on the breeze. That’s it.” The throwing star flips and dances in the air above his hand in twists and turns, spinning faster and faster until it shoots into a tree like a bullet from a gun. “Thorne is all about power. He can command the wind itself. Use it to cut you. To trap you. To steal all the air from your lungs.”
Kellan had mentioned something like that when his name had been brought up before, but I thought he’d been exaggerating. How do you stop someone who can stop you from breathing?
Jackson peers at my expression, and his smile softens. “Don’t worry, little one. I’ll never let him hurt you.”
My smile mirrors his. “Right back at you.”
His blue eyes darken. I swear, if he were a wolf, he looks half a step away from gobbling me up right now. I think he likes that I fight. He wants to protect me, but it’s also more than that. The look he’d given me after watching me kill Joe, the kiss…
Maybe he likes to see me shine and win, even if that looks like me fighting and killing the bad guys.
Kellan would rather hide me away and out of danger. Aiden wants me to obey his every command and stay out of the way. Dane, well, he seems to have a foot on either side of whether or not he wants me alive.
Jackson’s inner monster sees mine, and we revel in each other’s darkness rather than hide from it.
I stare at my hands and think of my gift. Or curse, really. Others can use theirs for good, but nothing good can come from a power that just destroys everything it touches. How can I heal or help people by breaking things? “Now that you know what happened with Vera, has anything changed?”
His head tilts to the side. Like a dog when hearing a strange noise and isn’t sure what to make of it. “Why would it?”
I feign nonchalance with a shrug. “I wasn’t sure if the story matched up with your trust in me.”
He makes a small huff, more a puff of air than a laugh, then takes one of my hands in his. “I’ve said this before, but you didn’t believe me then. There is nothing you can do that will change my mind about you. You are perfect for me, in every way.”
