Page 43 of Bold Mercy

“We’ll be all right.” It was the best I could do.

“Yeah.” And there was a smile in his voice.

I got off his arm and lay across his chest, resting my chin on my folded arms as I gazed at his face. Somehow, he seemed different to me. Just a little, but different.

“Why are you frowning?” he asked.

“You seem different to me.” I hesitated. “Something’s different.”

He pushed a strand of my hair behind me year. “Maybe it’s you.”

Suddenly and for no good reason fear blasted me so hard that I gasped, jerking away from him and sitting up, a hand to my chest. “God,” I whispered.

He sat up, his stare sharp. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” I told him, and my voice was full of tears. “Something’s wrong, Jared.”

He was already out of bed, yanking on his pants, then stepping into his boots, not even bothering with a shirt as he ran for the door. “Get dressed,” he said, but at the door, he stopped, strode back to where I stood trembling at the foot of the bed, and grabbed my shoulders. He kissed me hard, his fingers bruising my flesh, and then he turned and was gone.

For a few seconds, I was too tired, too hurt, too everything to actually move.

“Something bad is coming, Kait. I guess you know that.”

“Let it come. Worse things will be waiting when it gets here.”

I ran to my room, cleaned up as fast as I could, and dressed. I put on my badass along with my clothes. I couldn’t let fear rule me. I wouldn’t.

Something bad had arrived. I would be waiting.

And I would be something worse.