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Sam’s next words almost dropped me to the floor.
“I’m already here, Alex.”
“You’re—here?” I could barely squeeze my voice out of my throat.
“About a block away from your house.”
I stared at Jake. “I’m not there.”
“Where are you?”
“Um, with Jake. Wait for me there—I’m on my way.” I ended the call before he could say anything else and shoved the phone at Jake. “He’s on his way to my house. Did you know?”
“I swear to you, I thought he was at our estate, talking to the trees. Told you it was isolated.” He glanced past me, flashed a pale version of his usual smile at Candace. “Coming with us?”
“I have class,” she said. I should have been scraping ice off my skin. “Alex, tell Sam I said hi. And to come in and see me. I’d like more current data for his file. If you don’t get rid of the headache soon, I want you to call me.”
“Okay.” I watched her stalk across the living room and through the doorway.
Jake pushed hair off his face, and let out a breath. “That went well.”
“I don’t know what your definition is, but she was beyond pissed.”
“I still have my head.”
“Got it.”
He held out his hand. “Give you a lift home?”
I walked past him. “Yes. But this doesn’t mean I’m not still mad. Because I am.” I heard him follow me out to the porch, locking the door behind him. “And the headache you gave me isn’t helping.”
“How long am I going to have to apologize?” That sounded like something he’d said more than once recently.
I bit back a smile, looked up at him. “We’ll take it day by day.”
“Hell.”
I wanted to laugh, but I held back. I was still mad at him, for treating me like an enemy who couldn’t be trusted, but I planned to give him a break. In a few days.
Jake held the passenger door of his black MG open for me. “Can we at least have a civil conversation on the way? Put aside your ‘pissed at me because I drugged you’ feelings?”
“I think I can manage it.”
I slid into the car, and immediately started thinking about Sam.
What will he do when he sees me? Am I supposed to run into his arms? Kiss him?
I couldn’t face him—I didn’t have enough time to prepare, to figure out how I was going to react, what I was going to say, what I—
“Stop obsessing, Finch.” I jumped at Jake’s voice. I had been so buried in my phobias I nearly forgot where I was. “You could be wearing a burlap sack, with a bag over your head, and he’d still be happy to see you.”
I stared at Jake, surprised by his—okay, not super helpful boost, but I got his point. Sam wanted to see me. Not my wardrobe, not my witty conversation. Just me. I’m pretty sure that scared me more. Yep—definitely just went higher on the nerves scale.
I still fidgeted all the way there, much to Jake’s amusement. And then I froze up when I saw Sam’s scarred SUV in the driveway. With Sam standing next to it. My heart started beating so hard it felt like it was in my throat.
Jake pulled in behind him, jumped out of the car, and grabbed him in a bear hug. I could hear Sam’s laughter. Oh, how I’ve missed the sound of it, the low, quiet rumble of his voice, the flashing smile that made my heart want to leap out of my chest—
“Are you going to sit there all day, Alex?”
I had obviously blacked out, because Sam was right there, next to the open door. Smiling down at me. And my heart did threaten to leap out of my chest when I saw the scar on his right cheekbone. New, raw, and still healing.
“Sam,” I whispered. Pushing myself out of the car, I touched his cheek, refusing to back away when he flinched. “How?”
“A long story. Can we go inside?”
“Yeah—of course.”
I wanted to smack myself, to snap myself out of the fog, to be the confident Alex who had kissed him without reservation. Limping, my head still pounding from the chloroform, I led the way up the porch steps and to the front door.
Jake headed straight for the kitchen. “I’m going to get something to drink.”
“Sure,” I said. “Just—make yourself at home.” The last part was only heard by the front hallway. And Sam. Swallowing, I turned to him—and let out a choked gasp when he yanked me forward.
He kissed me, like it had been years since he left. It felt like years. I wrapped my arms around his waist and just held on.
When we came up for air, he leaned his forehead against mine. “Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi.” I closed my eyes, taking in the scent of grass. The scent of Sam. I missed that as much as I missed him. I leaned back, and reaching up, I cradled his scarred cheek. He closed his eyes. “Tell me.”
With a sigh, he pulled away, and led me to the sofa. I was disappointed when he put space between us after sitting down. “I’m not sure you’ll want to hear this.” Well, that explains the space. “I had a misunderstanding with a water demon—”
“A what?” I knew very well what—it was listed in the haven guide I had hidden in my bedroom. But Sam didn’t know that. “Where did you meet a water demon?”
“In the Craster haven. It’s behind the castle ruins, on the coast. The haven has a kind of—shield, like what we walked through in Hyattown.”
“The wall of heat.” I’d wondered about that.
“Right. It hides the haven, and the occupants, in plain sight. And it’s close to a major city for supplies, while being far enough out that people won’t wander into it accidentally.”
“Sounds like you’ve been—busy.”
Something close to jealousy gripped me. I had known every aspect of Sam’s life since I was six. Now there was a huge span of time that I knew nothing about, and I felt—left out. Which was stupid. For heaven’s sake—he was in England all that time. And he had the right to keep secrets. We weren’t a couple or anything...
Okay—that last thought hurt. Because that was exactly what I wanted.
“Alex?” I snapped my head up at Sam’s voice. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Why do you think anything is wrong?”
He smiled, and pointed at the sofa. I lowered my gaze—and realized my hands were clutching the edge of the cushion. “I missed you, too.”
“Sam—” I didn’t get to finish whatever I planned to say. Sam kissing me again blanked out my mind.
“You kids done saying hello?” Jake leaned against the doorway to the dining room, a bag of chips in his hand. My salt and vinegar chips. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
I stood, angrier than I expected to be. “Drugging and kidnapping me gave you an appetite?”
“What?” Sam did exactly what I hoped—he went straight for Jake. Petty, I know, but I was still mad, and Jake invading my home like it was his own set off my temper. The chips hit the floor as Sam grabbed him and slammed him against the wall. “You did what?”
“Hey—I was—” Sam choked off his excuse by wrapping one hand around his throat. Jake finally got that he was serious.
“Hurt her again, and I won’t let go until you’re dead.” I jerked at the threat, and pushed to my feet. This had gone farther than I expected. Much farther. “Nod if you understand.”
Jake did, and doubled over when Sam let him go, coughing and fighting to breathe.
“Sam.” This new, violent side scared me, enough that I stayed out of reach. “He didn’t hurt me. He just—made a bad decision. Please.”
Please don’t kill anyone because of me.
The anger faded, leaving behind the Sam I knew and adored. But the visual of him choking Jake would take a long time to fade.
“He doesn’t deserve your protection, not after attacking you.”
“That was random and you know it.”
I had just been in the wrong place, looking for a misplaced backpack. I was still glad I had been the one to face down Jake as a Fenris Wolf, because I managed to survive it. Some kid sneaking into the abandoned McGinty house on a dare from his friends might not have.
Sam narrowed his eyes. “What did he want?”
“To talk. Granted, kidnapping me wasn’t the best way to get my attention, but he’s not going to do it again. He promised Candace, and he needed my help. I probably wouldn’t have listened if I’d been able to walk away.”
“And what does he want from you?”
I crossed my arms, not all that happy with this new, assertive, violent Sam. “He wants me to help him find whoever took Katie and the boys.”
“Absolutely not.”