An ungodly amount of time passed after I returned to the flat to wait for Guy. At first convinced it would only be a simple reprimand and nothing more, I settled down on the couch in preparation for Guy’s return in but a few minutes—ten, fifteen, probably no more than twenty. When the half-hour mark passed and it became obvious that he wasn’t coming back, I started pacing the living room in the hopes that the exertion would calm my nerves, though that was hardly the case.
An hour later, I began to wonder if he was ever coming back.
After two, I gave up all hope.
I was laying out the couch, consoling myself with the fact that I’d avoided whatever circumstance had taken place, when I heard the door open and Guy walk in. His footsteps heavy, his sigh defeated, he closed the door just as I sat up to look at him.
“Guy,” I said, “what’s—”
His eyes silenced me.
The sadness was excruciating, the pain all too obvious.
Instantly, I was struck with a fear unlike anything I’d ever felt.
“Jason,” he said, his deep voice harsh and filled with emotion. “I have to leave.”
“What?” I asked. “Why—”
“And you need to stay here. You can’t come with me.”
There couldn’t have been a greater blow than that. Fists were one thing, the butt of a gun another. Even slamming into the railing only to flip onto the earth couldn’t compare to hearing a declaration whose power came not from the makeup of its words, but the sincerity in its speaker’s voice.
Conviction rang through Guy’s words.
Elliot Winters, founder and ruler of this central Texas Kaldr clan, had just excommunicated his one and only son.
Anything I could’ve said was lost on the breathlessness of the matter. Not one prone to fainting, I stumbled back and reached out to catch myself on the couch as I struggled to gain my composure, head spinning and chest heaving.
No breaths were going into my lungs.
I was hyperventilating.
Guy quickly came to my side and took hold of my face. Bowing his head forward, he closed his eyes and whispered softly under his breath.
Deep breaths, his lips said, though from his mouth I could hear no words.
I reached out and tangled my hand in his shirt, following his instructions to the best of my abilities. Eventually, the fog came clear of my head and with it the miasma returned in force. I managed to fight it back and took in a deep breath just in time for Guy to step away.
“What?” I gasped, white fog drifting from my lips.
“You need to calm down,” Guy said.
Crossing his arms, he centered his attention on me and waited for what I imagined he felt would be the best moment to explain what had just happened. While the bullheaded inclination to fight was there, I kept it restrained, knowing full and well that a man like Guy wouldn’t crack.
After several minutes, I lifted my hands and asked, “What’s going on?”
“My father says I’ve brought danger upon our clan by bringing you into our midst,” he said. “And because he would’ve exiled us both, I appealed to Amadeo’s better nature and begged him to let you stay.”
“That’s why you’re leaving?” I asked. “To protect me?”
Guy nodded. “You wouldn’t last out there, Jason,” he said, shaking his head. “All those people, all those cameras… the world would eat you alive, and there wouldn’t be any fucking thing I could do to stop it. So I did what any good man would do to protect the person he cares about.”
“By what? Making yourself a martyr?” He didn’t answer. He simply stared. “You can’t leave me here. I won’t let you.”
“There’s no point in you living your life in misery. You’re better off at the ranch—here, with the Kaldr, where you’ll be safe from anything that can hurt you.”
“I’d be better off with you!” I cried.
The tears I’d managed to hold back emerged. Blinding in their intensity, they slashed down my cheeks and onto the floor with such force that I could barely see Guy, but maybe that was for the better. The urge to run and smack the hell out of him for being so stupid was almost too much. At least like this I couldn’t see.
Guy’s silhouette remained in place before me—unmoving, not faltering.
I huffed out a restrained breath of air just in time for it to turn into a sob.
Guy stepped forward and took me into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, bowing his face into my neck.
“What’re you,” I started.
His lips pressed to my jugular.
My limbs seized up instantaneously.
I never meant to hurt you, his voice said inside my head. Don’t follow me, Jason. Please. Whatever you do, just stay here.
The constellation of crystals before my eyes weren’t the result of ice, I realized.
He wasn’t freezing me.
He was putting me to sleep.