Discovery at Nerwolix (14 page)

“What do you mean ‘went there’?”

“Probably to screw,” he shrugs. “Said it
runs right through the mountains… so if the Vermix land on the
opposite side, on the Nerwos’ territory, they could still sneak
in.”

“It’s some good info.”

“Could’ve told me tomorrow,” he leans
in.

“Reid…” I whisper against his lips, holding
him by his shoulders, “I… maybe we should take things slower.”

“There’s that word again,” he presses his
brow to mine, his mouth curving into a smirk. “You sure
everything’s okay?”

I nod, biting my lip. I want to say it
again, right now.
I love you.
Over and over until I explode
with it. Until it’s the only thing I know how to say, the only
thing I can feel.
I love you. I love you.

I love you, Reid
.

“Did you want to stop?” he whispers against
my lips.

“No.”

“Then tell me when you want to
slow
things,” his hand slinks down my bare leg, all the way to my ankle.
Goosebumps flush, my heart pounding hard in my chest but Reid
kisses me softly, his fingers trailing up my shin and toward my
knee, moving in a torturously slow exploration that has me
trembling. I bend my leg, bringing my knee up and Reid backs up. He
brings his mouth to my kneecap and kisses it just as gently. Eyes
closed, he moves to the inside of my leg and trails his lips
higher.

“Reid…” I breathe. “
Wait
…”

“Here?” he kisses my thigh. “You want me to
slow here?”

I bite my lip.

“Good choice.”

“I want to ask you,” I blink, trying to
focus on something other than his mouth. “I wanted to know…”

“Whatever it is…” he kisses higher up my
thigh, sending me into blazing dizziness, “yes…”

“Are you still in love with Allison?”

The words are out of my mouth before I can
stop myself. Reid pauses, his lips inches from my skin. “Okay… not
what I was expecting,” he withdraws, sitting back on his heels.
“Where uh…” he runs his hands through his hair, “where did that
come from?”

“You never talk about her,” I sit up, my
heart in a racing panic. I know it was probably the worst time to
ask, but without saying the words to him in a way I want, they
slipped out in some form. “…Sorry.”

“No…” he rubs the back of his neck. “It’s
fine. I just…” he exhales, staring at the red bedding. “Uh… we
dated for four years…through most of high school.”

“You were high school sweethearts?” I
choke.

“Uh… sort of. Allison was friends with my
sister—she was actually friends with the entire family before we
started dating.”
My heart breaks with each word, but I focus on the positive, on
some new information about Reid. “What’s your sister’s name?”

“Amber,” he smiles. “And my brothers are
Adam and Avery.”

“You have
three
siblings?”

Reid nods. “I’m the oldest. Then it’s the
twins—Adam and Avery—and Amber’s the baby.”

“Big family,” I grin, my heart splintering
when I think of him never seeing them again. “I’m sorry,” I gulp,
wishing I hadn’t said anything. “I shouldn’t have brought it
up.”

“No—it’s fine,” he runs his hands down his
face. “I wanted to tell you about them at some point anyway. And
you?” he looks up. “Big family?”

“Just me and Granny Ruth,” I wrap my arms
around my legs, bringing them to my chest.

“No siblings?”

I shake my head.

“Thanksgiving must’ve been so quiet.”

“You’d be surprised.” My mouth drops to say
something, but I’m not sure. What else do I say? After a long,
nervous gulp, I keep my words soft, quiet. “I’m sure they miss
you.”

He nods, all humor gone. For a long moment,
he stares at the bedding, concentrating on something difficult,
something he really has to figure out. It takes a long moment, his
eyes traveling somewhere. He starts unexpectedly, still focused on
the red linen. “It was them I was going back for, not Allison. I
love her,” he inhales, still staring at the red linen, “but Adam
and Avery and Amber…I took care of them. They looked to me to
handle things,” he inhales, playing it over in his head. “I
promised that after I came back from Russia, we’d start planning
the wedding.”

I gulp, wanting to ask a million things, but
unable to form any of the words. It was four years ago. Four years
of not knowing. With a deep breath, I force out a question. “You’re
curious, aren’t you?”

“Every day. Sometimes… sometimes I want to
go back, just to check in on them. See what they’re doing.”

“You think maybe after all this….maybe
Sampson could…”

“I don’t know. I try not to think about it,”
he gets off the bed.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I lean
forward, watching as Reid slowly paces. “To see your family. You
know that, right?”

“Until I want to talk to them. Explain why I
can’t stay.”

Technically
, he can.

But he won’t.

“Hey…” I whisper, getting off the bed and
moving for him. I slip my hands in his and he stills. “Hey...” I
comfort, keeping my word soft.

Reid rests his forehead on mine,
concentrating on my lips. “They think I’m dead. That I died in that
plane crash,” he closes his eyes, pained. “They’ve moved on.”

“No, they haven’t. They’ve just… said
goodbye.”

“And I haven’t,” he turns away from me.
“Maybe it’s better this way.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I gaze out
into nothing, preparing myself for the pain of what I’m about to
say. “Maybe you should’ve gone back.”

Reid whips around. On his knees before me,
he takes my hand in his. “Fallon, no…” he gulps. “I told you. There
was no choice. Yes,” he nods, “I’d been planning to return home,
but the second I really considered living without you… I’d be dead
if I went back. Married to Allison, I’d dream of you every night,”
his eyes shift between mine, scorching me with pain, guilt. “What
kind of life would that be?”

My heart pounds in my chest, the magnetic
heat overtaking every powerful inch of my body. I can’t hold back
anymore—when he says those things to me, when he looks at me like
he is now, like he’d lay his life on the line for me, how could I
not? How can I keep the words in?

“I love you, Reid.”

He closes his eyes, inhaling. A lump rolls
down his throat and he brings my hands to his lips, gently kissing
my palms. “I know what you want to hear… and I
do
…” he opens
his eyes, locking onto mine. “I
do
. More than you know…”

“I’m not…” I bite my lip, watching as he
presses his lips to the inside of my thigh again. Licking my lips,
I try not to drown in this melting dizziness. “I’m not… there’s no
pressure. I just…” I nearly spasm as his mouth inches higher,
“…wanted you to know.”

“I’m glad you told me,” he whispers.

“Reid?” I pant, lost in a fiery rush.

“Yeah baby?” his lips suction a small
section on my thigh, just inches from my demanding core. It stings
only slightly and in the most delicious way. Finally he releases
me, his hot breath nearly sending me over the edge. “There. One to
match your neck.”

“My neck?” my hand flies to my throat.

“What?” he laughs, crawling up my body,
flattening me to the bed. “They’ll see that one… but only
I’ll
know about the other,” his brows wiggle, eyeing the
hickey on my thigh. “Right now, that’s my favorite spot on
you.”

“Your favorite spot?”

“Oh yeah,” he eyes it again with a wide
smirk. “That’s my spot. And every time Walker starts running his
mouth, I’ll be thinking about it.”

“Romantic.”

“What?” he continues up my chest. “I’m
allowed my happy thoughts.”

“I’m glad I’m one of them.”

“Oh baby,” Reid brushes his lips against
mine, pinching my chin, “you’re all of them.”

“So this is the beach,” Walker waves his arm
to the cascading shore. “Nothing fancy—your typical surf and sand
and what-not,” he moves closer to the water. “The Zingfinolds don’t
use it recreationally. In fact, they rarely come down here.”

“Why not?” Pratt asks.

“Too exposed.”

“So they never go for a quick swim?” Mae
frowns, eyeing the deep blue. “Seems like a waste. It’s so
beautiful.”

“Then why did they claim it?” Pratt
asks.

“It’s the southernmost tip of Nerwolix’s
land mass. It belongs to the Zingfinolds by default.”

“Does King Thias have a beach up in the
north?” I dip a toe in the cool water.

“Couldn’t tell you. But this is the only one
down here and it runs about half a mile in both directions.”

Arms crossed, Reid stands next to me,
focused on the distant blue. “There’s a good possibility they’ll
land here.”

“Possibly…” Walker shrugs. “And they’ll meet
little resistance.”

“I thought Hozfin was widening the
perimeter?”

“But all the way out here?” he shakes his
head. “He’ll go as far as a mile out of the city.”

“And that’s what they’ll be expecting,” Reid
frowns as he gnaws on the tip of his thumb. “He needs to have the
beach covered too.”

“Well good luck convincing him.”

“He needs to have
all
bases covered,”
Reid inhales, surveying the shore, something ticking behind his
eyes. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t start here. It’s open, and
they’d have automatic ground—good to push forward into the
trees.”

“If they
do
invade,” Walker says,
“Hozfin is set on protecting the city. He figures if they come,
they’ll ambush there. Wants to keep his men close to home.”

“More reason to stop them out here.”

Walker shakes his head. “Hozfin thinks he’s
already wasting time sending troops around the southern perimeter.
Might even pull some back and stick them up in the mountains.”

Reid runs his hands through his hair,
aggravated. “That’s a terrible idea.”

“Why?”

“You think they’re only going to come from
one direction? If Reuzkimpart’s bringing an army, he’s going to
spread them out; choke us.”

“We’ll be suffocated,” Tucker says.

“Exactly,” Reid nods. “If we’re going to
survive, we’ll need to plan offensively.”

“Hozfin thinks he is,” Walker sighs.
“
This
is his offensive plan—kill any who come near.”

“That’s
defensive
,” he rolls his
eyes.

“It’s what he does.”

“Well, it’s not going to go well if he
doesn’t arm this beach. I’m telling you,” Reid points along the
shore, “this is their best bet. Reuzkimpart will have plenty of
Vermix positioned around the city, but he’ll bring his strongest
force here.”

“How do you know?” Walker crosses his
arms.

“Because that’s what I would do.”

A long moment passes as we all stare down
the open shore. The waves softly crash onto the white sand,
bringing fragments of ocean with them, depositing rocks and broken
shells along the smooth beach.

“But will this be declaring war on
Nerwolix?” Mae breaks the silence, looking between Reid and Walker.
“Or will they be searching for traitors? Like they claimed in
Mybyncia?”

“This will be war,” Reid says. “Reuzkimpart
must know by now that
we
know what they’re after,” he nods
to himself. “He knows he’ll have to deal with the natives while
they search… but oh man… this is going to be
epic
.”

“That’s if this even happens,” Walker
narrows his eyes. “Nothing’s certain yet.”

“It is,” I say. “I heard Reuzkimpart talk
about the invasion.”

“But you were out of it,” he turns to me.
“You might not have heard what you thought you did.”

“Are you calling her a liar?”

“No…” Walker looks at Reid, apparently
unfazed by the tone. “I’m saying she was in a shitty position she
shouldn’t have been in. Who knows what her condition was when she
overheard it?”

“I’m telling you,” I strengthen my voice. “I
heard them. It’s
happening
.”

“Possibly… but we won’t know until we
do.”

Reid looks like he’s about to snap, but
Tucker cuts him off. “What else are we looking at?” he hooks his
hands on his hips. “The mountains?”

“It’s a bit of a trek,” Walker looks over
his shoulder, back into the trees. “But we’ll be there in a half
hour or so if we keep a good pace.”

“Then let’s get a move on,” Jace grins,
taking the lead as he directs us away from the beach and inward,
toward the lush Eckles.

Reid takes my hand in his. We follow behind
the girls and the rest of the Rogues, keeping as far from Walker as
possible. Every few minutes I glance over at Reid, finding his eyes
cast on the ground, deep thoughts building behind them as he
contemplates something. When he catches me looking at him, he
either winks or brings the back of my hand to his mouth and kisses
it. And every time, there’s a little flutter in my chest that sends
fire to the root of me.

The journey takes a little more than a half
hour and we mostly move in silence, taking in the green terrain.
It’s layered with Eckles and thick halos of their plump lime Yulu
leaves that make navigating a bit of a chore. But Walker leads us
around the lush edge and eventually we come upon a rise in the
landscape. The green ground grows high, forming massive mounds that
tower above the trees.

“Over there,” Walker points to the narrow
brown middle that forms a sort of valley between the green
mountains on our left, “that’s where Tucker and I had to go for our
second task.”

“Wow…” Pratt breathes. “This is
far
.”

“Yeah,” he glances up, surveying the sky.
“Just be on the lookout for Ludins. They’re not known to prey on
our kind of meat… but those talons will kill you if they catch
you.”

“Do they come this low?” Mae ducks.

“Naw,” Able grins next to her. “They mostly
stick to the mountain tops.”