Page 110 of Shadows Within

“Alright, alright, I’m just saying hi.” He puts his hands up and backs away.

“Jeez, the guy can’t leave you alone for ten minutes.”

Dinner was amazing, as usual. The guys are on dish duty while I go over to the wine rack in the pantry and grab another bottle of wine. Harrison and Callum won’t have more than a glass with us, but Stirling is always up to split a bottle.

Stirling puts away the last of the dishes while Harrison and Callum hang up the dish towels, then walk outside to the back deck.

“Everything okay?” I ask Stirling.

“Yeah, just Society stuff.” He replies.

It seems like more than that.

“Have you seen Sophia?” He asks as he looks down the hall.

“Yeah, I think she just went to change.”

He follows her around like a lost puppy most days, but lately something has been different between them—something more real. I hope she knows she can always talk to me about it.

I go to one of the guest rooms Callum and I are staying in and throw a sweater on. I look out the sliding door. Callum’s back faces me while Harrison leans against the railing.

It looks like they’ve stopped talking, so I open the door and go outside.

“What are you guys doing out here? It’s freezing!” I rub the sides of my arms and cross them.

Callum smiles at me like I’m the only thing that matters.

“Hey, you.” I say and walk over to him. He wraps his arms around me and the noise in my mind fades.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you.” His voice shifts.

“Oh?” I can’t help but worry.

“There’s been a change within The Society, something we didn’t see coming.” His face scrunches, almost like he’s in pain. “Victor Roberts is the new silent leader.”

I gasp. “What does that mean?”

He looks down at me. “It means that your safety is guaranteed and that’s all that matters.” His jaw stiffens.

I know there’s more that he isn’t saying.

“Callum, what does that mean for you?” I watch his face for any reaction.

“It means that we’re going to have to change the plan. We’re going to be closely watched now.”

“Oh.” Their original plan was to bring The Society down from the inside and change the direction it’s headed. His face remains stoic.

“Callum, what aren’t you telling me?”

“It means that they own me, Angel. It means that I have to play by their rules, for now.”

I rub his arm. Callum can’t be tamed, but he will suffer to make things work. He’s not only doing this for himself, he’s doing it for everyone that they’ve hurt. All the women that have been abused, all the lives that they’ve taken. I grab his hand in mine, and we walk back inside. Everyone sits at the table. Callum’s words replay in my head.

He’s lived through the trenches of hell, and now he needs to go against everything he’s been trying so hard to change. Callum needs me now more than ever, and I’m not going anywhere.

Although we’ve already survived a war, something worse is coming, I can feel it.

I look to Sophia, who looks over her shoulder at Stirling, he’s already lost in her eyes.

The darkest battles are always fought in the shadows… and some shadows never fade.

The End.