Page 25 of This Blood that Bonds Us

An eeriness of cold and silence made me eager for a distraction. All the nerves in my body were still firing. I locked the cabin door, like that would help anything. Aaron had disappeared up the stairs to a small loft with a skylight, a floor-length mirror, and a smaller dresser. The only light was a dim table lamp. I flipped on the small space heater built into the wall and sighed in relief when the sound wasn’t too shrill.

He’d already made the bed and was admiring the quilt in his hands.

“My brothers used to have this quilt on their bed, and we passed it down when they graduated. It was soft . . . softer than this one.” His eyes stayed fixed on the fabric.

He was still in his snow-caked boots and jacket, so I pulled it from his shoulders to hang.

“Come on. Lay down with me.”

After the longest day of my life, all I wanted was to feel him close. I hoped it would help thaw him and free him from his mind. Usually, I needed the distraction.

We nestled into bed still dressed. I pulled him to me so hard the threads of his T-shirt ripped. He was so warm. In the midst of all the change, he was still my heater. I wrapped my arms around his torso, and he pulled me in tight, kissing the top of my head. Clinging to him, I interweaved my body with his till we were fully entangled.

My body slackened and my nerves settled.

“I thought the sun would be up by now,” Aaron said.

“There are long stretches of night here. The sun will come up late and only stay for a few hours. Remember?” I’d noted it on our journey through Alaska the last few days. He’d probably missed a lot of it with the bloodlust.

“Oh. Right.” There was a long silence, and I peeked over at Aaron observing the sky with careful diligence. Something was brewing in his eyes.

“Kim . . .”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to find them.”

“I know.”

He shifted to look at me. “No. I’m not going to stop until I find them. Even if it takes the rest of eternity. I’m going to do it.”

In the lamplight glow, his irises burned with determination. I’d never seen it so starkly in his demeanor before.

“I believe you.”

He squeezed me. “But it’s going to be dangerous.”

“I know, but everything we do is dangerous.”

“Not like this. This is different. It’s like I’ve been cracked over the head with something I should have figured out forever ago. I can finally see it clearly. All the things my brothers went through—the fear and the hopelessness. After everything in the church, I thought I understood it all. I let them continue to take the burden and protect me . . . because they were there and always made me feel safe. But now that they’re gone, I know the danger was there all along, and the way I feel now is the way they’ve felt their entire lives. It’s not fair.”

“I know.”

“Maybe it should have been me and not them.”

Even the thought of it made me cringe. I didn’t want to imagine not having my arms around him where I knew he was safe.

My fingers clenched. “If they’d have taken you, you’d be with Her right now.”

There was no doubting it. He would’ve never been able to overcome his need for blood. My stomach soured as I imagined a beautiful woman running her hands over his bare chest and leaving kisses over his neck. I wasn’t the jealous type, but the thought alone had my heart racing.

“You’re right. Maybe this is how it was supposed to be. And now it’s my job to save them. They really think no one is coming for them, Kim. And that thought alone makes me want to run and find them even though I have no idea where to start looking.”

“We will. We’ll find them.”

“I don’t know if you should.”

“You really think I’m letting you do this on your own?”