“I’ll go in his place,” Waleron stated.
“No!” Balen and Edan said in unison.
Waleron continued, “Our law is to preserve our kind. If any are in need, we assist one another. Kilter needs Danni. She knows nothing of the Scars or our abilities. Balen can assist her.”
“He betrayed his warriors the last time. What makes you think he won’t do it again?” Edan asked.
Balen flinched.
“Because I say he won’t,” Waleron answered.
Edan glared at the three of us. “This is ludicrous.” He curled his hands into fists. “When does it end? He’s escaped his punishment too many times. We must put an end to this.”
Tor stood stiff, unblinking as he stared at Waleron. I wondered if they were communicating by mind, but both men revealed nothing with their expressions.
Tor gave one nod. “I will consent to this. But the gold bands remain.” He paused. “And you will go in his place.” The Wraith looked at Balen. “If you run, if you betray us, know that Waleron will no longer walk this Earth.”
Waleron gave an abrupt nod to Balen, and then, without another word, he disappeared into a cloud of mist.
“This is bullshit!” Edan said. “Waleron cannot remain in the realm.”
Tor half-smiled. “And why would you object, Edan?”
Edan sputtered for a moment and then vanished in a blinding fireball.
Tor looked at me. “Continue as you do and salvation will pass you by.” He looked at Balen. “Let nature guide you.” The ground shifted, and then he vanished.
I didn’t have time to think about the Wraith’s words as Balen grabbed my hand and we ran. He had his phone out of his pocket and was dialing before we reached the car.
Little was said on the flight back to Newfoundland; Balen spent most of his time on the phone with both Keir and Jedrik while I tried to sleep to ease my spiraling emotions. I’d heard nothing further from Kilter, and Balen couldn’t reach him on his cell. He was MIA and, according to Balen, that was what Kilter did best.
Once we landed, Balen stopped at a drugstore for ibuprofen. Since I’d died and come back to life, I kept hearing mumbled words tap dancing across my mind, undecipherable and growing worse whenever I was around people.
I swallowed two pills and chugged back my bottled water.
“Thoughts,” Balen said. “Those around you. You can hear what they’re thinking. You have to learn to block them out or it will eventually drive you crazy.”
“How come I can’t hear your thoughts?” I’d like to know what he was thinking right now. He looked tense, had barely said two words to me the entire flight.
“I can block you. Like telepathy. It’s like a live wire, disconnect it.”
“How?”
His gaze turned to me for a split second then went back to the road; instead of a frown, I got a scowl. Pleasant.
“Focus. Concentration. Meditation. Whatever works,” Balen answered.
It was my fault he was acting cold and distant. He didn’t deserve that, but the truth was we didn’t win this fight. “Balen. I said those things because . . .” I glanced at the gold bands around his wrists. They were a reminder of what awaited us. “I’m fighting, damn it. But us . . . we don’t win this.” I put my hand on top of the band and he stiffened. “It hurts. Seeing these. Knowing what will happen. It hurts so fucking much and I can’t stop it. I have to let go. I need to.” A tear escaped and rolled down my cheek then dripped onto my shirt. “And so do you.”
He swerved the car over to the shoulder and before I had the chance to do anything, he grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to face him. I winced as his fingers dug into my flesh.
His green eyes penetrated, and I shifted uncomfortably. “Balen, what—” Suddenly, his thoughts hit me and my breath hitched.
He was terrified. The drowning incident played over and over in his head. I heard his thoughts and fears of losing me, the one anchor in his life, the woman who made him laugh after years of having no one. How I made him feel whole. How I made him want to fight for me. For him. For us.
But what hurt him the most was that I’d given up on us, on him. I didn’t trust in what we shared.
And then . . . then I was encompassed by the love he felt for me. It was a powerful warmth surrounding me, a protective shield that refused to bend.
Just as suddenly as his thoughts flooded my mind, they were gone. He released my shoulders, put the car in drive, and skidded forward, all without saying a single word.
I was too stunned to speak. What could I say to a man’s inner most thoughts? He loved me and it was destroying him that I’d given up.
Could I let my heart be broken? Wasn’t it already breaking? What if we only had weeks, days, maybe hours left together? Would I regret spending our last days together loving or trying to protect my heart?
I closed my eyes. Balen would be taken from me. I was going to lose him.
My father never fought. Maybe it was time I did. For the both of us.
“Pull over,” I ordered. He ignored me and I put my hand on the gearshift. “Pull over or I’ll jam this BMW into park and let the transmission dump out onto the highway.”
Balen took his time bringing the car to a stop. He let it idle while his hands gripped the steering wheel.
“I love you.” There was no reaction from him as he stared out the windshield. “I’m not good at it. Shit, I suck at it.” I sighed then tucked my hair behind my ear. “My dad . . . he and my mom loved one another so much. They were inseparable, and then when my mom died, it destroyed him. He was never the same, lost in his own world until finally he couldn’t take it anymore and put a gun to his head.