CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The desert night wraps around us like a velvety shroud, stars prickling the sky with icy light. We stand in the shadow of an ancient mesa, the sandstone radiating the day's heat, even as a chill begins to settle over the land. Jake's eyes, glowing faintly with that otherworldly sheen particular to our kind, meet mine.
"Thank you," he rasps, his voice rough like the terrain around us. "For saving me."
His words are simple, but they carry the weight of unspoken gratitude. I shrug, pretending it was nothing, that my heart isn't racing from more than just the exertion of our escape.
"Anyone would have done the same," I say, but even to my own ears, the lie is brittle.
Jake steps closer, and I can smell the wild scent of him, pine and earth and something indefinably da
