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I turned to look out the window and just begged myself not to cry. It worked. I tried to listen to them as they talked about an ambush and then packing up and leaving, moving somewhere else in the dead of night before their reinforcements showed up.

“They don’t know that we know they’re here, so we have the upper hand,” Franz was saying. “We need to move fast or we’ll lose it.”

“Enoch, you need to feed. We all need to be at our strongest.”

“I know that,” he growled. “I searched all night, but there was nothing. People in the rebel camp don’t fight, believe it or not. So I’m…going to have to think of something else.”

“Well,” Eli said carefully, “we have other Devourers in the camp. “There are people here that cater to their needs, to feed them. I’m sure someone would be willing to do the same for you.”

I snapped my gaze over to them and knew exactly what they were talking about. Enoch didn’t look at me, not at all. He nodded once and barged out the door with Franz on his tail. Franz yelled for us to meet everyone else in thirty minutes.

I went straight to the bathroom, grabbing the clothes Clara had given me to get dressed first. But all I could think about was Enoch getting fed from someone that wasn’t me. And then I remembered what he told me last night.

But you don’t want to feed from me?

No, Fay.

He had told me flat out that he didn’t want to feed from me. And just now, he told me flat out that the only reason he hadn’t left was because the Horde was blocking his way. And now he was going to feed from some other girl. I didn’t know why he had such a strong connection and hold on me, but I had to let this go. Yes, he saved me; yes, I thought he was…more, but he made it clear that for him, I wasn’t.

So I got dressed and
used Clara’s stuff in the bathroom to fix my hair and threw on a little bit of her makeup. I waited for Clara and Eli and then we met the rest of the rebels in the big tent for the meeting to discuss a plan of action. I didn’t let my eyes roam around, though I knew right where he was. He stood on the other side of Eli, not too far from us. And he kept looking back at me. It pissed me off, too. Why would he look back, why did he care?

They talked about sending a couple
of people over the long way around the river bank and catching them on the back side to ambush them. We’d be leaving in the early, early morning. When they dismissed the group, I was the first one to bolt from the tent. It was probably good that we were leaving. He would leave, too, and—

“Fay.” His warm, strong grip took my arm and turned me, not giving me the choice.

My mouth fell open and I glared at his hand. “What?” I snapped.

He clenched his jaw
, his fingers tightened. “I want you to stay clear of this. Just stay in the trailer, even if Clara gets it in her head to get involved. Don’t.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I’m not the hero type. That’s your job.”

“I’m not a hero.”

“Yes, you are,” I hissed and gulped. “You are a hero. You save people, over and over, and then when you finally bring them home
, you completely derail and act like a jackass who doesn’t know how to handle it.” I yanked my arm away.

He gave
an angry chuckle. “Jackass, huh?”

“You are the not the same person who was on that trip with me.” I leaned forward a lit
tle. “You want to leave and be in the next stolen car out of here like a coward, then fine. Because you’re not him anyway. I miss that guy. I miss the guy who helped me and made sure I ate enough and got enough sleep and put my feet in his lap when he thought I wouldn’t know about it.” He looked angry, but I kept going. “The guy who went into a building and saved complete strangers for me. The guy who got angry and told me not to…make him fall for me, and we never spoke of it again.” He gulped, looking so vulnerable. My no-crying rule went out the window and a sob caught in my throat. “I miss him and you’re not him! As soon as we got here, he was taken from me.”

I turned to leave but heard a loud bang. I stopped, but was yanked roughly, and before I knew what was happening, Enoch’s pained face was right in front of mine and all the puzzle pieces were coming together. I searched for the wound and found it easily in his chest. “No! Enoch!”

We stumbled to the ground on our knees. He groaned and used his fist to keep himself upright.

“Help!” I screamed. “Help!”

But then I was on my back under him on the ground and he was shielding me once again, looking around for more trouble, a horrible pained but determined look on his handsome face.

“Enoch, what are you doing?” He sighed and relaxed, giving me the indication that there was no longer any danger. He relaxed his weight on me before rolling off into the grass on his back
, his face drawn and his breaths labored. I sat up and leaned over him, still low to the ground. “Oh, God, Enoch.”

“It’s okay,” he said.
I shook my head and put my hand on his chest. “Fay, I’m all right,” he insisted.

“You’ve been shot,” I sobbed. “Oh, my God, no. It’s in your heart.” I cried harder. “No. You jumped in front of me. You took this bullet for me.” I looked at his face, so mad at him. “Why are you always being the hero!”

He chuckled and winced. “I’m not human, Fay. I’ll be fine.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to get shot for me!”

He tried to smile. I could tell he was enjoying this. “Sweetheart—”

“Don’t
sweetheart
me,” I scolded and sniffed. “You do these things and then blow me off, be a complete ass to me, and I…” He was looking at me guiltily, like he knew it was true. I sighed. “I guess I could scold you when you don’t have a bullet in your chest.”

The edges of his lips l
ifted. “I am an ass. We’ll…talk, okay? But this?” He pointed to his chest and the bullet hole. “I’ll be fine. You can’t kill a devourer like this. You can even break our necks and we won’t die. I’ll be fine. I saw the bullet coming and I had to stop it.”

“Speaking of,” I looked
over his chest across the river, “who’s trying to shoot me?”

He stuck his finger in his chest and dug the bullet out. I hissed
as he flicked it to the ground and watched him stand. He held his hand out for me and glared across the river as he pulled me up. He shielded me the entire time as he blurred me along the bank until we were hidden behind a large tree.

“Stay at the camp
. Go to the trailer like I told you.” He looked at me. “I mean it, Fay. I can’t be hurt, I’ll be fine, but you can. I don’t want to have to worry about you.”

He’
d never sounded so sincere, or looked it either. My hand was still wrapped in his from where he helped me up from the ground. I looked down at entwined hands, thinking he’d pull away, but he didn’t. He squeezed my fingers and lifted my chin. “Fay,” he growled in a whisper. “Don’t make me worry about you.”

“I’ll stay
. You’re not going over there by yourself, are you?”

“Eli’s human now. He’s useless,” he sneered and then remembered that I was one
, too. He looked at me. “Sorry. But when it comes to fighting our kind, a human wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“I don’t disagree with you.”

“I’m going to find Franz.” We looked around the grounds at people who were bustling about, trying to find the culprit, to see if anyone else has been hit. But there had only been one shot—one shot and it had been aimed at me.

I
gripped his fingers tighter. “Those people are looking all around for more shots, but there had only been one. And it was meant for me.”

“R
ight now I need to bust their heads for trying it,” he said harshly. He paused, waited, stalled—something—as he looked at me. He took the small step to close the gap between us. “When I heard that shot and imagined what would happen if you had taken that bullet instead of me…”

I let my confusion show. “Enoch,” I shook my head, “you hate me.” I laughed my words to keep from crying.

“I thought we talked about this,” he said quietly, a small private smile on his lips, “and we said that hating you wasn’t possible.”

“But the way you act goes a lot farther than the things you say.”

He nodded and gulped. I noticed that he did that so much. “I can’t be what you want me to be,” he whispered, anguished.

“I don’t want you to be anything but
what you are.”

He was back to looking angry. “What I am is a bastard. I am a bad guy who does bad things. You deserve a lot more than that.”

“Can’t you just avenge me now and we’ll talk about it later,” I said coyly. I smirked and hoped he took the bait. He laughed reluctantly and looked pained.

He rubbed his face, my hand still in his and he leaned forward. He kissed my forehead and once again I was aching for those lips to head south. “You are killing me…”

“Little human,” I finished and smiled. “I know.”

“And yet you still do it,” he muttered and smiled. “
You seem to be enjoying it.”

“Oh, I am.”

He chuckled before grabbing a passing man’s shirt collar. “Take Fay to Eli’s place. Make sure she’s safe inside before you leave. Got it?”

The guy nodded without question.
“Of course.”

Enoch
sighed as he walked backward from me, watching me like a predator watches his prey.

“I’ll be back,” he promised, but it wasn’t a sweet gesture, it was more like
a warning. “Be ready.”

“I’m ready,” I said. “Be careful.”

He grinned and pointed at himself. “Not human, princess. I’ll be fine.”

He turned to sprint, but turned once more and gave me a stern look, his chin dropping down. “I better find you at the trailer with Eli and Clara, or you will be in so m
uch trouble.”

I smiled, unable to help myself. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

He groaned and put his fist to his mouth. I laughed and held my hand up. “Okay. I’m going.”

I couldn’t help but feel like a million pound weight had been lifted off my chest as we walked through the trees, to give us cover, the guy said. He also said if anything happened to me that Enoch would rip his head off. I looked up at him and couldn’
t stop my intake of breath. He wasn’t human—that was obvious given by the fact that the irises of his eyes weren’t just white and almost clear, but swirling and alive. I tried my cover my discomfort and show him that I was…fine, I was just still adjusting. “What’s your name?”

“A
ries.” His voice was gruff.

“Like the God of war?”

He smiled and looked over at me. “Smart girl. It’s not spelled the same, but I like to think that I can hold my own in a fight.”

“You don’t have many humans here, do you?” I asked softly.

“No, not many.” He stopped walking and turned to face me. “We don’t have any that aren’t mated or bound to someone. That’s their reason for being here.”

“Bound?” I asked and stepped closer.

He smiled and the affection oozed from him as he lifted his arm. You can’t see it because you’re a human, but there’s a string on my wrist attaching me and my mate together.”

I grimaced. “Really?”

He laughed. “Yeah. I thought girls were supposed to eat that romantic stuff up?”

“It’s essentially a leash?” He laughed harder. “So she can’t get away, right?”

“No way.” He bent over a little, laughing, before giving me a look that said he thought I was adorable. I frowned at that. “Wow, you’re a tough cookie.” He paused, looking me over. “No. It means she chose me. Our kinds— devourers, witches, goblins,” he pointed to himself, “necromancers. We find someone that we want to spend some time with, and no one else, and they are our mate. It can last for a long time or a short time, but they are ours and no one else’s. But when the bond goes deeper than that, more than just lust and wanting, when it becomes…love, a bond can take place.” He held up his wrist again. “It looks like a vine wrapped around my wrist, kind of like smoke, and it flows all the way to my mate. I can find her anywhere and her, me. So she can never be taken from me or be lost. I’ll always be able to keep her safe even if I’m not right beside her.”

I thought about that. “That
is
kind of romantic.

He chuckled and bumped my arm with his elbow. “No
w you’re getting it.” He beckoned me along. “Come on. If I don’t get you inside soon, Enoch will murder me.”

“You know him?”

He scoffed. “Yes, I know him, but even if I didn’t, everyone knows who he is. The Thames brothers are devourer royalty.” I snapped my gaze over and he laughed. “I didn’t figure he was going to spill the beans about that.”

“But you are, aren’t you?” I coaxed and smiled sweetly.

He laughed loudly, his head leaned back. “Wow, you a mess, little human.”

I sulked. “Why does everyone call me that?”

He finished his laugh and then nodded. “Yeah, I’ll tell you. Because I like your spunk and I know that you want to know for the right reasons.”

“And what reasons are those?” I asked as I pulled a small twig from a bush to busy my hands.