Grayson jumps to his feet, the flannel falling into place again, towering over me.
Whatever the next step will be, it won’t be as simple as going home. Home isn’t safe for us or for our families right now. Not when we still need a cure. Not when he’s made it clear we’re in this together now, so wherever he goes, so do I.
He jerks his chin toward the door and follows me into the kitchen. My stomach gives an ominous rumble.
When was the last time I ate?
But when Grayson finds a yellow tin can of coffee and holds it overhead like a trophy, I forget about the emptiness in my gut.
“Score!” I clap my hands.
He gets the coffee going while I scour the fridge. There isn’t much on the shelves besides a box of baking soda. I have a bit more luck in the cabinets, finding a half empty box of protein bars and some trail mix.
I toss a bar to Grayson once he gets the percolator bubbling and ignore the strange tension seeping into the room.
“I’m thinking we’ll head to the witch’s house. I’m not sure if they managed to escape the vampires or any other moon-mad wolves. Maybe they made progress on research and development while I was…when the…” I trail off.
Grayson grins softly. “You don’t have to finish the sentence.”
He gives me an out, if I need it.
I sag with relief. “I think we need to check on them first. They’ll probably know where we can go. Somewhere safe.”
Grayson bites into the protein bar and grimaces. The taste might be bad but it’s what we’ve got, and something is better than nothing. He stares a little too long over my shoulder, chewing, lost in thought until his eyes go unfocused.
Or listening to something, someone, that isn’t there.
“Grayson?”
He snaps out of it and swallows. “Yeah. Sounds like a good plan to me.”
My brows furrow. “Does your head still hurt?”
“A little dizzy but it’s nothing I can’t handle. It’s just hot in here for me, I guess.”
“Then you better look for ice for your coffee.”
He shrugs out of the flannel and goosebumps line his skin.
We don’t talk much as we sip the coffee from two beat up tin mugs. Normally I’d hate the awkwardness of moving in silence with someone I barely know.
With Grayson, there’s comfort in the quiet.
My heart beats a little too quickly to relax but if Grayson notices, he says nothing.
I pull in a deep breath and chug the coffee I cooled with a little bit of tap water, walking out of the kitchen toward the door we’d locked against the wolf.
With every step I take, with every step Grayson follows and the floorboards vibrate, there’s more opportunity for him to notice how I can’t stop stealing looks at him.
By the time I undo the lock on the front door and step out onto the porch, I shudder with nerves. “Fuck. He shredded through the wood.”
Grayson cuts around me to the claw marks around the door and window. Siding reduced to sawdust scatters across the porch. Deep grooves draw parallel lines where the moon-mad wolf tried to get in and failed.
It’s terrifying. But it’s daylight.Maybe we’ll be okay.
“I still don’t understand why it took off the way it did,” I whisper.
Grayson shakes his head. “Who the hell knows? I’m not going to look too closely at it because it’s gone and it didn’t get in.”