Was he crazy? “I totally have to do this, Cade.”
“You don’t,” he repeated firmly. “You got Rory back for us. You’ve already done enough.”
“We may have him back, but we still have no real answers. If I can help provide some, I want to do it.”
He said nothing, jaw clenched tight.
“What’s this about?”
He blew out a long breath. “You look like you’re about to fall over.”
“Gee, thanks.”
His eyes narrowed. “How many visions have you had today?”
“Um…” I chewed my lip.
Too many.
My mind felt stretched too thin, too far, like an elastic band about to snap.
“Yeah,” he muttered, reading the answer on my face. “That’s what I thought.”
“I can still do it. One more won’t kill me.”
I didn’t think so, anyway.
“You’ve had a long fucking day, Imogen. You’ve been beaten. You’ve tracked miles through the woods and marsh. Your clothes are damp with mud. And you’ve been pushing yourself to the limit, mentally.” He shook his head. “The rub of it is, I’m the one who asked you to do it. But I can’t help feeling guilty as hell, knowing the toll it takes on you.”
He was worried about me.
“Honey,” I whispered, sliding my arms around his waist. My head was tipped up to hold his anxious stare. “I’ll be fine.”
“You say that, but you don’t know what it’s like — watching you go limp when a vision hits you.”
“It’s only for a few seconds.”
“Yeah. A few seconds of not knowing whether you’re going to come out of it. A few seconds of pure fucking terror, wondering how the fuck I’d carry on with my life if you didn’t.”
God, that was sweet.
I couldn’t speak around the lump in my throat, so I pushed up onto my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his in a light kiss. It was meant to be light, anyway, but he kissed me back — deep, wet, delicious — until we were both breathing hard.
“I’ll come back, Cade,” I told him.
“You promise?”
I nodded. “I promise. Because, for the first time in my life, I have something worth coming back to.”
His eyes flared with emotion.
Then, he took me by the hand and led me down the hallway, into Rory’s room.
* * *
I fell asleep on the ride home from the hospital, slumped over in the passenger seat of Cade’s SUV. I was so worn out, I didn’t wake when the engine turned off. Or when the driver’s side door opened. Or even when a strong set of arms scooped me out of my seat and carried me up the dark front path, to the house. It wasn’t until Cade’s boot hit the porch that my heavy eyes finally blinked open.
“Are we home?” I murmured, still half-asleep.