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We say nothing as we spread everything out and start to eat. That’s hard for me, because I’m a talker.

“Are you sure you’re not a pod person?” Cove asks, taking a bite of a chip.

“Huh?”

She chuckles. “You’ve been nothing but a chatterbox outside my door for days, now nothing.”

“Umm.” I grin. “I guess you’re right. Well...”

And then I’m off, talking about everything and anything. Mostly stupid, dumb things, but it makes her laugh, so I keep going.

By the time we’re done eating and everything is put away, the sun is long gone, and we’re cloaked in darkness.

Cove lays back, leaning her head against the pillow as she looks up at the stars. “I love stargazing,” she comments.

This, I knew. We’d do it every night that summer we spent together. All of us just cuddled up, Cove in the middle as we watched the night sky. It was always after we fucked, just lying there in post sex bliss.

“After you left...” Her voice softens, hardly audible. “I’d go back to the train tracks. I knew you wouldn’t be there, but I still brought a blanket and lay there, looking up at the stars.”

My heart hurts. We left her—not by choice—but knowing she was here, alone, hurting for us makes me feel like I’m drowning in guilt.

“I knew it wasn’t safe to keep doing it, not after nearly getting attacked by a bear.”

“What?” I balked.

“I was fine,” she chuckles. “But just to be sure, I started laying the blanket out in my backyard and watching from there. After my grandparents died, I was forced to grow up, to get a job of my own. I was an adult, and had no time to do the things I used to love to do.”

“That’s not true. You can do all of that now,” I tell her, reaching over to brush some of her hair behind her ears. She rolls her head to the side and smiles.

“Thank you for this, for today. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” she murmurs.

We stare at one another as long beats of time pass between us. I can feel the connection we had; it burns bright, so strong it nearly knocks the air out of my lungs. “You came back,” she whispers.

“We came back.” I nod.

“I didn’t think you would.” She closes her eyes.

“We always planned to. I’m sorry it took us so long.

Her eyes open again, and I see it. That fight inside her, the one that tells her to fight us, is starting to fade. Soon, it won’t be there anymore. I just have to wait.

“Shepherd.”

“Yeah?” My fingers brush against her cheek.

“Why are you covered in blood?” she asks, raising a brow, the corner of her lip lifting.

I burst out laughing, shaking my head. “You see, there was this guy...”

I tell her all about the guy and what I did to him. She doesn’t look at me with fear, doesn’t look at me like I’m crazy. She just laughs, smiling with this blaze of heat in her eyes.

This is why I know she was meant to be ours. She didn’t run from our crazy, she was drawn towards it.

I could be myself around Cove and not feel judged. That's why I plan on doing anything and everything to win Cove’s heart. To make her want to never leave us.

Chapter Twenty

Cove