“Whoa,” I say. Wilder was getting stronger, more in control.
Noah’s gaze meets mine. “There was one good thing about that moment when Odin seemed to take over. I saw things in his head. I saw how to use some of my powers.”
I rub the tears from my cheek. “Good. He might have thought he was screwing you over, but you just figured out that you don’t need him at all.”
Aiden comes and kneels beside us. He puts a hand on Wilder’s shoulder. “I’m glad I didn’t have to kill you.”
Wilder gives a humorless laugh. “Me too.”
“What the hell do we do now?” Van asks, and there’s an exhaustion in his voice that tugs at my heartstrings.
“We get Reid cleaned up. We eat, and we rest. No one ever needs to know about this. When the godslayers get back, they won’t find any of the gods have taken us over. They will suspect…but they won’t have any proof. And then we focus on our classes and training.”
“Smart,” Wilder says.
My gaze catches his. “And we need to talk. It seems these gods are going to play on our weaknesses, so we all need to know what they are. And we need to work through our shit, before it consumes us.”
He looks down at Reid.
I reach across and place my hand on his. “You should have told me.”
He shakes his head slowly. “I didn’t want you to see me the way I see myself.”
“Nothing could ever change the way I see you.”
He looks up again.
Aiden sighs. “One day, I’m going to punch these damn gods.”
Van says slowly, “We might be able to do better than punching them.”
I glance at him sharply, and he says, “Once we have Wilder comfortable, we need to talk about the gods. We might be able to kill them after all.”
Wilder lifts Reid into his arms, and I stop him. Drawing the creepy-looking ring from his finger, I wince at the horrible wound it left behind. Wilder tries to heal it, but when he draws his hand back, he frowns and shakes his head. The wound? I guess even a god couldn’t heal it.
I put the ring back into the box and cautiously take the box with us. Whatever the ring is, the last thing I wanted was for it to fall into the wrong hands.
I can’t even imagine if someone dangerous was able to see the gods inside us, and just how powerful they are.
Now that would be bad.
Chapter Eighteen
Wilder
I’ve done everything I can to help Reid. The color is back in his cheeks, and he’s just resting, sleeping deeply now. I know he’d make fun of me for being a weirdo, but I can’t tear myself away from his bed. I almost hurt him so badly. I could’ve killed him, and the only way they pulled me back from the edge…
My jaw clamps, tension tightening every muscle. Now Izzy knows my weakness, and I know she would never mean to hold it against me, but it’s still embarrassing. I’ve gone my whole life trying to hide the fact that my own father despises me.
“Hey.” Izzy’s voice is soft in the doorway as she comes into the room. She runs her hand across my shoulders, then sits beside me. “Everyone else is out there, eating Beth’s stew and war-planning.”
“Yeah.” I hesitate, chewing my lower lip. “Maybe you should go without me and Reid. I can stay here and watch over him, and I--”
“No,” she says, her voice firm, and I glance at her in surprise. She leans her head against my shoulder, and the shift in her attitude from stern to affectionate surprises me. “We need you, Noah Wilder. Back on the horse.”
I snort. “Clearly, I need you.”
All of them.
“Yeah, no kidding.” She raises her head from my shoulder, her eyes widening with exasperation. “We all need each other.”
“You don’t seem like you need anyone,” I said. “You were amazing without us and--”
“I was lost without you, you idiot,” she says, without any rancor. Her hands run up my shoulders, and I wrap my arm around her waist, drawing her into my lap, pulling her close to me. I can’t believe we have her back.
“You’re too good to me, Iz,” I say softly.
“I’ll call you an idiot any time you want,” she promises, and I almost laugh.
The curve of her ass across my lap, her weight as she leans into my chest, the soft, honeyed scent of her perfume, all those things make me feel like I can’t be as worthless as my father and Odin made me feel. Because she loves me.
Her palm slips across my cheek, holding me still as she presses a kiss to my lips. The two of us trade kisses back and forth, things heating up, until I hear the shift of the mattress.
Reid stares at us, his eyes wide.
“Oh shit.” I break away from Izzy, almost dropping her onto her ass.
She throws back her head and laughs.
“You are such a smooth operator,” she teases. “And here I was always so jealous of all the girls back--”
I groan and grab her tight against my body, covering her lips with mine to shut down that line of conversation. I don’t want to think about the other girls I used to distract myself from the way I missed Izzy.
“It’s a big house,” Reid says in exasperation. “Why don’t you do that somewhere else? Why in my room?”
“I was worried about you,” I say defensively.
“It looked like you were worried about Izzy’s tonsils,” Reid grumbles, scrambling up to a sitting position, but then he slugs my arm. “I’m glad you’re back, Wilder.”
“Thanks for looking out for me.” My eyes are drawn to the wounded flesh of his finger.
“It was nothing,” he lies, slipping his hand under the comforter, as if he knows exactly what I’m staring at. “I’m fine. Let’s go deal with these vamps.”
“You are not fine,” Izzy says in exasperation. “You were--”
She breaks off. No one wants to point out what Reid just survived--barely.
“Speared,” I say, since she won’t.
“And then healed, by my incredible best friend.” Reid throws the blankets to one side. “Come on, Wilder. Don’t be a wimp. Let’s go find some fanged fuckheads and ruin their night.”
As he pulls a t-shirt over his head, he heads for the door.
“Why are you like this?” I demand. “It makes it very hard to feel sorry for you.”
“That’s the point,” he calls back over his shoulder.
I sigh. I thought we were going to take the night to recuperate. I’m still reeling from what happened earlier. But maybe Wilder and Izzy are right.
Back on the horse.
The five of us sneak off campus. Van has a car stashed down the road, and I shake my head as we pile in.
“What?” Van asks, his tone mock-aggrieved. “They want to send me to a reform school, I’m going to deserve to reform.”
“That’s exactly what worries me,” Reid mutters.
“You’re still the good geek deep down,” Aiden says, slapping Reid’s shoulder.
Reid pulls a face. There’s something bothering him.
“Let’s get done before the godslayers come back,” Van says. “Then we’ll stay on campus and be good little gods.”