of that power—weakened as it already was.
The vampire-poison was already trying to encroach on these weakened areas. I tried to throw up some shields, but I literally had no power left.
At the moment, Donovan was more Magical than I was. I didn’t even have that spark that every Ordinary carried with them. My reserves were completely drained.
It was going to take some time for them to build up again.
Which meant that I had to be careful climbing down that cliff. There would be no last-minute soft landings or swift healings of twisted or broken anything.
“Actually,” Donovan said, startling me into opening my eyes again. “I was thinking, for our next date, we could just stay in.”
“Good idea,” I agreed. “Leaving the house is far too dangerous.”
I sighed, knowing that I could put this off no longer. I scooted toward the edge of the cliff and felt for a toehold in the stone.
One down. About a million to go. At least, that’s what it felt like.
At least we were climbing down this time. Climbing down had its own challenges, but at least gravity was on my side.
As long as it didn’t get too eager to ‘assist’ me down.
I had a hunch, that when this climb was over, I was never going to think of climbing as ‘fun’ ever again.
Chapter Nine
We made it halfway down the mountain before my adrenaline completely wore off and I literally collapsed as I was trying to climb over a fallen log.
I knew I should have gone under that one. I had been overly ambitious, thinking that I could just hop over it.
“This looks like a good place to camp,” I announced, leaning back against the log. We were at a spot where three different fallen logs had made a sort of shelter—all we needed were a few layers on the ground and a layer over the top and we’d be nice and cozy.
We just needed to get a fire going.
‘We’, of course, meant Donovan.
He didn’t seem to mind at all. He used his camping knife to find dry branches to sheer off of our fallen tree-comrades and started piling together some dry tinder, from under the logs where the rain hadn’t drenched them.
I liked watching him build the fire. Like everything in his life, Donovan was quietly efficient at this. He didn’t make a fuss or bother about it; he just put together a fire with no fanfare or stress.
That was Donovan—never drawing attention to himself, never taking credit when it was due. He was that person on the team who secretly pulled everything together while the flashier people always got the credit.
It seemed he liked it that way, for some reason. He didn’t have to wear understated clothes and hairstyles that minimized his charms—he did all these things on purpose, knowing he could make himself forgettable.
Invisible, almost.
But out here, he wasn’t that person—his hair stood on end, mussed from camping and running his fingers through it whenever he was thinking about something. He looked sinfully good in his jeans and long-sleeved shirt.
But there was nothing flamboyant or loud about his charm.
Maybe that’s why I loved him so much. He was a closed book—one that I could only read piece-by-piece, a line here, and a line there. He didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve.
But he didn’t have it locked away, either.
He was just…
Donovan.
“You’re staring at me,” he teased, crawling into our makeshift shelter to huddle under a blanket with me. His hands were so cold that I had to stifle a yelp when they touched mine.
“That’s because you are very handsome,” I told him. “I find you making a fire to be very sexy.”
Donovan kissed me quickly on the lips. Even that small touched warmed me up inside. “I’ll have to remember that for the future,” he teased, digging into his pack. “Do you want some jerky?”
I made a face, but took the piece he offered me. I knew we both needed to eat something—we’d been working hard all day and I, in particular, had used up enough calories to
The vampire-poison was already trying to encroach on these weakened areas. I tried to throw up some shields, but I literally had no power left.
At the moment, Donovan was more Magical than I was. I didn’t even have that spark that every Ordinary carried with them. My reserves were completely drained.
It was going to take some time for them to build up again.
Which meant that I had to be careful climbing down that cliff. There would be no last-minute soft landings or swift healings of twisted or broken anything.
“Actually,” Donovan said, startling me into opening my eyes again. “I was thinking, for our next date, we could just stay in.”
“Good idea,” I agreed. “Leaving the house is far too dangerous.”
I sighed, knowing that I could put this off no longer. I scooted toward the edge of the cliff and felt for a toehold in the stone.
One down. About a million to go. At least, that’s what it felt like.
At least we were climbing down this time. Climbing down had its own challenges, but at least gravity was on my side.
As long as it didn’t get too eager to ‘assist’ me down.
I had a hunch, that when this climb was over, I was never going to think of climbing as ‘fun’ ever again.
Chapter Nine
We made it halfway down the mountain before my adrenaline completely wore off and I literally collapsed as I was trying to climb over a fallen log.
I knew I should have gone under that one. I had been overly ambitious, thinking that I could just hop over it.
“This looks like a good place to camp,” I announced, leaning back against the log. We were at a spot where three different fallen logs had made a sort of shelter—all we needed were a few layers on the ground and a layer over the top and we’d be nice and cozy.
We just needed to get a fire going.
‘We’, of course, meant Donovan.
He didn’t seem to mind at all. He used his camping knife to find dry branches to sheer off of our fallen tree-comrades and started piling together some dry tinder, from under the logs where the rain hadn’t drenched them.
I liked watching him build the fire. Like everything in his life, Donovan was quietly efficient at this. He didn’t make a fuss or bother about it; he just put together a fire with no fanfare or stress.
That was Donovan—never drawing attention to himself, never taking credit when it was due. He was that person on the team who secretly pulled everything together while the flashier people always got the credit.
It seemed he liked it that way, for some reason. He didn’t have to wear understated clothes and hairstyles that minimized his charms—he did all these things on purpose, knowing he could make himself forgettable.
Invisible, almost.
But out here, he wasn’t that person—his hair stood on end, mussed from camping and running his fingers through it whenever he was thinking about something. He looked sinfully good in his jeans and long-sleeved shirt.
But there was nothing flamboyant or loud about his charm.
Maybe that’s why I loved him so much. He was a closed book—one that I could only read piece-by-piece, a line here, and a line there. He didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve.
But he didn’t have it locked away, either.
He was just…
Donovan.
“You’re staring at me,” he teased, crawling into our makeshift shelter to huddle under a blanket with me. His hands were so cold that I had to stifle a yelp when they touched mine.
“That’s because you are very handsome,” I told him. “I find you making a fire to be very sexy.”
Donovan kissed me quickly on the lips. Even that small touched warmed me up inside. “I’ll have to remember that for the future,” he teased, digging into his pack. “Do you want some jerky?”
I made a face, but took the piece he offered me. I knew we both needed to eat something—we’d been working hard all day and I, in particular, had used up enough calories to
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