Unmarked by Kami García

knew.
    “Why did my dad leave?” I kept my hand on the knob and my back to her. Asking the question out loud was hard enough.
    “It’s complicated, and it’s not really my story to tell. But if it makes you feel any better, he didn’t want to go.”
    I pushed open the door. “It doesn’t.”

A s I climbed the rickety stairs to the attic, the railing swayed. Or maybe it was me. After my conversation with Faith, everything felt off balance.
    The room didn’t help.
    Crossbows and rifles hung from metal hooks on the attic’s Peg-Board walls—along with knives, Tasers, chains, and a pickax. Another reminder of the war we were fighting.
    Jared sat on top of a sleeping bag in the middle of it all, with his elbows propped on his knees, staring out the window.
    Alara and Elle had claimed the remaining bedroom in the house, outfitted with a fold-out sofa hidden behind a wall of bundled newspapers. When I saw the sofa, I wondered if my father had ever slept there. Priest and Lukas ended up in my aunt’s great room, surrounded by her paintings. Theyseemed that to sense that Jared and I needed time alone, or they didn’t want to get stuck in the attic with the two of us.
    Seeing Jared sitting there with his hands clasped behind his neck, something he only did when he was worried or uncomfortable, reminded me how vulnerable he really was—and how well he hid it.
    He turned around as if he sensed me watching him, and his face broke into a smile. “Hey.”
    “Hey.” I smiled back and walked toward him.
    Jared pulled me down in front of him, and my legs slid into the empty space underneath his, leaving us barely a foot apart.
    “I can’t believe you’re really here.” His thumb ran down the side of my face, pausing to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. He lifted my chin, never taking his eyes off me. When his lips finally grazed mine, I felt it everywhere.
    A soft sigh escaped my lips as his hand slid around to the back of my neck. The next kiss was hungrier. Fingers trailing over my skin. Teeth tugging at my bottom lip. Hands tangled in my hair. I had forgotten the way the rest of the world melted away when he touched me.
    “God, I missed you,” he murmured against my lips.
    I nodded, unable to say the words. Because as much as I’d missed Jared, I felt damaged and broken in ways no one could fix.
    Jared held my shoulders gently and leaned away from me, studying my face. “You’re shaking. Did something happen?”
    “I’m just cold.” I tried to keep my expression unreadable.
    He wrapped his arms around me, heat radiating from his body into mine. For a moment, I let myself feel it. The warmth and safety I only felt with him.
    “I still can’t believe you’re here and I’m holding you.” He tugged me closer, burying his face in my neck. “I thought about you all the time, Kennedy.”
    “I tried not to think about you.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
    His shoulders tensed.
    “Not because my feelings changed.” Tears pricked my eyes. “Because it hurt too much. I—”
    “What?” Hope edged its way into his voice.
    I shook my head and closed my eyes.
    Jared pulled me against his chest, his heart beating fast. “Talk to me, Kennedy. You’re scaring me.”
    Tell him.
    “I was afraid I’d never see you again.”
    He stiffened. “You didn’t believe I’d come back for you.” Jared still thought he wasn’t good enough for me—that his mistakes eclipsed everything else about him. He didn’t realize I was the one who wasn’t good enough for him.
    Jared let his fingers slide down my arms. “You don’t know how hard—” He inhaled deeply. “It killed me to leave you behind that night. You were hurt, and I just walked away.”
    “You didn’t have a choice.”
    “Yeah.” He sounded disgusted. “That’s what I toldmyself, for about five minutes. Then I circled back to the interstate and hitched a ride to the closest hospital.”
    I lifted my head off his chest and stared