Chapter 68: Just what we need now

Four days later, we left the cabin.

I didn’t want to go. If I truly was a person who got her own way all the time, Rafe and I would have stayed in that cabin, by ourselves, for the rest of our lives. I would have lived in grateful contentment, asking for nothing else.

But I knew Rafe needed to go back. He had to assure his grandparents that he was alive and well, and he wanted to be part of ending Mallory Jones and her Hive once and for all.

Rafe seemed to know how I felt about leaving, though. He was kind to me those last days, even as I could feel his growing anticipation of being back at Carruthers. We made love each night, but it was beginning to feel like goodbye to me. Even so, Rafe stayed close, pulling me into his arms at random moments; I fought the temptation to push him away in preparation for the hurt I knew was inevitable once we got back to Florida.