JONAH

I can’t say I’ve ever been much of a fan of camping. My enjoyment drops considerably when I’m also having to wrangle a team of belligerent shadowkind.

As I lean against the side of the van, heating my canned pasta over the kerosene stove and missing the much more appealing dinner everyone’s no doubt having back at the school, Raze comes striding out of the woods by the short lane where we parked. He’s empty-handed, his tan skin unmarked, but there’s a feral quality to his gaze even with the green contacts covering his supernaturally dark irises.

Hail apparently picks up on even more of his vibe than I do. The lanky fae man pushes himself off the birch he’s been leaning against and makes a face.

“You stink of death. If you have to go off and hunt, can’t you clean yourself up properly afterward?”

The basilisk shifter glowers at him, his words coming out in a growl. “I have to eat, unlike some.”

Mirage springs between them, leaping and diving between the shadows with flashes of one or another of his bushy fox tails. “Track them down. Pounce so hard. They don’t stand a chance!”

As he continues his pantomime of the imagined hunt, both of the other shadowkind men take a step back. Hail rolls his eyes. “You’re just insane.”

“Nothing wrong with a little madness,” Mirage says cheerfully, and rolls to sprawl on his back with his arms folded behind his head.

The fae man returns his attention to Raze. “Isn’t there a stream or something you could douse yourself in? It’s not as if you bother with baths much anyway. If dipping into the shadows isn’t enough to clean you off, maybe mortal substances will.”

I suspect he’s making up his entire complaint. Even if fae noses are stronger than human ones, there shouldn’t be any trace left of any kind of physical material after Raze moves through the shadows. From what I know of the basilisk, that’s the first thing he’d have done after tearing into his prey.

Restraining a sigh, I open my mouth to tell him to back off. “Hail, we have—”

Raze beats me to the punch, bristling with annoyance. “If you’re so concerned about killing, you shouldn’t have frozen that creature we were following today.”

The twitch of Hail’s expression confirms how much the accidental murder bothers him. His lips draw back in a sharp sneer. “At least I’m not a savage, rending beasts limb from limb. How you ever think you’re going to integrate with humans when you’re exactly the monster they think shadowkind are—”

I scramble to my feet. “Men. Enough, all of you. It’s been a long day, and we’re doing what we each need to get by.”

Hail rounds on me. “Oh, fabulous advice from our intrepid leader. What have you contributed to this mission so far? Where’s the expert guidance we were supposed to be receiving?”

I’d like to take some guidance and shove it up the arrogant prick’s ass, but that definitely isn’t what Rollick sent me along for. “I’m offering you some right now. Simmer down, or the mission isn’t going to get anywhere.”

Raze shoots me a wounded look. “I wasn’t going to hurt him. He shouldn’t be lashing out at people if he can’t take a little criticism.”

You can criticize him all you want when we’re not in the middle of the woods trying to track down the source of the craziest shadowkind I’ve ever seen, I want to say, but I can only imagine how Hail would react to me seeming to take the other guy’s side.

Mirage simply kicks his legs in the air and laughs with delight, as if we’re putting on a show for his entertainment.

I hold out my hands placatingly, cursing Rollick for giving me this assignment—and myself for not having a better idea how to handle these clashing personalities after all my years at the school. The demon expected more from me than this.

“I’m not accusing anyone of anything,” I say as evenly as I can manage. “I’d just like to see tempers reined in rather than unleashed. You don’t have to sing ‘Kumbaya,’ but you need to at least tolerate each other’s presence.”

Peri emerges from the back of the van where she was experimenting with the convertible seats, seeing exactly how they expand into beds. She sets her hands on her hips, which are accentuated even more by the tight jeans and fitted leather jacket she’s traded her usual more girly outfits for.

“Hail was protecting us,” she tells Raze in a softly insistent voice. “That’s what matters the most.”

She aims her gaze at Hail next. “And if you don’t like how someone smells after they’re making sure they don’t starve, you could just give them a little more space.”

She walks over to Mirage and peers down at him. “And it’s not really fun for anyone when you laugh at people who are upset. In case you didn’t know.”

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Despite her gentle approach, the men all look a bit stunned. But at least it shuts them up. Peri has some kind of magic to her, even if most of her fellow students haven’t recognized that yet.

In the abrupt quiet, I motion toward the van. “I’m the only one who needs to sleep, so I’m taking one of the two beds. I think you should all give yourself some distance wherever you go in the shadows overnight. Hail, stick to the east side of the road. Raze, stick to the west.”

Hail’s lip curls. “You trust us not to abandon you, captain?”

I ignore his sneering tone. “I trust that you know I can call you back in like I did the first time if it comes to that. And if you run, that’s an automatic fail on the mission. If you wanted to get banished, you could have saved us the trouble and told Rollick that back at school.”

The fae man grimaces, but he knows I’m right on all counts. At least, I hope he does.

He stalks off around the other side of the van. Raze frowns and then vanishes into the shadows amid the trees.

Mirage peers at me with his ever-present mischief glinting in his eyes. “What about me? Where do I fit in?”

I can’t stop my voice from coming out dry. “I guess you could hang out on top of the van? I get the feeling you’d like having a wider view.”

Mirage laughs and jumps up, transforming into fox shape as he does. He bounds from the ground to the hood and up onto the roof with a patter of his paws.

I inhale slowly, hoping none of them could tell how rattled I was. Hoping my precaution will be enough to prevent any further squabbling in the middle of the night.

I’ve been driving most of the day. I could use my rest if I want to avoid guiding us straight into a ditch tomorrow.

As I lift the little pot off the miniature stove, Peri hunkers down next to me. She considers my meal as I stir it. I think I catch a slight wrinkling of her nose that she quickly hides. “Is that good?”

I guffaw. “Not really. But it’s easy, and it’ll hit the spot. We’re not out here for the fine dining.”

Well, I’m not, anyway. Raze might very well enjoy getting to hunt down his raw meat rather than relying on grocery store cuts. And who knows what kind of satisfaction Peri’s been getting from the miasma of emotions that’ve been flowing between our group.

She sits back on her hands, gazing off into the darkness of the woods while I gulp down my pasta. I can’t stop my gaze from being drawn to her.

It’s not just the appeal of her pretty face and her softly curvy figure, though both of those are plenty appealing. There’s a looseness to her stance that I haven’t seen before, as if she’s released some tension I hadn’t realized was gripping her.

She’s been trapped from the moment I dragged her into that cage with my sorcery, hasn’t she? Even at the school, as much as she’s clearly wanted to learn to control her powers, she was hemmed in by both the hostility of her classmates and the walls she wasn’t allowed to walk beyond.

I’m sorry that she was forced onto this precarious mission, but I’m glad she got a little escape from those restrictions. Maybe the experience will make it easier for her to adapt to the rules once we go back.

Assuming we find out what Rollick wants to know without the entire team falling apart.

Peri looks over at me and gives me one of her sunny smiles. My heart skips a beat despite my best intentions.

It’s hard to comprehend that a being made of shadows could contain so much light.

So much it can overflow to the point of burning.

Right now, the glow she gives off is only metaphorical, in the warmth of her expression and her voice. “You know, a lot of people boss everyone else around to make themselves feel good. Powerful. Superior, I guess. But you really do it because you want the rest of us to be happier and safer. I think that’ll make the difference, even if they don’t always want to listen.”

My voice locks in my throat. I shouldn’t be surprised—of course she can pick up on my emotions just as well as anyone else’s. And I’ve seen her try to reassure people in their insecurities time and time again.

But I’m not sure I’ve ever felt quite as seen as right now, with those bright blue eyes shining back at me.

There are other emotions I feel around her that every professional ethic says I have to keep under wraps. So when she reaches over to grasp my hand in a gesture of solidarity, I force myself to let go as soon as I’ve given her fingers a quick squeeze in return to show I appreciate her kindness.

The warmth of her touch seeps over my skin, kindling a deeper heat I don’t want to acknowledge.

“Thank you,” I say, keeping my voice totally calm. “I hope you’re right.”

“I know it’s made a difference to me.” She gets to her feet and glances toward the van again. “If the guys are sticking to the shadows, I’ll try one of those beds. I want to see what sleeping in a room on wheels is like.”

I let out a casual chuckle. “It’s all yours.” But as she walks back to the van, I can’t help wondering how much sleep I’ll be able to get after all, with her lying right there across from me all night.