Page 68 of Escape from the Green

I had needs.

Even if they were long denied.

Of course I had thought about her when she had come back one day a full grown woman, stunning in the way that would steal your breath.

It was a natural, knee-jerk response.

And of course I had a soft spot for her, this girl who had always tried to champion for me.

Gratitude, that was what Sal had called it, what I myself had called it for so long, something that only intensified when she helped me out of my chains.

But it was more than that.

If I was being honest with myself.

More.

Much more.

But I had needed to bury that. Because I had to leave her, I had to let her live the life she wanted while I went on and lived the one I had been denied for so long.

There was no chance of having her in my world, of having her around for more than the journey it took to get her where she wanted to be, where she was safe.

But everything had changed.

Sal was right.

I would have years, decades, longer if she decided she was happy with my kind.

The opportunity was there for me.

Whether she would want it too was anybody's guess.

But it was an option where it had never been one before.

I could wait.

For her to adjust.

For her to reconcile her feelings on this new world, with new connections.

To maybe see me as an option.

I was willing to see.

To wait.

"Oh, fuck this shit," Smoky growled, looking up at the sky, the fat white tufts of snow falling down around her hard and heavy. "How is it not spring yet? This winter has lasted my lifetime, I swear."

"We'll have fire to keep warm if we can find a cave or something to get out of the snow in," Sal reminded her, rubbing his hands together for emphasis, the air around them smoking at the warmth. "You know the area better than anyone else. We near anything?"

"The closest cave is at least an hour trek. We'll be soaked through by then. I think she's struggling already," she added, jerking her chin toward where Amy was huddled under a pine tree, one of her blankets wrapped around her shivering body.

Winter was hard enough in The Green. I imagined it was made harder still when your body wasn't given a chance to adjust to it, to go from the most brutal part of summer in the human realm, to the hardest part of winter in this one. Her body wasn't able to keep up with the changes.

"Is there anything enclosed?"

Smoky took a breath, looking up at the sky again, thinking. "There's a shack. I can't guarantee it will be empty. Anyone who comes by it when they need it, take it over."