Page 80 of The Midnight Frequency

She didn’t notice me at first. I was reasonably sure if she had, she would have found some excuse to duck back into the station to ignore me.

I hadn’t been prepared for the warm, spreading sensation in my chest at the sight of her.

“Oh.” She jerked back, her eyes going round, then guarded.

“Eventful night,” I observed as I started walking. She was left with no choice but to fall into step with me if she wanted to go home.

It was late, nearly early, and there was a quiet hum of a city not asleep, just trying to rest between shifts.

Fog caught between streetlights like smoke as the air filled with the familiar scents of wet concrete, burnt espresso, and the ocean considering reclaiming everything.

“You really shouldn’t walk me home.” Maggie’s voice was small as her gaze tracked a mostly empty city bus ambling past us, the tires letting out a soft hiss on the wet streets. “It’s practically early.”

It was.

I felt the dawn approaching before I saw it. All vampires did.

It lingered at the edges of our awareness, a pressure building beneath the skin, an instinctive warning system.

My gaze flicked toward the horizon.

Not long now.

“Silas?”

“I’m aware,” I told her and kept walking.

She walked silently half a step in front of me, allowing me to watch her without her noticing.

The mist caught at the edges of her hair, making a halo effect under the light. My hand itched to reach out, to smooth my hand down the strands, to tuck them behind her ear, letting my fingers linger on her neck. Then maybe—

“Silas.”

Maggie’s voice sharpened suddenly. Panic flashed across her face as her gaze jerked past me toward the street.

I turned.

The sky beyond the buildings had begun to pale, dawn bleeding soft gold through the low Seattle clouds.

I’d lingered too long.

Been too distracted by thoughts of her to notice my own instincts screaming at me to seek shelter.

“Get in here.”

Maggie ran up the steps, her hands shaking as she fumbled with her keys.

I reached out, plucking them from her fingers, and unlocked the door for her.

I felt the heat, the burn at the back of my neck.

Maggie’s hand gripped mine tightly enough to stop me short. The contact jolted through me as the panic in her expression hit me harder than I realized it could.

Fingers lacing through mine, she dragged me inside and slammed the door just as the thick clouds parted and a beam of light shafted through the streets, lighting the space we’d just been standing in.

“Oh my God. Oh my God.” Maggie panted, her hand flying to her chest. “How are you not panicking?”

“I believe you are doing enough for the both of us.”