Into the Fading Twilight (Starlight Grove, #2) (82)

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t live. I’m just saying that maybe you shouldn’t be taking off with Mav to take on whatever hairbrained scheme he’s come up with. Are you really so desperate for an adrenaline high?”

Nova’s gray eyes flashed—not with the kind of heat from last night but from anger. “You know it’s about more than that.”

And with that, she took off out the front door, the wood slamming in her wake.

Waylon let out a low whistle. “Well, you fucked that one up good and proper.”

I glared back at my great-uncle, but I really wanted to kick myself. Because he was exactly right.





CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE


Nova




YOU GONNA TELL ME WHY YOU’RE GLARING THROUGH The windshield like you suddenly got laser beam eyes and want to fry everyone in your path?” Maverick asked cheerily.

I let out a very unladylike grunt. “You gonna tell me what happened between you and Aster?”

Silence suddenly reigned in his SUV.

I sighed. “Sorry. Low blow.”

“Naw,” Mav said easily. “The Ice Queen just can’t handle how much she wants my body. Makes her cranky around me.”

Despite the levity, I could hear the tension wrapped around Mav’s words.

My gaze flicked over to him as he navigated the gravel road, his fingers gripping the wheel like a lifeline. Whatever had happened between the two of them had marked him. No … both of them.

“Your brother let his overprotective gene override his brain,” I said, giving Maverick the answer he’d been looking for from the beginning.

“Which one?”

“Which one do you think?”

Mav sighed. “Kol.”

I kicked my sneakered feet up onto the dash. “I love that you got it in one guess.”

“Well, that particular brother has the protective thing going in spades. If it helps, it only shows up for the people he cares about. Took Brae a few weeks to sneak under his defenses, but you had her beat.”

A little voice of doubt told me it was simply because Kol had been the one to find me. A more taunting voice told me that was the only reason he cared.

“I need to be able to really live,” I said softly. “Otherwise, what’s the point?”

Maverick was quiet for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was different than I’d ever heard it before. More serious. “Sometimes, you have to press the boundaries to know for sure you’re still breathing.”

My gaze flicked to him again. He stared straight ahead at the road and the forest beyond before turning into a parking lot. And then I remembered what Kol had shared with me. That Mav had been the one their father had almost killed.

It had to be a whole other sort of head trip, your father being the architect of your nightmares. At least my monster was a stranger.

Mav pulled into a parking spot. There were four other vehicles in the lot, but the time it had taken for us to get here told me this spot was more off the beaten path than the first place I’d tried.

“All right,” Mav began as he pulled our bikes off his rack. “The trickiest part of this trail is the beginning. I’ll lead so you can watch how I handle the drops and turns. But I want to map out the path with you. It’s a loop, but there are plenty of turnoffs that you don’t want to take.”

I nodded, following him over to a massive map printed on a wooden sign. He was right about all the different options for trails. It looked like a huge maze of paths.

“Basically, always stay on the center trail, and you’ll be good,” Mav explained, his finger tracing over the Meadow Peak Trail. It had a blue square for its difficulty delineation, meaning it was one step up from easy. “I’ll be within sight of you at all times, except for a few hairpin turns and drops. But just for a minute.”

“Got it.”

“Okay, not to court comparison to my overprotective oaf of a brother, but can we do an in-case-of-emergency check?”

I made a face at Mav that only made him laugh.

“I’m taking that as a yes. Water?”

I pointed to the bottle affixed to my bike.

“First-aid kit?”

“Thanks to your Boy Scout self.” Mav had given me a little one that attached to my handlebar.

“And you’ve got your phone?”

I nodded, patting the pocket on my leggings.

“Good,” Mav went on. “I would say you’re ready.”

I grinned back at him. “Let’s do this.”

He just shook his head. “I think you might give me a run for my money as the adrenaline junkie of the group.”

If he saw my cliff-jumping escapades, he’d know how true that was.

We donned our protective gear and moved to the start of the trail. It was one that split into three and would continue to divide as we went. The forest consumed it on every side, and the sun through the trees cast the area in an array of colors that reminded me how lucky I was to still be here, to be experiencing all life had to offer.

Maverick came to a stop at the top of the hill and looked over his shoulder, doing a silent check-in. I gave him a nod, and he tipped his bike over the edge.

My body was already humming, desperate for the release that would shove the anxiety and fear down. Because it had been ramping up again since my heated words with Kol this morning. As if he hadn’t worn me out last night, leaving me completely sated and spent.