105 | REDWOOD

We stayed in the woods for two nights. Part of me was glad for the respite from the horrors we had faced, and those I knew we were still yet to face, but a larger part of me just felt on edge. Like we were wasting time. Like we’d been here too long. Like… Like we were being watched.

But I needed Ares to heal, so I tried to tell myself that it was okay to wait. That we’d come back stronger after two nights of good rest. And I tried to tell him that, too – but he was even more restless than I was.

He cracked his knuckles on the second evening. Dad had taken Nana Baspy out to hunt with him, and Grandpa Attie was curled up a few feet away, sleeping in his wolf form.

Leant with his back against the broad trunk of a redwood tree, a cloak draped over his shoulders, and a beard starting to grow in past the point of stubble for the first time since I’d known him, Ares looked rugged and handsome and utterly, entirely fearsome. My stomach did a flip. With only Medic Flora for company, I shuffled