CAINE’S P.O.V
As a child, there were monts that shaped who I was—monts that defined .
There were two of them for .
One was the day a boy had asked why I didn’t have a dad. I was four, I’d asked my mum and she just burst into tears. After she cald down, she explained that so children just didn’t have dads. It wasn’t easy to understand as a child, but as I grew older and she told about him, I did.
The second was when I told Trent who I was. He’s just laughed and he said he knew. All those years, he knew and he didn’t give a shit.
I’d grown up without a father present, but that only seed to make his presence loom more. No one gave a shit about who my mother was, all they cared about was the bastard who’d gotten her pregnant.
"You can stop hovering," I told Nadine as she walked past the kitchen for the third ti in the past five minutes. "I’m fine."
She sighed, deciding to give up her sleuthing and walked in. I watched her over the rim of my mug as she leaned against the counter, her hands crossed over her chest.
"I’m just worried about you," she admitted. "You haven’t said a thing."
"What do you want to say, princess?"
"Tell what Solomon said."
I snorted. There was no way in hell I was doing that. She was already worried, there was no need to rile her up even more. Besides, I could handle Solomon. He seed like the kind of person who was all bark and no bite. He liked the have control over people but I’d make sure he learned that I wasn’t the kind of person who could be controlled.
"Rowan," Nadine frowned, waiting for to speak.
I put the mug down and walked over to her, letting my lips brush against her forehead. Just like that, her shoulders sagged and she leaned forward, resting her entire body weight on .
"Forget about Solomon."
She started to pull pack in protest, but I didn’t let her. I easily picked her up and walked us into the living room.
I sat with her in my lap, expecting her to pull back, but to my shock, she didn’t, she just nuzzled closer to , her hair brushing against my nose.
She slled like the soap in the bathroom—earthy and soft, like jasmine. I ran my fingers through her hair, marveling at how much it’d grown out since the first ti I saw her.
"I wonder if I should cut it," she drawled and I turned to her sharply. "I only started keeping it long because of my mum. I saw a picture of her had long beautiful hair. It was so coily and big. I always wished my hair was like that."
"And now?"
"It just seems practical to cut it," she shrugged. "We’re going to be out in the woods and I don’t want it to get caught in anything. I also don’t really know how to take care of it except to put it in a braid-"
"I do."
She went deathly still in my arms. I turned to her, wondering if I’d said sothing wrong only to find her staring at with her eyes wide in disbelief.
"You can braid hair?" she asked and I nodded.
"I grew up with my mother. I used to help her with her hair when she had," I hesitated before finishing, "bad days."
I could tell she wanted to ask more about those bad days, but sothing in my eyes must have stopped her because I saw her nod. It was barely noticeable, but it was there, a silent acknowledgnt.
"Could you braid my hair for tonight?" she asked instead, effectively changing the subject.
"What’s happening tonight?"
"A monster was sighted. Edith and the other girls are going to hunt it."
I humd.
I wasn’t worried about her leaving. Nadine could handle herself and in the off chance that she was in danger, I knew that Jennifer would keep an eye on her, I’d make sure of that. Besides, even if I wanted, I couldn’t stop her, Nadine was not the kind of person who listened to orders.
"I’m not sure if I’m going yet," she added once she noticed my silence. "I just think it’ll be good for us."
"Us?"
Her cheeks ward. "I just... I like what they have here. I can see a life here, you know? If we’d found our way here instead of the bunker, maybe things would’ve been different for us."
I knew exactly what she ant. I’d thought about it too. Everyone here was happy, they were thriving despite the monsters and yeah, it was fucking selfish, but I wish we ended up here instead. We wouldn’t be worrying about Trent and killing the monsters, we’d be living in blissful ignorance.
Our baby would’ve survived.
"Maybe." I placed a soft kiss to Nadine’s head. "I love you."
I felt her smile against my skin. "I love you."
We lay there in silence for what felt like hours. Neither one of us wanted to move.
The house was empty and it felt so dostic and I loved the feeling so much that I thought my heart would beat straight out of my chest. I couldn’t help but think about after—after we ended the monsters.
We’d need a place to stay and this place... it was good. We had people here and they all seed to be settling in well. I was probably going ahead of myself, but it sounded beautiful.
I kissed her head again, letting my fingers run through her curls when soone knocked on the door. It was heavy and frenzied, almost as if the person was in a panic. My first instinct was to ignore it, hoping that the person would leave, but they only knocked harder.
Nadine started to rise, but I stopped her. I set her on the couch gently before making my way over to the door. I was shocked when I found Joshua on the other side, his fist raised to knock again.
"Why the fuck are you knocking so hard?" I hissed. "What the hell do you want?"
"Where’s Nadine?"
I frowned. "Inside, why?"
"Sothing happened."
I’d never heard him sound so panicked before. His chest was rising and falling rapidly and his brows were tightly knitted. Sothing bad had happened.
Nadine must have heard his voice because she was at my side in an instant. "What’s going on?"
"You both need to co with . Solomon and the others have called a eting."
"Why?" He swallowed, but said nothing and that pissed off even more. "Why, Joshua?"
"We managed to tune into the right frequency today. We heard Trent give a command." He paused for a mont. "He’s going to blow up the bunkers."
"When?"
"I don’t know. He didn’t say, but it sounds like it’s happening soon."
Nadine’s brows furrowed in confusion. "So what? He’s just going to evacuate them? Where is he moving the people?"
Joshua shook his head. "He isn’t, the people are still inside."
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