Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Seventeen

"It's not broken. But it's definitely sprained."

"Maybe not too badly?" I inhaled sharply as Alex squeezed. I leaned against the railing beside the stairs for support, breathing shallowly. My ribs were on fire, like they were re-fractured. Again.

"Bad enough," he said as he stood from inspecting my ankle. "You must have come down on it wrong when you landed."

Landed like a bull plummeting into a china shop. My gaze shot over to the broken state of the bushes. Sorry little pines.

The wind had died down to an occasional gust, and apparently the danger was past if his decision to move us onto the sidewalk was any indication. He'd received a text while we were in the bushes, and shortly after that he helped me to where we now stood. I guessed it had been an "all clear" message.

Thinking the evening couldn't get any worse, I was adjusting the blanket he gave me tighter around my shoulders when the wind picked up overhead once again. Like the Lost Boys of Neverland had been shaken from the skies, a gust of air smelling of dry heat and sunny days swooped down, carrying within it mischievous, pre-adolescent echoes. Eyes wide with alarm, I wobbled closer to Alex when something dropped down on the sidewalk with us. Something person- shaped. Someone...see through.

What, er—who is that? I stared as the bare-chested young lad drew himself up with a seriousness about him, looking like a spirit whose feet never touched the ground. He wore not a stitch of clothing, though I could see how clothes would be impossible. His outline against the parking lot lights appeared loosely undefined, while the middle of his body was blurred about the waist—for modesty's sake, I assumed. I let out a little hiccup of surprise when another one dropped down to join the first.

Giving my fingers a reassuring squeeze, Alex addressed these strange newcomers, calling them by name: Justix and Ai. These two must have been "his people," the ones Alex said he called in to patrol the area. To protect me. They were reporting to him, addressing Alex with respect and calling him "my lord" as they spoke about driving off the threat, but being unable to capture him. The threat had been a he?

Even though the winds had chased away the fog that blanketed the area, the air was still heavily damp. The nighttime low had reached dew point, coating the grass in moisture, and I sucked in a quiet breath as I noticed how being outside in the dampness transformed Alex.

A fine mist collected so heavily upon him that large dewdrops of it clung to his skin, bejeweling his face, dark hair, neck, and bare arms, and—my throbbing ankle—it was beautiful. With his incredible blue eyes transformed, gone pupil-less, as he turned them upon me to gauge how I was doing, I knew with certainty that he was like Micah. Alex squinted as he took me in. And actually—

My attention returned to the other two, Justix specifically, the one who spoke like he was the head of Alex's security. Justix turned his gaze toward me. Large silver eyes, equally void of pupils, stared, narrowed but transfixed, and I wondered what he saw in me to make his expression so full of wonderment. The other one with him, Ai, also had the same strange eyes. But that was their only likeness to Alex and Micah. I stared at the ground, my confusion rising.

"They're similar to you and Micah," I said after their conversation ended and the two left, taking off for the sky with a downward push of air.

"And also you," Alex said with his eyebrows lifting. His eyes appeared normal now.

"Yeah, well, that's recently released information." I looked up at the sky, where the air was now still after the others had vanished.

"How recent?"