Forty-Eight

                                    

                                          
Killian 
Corbin's château in Etretat, Normandy, is right on the cliffs that back up to the sea, and you can hear the waves crashing against them all night long. We sleep with the windows open on the first night, and the sound lulls me into a peaceful sleep in less. That is until a knock at my door wakes me in the middle of the night. 
I startle and sit up straight, wiping my eyes. "Come in," I grumble, throwing the covers aside and clicking on the lamp on the nightstand.
Remi slips inside—shirtless and running his palms over his face. "Hey." 
"Uh, hey. You all right, pup?" 
He sinks down on the mattress and pulls his feet underneath him, sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed. "Yeah, just—I always have a hard time sleeping in a new place. And I'm worried." 
I sit up straighter and lean against the headboard, running my fingers through my hair. "About Noelle." 
He nods and stretches his legs out parallel to mine, our calves pressed together. "I just have this horrible feeling that this training plan isn't going to work, and Dante is going to outsmart us somehow." 
I shake my head. "There is no way in hell Eli will let anything happen to her, not to mention, Dante and his minions don't know where we are." 
"They knew where we were on her birthday," he says, and the anxiety in his brown eyes is evident. 
"We were still in the Carolinas. It was the first place they'd think to look. The closest option. Dante probably doesn't even know about this place," I assure him, reaching over and squeezing his knee. "We just have to be vigilant while we're here. We've sworn to protect her at all costs." 
"I'd die for her, Killian," he says, and his voice is so painfully sad. 
"Remi, I have to ask." 
"What?" he asks, picking at a stray thread on the blanket.
"Do you have feelings for her?" 
His head snaps up and his eyes meet mine. "No. But she's my best friend. I can't lose her." 
I believe him, because I know exactly how he feels. "We won't. I promise." 
But even as the words leave my mouth, I question their truth. Dante is not only a strong lycan, but he controls the entire lycan army. Our small group of sentinels is nothing compared to them. If he discovered what we were doing to help Noelle, he would have each of our heads on a spike and paraded through our communities. I'm an idiot for disregarding Remi's fears, but I also don't want him bogged down by them. We have a job to do, and he needs to believe we will accomplish it.
"Would it help if you had some company tonight?" I ask.
"Yeah, but you don't—"
"Come on." I scoot over and lift the blanket for him.
He crawls up next to me and slips under the cover, and I lay it over us, clicking off the lamp, coating the room in darkness, the only light from the moon over the cliffs. 
"You probably think I am the biggest baby," he says, a tinge of embarrassment in his voice. 
I wrap my arm around his shoulders and tuck him in close to my side. "Not at all. Truth be told, I'd much rather have you here than sleep alone." I turn my face to his and press my lips to his temple. "Did you know that entire packs of our kind used to share a single dwelling? Even on nights without full moons, everyone would curl up together, using each other for body heat and as pillows. It is in our nature to find comfort in numbers."