We Have Always Lived in an Endless Summer

by Km1366

Summary:

"All it took was for her to bring him back, to mend him, to sew him together into some fiendish creation, a monster of her design, for still—he would return, for he was hers. The boy was hers. Because he was made to protect her. And he would."

Caleb/MC

Notes:

This work is relatively canon compliant, with a few diversions, as the timeline is a bit wibbly wobbly timey wimey. Danica is intended to be the MC for Caleb and hopefully matches his yandere freak.

I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1: Chapter One- Fallen

Chapter One:

 

Caleb

 

He couldn’t remember exactly when it happened. It seemed to have slowly crept up on him like those early days of summer did—when the sun suddenly felt too warm against his skin and the shadows stretched endlessly across the slick asphalt like creatures on the hunt.

 

Gran had raised Caleb to be a dutiful son, and he took those responsibilities very seriously. 

 

She had not been his blood, but he considered them kin all the same, and when that same little girl he found at the shelter had joined them at Gran’s place, he knew the first thing he was expected to do was to care for her as well. Like any family would. 

 

The girl could barely keep any food down. She was malnourished with wide, deep-set eyes that seemed to sink into her face like portholes into an endless cosmic realm. Due to her shrunken size, it was difficult to tell how old she truly was at first glance. He had guessed that she was maybe a year or two younger than he, the wiser elder at all of twelve years of age.

 

She was quiet, skittish even, and he wasn’t entirely sure of what horrors she may have already seen. 

 

The girl had built up many walls around her. Impossible to climb. 

 

He tried to climb that fortress by gaining her trust, sneaking her forbidden treats, making shadow puppets dance on the kitchen wall for her entertainment, drawing apples on post-it notes and leaving them on her door.

 

Yet she was stubborn. A tough nut to crack.

 

The girl would often retreat to the living room during stormy nights, tucked into the corner of the room for safety like an abused dog. She was fearful of the way the thunder would roll through their neighbourhood like a ravenous beast, and the sky grew furious with rage, throwing bolts down mercilessly against its innocent victims. 

 

He observed her, noticing her fear and tentatively passed over a blanket for warmth. 

 

She was resistant, but her tiny little hands peeked out from her sleeves to grab it anyhow. Her eyes told him that she didn’t trust him yet. But she wanted to.

 

“The sky isn’t scary, is it?” he queried, tracing droplets on the window pane as he passed the living room window.

 

“Then why is it so angry?” she asked, more of an accusation than an actual question. She curled her knees into her chest for comfort.

 

Caleb’s smile was as effortless as the rising dawn. “It’s not angry.”

 

She wrinkled her brows in confusion, distrustful as to his response. “It sounds angry to me.”

 

“The sky is just trying to get some sleep,” he explained, rubbing his palms together as if trying to start a fire.

 

She watched in fascination, the sound of the friction like crinkled paper between his hands, when suddenly he clapped them before him with a loud smack.

 

Danica stumbled back in surprise and drew the blanket closer.

 

His grin was sheepish as he displayed his hands to show that he meant no harm. “He’s just catching pesky flies, is all.”

 

She looked at him like he was crazy, and he would soon come to know that look when she was entirely unamused by his antics, but she could never resist breaking into a smile. She couldn’t hold in her displeasure. Not for long anyhow. And when she had finally managed to smile at him, it felt like the skies had rewarded him—that they had sent him an angel for all of his hard work. He thought that it was the sweetest thing he’d ever seen. 

 

He’d always enjoyed sweet things. Those Honeycrisp apples, sticky on the fingers in the summer heat and the bubblegum ice cream melting like pink tears on the pavement. 

 

She’d always smiled for him, and the sight of it had warmed his heart more than he’d care to admit. It wasn’t until she began to share that smile with others that something inside of him had twisted a shade darker. Like a knife plunged into his gut, stuck so severely, the blade began to bend at odd angles, cutting him deeper and deeper.

 

In high school, she’d smile shyly before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as the older boys passed her way.

 

He had always assumed that the smile was a hidden secret. One that had been made specifically for him, and that she had slipped it on for him every day like one slipped on a uniform before going to school. It was his umbrella against the rain, a shield against the raging winds. Caleb felt a sort of ownership over it, and the thought of another boy taking it for his own made him sick. 

 

Perhaps it was then that he knew, but he couldn’t be sure.

 

Maybe it was when she began to grow distant from him. They hadn’t seen each other as often during his time at flight school, and he missed her so fiercely that it felt like his heart had been wrung in two. He missed the crinkle of her eyes when she laughed, and the candies she’d leave under his pillow as a surprise, and the little notations she’d doodle in the corners of his notebook when he wasn’t looking, and the way her eyes sharpened with immense focus as she bent forward to put her hair in a ponytail. She always had those little baby hairs that would stick up, too stubborn to slip into her scrunchie. 

 

When she called him that day, it had been raining. She was so drunk that he could barely understand her. She only called when she needed something.

“Please, Caleb—”

 

“Where are you?” he demanded.

 

She had pitifully replied, “Don’t be mad.”

 

He was, but he wouldn’t let her know that. It wasn’t her fault. He was angrier at himself than anything, as he was letting her slip away from him. “I’m not mad. I just need to know where you are so I can come pick you up, pipsqueak.”

 

She was at a frat house for a college party, of all places. She swore up and down that her roommate had talked her into it, but the rowdy scene had made her so uncomfortable that she wanted to leave as soon as she came. 

 

He found her in the corner of the room, next to empty solo cups and beer cans. He eyed the nearby boys with distrust, their shirts slung over their shoulders like beach towels. But they were otherwise engaged with the other girls at the party. They eyed her with disgust. 

 

She was crying, and he wanted to kill someone. He kneeled down and put a hand on her knee, instantly relieved to see that she was okay. 

He examined her for any defensive wounds, taking her hands in his. Did anyone try to?...

 

The fury rose in him like a tidal wave. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

 

“I’m fine. I just want to go home, Caleb. Please take me home.” 

 

She was so desperate.

 

He knew not to pry, and his heart fluttered at that very word. Home . He always had that dream. Wishful thinking that they would never grow apart. That they would remain family always and live together happily, never able to leave each other’s side. But he always knew they would grow up and be forced to leave their childhood dreams behind, that she would find a partner and settle down, maybe have kids of their own…

 

And it wouldn’t be him. The image was always hazy, someone tall and dashing—princely even. Someone who could take care of her when he couldn’t. And at that wedding, who would she have to give her away but him? And when he thought of passing her hand to another, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

That’s where he had failed. He brought her out of the frat house and into the moonlight, and she leaned into him for support, so trusting and warm against him, and he felt riddled with guilt. He wished that he could wash his sins away like an antidote to the poison that was his love. Caleb couldn’t remember where it began, whether it was that day or any other, because it had been fated. 

 

He was always meant to fall in love with her. But where he knew it would have to end was when he couldn’t let her go, and the officers and scientists had used that—they twisted that dark desire against its original purpose.

 

They used all of his hidden darkness against him—his possessiveness, his greediness, his overwhelming need for control. They reprogrammed him, warped him, fiddled with his mind. They used his need for her against him, fabricating memories, distorting moments stretched between them. They saw the seed that had been planted and watered it until it grew into something unimaginable. Something dark and evil, like vines growing tight around her wrists, cinching her close, holding her down, keeping her warm and close, and safe and soft. 

 

His longing became a knot in his heart, twisted together thousands upon thousands of times. One that could never unravel, no matter how deeply he tried to forget her, to purge her from his mind. He thought of her always, in the supermarket where he saw the apple hairclip he gifted to her for graduation, in the bookstore where her favourite books smiled at him, mockingly and mercilessly, in the cockpit where his mind drifted to their almost moments. Moments where he thought there had been more. 

 

He was sick with want and worry.

 

The more they worked at him, the larger that knot of longing grew. It was parasitic and violent and lonely. It was a long-held desire like a festering wound at his side. Every time she grazed his hand, brushed his skin, called his name in her sleep, she poked at that wound. Because he was never able to let her go, it was never able to heal correctly. He held himself so still, so composed, he was a tightly-wound wire ready to snap. 

 

It made him more breakable for them to snap him in half like dried bark. And they did, they broke him in ways he never thought possible. In ways he never thought a man could be broken. But all it took was for her to bring him back, to mend him, to sew him together into some fiendish creation, a monster of her design, for still—he would return, for he was hers. The boy was hers. Because he was made to protect her. And he would. 

Chapter 2: Chapter Two- Kintsugi

Chapter Two:

 

Danica 

 

It was always difficult bringing her girl friends over to the house after school. Especially when Caleb would poke his head in her door to check up on them. 

 

He’d pass over a plate of sliced apples with a wink and say, “Don’t stay up too late.”

 

The second he would leave the room, her friends would squeal, practically stumbling off the bed in delight.

 

“That’s your brother?!” Abena had asked, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

Danica would roll her eyes. “Not technically—Gran and I took us in when we were kids. We came from the same shelter.”

 

“So—you aren’t blood related then?” Helen asked, tightly holding a throw pillow to her chest. “You’re just too hot-blooded people who live together?”

 

Danica threw a plushie at her. “Stop.”

 

Helen smiled. “What? You’ve never thought about it?”

 

She averted her eyes. “No, of course not.”

 

Abena smirked. “Well, I would have. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing he was just beyond that wall.” She propped her feet up next to a lotus painting and leaned back. “Especially wearing those sleeveless shirts…”

“Oh, please, Abena. Stop. I’ve known him forever. We’re not like that.”

 

Danica was suddenly very desperate for the conversation to end.

 

“Well,” Helen said. “Maybe you’re not like that. But maybe he is.”

 

Danica’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

 

Abena piped up, desperate to throw her two cents in. “Well, he’s always—looking at you, you know.”

 

Danica huffed. “Wow, by that logic, that would mean every boy at school would have the hots for me.”

 

Abena’s eyes were serious. “No, his eyes are different. He looks at you like—you’re breakable, as if you're a porcelain doll and he’s trying to keep you from falling off the edge of the table.”

 

She pursed her lips in thought. “He’s—overprotective. We’ve always looked out for each other.”

 

“Yes, but he also has another look,” Helen mused, tracing the embroidery of the pillow thoughtfully. “One you probably hadn't noticed.”

 

Suddenly curious, Danica asked, “Like what?”

 

Abena’s gaze flickered. “Like he also wants to be the one to push you over the edge.”

 

She hadn’t known what to think of that. Her friend was clearly imagining things. Caleb was Caleb, and Danica was Danica. They looked out for each other. That was expected, normal even. He always looked at her with those eyes because he was doing what they always said they would; they protected one another. 

Yet she would have been lying if she hadn’t admitted to wondering—had he ever looked at anyone else like that? She’d never seen him with anyone else at school before. In his last year at school, his locker was overflowing with letters and love confessions, all politely declined or discarded. 

She wondered if maybe she had taken up so much space in his mind and heart that he hadn’t had room for anyone else, and that made her feel guilty. Was she being greedy for asking too much from him? Too much time, too much attention?

 

When she saw her friends off at the end of the night, the summertime sound of cicadas had drowned out the sound of their car’s tires crunching through the leaves and down the driveway. 

 

Someone poked at her side, and she jumped.

 

Danica heard familiar laughter, and she smacked her pursuer on the arm. “Caleb!”

 

He made a look as if to say, “Who, me? I wasn’t doing anything.”

 

“You scared me.”

 

“I don’t know about that, your friend seemed a lot scarier to me.”

 

She gave him a disapproving look. “Yes, the teenage girl of all but five feet is surely terrifying to a boy of your stature.”

 

“You’d be terrified, too, if she kept following you around all day. I had to hide in the attic just to get away from her, and even then she wouldn’t quit with the moon eyes,” he explained, emphasising a shiver of fear.

 

“How horrible. Tell me, how do you ever live with all these lovestruck girls following you around day and night?”

He smirked. “With a full stomach and plenty of beauty sleep.”

 

“It’s true that she’s been swooning over you all day. She even said—”

 

Danica stopped herself and instead thought to keep those words to herself. It probably wasn’t a good idea to tell Caleb what her friend had insinuated.

 

He was expectant. “She said what? That she watches all of my basketball games? I wouldn’t be surprised. All those sweaty boys are like catnip to teenage girls.”

 

I punched his shoulder. 

 

“I’m not the only one with a little fan club, that’s all I’m saying,” he defended. “Adam could probably start a compound with the group he’s got going.”

 

Adam was the team’s captain. He was also handsome, but in a different way. He was slim and sleek with sharp eyes and long hair. 

 

Caleb’s gaze darkened. “What? Don’t tell me you’re about to join his compound, are you?”

 

“No,” she replied a little too quickly.

 

He frowned. “They don’t even offer refreshments at their initiations. I at least provide nourishment to my acolytes.”

 

Danica rolled her eyes. “You sound more like a dad than a cult leader.”

 

He smirked. “Who says you can’t be both?”

 

She tried not to smile. She really did. But he had always managed to make her crack.

 

He seemed pleased with himself, crossing his arms, the veins standing to attention, thick and corded and…

She flushed and looked away. “Why don’t you start one then?”

 

He tilted his head like a confused puppy. “Start what?”

 

“Well—you’re always rejecting all the girls at school. You never wanted to take anyone home to meet me and Gran…”

 

Caleb seemed serious all of a sudden. “What are you talking about?”

 

Even if she never saw him with anyone, she knew that he was attracted to the opposite sex, at least. When they were kids, she couldn’t help but notice how his eyes would linger on the lifeguard's long legs when she passed by. There was a reason she was the most requested that summer. 

 

Danica had often scolded him for ogling the older woman’s chest, and he would merely flush and deny any and all accusations against him. 

 

So then why had he not opened his heart to anyone? Or an even more distressing thought, had he, but he never told her?

 

She examined his face, so open and vulnerable before her. The same face she’d seen thousands of times before, but somehow it seemed different all at once. So foreign and alien. His purple eyes sparkled like a nebula, seeming to pin her in place, paralysing her completely. 

 

She swallowed before speaking. “You’re not hiding a secret girlfriend, are you?”

 

He choked out a laugh. “What makes you say that? Were you girls having too much fun today?” 

 

Caleb checked her forehead; his skin was warm against hers.

 

She couldn’t help but lean into his touch for comfort.

 

“You don’t seem drunk to me,” he said.

 

She pushed his hand away, suddenly frustrated. “I’m not drunk. I just…”

 

His eyes scintillated in the light of the street lamp as he leaned against the post, his hands jammed into his front pockets. “I’m listening.”

 

Danica couldn’t look at him. It was too difficult to admit what she had truly thought, at least to him. “I just worry that because we take up so much of your time, Gran and I—that you’ll be too busy caring for us and miss an opportunity for future happiness.”

 

He was stunned. She had rarely seen him so stunned. Only one other time had she seen that face. 

 

Caleb had never really been small, mind you, even when they were kids. Yet that hadn’t stopped the other children from painting a target on his head. They had cornered him in the playground one day, asking him to prove his strength, and she could see his fists trembling, raring for a fight. When suddenly she had chosen to leap in, placed herself before him and bared her teeth at the other children like a rabid dog or an angered mother bear. 

 

“Leave him alone!” she shouted in the fiercest voice that she could conjure.

 

The other kids had laughed, but Caleb had seemed stunned—then touched—then horrified, all in the very same breath.

 

She chased them away, and he held her by the wrist, then, all too young to understand his own strength. His grip was almost hard enough to bruise as he said, “Don’t do that again.”

 

But Danica had never truly felt scared of Caleb; he was never too rough with her, not so much as laying a hand on her in anger, yet however much she enjoyed teasing him, she knew that poking the bear was never a good idea.

 

Caleb waited against the streetlamp, an expectation hovering in his eyes. It was as if he were hoping for something. Something that she couldn't discern.

 

“So,” Danica continued. “If there is someone that you do like, just know that you can bring them home. If I ever get in the way, if they ever misunderstand what we mean to each other and believe—”

 

“No.”

 

She blinked. “What do you mean, no?”

 

He frowned. “I’m not bringing anyone home to you and Gran, so don’t worry about it.”

 

“But—why?”

 

She had always wondered what kind of girl he would like, anyway. Someone leggy like that summer lifeguard? Someone slim and fit? Or a girl who was curvaceous and short? Would she be a blonde or a brunette? Would she be kind and charming or mysterious and sexy? She hadn’t a clue what he preferred, as he had never even hinted at a clue. 

 

“You—and Gran are my only priority right now. I have to focus on getting into the flight academy, I don’t have the time anyway.”

 

Her brows wrinkled with concern.

 

He poked her forehead, his smile sly. “You worry too much, pipsqueak.”

 

“I just—worry about you being lonely when you’re there all by yourself.”

 

Caleb’s smile was genuine, bright and warm as the sun. His hair was haloed in the light of the streetlamp, the glow drifting around him like fireflies. “Why would I be lonely when I have you?”

 

Her heart swelled with affection, knowing how much they meant to each other and how important their connection was to the two of them. She wanted to believe him, she truly did. But she always got the feeling that Caleb was secretly suffering. There was something in the glint of his eyes, suddenly pained when she turned her back on him. She glimpsed it once in the reflection of the living room mirror, his head bowed as if sundered by some unspeakable force. 

 

Danica needed someone in Skyhaven to watch out for him. She needed someone there when she couldn’t be. Yet when sorting through the options amongst their friends, she hadn’t deemed any of them to be viable options.

 

Sarah was too flaky.

 

Mia—too unstable.

 

Cleo—too mean.

 

Veronica was attractive and very popular amongst the boys, but the thought of him being with her had somehow discomforted her. Thinking about her slinking up against him like a cat in heat made Danica feel—uncomfortable. 

 

Perhaps he needed someone who was more subtle.

 

Whatever Danica had decided, she needed to ensure that whoever was his partner had been loyal and steadfast, brave and true. They needed to pass Danica’s test, and none of them had managed to do so thus far, so until someone finally did, Danica would commit to her role and watch over him, to make sure that no one pushed him over the edge. 

Even if she had indeed wondered—at least in some small part of her heart—once he was shattered, what would those pieces actually look like?

Chapter 3: Chapter Three- The Second Deadly Sin

Chapter Three

 

Caleb

 

Caleb was a little too greedy. To Danica’s displeasure, he always stole the last egg roll from their monthly takeout, and back when he was at school, he couldn’t help himself when he took three items from the “ leave two, take one” donation box to share between Gran and Danica. When he left the house, he brought two umbrellas with him instead of one, and when he looked at Danica—he always wished to look a little bit longer—a bit further than he truly dared to. 

 

That’s what he had blamed his actions on. His greed for her. His need for her attention. 

 

If she began to drift too far away, he reached for her hand to keep himself stable. If her eyes drew to another's, he would pull her to his side and keep her close. 

 

He had wanted too much. His desire for her was so strong that it threatened to crush him. It swelled within his chest, tightening like shackles around his heart. She was a delicious thorn of pain against him, and if she drew blood with her claws, he didn’t care. As long as it was her.

 

When the two of them had been a little younger, she had once gotten terribly sick from being caught in a rainstorm, and as she shivered and trembled, curling in on herself, he knew she must have been in such terrible pain. In order to prevent Danica from biting down on her own tongue, he had let her sink her teeth into his palm, and when she did, he felt the sickening flame of desire flare up within him. Her sharpness against him, her overwhelming need for relief…

 

Caleb had forced himself to look away from her then, for her need for him would become his undoing. He desired to be the only one to satiate her, to comfort her, to touch her, to take her pain and wield it for his own uses. A weapon of bliss against his own skin, and he had hoped that the mark would never fade.

 

He was simply too greedy for his own good—and that’s what he told himself when he retreated to her room that afternoon, nestling into her warm, empty bed.

 

He seized her stray dog plushie and smiled. “Cute,” he said, before tossing it into the chair.

 

Caleb folded his hands across his stomach. The comforter smelled of her floral shampoo, and he leaned back onto her pillow to gaze at the stars they had put on the ceiling together. 

 

He could picture her with a sticker in hand, as she sweetly said, “So that we can look up at the same sky…”

 

Caleb had the same set of stars above his bed at the academy as well.

 

He used his Evol to disturb the stray bits of clothes from her chair, floating them above his head—her jean skirt and red tank top. She started wearing them a lot recently, and so he had moulded them until they began to take her shape, until they became her. 

 

They hovered like a fabric phantom before him, and when he reached for her, she may as well have been a dream as his fingers trailed an invisible collar bone, a shoulder, a hand to caress. 

 

But like he said, he was always too greedy.

 

He imagined palming her breasts, her nipples pebbled through the thin fabric as he slipped the strap from her shoulder before kissing her.

 

She would sigh with relief, and he would crawl between her thighs and make his new home there. He would paint pleasure with his tongue until she cried out his name. His and no other.

 

He felt a sick sense of excitement being in her bed, as if he could leave the lingering essence of his want for her to find. As if his twisted longing could leak into her dreams like subliminal messages or whispers in the night.

 

His fingers trailed to the zipper of his all too tight jeans, suddenly tempted by the thought of her catching him in the act. 

 

She would be shocked; that was to be expected. But then, surprisingly—pleased. He would hold out his hand to her, and she would join him, hesitant yet more than willing. 

They would explore that unexplored territory together and cross the threshold into that delicious unknown.

 

Her hair would fan out on the pillow like spread raven feathers as he nipped at her skin, sinking his teeth into her thigh until she screamed out for him.

 

Yet, it wasn't simply the haze of lust that sought to move him.

 

He also wanted the playful laughter that came soon after, as he tickled her feverish sides. Caleb wanted her head against his bare chest—his heartbeat against her. Finally revealed, all of his truths laid before her like the map of his soul.

 

Caleb imagined her cradled against him, skin to skin, with nothing between them.

 

No more pretences or secrets.

 

Just them.

 

Devoid of any labels or constraints.

 

He could please her, worship her, unravel her.

 

Caleb knew the things that he could do. If she wanted him.

 

But the daydream was always over too soon as he released his hand from the zipper, her clothes hitting the floor with a mockingly sweet sound.

 

He needed to be grateful for what he had and not yearn for more. 

 

He had what he had. And that must be enough.

 

But when he heard the front door click, he retreated to the shower to finish what he had started, and if she had listened, truly cared to listen, then she would have heard his muffled moans of pleasure through that door—and her name, and nothing more.

Chapter 4: Chapter Four- An Endless Summer

Notes:

Just a quick note! I do take inspiration from certain cards and anecdotes going forward but I don't follow them exactly to the letter as I wanted to put my own little spin on them. Enjoy!

Chapter Four

 

Danica

 

That summer was the most distant they had ever been. Their hometown grocery store was closing down, and on its final day of operation, she stared at that open sign dangling from the entrance, wondering if she would ever see it again. 

 

When she entered the store, the A/C hit her with a cool blast of air, and she turned her cheek towards the vent, relishing the frigid relief, stark against the sticky outside heat. 

 

She and Caleb used to race there together, the loser having to buy the other all the sweets they wanted. On those much hotter later days of the season, the two of them would lie outside on the pavement, cooking like raw eggs, cold cans of soda pressed against their faces for relief. If she began to squint against the sun’s rays, Caleb would hold his hand above her head to shield her from the sun, and his hand would stay there until his arm got good and tired and sore. 

 

She passed through the narrow aisles, smiling at the vintage labels, a little too quirky and outdated to still be commonly used. 

 

Danica picked up one of the packages. Sparkle Suds. It was painted a bright ultramarine colour with cute hand-drawn bubbles printed at each corner of the carton. 

 

It read, “For the whitest smile in town, your dishes will be grinning with you!”

 

The main bubble in the centre had comically large teeth that gleamed with flecks of diamonds. The cartoon possessed anthropomorphic hands, one of them primed into a thumbs-up.

 

Gran used to love that brand.

 

It was in moments like those that she had wished Gran was still there with them. They had used her as their guiding star for so long, and for her to have been taken from them in an instant—Danica couldn’t reconcile that fact, just like she couldn’t believe Caleb was gone—until he wasn’t.

 

Danica sighed and placed the Sparkle Suds back on the shelf where she had found it. That morning, she had offered to help the owner clean the store while she was away, and Danica was more than willing to lend a hand, knowing it would likely be the last time.

 

In the back, there was a garden where Caleb and she used to play. They would pick endless summer flowers and chase butterflies together, and when Caleb had managed to chomp his hands down on one of the yellow butterflies, Danica would cry and refuse to cease until he finally relented and let it go. 

 

“They only live for a few weeks anyway,” Caleb would complain, opening his palms to release the butterfly.

 

It landed on a petal far away, and she frowned, with clenched fists and replied, “Then let them live it in peace.” 

 

Caleb had always had that problem. He couldn’t let things be; always a little too curious, a little too invested. He wanted to get his hands on everything, to explore and learn and probe until he could take it apart and view it from every angle. Until he knew all of its most intimate crevices and corners. Until it didn’t scare him anymore.

 

She didn’t want to miss him. She truly didn’t, especially now that Skyhaven had infected him with their nefarious seeds of control. Yet, she couldn’t resist the impulse even if she wanted to. She felt like an addict who waited too long for another fix, and the only drug she wanted to get her hands on, the only one that she needed, was him.

 

Danica brought up her phone to text him, viewing the last message she had sent that had been uncharacteristically left on read, and just as if being summoned by her thoughts, he strode through that door. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he smiled and moved towards her.

 

Her heart thudded painfully within her chest.

 

He hadn't looked any different. Still the same sweet eyes and boyish face, although it seemed sharper somehow, his jaw more angled than before, his mouth curling at the corners as if he held a new secret. 

 

She swallowed nervously as he leaned across her, his necklace dangling against her face as he moved to push a shelf back that hovered perilously above her head. The metal of the necklace was cold against her cheek.

 

The corner of the store was sweltering hot as that particular vent behind the counter had been broken, and the close proximity hadn’t helped, as she was pinned between him and the wall. His white sleeveless shirt was a bit see-through from the heat, sticking to him, drawing attention to his chest muscles and biceps. 

 

She flushed and turned away. “How did you know to look for me here?”

 

“I didn’t. I was heading this way for a business trip and heard the store was closing. I wanted to take a look for myself.”

 

Danica couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. He’d gotten better at hiding himself from her, and she despised that. Skyhaven was taking him away from her. Her Caleb. Hers . And she didn’t want to live to see the day when she looked into his eyes and didn’t recognise the person looking back at her.

 

She eyed the small suitcase near his feet. “You aren’t staying for long, I guess.”

 

Danica tried to conceal her disappointment.

 

He stepped back, looking either ashamed or guilty; she couldn’t decipher. 

 

They stood in awkward silence, not entirely knowing where to begin. 

 

She peered up at the shelf with dissatisfaction. “Who even needs shelves that high anyway?”

 

Caleb smiled before poking her forehead. “Why do the shelves keep getting taller but you keep getting shorter?”

 

“Very funny,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

“So, I’m assuming you offered to help the owner?” he asked.

 

She nodded. “Yes, she needed to run into town, so I offered to clean for her.”

 

He grabbed a broom and tucked his suitcase behind the counter. “Let me help you then. With your short little legs, it will probably take you years.”

 

“Weeks,” I defended.

 

“Years.”

 

“Weeks.”

 

He raised a brow. “Years.”

 

She caved. “Months?”

 

“Twelve then.”

 

She laughed. 

 

It only took a few moments for them to be reunited, and they were already acting like little kids again. Danica took solace in the fact that they were still capable of behaving that way. Sometimes, she wished they were still kids. Things were less complicated back then, less—fragile somehow. As they continued to clean, the temperature in the room began to rise, and she retreated to the sole A/C vent once more for relief.

 

The air was blissful against her face. 

 

Caleb had a wistful smile on his face as he held a cold can of soda against her cheek like he always did every summer. 

 

The temperature was soothing, his fingers wet with condensation as they barely grazed the edge of her cheek. His touch was soft and tender. Reverent almost. As if she were a holy artefact to be handled with care. 

 

His voice was low and gravelly as he asked, “Too hot?”

 

Her stomach turned molten from those words, and she jolted away from him then, snatching the can from his hands a little too violently. “Get your own can,” she grunted.

He held up his hands in defeat, his eyes sparkling with mirth. “My mistake. Someone used to be able to share,” he said, opening another can with a metallic clink.

 

She jabbed back, “And someone used to steal all the soda and leave nothing for me.”

 

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. You used to drink a few sips and leave the can on the pavement out in the sun and forget all about it.”

 

She grimaced, not willing to admit that he was right.

 

“And when I’d offer you the rest, you’d complain about how warm it was and how you only liked drinking cold sodas,” he replied with a cheeky smirk. “You’ve always been so difficult to please.”

 

“I’m not difficult to please. I just know what I want and what I don't want."

 

His brevity slowly began to siphon away, his gaze growing darker—more dangerous and imploring. Caleb’s eyes were practically glowing from the corner of the store, entirely focused on her shape, as if it were the only thing in the entire world. 

 

“Then what is it that you want , Danica?” he asked, his tone laced with darkness. 

 

His voice had made her stomach lurch like she was in the car and she’d hastily pressed the gas pedal too hard, or when she’d reached the peak of the roller coaster, only to tumble down the tracks and into a sprawling unknown.

 

He felt like a predator then, and she didn’t know how to react. It was as if she was being dared in some way, and she wasn’t entirely sure how she was expected to reply.

Thankfully, the bell had rung announcing a customer, and she leapt at the chance. “I’ll help them,” she offered.

 

He nodded his head in disappointment and retreated to the garden in the back.

 

She was utterly confused. It was as if he was drawing lines in the sand, yet begging her to cross them, and she didn’t know if she was yet brave enough to breach them. Danica had always prepared herself for every possible worst-case scenario. As a hunter on a mission, she always ensured that she had proper ammunition and medical supplies. She would triple-check and sometimes even quadruple-check, and yet for some reason, with Caleb, she felt that she could be a bit—reckless, dangerous even.

 

Danica began to toe the line, teasing him, perhaps even a properly timed flirtation if the moment was right. Yet she knew that the line that had been drawn was necessary for their friendship to remain the way it was, for it was more than a mere friendship, they were a family—and when she thought that he had perished in that explosion that day—it was as if a part of her had died alongside with him, and only when he had returned, had she come back to life.

 

No, she couldn’t lose him. He was too important to lose. 

 

Yet, when she had finished up with the customer and found him asleep in the garden, curled up with a book against that stone archway, she thought that she’d never seen someone so beautiful. 

 

Sunlight danced across the planes of his face, the swaying leaves tracing shadows across his chest. His profile was sharp, but his expression was soft, sweet even. Blossoms drifted across his face, some of them coming to rest upon his smooth, dark hair. He was breathing heavily, his necklace rising and falling with each measured breath.

 

She smiled down at him, drawing closer towards him.

 

His breathing picked up pace, his brows crinkled together as if he was suddenly pained. His head bobbed, his lips trembling.

 

He was having a nightmare. 

 

She drew closer to him, as she always did when he had a nightmare and brushed a few strands of hair from his face. He felt feverish, and she pressed her fingers to his cheek as if to anchor her to him. 

 

Danica hushed him, stroking his chest softly. “It’s just a dream. It’s not real.”

 

His eyes were still closed when he awoke, but his hands moved faster than she had expected, his fingers cinching around her wrists tightly to hold her in place.

 

“Don’t go—” he pleaded, his voice nearly breaking.

 

He opened his eyes. They seemed deep and bottomless, filled with all of the affection and adoration for her, as he reached out to stroke her face, like one would a precious gift. “Don’t leave me alone,” he said, his voice tremulous and tender.

 

As if in a daze, he leaned forward, his breath fanning against her face—warm and sweet. His fingers pressed against her cheek, idly tracing circles on her skin as if it was instinctual—only natural. 

 

Her heart pounded so fiercely and intensely within her chest that she felt as if it would break her ribs from the force of it. 

 

His eyes were heavy-lidded, his lips inching closer towards hers.

 

Instinctively, she pushed him away. “Caleb…”

He was trying to destroy the line in the sand, and she was too afraid of what that would mean for them.

 

Caleb seemed confused, as if he was entirely unaware of what had just happened, like he was hypnotised by her, still caught in whatever dream had just enraptured him. 

 

He shrank back, suddenly ashamed as he slumped against the stone pillar. “Sorry,” he apologised quietly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

 

He refused to look at her. 

 

She couldn’t look at him either, suddenly feeling ashamed as well. It was as if her body was betraying her, losing that forever losing battle of her mind against the pull of her heart. 

 

“It’s okay,” she said, “I just got something in my eye, is all…”

 

She rubbed at her eyes for dramatic effect.

 

He seemed concerned, and that made her feel even more guilty for lying.

 

“Let me see,” he said, leaning forward. “Don’t blink.”

 

Caleb’s eyes were sharp and focused. His lips had since parted, his gaze trailing across her face as if trying to commit her to memory, as if it would be the last time he would ever see her.

 

That frightened her somehow. 

 

He held her face, protectively, like she was the most precious thing in the world to him, his fingers stroking her cheek, as soft as the blossoms that drifted around them. His eyes were filled with an unspeakable agony as he took her hand and caressed her thumb. 

She could spot flecks of pink and blue in his eyes and freckles that darted rebelliously across his nose. His neck had a few beauty marks that led a pathway to his broad, well-muscled shoulders.

 

Danica stared at the veins that rose to prominence on his arms, and she wanted to touch him, to prove that he was really there—to prove that he was still hers.

 

The chalk drawing she made for them as kids peered down at them from the stone wall as if reminding them of their place. It depicted him holding her hand, an umbrella held in his other grip, as he braced against anything that tried to hurt them.

 

That’s what he had always been for her. Her umbrella against the storm, the shade against the heat that threatened to sunder her. 

 

And she decided that maybe some battles weren’t meant to be won anyway, and so she closed her eyes, ready to embrace whatever fate he had desired. 

 

She waited, and waited, to no avail. The apprehension was killing her, but when she had finally opened her eyes, she saw him slowly retreating from her, his gaze weighted with a leaden sadness, and the moment had passed as swiftly as it had come. 

 

She had won, but the victory tasted bitter on her tongue.

 

He smiled at the blossom petals that scattered in his open palm, catching them like raindrops. Yet, the smile still felt lonely somehow as he asked, “Do you remember these flowers?”

 

Danica flushed and avoided his eyes. “Of course I do. We used to call them endless summers…”

 

He peered at the blossoms on his palm as if they held all of the answers in the universe, as if they could cure him of whatever ailment he had been suffering from. 

 

She turned to leave, suddenly embarrassed about what had almost happened between them. 

 

Danica almost crossed that line. She nearly destroyed everything. What had she been thinking?

 

Yet, as she turned to leave, he snatched her wrist once more, softer that time as if pleading for her not to leave him all alone.

 

When he stroked the soft skin there, she let him hold her in place, his eyes never wavering from those petals, as he solemnly said, “There are no endless summers in Skyhaven.”

 

Those words nearly broke her heart. That place must have been so dark and lonely for him. He had no warmth or comfort there, and she still did not know how deeply the soldiers had infested his mind, making him into something he never wanted to be.

 

Yet, she knew that if he was her umbrella, then she would have to be his shroud . She would blanket him and protect him, coating him in those petals so that no one would ever find him. 

 

And so she smiled down at him then, taking his hands in hers, caressing the petals that scattered between them, and she said with utmost certainty, “Well—you’ll just have to bring those endless summers home with you, won’t you?”

 

He smiled, his eyes glittering with an almost-hope. “Can they be mine then?”

 

She stroked his hair and replied, “Yes—they can be yours.”

Chapter 5: Chapter Five- Anything For Her

 

Chapter Five

 

Caleb

 

There were very few things in life that Caleb knew with absolute certainty. He knew that the sun would rise and eventually fall. He knew what the limits to his strength were, of how much he could carry, and of how much would sunder him completely. Caleb knew that the soldiers would keep track of him no matter how far he ran, and no matter how long he held their control at bay, they would have their sticky little fingers in his brain once again. It was only a matter of time.

 

He also knew that in all of his years on Earth, he’d only ever loved one person and one alone. Caleb had a tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve, and when he began casual flings with other women, it was only ever to alleviate his crushing loneliness, as they had always eventually discovered there wasn’t a proper place in his heart for them, and left well alone. 

 

The only constant, the one true North that could guide him back home was her . And what he knew for an absolute fact was that there was nothing in this world he would not do for her. Nothing. Even if that meant tainting his hands with the blood of her enemies. He would do it, without a second glance, and it would not weigh on his conscience in the slightest.

 

Why would it? He’d burn the world for her and relish in the thought that he finally had her all to himself.

 

Caleb was on the path to her apartment, with groceries in his hand and a smile plastered across his face wide enough to crack the heavens.

 

He asked, “I’m sorry, can you please explain again exactly why you needed me to rifle around through three different grocery stores for this exact brand of dish soap?”

 

Caleb could hear her exasperation through the phone line, and he relished in it.

 

“It smells the best. It gets stains out faster, and it's cheaper than the name brand.”

 

“Who cares if it's cheaper? I’m paying for it.”

 

“Well, I’m paying you back.”

 

He snickered. “No, you aren’t.”

 

“Too late. I’m sending the money now.”

 

“I’ll just send it back.”

 

“And then I’ll send it back again. Only this time, more than what you paid for it. Do you really want to see who is more stubborn?”

 

It was her, and he knew it. However, what she didn’t know was that he was also incapable of accepting defeat, nearly matching her tenacity with willfulness alone.

 

“Alright,” he said. “But just know that I bought about a hundred cases—”

 

“You didn’t—”

 

“They’re being delivered on Monday.”

 

There was a pause on the other end before she replied, “No, they aren’t.”

 

“I’m kidding.”

 

“Caleb—”

 

“Or am I?”

 

“I can rescind my offer of a homemade meal at any point, you know?”

 

Caleb adored teasing her. He could almost picture her now, her brows furrowed, head bent over the stove.

 

He just wanted to get home to her, but unfortunately, there was someone tailing his case, and he needed to take care of it—and soon.

 

“Oh, hold on one second, this old lady with her shopping cart might need a big, strong man to help her with her groceries.”

 

She snorted. “I’m sure she does.”

 

He strolled down a nearby alleyway, and he could hear Danica’s spoon clacking against a container from the other line as he placed her on mute. 

 

Caleb didn’t witness the smack of the man’s head hitting the pavement behind him; he only heard it as he felt his Evol swell and roll through him, keeping the man held against the grimy ground.

 

“Are you a gift from Ever?” Caleb asked with a playful air. “Or some other organisation?”

 

Caleb leaned against the brick wall casually, still carrying the groceries with ease.

 

The man was hesitant to respond.

 

“I have other ways of finding out,” Caleb ordered, lifting the man into the air using his Evol.

 

The man flinched. “They will soon return her to where she belongs. You can’t protect her forever.”

 

Caleb’s smile glinted in the darkness, sharp and pale as steel. “Can’t I?”

 

He imagined smacking the man’s head against the pavement without even lifting a finger. Caleb would have waited until the man’s brains spilt from his cracked skull before intermingling with the puddles of old rain and refuse beneath him, and Caleb would have walked away and returned to a warm dinner with the girl that he loved with not even a scratch to be seen.

 

Yet Caleb ultimately decided against it.

 

The wiser move was to let the man go and to tail him later. To figure out exactly where he was crawling off to. Likely to his employer. 

 

Caleb could hear Danica’s sweet voice creeping back into his earbud. “Caleb. Is everything okay?” she asked. 

 

He slipped back into his easy smile at the sound of her voice. “Of course. The lady was just trying to take me home with her. Do you think I’d make a popular fixture around the nursing home?”

 

She growled, “Tell her she’s not allowed to have you. You have plans elsewhere. Now get your butt over here.”

 

Caleb let the man go and watched him flee into the busy streets—with Caleb’s tracker tucked into his jacket. 

 

He would find him sooner or later. For now, he had a girl to get back to. His girl. Whether she knew it or not. 

 

“Yes, ma’am. Anything for you,” he said, before ending the call with a decisive click. 

Chapter 6: Chapter Six- Promises Are Made To Be Broken

Notes:

If I got any specific lore wrong, my apologies, as the timeline is a wee bit confusing! Regardless, please enjoy this gala chapter ;)

Chapter Six

 

Danica

 

She knew that Caleb would have been angry with her; that much was obvious. 

 

What else was new? She’d been making him angry since they were kids. Yet, what Danica had known in her heart was that she could not leave well enough alone. Not if the Hunters Association was close to discovering Caleb's behavioural chip—and Danica could not have them knowing that, especially if it put him in danger. 

 

The other hunters were beginning to question the fleet’s exact involvement with the deep space tunnel and how it all related to the wanderers that poured into their realm. It was rumoured that Skyhaven had been using the wanderers for their own exclusive experimentation—ones that involved implanting the wanderer’s protocores into unwilling test subjects in order to enhance the mutations, and at the behest of Ever, at that.

 

Whether that was true or not, she was certainly tired of hearing Ever's name, and when it came to the fleet, she knew their paths would have crossed again eventually. It seemed they always had their sticky hands in one too many pots of honey. 

 

It had taken Danica some extra finagling, but she had finally gotten the Hunters Association to assign her to the case. 

 

The hunters wanted to keep an eye on Skyhaven, so they had arranged an invitation to attend the annual military gala under the guise of an uptick of spatial anomalies in the area. The Association knew they had no true power in Skyhaven, but had sought to throw around the weight of their name regardless.

 

Danica had been dressed to the nines that night, adorned in a sleek golden dress, emphasising the width of her hips and the length of her legs. A slit had run from thigh to ankle, allowing her the proper space to reach for the gun hidden in her thigh holster. The dress was embroidered with flowers and had silk ribbon straps tied into two perfect bows at her shoulders.

 

She brought an elegant hand fan with her, fluttering it coyly before her mouth, displaying only her eyes as the other guests had curiously approached her. Danica knew that flirtation could get her the information that she needed. Information she was undoubtedly less than willing to share with the other hunters, but intel she knew she would need to conceal or bury—as long as it meant protecting Caleb. 

 

Couples twirled around the ballroom like dancers in a music box, stirring up the twinkling decorations that dangled from the ceiling like stardust. 

 

She looked for Caleb, but had not seen him anywhere. 

 

Hopefully, she would be able to avoid him, but knowing her luck, that wouldn’t be easy. 

 

Danica kept to the refreshment table where hors d'oeuvres had been sprawled out on linen tables. The fine cloth was embellished with intricate golden-threaded patterns of an ouroboros insignia.

 

She found that to be intriguing. Danica could recall seeing that pattern before on Ever’s documentation. 

 

Surely, the organisation had more of a hand in the event than she had initially realised. Perhaps the rumours of their involvement were indeed true.

 

A line of wine glasses, champagne flutes, and expensive delicacies lined up like tidy little soldiers before them. A waiter had passed by with a tray of escargot and canapés that likely tasted just as disgusting as the other.

 

She nodded at the waiter and pretended to eat the offering, only to slip it into a secret pocket in her purse.

 

Danica heard a voice croon, “Squirrelling it away for later, are you?”

 

She turned her head to the sound of the voice and noticed a slim man in a rather expensive-looking tuxedo standing beside her. He had a silver streak in his hair above his right ear like a bolt of lightning, with keen, dark eyes nestled behind a set of sharp tortoise-shell glasses. 

 

His eyes had been so tapered at their inner corners, they could have been honed into blades. The man reminded her of Sylus in that way. 

 

He was very handsome. 

 

She smiled, attempting her best impression of coquettishness. “You caught me.”

 

“Do they not keep the hunters well fed on their missions?”

 

“Oh, they do. I should have learned to keep my hands to myself if they’re keeping tallies on me.”

 

His grin was darkly charming, “I won’t be telling anyone. So feel free to allow your hands to roam as you please.”

 

She rubbed her palms on her dress nervously. The silk was smooth against her hands.

 

“Would you like a drink?” he offered, passing her a flute of champagne.

 

Danica stared at the drink suspiciously. She knew better than to take a drink from a stranger, but she also knew that being impolite wouldn’t have done her any favours either. 

 

She took the drink and feigned a polite sip. “So, what business do you have at the gala? Do you work for the fleet?” she asked, fishing for information.

 

Danica wasn’t a fool. She knew that he wasn’t a military man. He exuded so much wealth and class that it practically rolled from him in waves. Yet she wanted him to tell her that.

 

How else could she gain his trust?

 

He smiled knowingly as if she had stepped into his trap instead of him stepping into hers. “Business is a good word for what I do. An entrepreneur is only as good as his flow of income.”

 

“So you have submitted a donation then?”

 

The man simpered. “Yes, although to discuss money on a first meeting with a lady might be construed as improper. Especially if we have not been formally introduced,” he said, his voice deep and dark as a bottomless ink well.

 

He held his hand out towards her in offering, fingers extended as if to delicately grasp hers—the very picture of a gentleman in a vintage magazine.

 

She swallowed nervously and attempted to conceal her nervousness before offering her hand to him. “Danica.”

 

He smiled and pressed his lips against her knuckles softly—a ghost of a kiss. “Enchante.”

 

Her brow lifted. 

 

He was charming, wasn’t he? 

 

She asked, “And you are?”

 

“Woland Aides.”

 

“It’s been a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Aides. Especially now that we have been properly introduced. Whatever shall we talk about now?—not money surely,” she teased.

 

He smiled, his teeth starkly white. “You don’t waste any time, do you?—a woman after my own heart.”

 

She wanted to be underestimated. It would have been better if he had believed her to be merely a gold digger. 

 

“Well, an entrepreneur is only as good as how much he’s willing to spend,” she drawled. 

 

He drank from his champagne flute. “Does that mean a hunter is only as good as how many wanderers she’s killed?”

 

“Precisely, and I’ve killed many wanderers. I’m a very dangerous woman, I’ll have you know.”

 

“Oh, I have no doubt.”

 

She felt a prickling sensation at the back of her neck as the fabric of her dress began riding up. 

 

Danica chalked it up to nerves. 

 

Woland’s eyes trailed from her lips to her neck. “And are there any wanderers this evening in need of your attention?”

 

“My presence is merely a precaution, but one can never be too certain.”

 

“And here I thought the Colonel had brought you?”

 

The prickling sensation grew, the fabric shifting over her back as if invisible fingers traced a pathway there.

 

She shivered, daring a glance, yet there was no one there, but she couldn’t shake the sensation that someone had been watching her.

 

“I am here alone this evening, I assure you,” Danica replied.

 

The fabric of her dress rustled in the breeze from the open rotunda door. 

 

The gilded ballroom had suddenly felt all too bright and garish and—suffocating.

 

She turned her head slowly, as if afraid of what she might see there. The dancers twirled on and on to a dizzying effect, like a maddened carousel.

 

Danica wished to get off, but she didn’t know how to.

 

“Well,” Woland said. “I must confess that you’ve piqued my interest.”

 

His gaze began to trail towards a figure that resided far behind her. 

 

As she pivoted to look, she felt the strap of her dress slowly slip from her shoulder, almost meticulously as if—someone with an Evol had slid it down on purpose. 

 

Danica felt as if unseen fingers began to imprint themselves against her sides, attempting to pull her away from the man in front of her.

 

She adjusted her strap quickly and stared at the figure behind them. 

 

A woman had been draped across the man’s shoulder. The lady was finely dressed, adorned with glimmering jewels, her eyes sparkling with want.  

 

Yet Colonel Caleb’s eyes had been fixated only on Danica—sharp and bright as a falling meteor. His gaze darkened, their intention cold and brutal and commanding as the uniform he wore.

 

He always seemed so different in that uniform, his posture straighter, his eyes sharper, keener—crueller. 

 

She felt something tickling at her waist, her heels nearly slipping from the force that seemed to pull her towards Caleb like a vortex.

 

Caleb’s gaze never left hers as he dropped his dance partner’s wrist to prowl in Danica’s direction.

 

His dance partner had seemed offended at being so easily discarded. She was rather beautiful with ruby-stained lips and charcoal-lined eyes. Her dress was so tight that it was as if it had been painted on, and yet, he was coming towards Danica as if she were the more appealing prey. The only prey in sight.

 

Danica flushed with shame.

 

Woland seemed more amused than frightened at the predator that stalked towards them. “You seem to attract the most powerful men in the room. I wonder why that is?” he mused.

 

Danica stood straighter, her throat dry as parchment as Caleb approached.

 

Caleb blithely draped an arm across her like they were comrades, and she could have slapped him silly. 

 

“Woland. I see you’ve met my Danica,” Caleb said, his voice cool and polished as new silver.

 

His Danica? Who did he think he was? What sort of a game was this? And who was that woman? 

 

“Indeed,” Woland replied, his eyes twinkling with mirth. “You should have introduced us sooner. I’m certain that we have countless things to discuss.”

 

Caleb smiled as he slipped on his social mask with ease.

 

Yet she could see the cracks easily. She knew him better than anyone. She saw the tightness of his jaw and his pinched eyes, the sharp carvings of jealousy riddled across his face. There was also fury there, smouldering behind his gaze.

 

He was fuming.

 

Yet Danica continued to follow his lead, smiling as if all was well. She didn’t want to flag their presence as suspicious.

 

Caleb continued, “Yes, as the CEO of Ever, you must be highly curious as to how the hunters conduct their operations.”

 

Her eyes flickered with fear for a moment before she composed herself.

 

Woland noticed, but chose not to make a comment. “A few of us have reached out in partnership to the hunters for their cooperation on our newest research. However, we have yet to receive a response. Perhaps your lovely friend would be willing to discuss the matter further.”

 

Caleb stepped forward, holding Danica against his side as if the man had propositioned her for something else. “She promised me a dance before dessert was served,” Caleb replied with a wicked smile. “But perhaps later?” 

 

Woland politely made no further mention. Yet his mouth twitched in displeasure. “As you wish. Please take my card, Danica,” he offered her his card, clean and crisp as his freshly pressed suit.

 

Dancia retrieved it, brushing against Woland’s hands softly as she slipped the card into her purse.

 

Her breathing hitched at the sudden contact.

 

His smile was blithe as he added, “I look forward to hearing from you,” before strolling away as casually as he came.

 

Caleb watched him leave. 

 

If looks could kill…

 

Danica hissed in his ear. “What are you doing?”

 

He led her to the dancefloor, his grip tight on her waist. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?”

 

She frowned, but still allowed him to drape her arms across his shoulders.

 

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” he warned, his lips tickling the baby hairs on the back of her neck.

 

Danica shivered. “The Hunters Association wants to keep an eye on the fleet, and for good reason. Would you have preferred they sent someone else? Someone less willing to bury your secrets?”

 

“I’m not the only one with secrets, Danica.”

 

He led her into a waltz, his steps graceful and precise, her hands begrudgingly falling into place, one hand in his, the other pressed against his firm shoulder.

 

She frowned. “Since when can you dance?”

 

His mouth twitched. “I was the one who taught you before your very first school dance. Did you forget?”

 

“Yes, but—that was different.”

 

“How so?” he asked, sidestepping with ease as he led them through the steps, the ballroom swirling around them.

 

She could feel his Evol tickling at her waist as if he wanted her even closer—as if he couldn’t bring her close enough. 

 

The air in the room suddenly felt too oppressive and intoxicating. She could scarcely breathe. “We were children, Caleb.”

 

“Yes, we were,” he replied, his tone thoughtful as he brought his lips to her ear and whispered, “But not anymore.”

 

An electric thrill travelled from the base of her spine to her neck in response to his words. His touch burned across her back as he traced circles on the bare skin of her shoulder—on the naked flesh he had revealed with his Evol earlier. The leather of his gloves was somehow even more erotic than if he had simply used his bare fingers. 

 

“I knew that was you,” she grumbled, trying to resist the goosebumps he had raised there.

 

Please don’t see what you do to me, Caleb. I need to protect you. Just let me protect you for once, she thought.

 

Yet, he noticed. He noticed everything as he trailed his hands across her goosebumps in fascination.

 

She couldn’t pull her eyes away from him. He was a gravitational force that always seemed to attract her gaze. A black hole that commanded her towards him. 

 

Danica hated his uniform, the unfeeling, crisp lines, the compliance of it all. The Caleb that had worn it had not entirely been all hers, and yet—there was a hidden thrill in its appearance as well, a command to its presence, a need for her to look at him and to truly see the man he was and not the boy he had once been.

 

Sometimes it was difficult for her to admit that things between them had changed. That they were no longer foolish children—that Danica was indeed a woman, and Caleb, a man.

 

That very thought had reminded her of what her friend had said that day in her childhood bedroom, “You’ve never thought about it?”

 

At the time, she thought she hadn’t. Yet that wasn’t entirely true, was it?

 

She had indeed thought of it. In that secret corner of her heart, tucked so neatly away like a forgotten love letter, she had wondered what the future lay in store for them. Danica thought of their lost summertime moment many times before, and of what had almost occurred between them, but didn’t, and she wondered if it was truly for the best.

 

He begrudgingly removed his hands from her shoulder to spin her around, her stomach fluttering from the sensation.

 

Caleb was serious as he pulled her hands to his chest and said, “Danica. Why won’t you let me protect you? I can’t shield you here. Not if I don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

 

She seethed. “I don’t need you to protect me. I’m a grown-up now.”

 

He clenched her hands so tightly against his chest that they nearly lost circulation.

 

Danica peered into his eyes, wondering what he was so afraid of. He knew something, but he wasn’t sharing it with her.

 

She sighed. “I know there are things you cannot tell me,” Danica said. “I accept that. You’re a military man now, and you are beholden to something higher than your own authority. I’m not foolish.”

 

He seemed surprised by her response.

 

Caleb probably thought that she was going to bite his head off, and to be fair, she had wanted to. But what she said was more factual than she would have liked.

 

“But Caleb—I’m not a porcelain doll,” she urged. “You cannot keep me from falling off the edge forever. Eventually, I’m going to have to take the leap myself.”

 

Caleb relented, softening slightly. He sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. 

 

He was so close that she could feel his lashes fluttering against her skin like butterfly kisses. “I know, but…”

 

Caleb’s eyes were less furious, instead filled with an overwhelming sense of affection, overflowing with a longing for an emotion that she could not yet place. “That doesn’t mean you have to take that leap alone.”

 

Her lips parted.

 

He was right. She had been keeping him at a distance as well. Danica could have warned him that she was coming to the gala. She could have told him, but she didn’t, and she knew the reason why. She didn’t know if she could truly trust him, and he could sense that.

 

She leaned into him, as if the very brushing of her skin against his was a promise or a vow of her loyalty. His fingers traced the back of her neck, brushing the strands away, and she leaned into him, feeling his warmth as intensely as one craved a home they could not name, or for an inexpressible sensation that existed, but could not be described. 

 

They could not pin down that idea, for it was nebulous and fleeting as summer nostalgia—a blissful pain they never wished to heal, for it was shared. It was theirs, and only theirs.

 

Danica smiled softly and teased, “Then who shall be joining you then, that woman you had been dancing with earlier?”

 

Caleb seemed surprised, and then almost—self-satisfied by her words. “You’re not—jealous, are you?”

 

She looked away and lied, “No. Why would I be?”

 

Caleb stroked her face. His smile was gentle. “She is one of the general’s wives. I only danced with her out of social obligation. You are the only person I see.”

 

And she believed him. The moment he saw her, he was drawn to her as if compelled against all reason—two opposing forces called to the other.

 

Danica leaned her forehead against his, his breath warm against her face. “If we leap, we leap together.”

 

His lips brushed against her ear, and she felt as if she had grown wings, as if his Evol had lifted her into the air as he asked, “Promise?”

 

She merely grinned and withdrew from him.

 

He observed her as she held her pinky out to him in offering.

 

Caleb lost his social mask entirely at that moment. He seemed like himself. The Caleb that she knew. No longer haunted, he appeared as jovial and bright as the sun she had always returned to. The star that led her home.

 

He removed his glove with his teeth and laced his pinky with hers, pressing his bare thumb against her own as if to imprint their vow into each other's skin, and he said with all of the genuine emotion he could summon, “I promise.”

Chapter 7: Chapter Seven- The Beginning Of The End

Chapter Seven

 

Caleb

They had promised to keep fewer secrets between them, and for the most part, he had kept to his word. He hadn’t told her that he was keeping surveillance on her, of course—Caleb didn’t think that she would understand. Many people were still after her. They would never stop, and he wouldn’t let anything touch her.

 

Yet he had been working on letting her further into his private world—his heart less closed off than it was before. 

 

For so long, he had used the distance between them as a shield to protect her, when in fact, it had been forcing them further into perilous territories without the other. Without her, he felt like a salamander with its tail cut off as it wriggled and clung to life only to experience that inevitable cell death. She had been that missing limb for him, that broken component that only she had the solution for. He knew that his love could be a little—intense. 

 

Caleb didn’t know how to do anything by halves. He was either all in or all out, and with Danica, he felt as if he never had a choice in the matter. Whether she liked it or not, he would always be a part of her life, and what had surprised him the most was that he had come to find that she hadn’t truly minded. She wanted him to be there, to be present, and the more that he gave to her, the more willing she was to reach for him.

 

He had been pleased to receive her invitation to the deep-space trials that day.

 

They had completed enough levels that their routine was down to a formula. Caleb tended to run a tight ship, his brain hardwired for procedure. The military didn’t allow for anything else. Yet, Danica was hard to keep to a certain system. She was more improvisational. Her strategy—was to not have a strategy. He would have almost admired her for her blind courage. Almost. If it didn’t get her into such trouble.

 

That day, they were clearing levels left and right. They had most recently broken the record for their fastest time, and Caleb was ready to call it a day. He could tell that she was growing tired, and when she was tired, she made reckless decisions. A bit sloppier than she usually was, a little slower on the draw.

 

“I’m fine,” she said, as if reading his mind, brushing beads of water from her lips.

 

“No, you aren’t. You’re tired. Don’t push yourself. We can pick things up tomorrow.”

 

“I said—I’m fine,” she asserted, passing the water bottle back to him.

 

He sighed. Caleb knew that to argue that point with her was a losing battle. “Alright,” he conceded, twisting the cap back on. “But if you need to fall back. Let me handle it.”

 

She smiled and teased, “Yes, Colonel,” with a click of her heels and a pathetic excuse for a salute in his direction.

 

His mouth twitched into a smile as he adjusted her hand into a sharper angle. “You call that a salute, sergeant?”

 

Danica beamed. “Yes, sir.”

 

His heart fluttered when he saw her smile. She looked—beautiful and strong. No matter how much time seemed to sprawl on, he never got tired of looking at her. 

 

If he were her sun, lighting the way for her. Then she was the entire sky that unfurled before him, and he didn’t want to miss a single moment. She kept him stable, kept him alive. His lifeblood. His purpose.

 

He surveyed the landscape. There were a few larger rocks that they could duck behind if needed, and a steep hill they could slide down to escape if need be. 

 

Caleb felt fingers on his chin, his eyes widening as she tilted his face in her direction.

 

His lips parted in anticipation.

 

The sunlight danced across her face, highlighting the curved shape of her lips. 

 

“Found all your escape routes, Colonel?” she teased.

 

He liked it when she tried to take control—only for Caleb to seize it right back from her.

 

Caleb grabbed her chin in turn, forcing her to look at him. 

 

Her gaze glimmered with anticipation.

 

Yet he merely smiled and handed her his gun. “Ready when you are, adjutant.”

 

They had been playing their little games for a while now, wondering who would reach out first, who would breach that final line between family and something more…

 

He toed that line, longing to finally breach it. 

 

Yet, she wasn’t ready, and he could tell as much.

Caleb would get too close, only for her to retreat. He would throw a line out for her to take a bite. Sometimes she would, and sometimes she wouldn’t.

 

Danica was always like that. It was always difficult for her to make up her mind about something. Her favourite colour had remained undecided until she was about fifteen years old. Danica had always insisted that it was impossible to choose—until she finally had. And once she made up her mind about something, she would not change it again. She was stubborn in that way, and it was one of the things he loved and hated most about her—that he could get so close to being that choice, and yet so far from being the one .

 

In his mind, there had only ever been one choice for him, and it was Danica. But for her, it was not such an easy decision to make, and he wished that it hadn’t hurt him to know that she would never love him as much as he loved her, but it did…

 

He wanted her to crave him as brutally as he craved her—to the point of bruising, of mutual destruction. His mind had been consumed with thoughts of her. Like a perfume that lingered, he craved her scent in his dreams, desperate for a taste of her, but it was just a drop in the ocean that was his desire.

 

She smiled shyly and took the gun from him, brushing his bare hands with hers.

 

Electricity sparked at their touch, travelling from his fingers to his spine. He felt pleasure and pain all at the same time, and he knew that at that very moment, if he died, only her touch could bring him back to life.

 

When the trial had begun, he played it safe, as usual. Caleb tried to keep an eye on Danica as much as he could, but she was reckless. He loved her boldness, but not the danger that came along with it.

 

She had used the nearby rock as a launching pad, taking aim at the slimy wanderer, releasing one shot—then two—then three, all at the glowing red orb on their chest—their critical point.

 

Danica tossed the pistol to him midair, and Caleb took the creature down with a final blast, watching as it collapsed in a heap.

 

She landed in a roll, but had come at it from an odd angle, and he heard a horrifying snapping noise and then a scream.

 

He saw red. He couldn’t remember running to her, only that in the blink of an eye, he was at her side. The touring chip had sparked up within him then, sending a jolt of pain down his spine, but no pain could prevent him from aiding Danica. No pain in the world could stop him from getting to her.

 

Caleb staggered for a moment, but was able to hold the discomfort back, focusing only on Danica. He could tell that she was in immense agony from the way her eyes were pinched and her mouth tightened, like there was too much bubbling emotion and nowhere to put it all. 

 

He didn’t want to pick her up unless he knew precisely where she had been injured first. Caleb could end up hurting her even further, and if he had, he wouldn’t forgive himself.

 

“Where does it hurt?” he asked.

 

“My ankle—” she sputtered. “I’m fine, I think it’s just a sprain.”

 

His eyes narrowed with distrust. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

 

He lifted her into his arms easily, her nails clutching into his back.

 

She was trembling.

 

Caleb placed her onto the rock and tried to roll her pant leg up.

 

Danica stopped him, suddenly seeming desperate. “It really is fine. I’ll go to the hospital. Zayne will take care of it.”

 

He flared up.

 

You don't need Zayne. You only need me.

 

His tone was absolute. “ I’ll take care of it. Now stay still.”

 

She couldn’t look him in the eye as he rolled the pant leg up.

 

He sharply inhaled at the sight. Her ankle was riddled with bruises, angry and inflamed and recent. 

 

“You were already injured,” he said.

 

“It was healing, I promise, and it wasn’t hurting today until now.”

 

He examined it, tilting it in every direction.

 

She clawed at his arm.

 

“Until you sprained it again, you mean?”

 

“I’m so close to the finish line I can almost see it, Caleb. I need this—”

 

“No,” he retorted. He was incandescent with rage. “You don’t. Not if it means you do careless things like this.”

 

Her face flushed with shame. She looked like a little kid who got scolded for stealing.

 

Caleb frowned. “I think it’s just a sprain, but you should still go to the hospital for an X-ray.”

 

For that, he would begrudgingly concede to Zayne, as unfortunately, Caleb hadn’t possessed X-ray vision. The hospital would be the only place she could go to ensure that it wasn’t broken.

 

“I will,” she replied. “I promise.”

 

He stroked the tender skin as if his mere touch could heal her.

 

She managed a soft smile at his tenderness. “I don’t want you to think that you always have to look out for me. I’m trying to become stronger so that I can leap higher, shoot faster. So that I can protect you—and I can’t do that if I stay still.”

 

He was surprised and almost—hurt by those words. “Do you not think that I’m capable of protecting us?”

 

“Of course I do. I just don’t want you to carry this burden alone. You’ve been taking care of me since we were kids, but I’m not a kid anymore, Caleb,” she replied, her eyes welling with tears. “I don’t want you to be alone in this.”

 

Caleb watched her and wondered when she had grown into such a beautiful young woman. She was covered in sweat and dirt from head to toe, and her long dark hair hung limply in her face, and she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

 

His heart swelled with pride as he took her hands in his and said, “I’m never alone, Danica.”

 

Caleb pressed this necklace between their hands as if offering his very heart to her—and he would have, if only she had asked.

 

“I always have you with me,” he said.

 

She nodded in understanding.

 

“But—” he added sternly. “If you don’t take care of yourself now, then how can you manage to protect anyone?”

 

Danica looked down at their joined hands. “I know. Sometimes I wonder if I’m like this because—I know you’ll always be there to catch me when I fall.”

 

It felt like he was falling in love with her all over again. She had truly relied on him, believing he was dependable enough to shield her from anything. He never wanted anything else, and yet—he found himself yearning for more than he ever had before, for her attention, her time, her affection, her love…

 

He used to think that he could survive on less. That Danica just being in his life was enough, but lately, he wasn’t so sure. He needed more from her. Perhaps more than she was willing to give, and he didn’t know how much longer he could play those games before he crossed that impossible line between them. That delicious thorn in his side, which had been Danica, had begun to splinter, and he wondered if one day the pain would become too heavy a burden for him to bear.

 

“Caleb—”

 

“I’ll always be there to catch you when you fall,” he soothed, brushing her bangs back to kiss her warm forehead with tempered affection. “Always.”

 

And regardless of how she felt, no matter how much time or distance sprawled between them, or of what lines they did or didn’t choose to cross, he had truly meant it.