Read Online Crusade Across Worlds by C.G. Coppola - Free Book Online

guilt. “I woke up and you were gone.”
    “Reid—”
    “I thought maybe you were just outside. Or
with Sampson or Clarence. And when I found them…” he buries his
face in the valley between my breasts and groans. I hold his head
to my chest, running my fingers through his hair, wanting to
comfort him any way I can.
    Maybe I should’ve said goodbye that morning.
But I didn’t want to. I wanted our goodbye to be the night before,
when he first told me he loved me. I wanted that to be the last
thing that happened between us.
    “It’s been… difficult,” he murmurs into my
skin. “A lot’s happened since you left.”
    “Like what?”
    Reid looks at me. And exhales. “I’m sure
Sampson will go over the fine print later, but the whole invasion
thing aside—Able and Mae have a thing going.”
    “What?”
    “Yeah,” he rubs his jaw. “They’re trying to
keep it secret, but subtlety is not one of Able’s strengths. It’s
fun messing with him when he lets something slip. He gets all red.
Starts panicking. And you know Mae—girl barely speaks. The two of
them… I don’t know why they just don’t tell us. Just get it out in
the open.”
    “Maybe they’re embarrassed.”
    “Of what?”
    I shrug, because I have no idea. Promising
myself to dig deeper into it later, I probe Reid for more about the
other changes. “What else?”
    “Let’s see… oh,” he nods, “Jace has pretty
much nailed half the tribe-girls—no surprise there—and Ariana’s
been coming back weekly to discuss preparations for the invasion.
Claims it’s on her mother’s behalf, but it’s really to see
Tucker.”
    “How do you know?”
    Reid smirks. “What? You think guys don’t
talk?”
    “Have they…”
    He winks.
    “I have missed a lot.”
    It was a small part of forcing myself not to
think of back home. I didn’t want to know everything I was missing
by being away. We’ve all known each other such a short time and
three months might be a grain of sand in the big scheme, but
leaving friends and family, it can feel like an eternity. What if I
came back and everything was different? What if people felt
differently? I look at Reid.
    “What about you?” I try for nonchalance.
“Besides the facial hair and sleeve, what have you been up to?”
    His expression softens.
    The look stirs a deep, heated weight. He
wants to say something, something important, but simply gazes at
me. I’m about to ask when the corner of his mouth lifts.
    “Waiting,” he says. “Like I promised I
would.”
     
Chapter Four: Food for Thought
    “They’re going to be all over you with
questions. Just so you know.”
    “I know.”
    Reid stops us at the edge of the bridge and
leans against its wooden banister. He brings my hand to his mouth,
brushing his lips over my fingers, teasing a kiss. “I don’t want to
give you back yet.”
    I don’t want my alone time with Reid to end
either.
    But it has to.
    There are too many people I’m dying to
see—and dying to see me—to stay out all night. And as much as I
would love an endless rerun of the lake, it’s time to face
everything else. My leaving without a goodbye. Where I went—what I
was doing. All the information I’m bringing back. And everything I
missed here, too.
    I sigh at Reid’s comment. “You have to.”
    He brushes his lips over my knuckles,
smirking. “Says who?”
    I really want to give into him, but I
focus on the red curtain over his shoulder instead. We’re outside
of Tucker’s home—the location of my return feast—and everyone is
inside waiting for us. We could have gone to Sampson’s or
Clarence’s, but the Rogue Leader has the only place large enough to
fit everyone comfortably—a tree trunk nearly double the size of the
others. He earned it by completing the three challenges—a test
given to outsiders to prove their worth as a Zingfinold—and in
doing so, became an official member of the community. In some ways,
it almost makes Tucker more of a tribesman, the