~Amelia~
Kaden came back forty minutes later.
I knew it was him before the door opened, the way Caleb's posture changed at the window, going from alert to just watchful. I was still on the floor with my back against the wall, knees pulled up, and I didn't move until the broken door scraped open and Kaden stepped through it.
He was empty-handed.
He'd shifted back already but he looked like something had chewed through him on the way, a cut running across his forearm, dried blood at his temple, a bruise already forming along his jaw. He didn't look at me right away. He looked at the floor, then the fireplace, then he walked past me to the kitchen sink and turned the cold water on.
I got up. "You're bleeding."
"I'm fine."
"Your arm says otherwise."
