Lewis was staring at Liam, too, now, trying to work out what the hell his brother was talking about. My back was the only thing between eye contact and another fight.

"Liam's with us," Mam said coldly, "and that's all you need to know."

"If you're working with one of the Alphas, I think we deserve to know," Lewis retorted.

Isaac wasn't paying them the blindest bit of attention. He hadn't taken his eyes off Liam, and he was smirking now. "Whose are you, then? Don't look like a Lloyd, and you're not one of ours. I reckon Chris is too uptight. So which is it? Lowland or Silver Lake?"

"Come on," I told Liam. "Let's take a walk."

He didn't need to hear this. Not again. But he just rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm alright, Eva. Really."

Liar. He just didn't want them to think he was running away.

"Silver Lake," the younger brother said, his lip curling. "It's got to be. Good old Keith Vaughan had a whole flock of kids running around. So — what, you're working with Mason?"

Liam stood up abruptly, and I grabbed a handful of his shirt. It was always hard to tell when his wolf was out because his eyes were so dark anyway, but it was fair to assume he was making an appearance now, because a low growl rumbled through his chest.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Mam assured them both. "We want Mason's head on a bloody spike, and so does Liam. Got it?"

He shrugged. "I'm right, though, aren't I? He's one of Vaughan's bastards."

"I reckon so," Isaac agreed. "Not much resemblance, mind, save for those eyes..."

Liam tried to take a step forwards, only to slam into Rhodri, who'd moved quicker than he had.

"Oh, and the temper, of course," Isaac laughed even as his eyes swirled black.

"Why don't you shut up?" I asked him hotly. I let go of Liam — if he wanted to throw a punch, I wasn't going to stand in his way — but Rhodri didn't budge an inch. The whole situation was a little delicate, what with Liam about three seconds away from committing first-degree murder, and Mam didn't fail to notice.

"You three are going to clear off," she told us.

We all looked at her with frustration in our eyes and insolence in our hearts. It felt an awful lot like we were getting punished when the flockies were the ones picking a fight. It took me a hot minute to realise that I didn't even want to be here. We could stand guard here for the next hour, listening to those shitheads, or we could go and have some actual fun.

"Yes, we are," I said cheerfully, giving Liam a shove towards the trees. "I'd say it was nice meeting you all, but ... that would be a big fat lie."

"Likewise," Isaac Fletcher muttered.

The boys weren't moving quick enough for my liking, so I tugged on the link. "Screw them, alright? Let's get good and drunk."

That did the trick. Once Rhodri started moving, half the battle was already won, and he helped me push Liam away from the flockies. We were home free as soon as we were into the trees, but that didn't mean the argument was over. Their voices chased us through the trees for nearly a full minute. I kept peering back over my shoulder.

"How do we know you're even rogues?" Isaac drawled.

About half of Ian's raiding team fell about laughing, but Mam just threw her hands up in the air. "Do I look like a flockie to you?"

He shrugged. "Jackson might be paying you. If we walk into his pack house, he gets to execute all three of us in one fell swoop. So, please, give me one good reason why we should trust a word that comes out of your mouth."

This time, she did laugh. "Are you shitting me, Fletcher? I've got the numbers — I could kill you right now."

And that was the last we heard. They could fight all day and night if they liked. I'd had enough of playing civil with flockies. Whatever Mam was planning, it wasn't worth working with prickhead Alphas. Not if they were going to give Liam shit for existing, because he'd had more than enough of that from his own family.

We trudged back to the cars. Mam hadn't told us to go home, I noticed, so we could do whatever the hell we liked, as far as I was concerned. She'd as good as given us the day off. It would have been easy enough to jump into a car and head to Wyst for a bit of fun ... but none of us could actually drive.

It was two hours' run to the nearest village, and I could've done it in half that time if I hadn't been too nice to leave the boys in my dust. There were a dozen cottages, a cute little village hall with a green out the front, and a convenience store which was tinier than our cabin.

Since I'd left my fake ID at Haven and Liam had a problem with small spaces, we sent Rhodri in with thirty quid and a shopping list. We sat on the lawn and threw grass at each other until he came back out with his arms and jacket pockets overflowing because he always refused to pay five pence for a bag.

Rhodri dropped it all onto the grass. "Jam doughnuts, Doritos, tequila for Eva, beer for me, and coke and vodka for the flockie. Was that everything?"

"Give it a rest, Rhodri," I grumbled through the link. We only called him a flockie affectionately, but there was a time and bloody place.

"He hates the pity more than he hates the teasing," he retorted. "Step off them eggshells."

Liam, oblivious to our mental conversation, had picked another handful of grass. He pulled me over backwards by my hood and stuffed the whole lot down the back of my neck. I was torn between being pleased that he was smiling and being furious that there was now grass in my shirt, so I kept the swearing to the bare minimum. I had to retaliate, of course, and eventually Rhodri had to kick us apart before the humans got suspicious.

"Yeah, that was everything," Liam said once he'd stopped laughing at me. He opened the doughnuts and handed them around. I had to spit out a few blades of grass to eat mine. Getting sugar on your hands was inevitable, so I tended to just embrace it.

There were always five in a packet, which was stupid because there was no such thing as a friendship group of five. It was too many people to walk on the pavement together. So Rhodri had an extra one for doing all the hard work, and Liam and I split the second. There was jam and sugar on my fingers by the time we were done. Worth it.

"Where are we drinking?" I asked, tucking my bottle of tequila into my hoodie pocket.

"Not bloody here, that's for sure. You should've seen the look I got off the cashier," Rhodri muttered. "Into the woods?"

"Into the woods," I agreed happily.

It wasn't like we had anywhere better to drink. We'd been to human clubs once or twice, but the music was not played with shifter hearing in mind and none of us liked having strangers at our backs. Llechi was a good spot — quiet and isolated, but it would take us half a day just to run there.

So we trudged out of the human village and found ourselves a quiet patch of trees where the ferns grew tall and the wood pigeons sang overhead. I sat myself down on the leaves, my back against a tree, and the boys followed my example so that we made a wonky little triangle.

And then, just to kick things off, I opened my tequila and took a good, long swig. Rhodri had cracked open a beer. Liam took a few sips of his coke and then topped up the can with vodka. As soon as he was finished, he handed it straight to me, and I washed the tequila down. The more you drank, the better alcohol tasted, but those first few minutes were always rough.

"Right. It's the yes-no game today, lads," I declared. "Yeah, yep, nah and nope are also forbidden. If you screw up, you drink, and you drink properly. No half-assed fake sips, alright? I'll know."

"Well, you've screwed up already," Rhodri told me dryly.

Shit almighty. I was a lightweight, so I had to be cleverer than them if I wanted to keep the doughnuts in my stomach, and I hadn't got off to the best of starts. I drank. The tequila burned going down, but it was bearable this time, at least.

"So, Liam, you wouldn't happen to know why Mam gives a shit about the Fletchers?" I asked. The best way to catch people out was to start a genuine conversation, I'd found.

"I don't have a bloody clue," he said, shrugging, and I got to watch his muscles ripple beneath his shirt. "We were told to find them and we did. That was it."

"Well, she's up to something," I muttered. "She told me I'd have to get my tattoo removed, if you can believe that."

Liam started scratching his neck subconsciously. "Oh, I believe it. She told me the same thing."

"Didn't say squat to me," Rhodri muttered.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Probably hasn't had the chance."

"There's no way we're doing it, though, right?" Liam asked.

"Damn straight we're not. But now you need to drink," I told him smugly.

He looked utterly bemused. "And why would I do that?"

"You said a forbidden word."

"I did not."

"Yes, you did! Just then!" I insisted.

Liam started sniggered into his coke, and I groaned aloud.

"Do you know what, Liam? Go to hell. Go directly to hell. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred pounds..."

"I'll go," he agreed, his eyes on mine and a smile on his lips, "but only because I know you'll be right behind me."

We drank at the same time. He'd finished his coke, so he was onto straight vodka now. Rhodri's tactic seemed to be staying quiet. He was getting away with it because Liam and I were too busy— Ah. It wasn't flirting ... no, I wouldn't call it that. It was more like ... teasing. Yeah. That.

"You alright over there?" I called.

He nodded his head.

"Nah, nah, nah — come on. You've got to engage with us, and that means talking."

"I'll engage when you've done your three shots for that abysmal effort, little sister," Rhodri told me.

I banged my head against the tree trunk. It was too easy to slip up, especially when the world was starting to spin around me and my tongue was getting looser. It was probably more excitement than intoxication, to be honest. "Ah ... shit."

"Bloody hell, Eva. Not going well for you tonight, is it?" Liam laughed.

"I don't like this game anymore," I grumbled. But I did close my eyes and down another few mouthfuls of tequila. "Have you even drunk yet, Rhodri?"

"I have not," he said carefully.

"Would you like to?" I asked.

"Not particularly."

"You sure? I'd even let you have some tequila." The trick was to talk quickly, to take away his chance to think about he was going to say, and sure enough...

"No thanks."

Liam and I burst out laughing, and Rhodri said something filthy under his breath. He downed his entire can of beer just to flex on us, and then he cracked open another. We managed to play the game for nearly half an hour before we were all well and truly drunk. I'd had to start swallowing with my lips closed when I'd noticed the world flashing, but luckily the boys had been too sloshed to notice by then.

I made sure to save some of the tequila, because the real drinking games would come later. We always got pissed when there was another raiding team at Haven, and if there was going to be six there at once ... it would be a night for the history books, I reckoned.

The subsequent few hours were spent trying to sober up again. Progress was slow, but I was able to walk and talk normally enough to fend off my parents' raised eyebrows when they gave us a lift home. We thought we were sly as anything, but they could smell it all over us, of course, and they didn't care. They'd been young once, too.

***

Haven was crowded. And not just the typical my-family-was-all-home type of crowded. There were people all over the place. They were all rogues — scarred, sun-tanned, clothes torn and mud-splattered. Most I knew, but some I didn't, and that was a rare thing indeed. For a while, the three of us just stared about the clearing, wondering what the hell we had done to deserve this. We were all a little territorial about Haven.

"Cockroaches, the lot of them," Rhodri spat. "How long do we have to put up with this shit before they screw off?"

Yeah. Just a little territorial.

"Can't be more than a few days," I muttered. "Right?"

Liam rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess. The longer they stay, the greater the risk."

Rhodri snorted. "That the flockies'll find us, or that we'll kill each other?"

"Hell, both. Who wants to bet that someone will swing at me before the end of the night?"

"I'll take that action," I drawled. "Tenner?"

"Sure."

Before I even had time to regret that, someone crashed into us from behind and dragged us all into one big messy hug.

"There you are. I've been looking all over," Nia drawled.

She squeezed even tighter, until I felt my ribs groaning a complaint. Liam had to shove her to break free. He retreated a few paces, his hands in his pockets, and Nia's eyes widened.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Liam. I wasn't thinking," she said quickly, raking a hand through her hair. "You okay?"

He blew out. "Yeah, yeah — fine. Don't worry about it."

He wasn't fine, though. There had been an incident several years ago when I had accidently stabbed him a tiny bit, and he had said he was fine then, too ... right before going into a full-blown flashback on the kitchen floor. I tugged on our link and started streaming a compilation of every vine I could remember starting with 'Chris, is that a weed' and ending with 'this bitch empty.' It wasn't an ideal distraction, but it was all I could think of.

"It's been a long time since I saw you, little cousins," Nia told the boys. "How have you been?"

"We're alright," Rhodri said. Liam was too immersed in the vines to answer, but he did manage to shoot me the most confused, questioning look I ever had the misfortune of receiving.

"Brilliant. We're going to expand on that at some point, but I'm on a schedule right now. We're having a game of rugby, and I need forwards, so I don't suppose you're interested?"

"We're actually halfway drunk, Nia," I told her.

"I know. I can smell it on your breath. I feel like I should be worried, because it's not even lunchtime, but I'd still rather have you, to be honest," she sighed.

Rhodri looked sceptical. "Who have you got so far?"

He was trying to work out if it was worth his while. He didn't like losing.

Nia closed her eyes, as if that would improve her memory. "Well, there's Sammy, Devin, Emmett, my dad, your dad and me playing one to six. Lily and Bryn are my half-backs, and Ryker and Eva's mam said they'd play centre, So yeah ... I'm a little short on backs, but I'd rather have you two at seven and eight."

"That's the dream team, that is," Rhodri laughed. "Count me in."

It was Team Llewellyn, and I pitied whoever we were playing.

"Eva?" Nia asked next.

"You want me on the team?" I laughed.

"Who the hell else am I going to put on the wing?" she demanded. "Get moving, all of you. We're starting in five."

The boys jumped to obey — heading to the overgrown field near Arlow which we used to play rugby when it wasn't full of sheep. I hung back for a second and caught Nia's arm.

"Keep him out of the rucks today," I told her in an undertone. "Liam, I mean. One of the Fletchers boys had a go at him earlier."

"I'll do my best," she murmured.

And then we trudged to the rugby pitch. Most of the rogues were there already — well, everyone under thirty, anyway. At one end was the single set of posts we'd crafted from stolen tent poles, and at the other was a deep and treacherous ditch that acted as our try zone.

Eira was on the sidelines, curled up in a camp chair with a blanket wrapped around her. She looked better today. I gave her a thumbs up, and she returned it cheerfully enough. I reckoned she'd be walking in a few days, and back to her usual self — well, as close as she got, these days — by the end of the week. Good thing, too. We were long overdue a day-trip to Llechi.

***

We won the game. It wasn't even close. The opposing team had Syd Jacobs for a captain, so I took back my pity before the game even started. We scored four tries, two of which were mine because even drunk I could run circles around the slow, bulky guys that Syd favoured. Bryn had converted them all. He was the only person in all of Haven who could actually kick. I supposed there had been a lot of time to practice once Eira had gotten ill and he'd lost his main partner in crime.

Afterwards, everyone ended up hanging around under the posts. Emmett's raiders had lugged a few crates of alcohol out here, and they were now flogging bottles at twice the marked price, knowing full well that no one could be arsed to run to a human shop at this time of night. I was glad for my tequila then, and I drank almost a quarter in the immediate aftermath of the match, when everyone was making toasts and doing shots. Soon the ground was swaying beneath me.

Once it got too loud, the three of us edged away from the main crowd to stand under a twisted oak tree. It was a good vantage point to watch nearly fifty rogues making idiots of themselves beneath some very makeshift, very wobbly rugby posts. There was a loud chorus of 'We like to drink with Nia' coming from the centre of that mess.

"Hey, everyone," Bryn said, slotting himself into the group. He was holding a can of apple cider which smelt like vodka, and his eyes looked a little glazed over. "Eva — question for you."

"Shoot."

"Are you done with Mike? You know, the blonde one?" he asked me.

I whistled through my teeth. "Very done."

"Then would it be cool if I ... you know? He's kinda hitting on me."

"Yeah, I guess," I replied slowly. Normally, exes were off limits, but we had only dated for about a week, so there wasn't much history there. "Why him?"

Bryn sighed. "Because there are like three other guys who swing my way in all of Snowdonia, and two of them are in a relationship."

"Last I heard, you were seeing one of the Morris girls, little brother," Rhodri interjected.

"Yeah, two months ago. I blew it big time," he said, taking a swig of cider. "Now, must be off. Places to be, people to ... dot dot dot. Thanks, Eva."

"Don't mention it," I told him. I was wincing a little, but that was because Bryn was still an innocent little twelve-year-old in my eyes. His breath stank of alcohol, and I saw Rhodri narrowing his eyes at his retreating back, trying to decide if he was too sauced to be making rational decisions.

I was about to remind him that his brother was a sensible drunk when someone bumped into me from behind, making me spill a few drops of tequila onto my jeans. It was the oldest trick in the book, and also the most obvious. We were standing about five metres away from the crowds for Liam's sake. It was quite hard to walk five metres into someone by accident.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't see you there," the guy said. He was tall — around six feet, I reckoned, with olive skin and dark hair. He nodded at Rhodri and Liam, so they probably knew each other from somewhere, and then his eyes snapped straight back to me.

"It's cool," I told him.

I nudged Rhodri with an elbow, and he knew exactly what that meant. Grudgingly, he asked, "Finn, you know Eva, right?"

Finn turned to grin at me. "Actually, I don't think we've been introduced."

"For good reason," I drawled. "You're the dumbass who decided to drink a dirty pint backwards at the Christmas party, aren't you?"

He winced. "Ah ... yeah. Not my finest moment, I admit, but I did make thirty quid off that bet."

"You were sick on my shoes, mate."

"Then you have my most sincere apologies," he said with a grin that said otherwise. "Can I buy you a drink to make up for it?"

Smooth. Too smooth, almost, but I nodded anyway because he was lowkey hot and turning down free alcohol was always a dumbass move. "Anything but beer."

"One anything-but-beer coming right up," Finn drawled. He disappeared in the direction of the rugby posts.

And the very next second, Liam put his drink into my hand. "I'm off to bed, I reckon."

I looked at him incredulously. "Night's still young..."

He shrugged. "I didn't really sleep last night, and someone should keep poor Ellis company."

Ah, yes, my little brother, who was thirteen and old enough to come and drink with us if he didn't have a stick up his arse. It was probably just an excuse, but I was getting the impression that Liam wasn't going to be persuaded to stay, so I nodded grudgingly. "See you in the morning, I guess."

The second he was out of earshot, I took a good, long swig and rounded on Rhodri. "Well ... that was ... weird. It's almost like he's in a mood or something."

He looked pointedly at Finn. "Man, I wonder why that might be."

"Don't be ridiculous," I snapped. "Even if that were the case, which it's not, by the way, it wouldn't be my problem."

"No, it's not," Rhodri agreed, sighing heavily. "Sometimes I just get tired of watching you two pretend that you don't like each other."

Not him, too. I narrowed my eyes to slits and poked him hard in the chest. "I do not—"

"Whatever you say, Eva," he said flatly.

Prick.

"Look, it's none of your damn business, is it? Go find one of your girlfriends and stick your nose where it's wanted."

"Oh, I reckon I will," Rhodri laughed, and I groaned aloud. "Be careful with Finn, okay? He can be a bit wild."

My hands found their way into my pockets. It was my turn to laugh. "That's the way I like them."

He gave me a look that was altogether too knowing. "Evidently."

***

The rest of the night seemed to fly by. I spent most of it talking to Finn and getting steadily more drunk. He was alright, as it turned out. He had the typical raider arrogance, of course, and I found out that he was Ryker's nephew, so his head was even more inflated than the average guy. I liked his sense of humour, though, and he was easy to talk to.

At one point, Nia came over and asked me where the latrines were, as if she hadn't grown up here. She was ... very drunk by then. Her mate was following at her heels with a long-suffering smile and a mouthed apology. Eventually, she left to join a round of beer pong, but I found myself staring after her and wondering if her drinking had anything to do with the conversation she'd had with my Mam when she'd arrived.

"Another drink?" Finn asked me.

"Yeah, sure," I muttered distractedly. I wasn't as far gone as Nia, but walking in a straight line was a distant memory by then. We went over to the crates, which were now running decidedly low. Finn asked for wine and got some cheap-ass cider instead, because it was all they had left. The guy who handed it over was a prick named Joel who was always picking fights with Liam for being a flockie. I made sure to smirk at him.

"Oh, Finn, what are you doing with her?" he groaned. "Eva here isn't just fast on her feet ... if you know what I mean."

"What?" Finn asked.

Joel looked me up and down and raised his eyebrows. "She's easy, mate. Didn't you know? Set your sights a little higher."

"First of all, watch your bloody mouth—" Finn started, taking a step towards him, but I caught the back of his jacket.

"No, no, you're right, Joel. I am easy," I told him. "My standards are at rock-bloody-bottom, and yet I still wouldn't sleep with you. What does that say about you, eh? I don't ask for much — just to be treated like an actual human being, and you can't even do that."

Before he could swear at me, I snatched the cider and dragged Finn away into the crowd. If I really laid into Joel, he'd only take it out on Liam. It wouldn't be the first time. He'd pulled on a knife on him the morning after I'd refused to sleep with him, and he'd lost that fight, but it could have turned out very different.

"He's a jerk, alright?" Finn asked me as soon as we were clear, crooking a smile. "Ignore him."

I didn't return it. I knew this trick, too — get a friend to act like a douchebag so he could jump to my defence. Now, it could be that I was just getting paranoid, but they were the same age, and I'd learned to trust my gut.

"Hey, Rhodri, do you know if Finn and Joel get along?" I asked through the link.

He didn't hesitate. "Not even a little. You think I'd be friends with him if they did?"

"Thank you," I sighed. I was cool with him bumping into me. I would have been less cool with him having a friend insult me to make himself look good. It was just paranoia, after all. Paranoia and maybe, just maybe, some tiny, tiny part of me looking for an excuse not to take this any further.

"Everything okay, Eva?" Finn asked. He'd run a hand through his hair at some point, so it was sticking up in all directions, and I had a weakness for that messy, windswept look.

"Yeah," I said, then I nudged his arm. "Hey, how about we go somewhere a little more private?"

Finn's eyes flickered down to my lips, and he nodded. We didn't go far, in the end — just ten metres into the trees, where the moonlight didn't reach and the sounds of the party were muffled and easy to ignore. Before he could say anything, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. It was the rough, needy kind of kiss that made your whole body tingle and your stomach free-fall.

His hands found my waist, and he pushed me backwards until I was up against a tree trunk. My fingers were beneath his shirt, enjoying the feel of solid muscle and smooth, sun-kissed skin. We kissed for nearly a full minute, maybe, until my lips were swollen and we both needed air. He pulled back and let his forehead rest against mine.

"Shit," he groaned. "That was ... huh."

"It was alright, I guess," I offered, grinning at him.

Finn chuckled, and I could feel the whisper of his breath against my lips. He stared at me for a few moments longer, his eyes wide, and then he asked, "Can I walk you home?"

My eyebrows shot upwards. I was, I will admit, the slightest bit 'put out.'

He rubbed the back of his neck. "As much as I'd love to, we're both very drunk. I don't want to take advantage."

"You're not taking advantage, and I'm not drunk," I told him firmly. The words came out slurred, somehow.

"Oh yeah? How about you recite the alphabet backwards?" he laughed.

I made a face. "Are you kidding me? I don't even know it forwards."

"Try for me."

I took a deep breath and chewed on my lips. "Erm ... ten, nine ... eight? Yeah, eight."

Finn put a hand over my mouth. "Yeah, I think I've heard enough. Come on — time for bed."

And then he walked me back to the cabin. Wild, my ass. He was one of the nice guys — cocky, maybe, but with a sense of humour and a soft side, and that was the type of guy I could actually grow to like. The type I avoided at all costs.

***

It was long past midnight when I snuck into the attic. One of the chickens clucked softly at me before tucking her head right back under her wing. Nia's bed was empty, as was Lily's, but Jess was sound asleep at the far end of the room. I had to keep to the edges of the floor, skirting around every squeaky floorboard, to grab my sleeping bag and haul it into the boys' half of the attic.

As I was creeping across, I stepped on something and felt it crunch beneath my bare foot. A cool, slimy wetness oozed between my toes, and I was now standing on something very sharp. There was no stopping the string of swearwords which escaped my lips, low and vicious.

"Eva?" someone whispered.

"Yeah," I replied, equally quiet. "Those bloody chickens. I think I just stepped on an egg."

He laughed at me. I knew it was Liam because no one else would be awake at this hour and because I knew his laugh by heart. I limped over to his bed, keeping my eggy foot lifted, and then I put a hand over his mouth to shut him up while I wiped the egg onto the floorboards.

"You're going to wake the kids," I told him. "Plus, it's not funny."

More than the kids — Rhodri was fast asleep right beside us. I was surprised to see him there at all, to be honest. The last time I had seen him, an hour before, he had been getting cosy with one of Nia's raiders. Maybe he'd left to look after his brother, who was snoring beside him, one hand clutching a bucket which smelt faintly of vomit.

Liam kept on sniggering, so I just thumped him a few times before giving up altogether. He rolled over to make room for me, and I threw my sleeping bag down and crawled into it. Rhodri was right at the edge of his mattress, so I was really just on Liam's bed, but he didn't seem to mind.

I slept between the boys more than I slept in my own bed. At first, my motives had been purely mischief-related, but I'd eventually worked out that sleeping next to Liam meant that I got woken up whenever he did. That way, he didn't end up alone in the dark. He probably thought I was an insomniac, to be honest, because I usually pretended like I'd already been awake to stop him feeling guilty.

"Don't tell me you were waiting up," I murmured.

He offered me a half smile. "Not exactly."

I knew what that meant. He wouldn't admit it, but he'd been dreaming again. The light from the window above our heads was throwing half of his face into shadow, but I could see one of his eyes, and it was wary. I wriggled in bed a little, uncomfortably aware that my foot was still slimy and my sleeping bag would stink in a few days.

"You owe me a tenner, Kendrick," I told him matter-of-factly. "Nobody even swore at you."

He dug into his pockets and pressed a ten-pound-note into my palm. "There. Don't you ever say I'm not a man of my word."

I didn't bother trying to answer that — I was still trying to work out where the money had come from. "You're wearing jeans in bed, aren't you? No wonder you can't sleep."

"And what are you wearing, Eva?" he asked dryly.

"Touché," I muttered. I'd been too whacked to change.

One of his thumbs traced the faint lines on my arms where my grazes were healing and then came to rest beside the fading bruise on my chin. I had to bite my lip to keep myself from smiling.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Flockies."

"Has Rhodri—"

"I dealt with it, actually."

"Dealt with it how?"

"With a firearms conviction and ten years in jail," I said smugly.

He leaned over to ruffle up my hair, despite my best efforts to slap his hand away. "Well done you."

And within a few minutes, both of us were sound asleep.