Sentinels: Lynx Destiny. Doranna Durgin

“Of course you walked,” she muttered, and then glared at him more directly. “And now you’re going to ride back with me.”

      He hesitated, standing there atop one of the library terracing boulders as though it had been made for his personal use. Regan slid down from the one on which she’d been standing, and held out her hand for him to follow. He said, “This would be another stupid man thing.”

      She couldn’t help the smile that twitched the corner of her mouth. “Right. If you don’t come.”

      He sighed in another obvious surrender, and joined her on the road—no sidewalks here—and even gently slid his hand into hers, so they walked together toward the old hotel and its boardwalk shops. And if once she thought he faltered—and if shortly after that she felt that deep, grating perception of something else’s pain, neither of them spoke of it.

      At least, not out loud.

      You can’t have me, Regan told that voice in her head. You will never, ever have me!

      Even if it meant forever leaving behind this world that had once been hers.