~ ZEV ~
He'd watched Sasha fight for happiness all night, catching herself whenever she threatened to tip into tears. Despite all his assurances that she could get emotional, she'd shaken her head and done her best to find her joy again. While Zev had ached and burned all night—ached for her, burned with anger.
When she finally fell asleep hours after they got back to the cave, he'd curled himself around her, the top of her head under his chin, his back around hers in the way that he'd always curled himself over her since they were teenagers—she fit inside the curve of him. He'd bent his knees up behind hers, cradling her with his body, and as her breathing drifted into slow and even, he'd stared at the wall, and later the ceiling.
Everything within him fought. Fought against his instincts that were screaming that there was more to this. That Nick knew what he was doing. That his reasons for coming to Thana were far bigger than he'd let on.
