“You look so serious,” I said, propping myself up to watch.

He shook his dark head. “You know, this isn’t exactly easy when you’re not helping. Here, lift up.”

Smiling now despite myself, I angled my midsection upwards. “Have you actually ascertained yet that I want to go on this walk?”

“Of course you do. A romantic walk in the moonlight with your boyfriend?” Alex tugged my jeans up the rest of the way and fastened them; with a grin, he kissed me. Then, more serious, he touched my face. “Come on. Really. It’ll do you good; you can’t just lie here worrying all night.”

I still found myself getting lost in his blue-grey eyes sometimes – the way they contrasted so sharply against his black lashes. “Okay, you win.” I climbed out of bed and pulled on a sweater over my white camisole – the desert gets cold at night.

Alex had put on a long-sleeved T-shirt; he took his pistol from the dresser, checked it, and stuck it in the back of his jeans. As we stepped out into the corridor, he eased the door closed behind us. The thick walls were pretty soundproof, but the one noise guaranteed to penetrate was a door banging shut.

Suddenly I was almost giggling at the furtiveness of it all. “Why don’t we do this more often?” I whispered.

Alex’s lips twitched. “Oh, yeah, because you took no persuading at all. ‘A walk!’ you said, springing out of bed. ‘Great, let me get dressed!’”

As we reached the garage, we were both stifling laughter. Once we were on ground level, we said hi to Matt, the recruit on guard duty, and then stepped out into the yard. Alex had been right; there was a full moon. Its light glinted on the chain-link fence. He punched in the code for the gate, and a moment later we were walking hand in hand down the gritty dirt road.

I was glad to see he’d shifted his aura. Like mine, it now appeared a sickly grey that clung close to his body – completely unappealing to a hunting angel. “You’ve gotten really good at that,” I said, studying him.

He squeezed my hand. “Had a good teacher.”

At first we’d thought that only Seb and I could change our auras, but then we’d found out humans could do it too; it just took them a lot longer to grasp. Alex, Sam and Liz hadn’t found it nearly as difficult as the rest of the team, though. They’d all been trained in energy work – Alex, since he was a child in his father’s AK camp, where he’d learned to scan the ethereal level for angels.

There was a rocky outcrop not far away, its rounded shape dark against the stars. We started up it, shifting from hiking to gentle climbing as it steepened. The moonlight was so bright it was actually casting shadows.

On the other side was a six-foot drop. Alex jumped lightly to the ground. “Come on, I’ll catch you,” he said, holding his arms out.

I sat down, legs dangling. “Are you sure about this?”

“Hey, don’t you trust me?” Alex took my hand with a grin and tugged; as I launched myself off the edge, he caught me solidly. Slowly, I slid down his body as he lowered me to the ground.

The feel of him so close was very…distracting. For a second I found myself wondering why we hadn’t brought a blanket, then rolled my eyes. I was really starting to develop a one-track mind. It was kind of hard not to – Alex was like a drug I could never get enough of.

“Good catch,” I said. Somehow my voice was normal.

I could tell Alex’s thoughts had been travelling in the same direction. He shook his head as if to clear it. “Well, it helps when the person you’re catching is extremely cute.”

We sat on the ground with our backs against the rock, stretching our legs out and gazing up at the stars. They glittered coldly across the night sky. I pointed to a small, bright zigzag. “Cassiopeia, right?”

Alex put his arm around me. “I’ve taught you well, grasshopper.”

I tickled him just under his armpit: the one place he was ticklish. “Maybe, but you still can’t fix an engine.”

He gave a yelp of laughter, twisting away. “No fair, you know all my weak spots. Yeah, guilty as charged.”

As I settled against him, the desert lay vast and still around us. It was so desolate, as if we were up on the surface of the moon. As if no one else even existed.

Yet barely a hundred miles away lay the ruins of Las Vegas – and like in all the ruined cities, people still lived there, somehow, in shelters made from collapsed buildings. A helpless anger touched me. It was the same all over, for anyone who didn’t go to an Eden. Across the country were thousands of “dark towns” with buildings still intact, but no electricity – all people could do was scavenge and try their best to survive. Not all of them did.

The quakes had changed everything, for ever.

Stop. Don’t go there, I warned myself. It was too late; I was already reliving the earthquake that had flattened Mexico City. I shivered as I recalled that groaning roar. And a lot of our recruits had been through even worse. When I’d first held their hands to make sure we could trust them, I’d seen so much sorrow – so much pain.

I looked up to find Alex studying me. “What are you thinking?” he asked softly.

I swallowed. “Just…wondering what we’ll do if we actually succeed. Where would you want to go? Someplace up in the mountains, maybe, like back to the cabin?”

One of his eyebrows rose sceptically. “A, anywhere as long as it’s with you, and, B, why do I have the feeling that you’re sitting there blaming yourself again?”

I stared out at the desert and couldn’t answer.

“Stop,” Alex said in a low voice. He cupped my face in his hands, gently forcing me to look at him. “Listen to me. It wasn’t your fault.”

I managed a tiny smile. “Are you turning psychic now?”

“Yeah, I wonder how I can possibly manage to know what you’re thinking, when you’re such a total enigma.”

I choked out a laugh. “Pretty predictable, huh?”

“When it comes to this? Just a little.” He rested his forehead against mine. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have to – we’d already had this conversation more times than I could count.

“You know what I really want to do if we win?” said Alex finally.

“No, what?”

He hesitated, his gaze searching mine. “I want to find your mother,” he said. “I want that for you more than anything, Willow. I don’t care if we have to spend years looking for her – if we can, then we’re going to do it.”

My throat went tight. I checked on my mother psychically every day. It was always such a relief to feel that she was still okay – even though I had no idea where she was or who was keeping her safe. And just the fact that Alex wanted that for me…it meant everything.

“Thank you,” I said.

I stretched upwards, brushing his lips lightly with my own. Then again, more lingeringly. Much more lingeringly. Alex wrapped his arms around me, pulling me onto his lap. His lips were so familiar – warm, slightly rough, as intoxicating as the first time we’d ever kissed. When we finally came up for air, I felt dizzy.

“Maybe one of these years, I’ll get used to how amazing that feels,” I whispered, stroking his warm back under his shirt.

“Really?” Alex said huskily. “I never will – not if we live to be a hundred.” His heartbeat pounded against mine. “Willow, listen – do you really feel like staying out here? Maybe we could—”

“Go back to our room instead?” I finished for him. I kissed his nose. “Yes, you are definitely reading my mind,” I said solemnly.

Suddenly we were both laughing. My laugh turned to a squeal as Alex scooped an arm under my knees and lurched up with me in his arms. He nibbled at my earlobe. “So I guess this is our walk biting the dust.”

I twined my arms around his neck. “Yeah, Matt’s going to be laughing at us. We’ve hardly been gone any time at all.”

“You know what, that is so far down on my list of priorities right now that it’s practically nonexistent.” Grinning, Alex gave me a boost and I scrambled onto the boulder. With a quick jump, he braced himself against the top and began to lift himself up.