Tears stung her eyes. She sank her knees next to the sleeping bench and gently raked strands of golden hair from him forehead.'Don't you die. Don't you dare. I forbid it.' As if Han Alister had ever listened to anything she said.

Leesha knew from experience that when parents don't parent, kids grow up fast.

Please, Kenzie, Jonah thought. Please, please, please back off from this. His life wasn't much, but it was all he had, this small safe space, walled in by secrets.