She hissed in frustration. 'Fine. You go stretch or whatever it is you need to do, and I'll clean up camp.'
'See how easy that was?' He grinned and lumbered to a nearby tree, throwing over his shoulder, 'I'm glad you're starting to see things my way.'
Jewel burned their leaf plates, spread the ashes and embers with a stick. All the while she watched Gray. His skin had more color, so the fish had helped. He had his palms on the tree trunk, his body leaning backward, stretching his arms and sides. When he finished that, he slowly straightened and twisted each vertebra in his back. His blond hair hung around his forehead and temples in complete disarray, that green and black cloth head-covering long forgotten.
Just watching him made her chest constrict with longing. Knowing he wanted to teach her to dance made the sensation all the more intense. She hadn't asked him; he had offered, true desire etched in his voice.
'Have you ever seen the Jewel of Dunamis?' he asked, keeping his back to her.
The question rattled her, but she tried not to show any reaction. 'Many times. Why?' 'I'm curious. What does it look like?'
She scrambled for the right words. 'Some say it resembles sapphires.' Truth. Her shoulders lifted in a mockingly casual shrug. 'Others say it resembles a black storm cloud.' Truth.
He arched his brows at her cryptic words. 'Some say... but what do
'One day you will have your own opinion about what it looks like.' When the fire died completely, she gathered the backpack and satchel, stuffing the latter inside the first, along with everything else they might need. A few sharp rocks, a handful of berries she discovered growing on a nearby bush.
The only thing she didn't pack was the canteen. That, she hauled to the river and filled with water, then strapped it around her neck. She and Gray were truly going into town. The shock of it swept through her, and her hands shook with nervousness; her heart pounded with excitement.
She'd always passed through the cities under cloak of darkness, surrounded by guards of whatever ruler possessed her at the time. The scents and sounds had always amazed and tempted her, those from the taverns most of all. They always bustled with music and laughter.
And now she was going to enter one. Now she was going to dance. With Gray. Her pulse fluttered. 'I'll need a hooded robe,' she said. 'Otherwise I'll be recognized.'
He cast her a quick glance before motioning to the ground he'd laid on only moments before. Something hot burned in his eyes. 'Wear mine.'
'You'll be recognized as human without it.'
'Baby,' he said, mouth twitching in a grin, 'I stole two.'
'Oh.' Jewel dug back inside the bag and sure enough, there was another robe, this one a light, fine yellow. She pulled it free and settled the material over her head.
'We have to remember to be careful. We trust no one but ourselves, understand?' She nodded.
'If we see a demon or vampire, we haul ass back into this forest. As much as I'd like to get a room in town and get us out of the elements tonight, I'd rather deal with the weather than with those bastards from hell.'
Gray finished stretching and closed the distance between them. He took the bag and dug out his weapons. Perhaps she shouldn't have packed up quite so efficiently. He strapped a knife to his waist and one to his ankle, then draped the dark blue robe over his shoulders. She was a little worried about his trekking through the forest, but the man was stubborn and there would be no changing his mind.
He looked at her and their gazes met, a charged moment of awareness filling the space between them. 'Let's do this.'
CHAPTER TEN
They hiked quickly through the thick grove of trees, leaves raining like emeralds from brown velvet as they brushed past them. Distracted as she was by Gray, Jewel almost led them into a pool of quicksand, then off a staggeringly high cliff. Gray jerked her to safety each time, his arms banded around her.
During the last incident, he'd held her longer than necessary, his gaze lingering on her lips. She'd shivered and ached, her mouth watering for a taste of him. His warm, male scent constantly enveloped her, luring her. Tantalizing and mesmerizing her. But she'd at last pulled away. He still bore traces of fatigue, his face pale and his limbs shaky.
He always remained a few steps behind her, his silver gaze focused intently on her back, his arms ready to shoot out and drag her into the hard shield of his body. She wasn't normally so inattentive and unconcerned with her surroundings. Knowing he was behind her, however, played havoc with her attention. His spicy male scent wafted around her.
'So how do the men around here impress the women?' he asked, speaking for the first time since they'd left camp.
She flicked him a glance and grinned, grabbing on to the thread of conversation as if it were the most precious thing in the world. 'Some men—'
'Eyes on the road,' he commanded. He grabbed her robe by the hood and tugged her away from a large boulder.
Gasping, she returned her attention to the forest.
'Good. Now, what were you going to say?'
'Some men kill the woman's greatest enemy and bring the body to her as a gift.'
'Then you should be thoroughly impressed with me. I might not have gift-wrapped the demons, but I did kill your enemy.'
'Yes, you did.'
'What about the other men? The peace-lovers you grew up with. What did they give their women?'
Her lips pursed as she considered his question. She'd never been on the receiving end of a man's romantic attentions, but had witnessed many courtships. 'Depends on the creature, I guess.'
'Sirens. Tell me about the sirens.'
She searched her mind. What had the men of her village given her mother when they'd wished to seduce her? What had her mother liked to receive? Her eyes widened as long-forgotten images surfaced, her mother's tinkling laughter drifting from the far recesses of her mind. 'Once, a male centaur wrote a play for my mother. He acted the part of hero and hired others to be his cast. It was a love story about two people giving up everything to be together, and I remember the way my mother sighed dreamily and smiled for days afterward.'
Gray's only response was a shudder. Of revulsion? His silence soon began to weigh heavily on her shoulders. 'I know you give your women flowers and candy,' she said, stomach clenching at the thought of how each one had rewarded him with kisses. Sometimes naked kisses.
'That's easily done and requires little thought,' he said darkly.
She stayed the urge to look back at him. Was he irritated with her? Or himself? Before she could ponder the answer, she stopped, a thin layer of bush the only barrier between her and the path to the city. 'We're here.'
'Don't go any closer until I've done reconnaissance.' His hand latched onto the tendon at the base of her neck, massaging gently as his gaze darted in every direction.
Her nerve ending leapt up to meet him, craving more of his touch. She knew he was cataloguing their surroundings, deciding what was safe and what wasn't. Laughing female voices drifted to her ears. Ahead of them on a cobbled path stamped a herd of female centaurs. Each possessed a mane of hair, some red, some brown, some pale, their chests covered by blue cloaks, the color marking which clan they belonged to. Every one of them carried a basket or satchel overflowing with wool.
The women approached an enormous, glistening pearl gate that arched toward the skydome and led straight into the pulsing heart of the city. Jewel's excitement expanded, grew, unfurling through her entire body. She searched her senses for any sign or shiver of danger but felt nothing. She wasn't surprised. She never knew when she herself would be in peril.
'The Inner City is so much different than the Outer City. Here, the people are friendly and honest and
