My stomach still turns at her words, though. You can’t all have her.
She’s right there.
I shut down that train of thought. It’s not helping, and there are no answers. At least not while we have bigger issues.
All of the approaching Sabers look hungry and head straight for the fire and the slow-roasting deer over it.
“Pax,” I say, in a tone too low for the others to hear. “Just stop and tell her how you feel.”
“I can’t stop,” Pax mutters.
I make an unimpressed huff. “Can’t – or won’t?”
“Can’t,” he says, pulling his shirt aside at an angle where we can see the sigil burned into his flesh, but the others can’t. “I’m burning through the magic too quickly. Every time I’m near her, I want her – and this thing has to absorb that. We need this.” He finishes by tapping his chest hard and letting his shirt settle back into place. “Even if it makes her hate us.”
Killian acts like nothing happened. He waves a sharp hand toward the meat and grunts something Rose understands to mean ‘help yourself,’ which is exactly what she does.
Pax doesn’t move, but he’s right – and that knowledge floods through me.
“I’m going to see where Seth and Kitten have gone,” I say, leaving them with a heavy step and a torn-up conscience.
After a quick detour through the house to stow the map safely, I walk around to where I know Seth and Kitten are probably playing laundry-wars rather than getting the job done, or perhaps already drunk. All the while agreeing with Pax – and hating myself for it.
Priority one – keep her safe.
Then, when we get the chance – as soon as we get the chance – prove to her that we are worth spending the rest of her life with.
No matter how short that mortal time might be.
Five Paces
We do bring the washing in, and the wine. Which means the appreciation award goes to me – for finding the cellar.
Yes – I am unintentionally awesome, I realize as I sip my wine around the fire.
The logs have been dragged into new positions around the fire, and the meat has mostly been devoured. Slice after slice was dropped onto the grate and seared, or not, in Pax’s case, to make the cooking quicker. I’m sitting on the ground, using one log as a back rest. Roarke’s behind me on my left and Seth’s behind me on my right – which kind of bookends me between their legs. And I’m fine with that, comfortable in their shadows. Just waiting for Pax to decide the meat he’s set aside for me is cooled enough for my mortal fingers and mouth. Everyone else is eating cuts with bread, smiling, laughing, and chatting warmly as the sun finally sets. They’ll be leaving soon, once darkness descends.
Which I’m both eager for and very apprehensive about. Are more Sabers on the way? Because I don’t want to go through this process again. And if there’s not, does that mean the guys are on their own and there’s no more help with the bubble?
My skin shivers at the thoughts, and I scan over my companions as a distraction.
Teegan and her triune, the fierce-looking and white-haired Lara and the redhead Amber, are to Roarke’s right. Killian’s almost directly opposite me. And Jada, with her pretty pink eyes and raspberry lips, is sitting between him and Teegan. Next to Teegan, Rynn is turning her cut of meat into charcoal with flames dancing along her fingers. Lastly is soft Aria, who’s eating kumquats and keeping her gaze off the roasting deer.
I finish my last mouthful of wine and put the empty bottle down beside me.
Roarke has one hand resting on the log, his fingers tucked into the neck of my shirt. Which means, in just a little way, he’s holding me in place.
After helping Seth and me bring the clothes in, Roarke decided to wade into the stream. Something about discovering its source – by looking under rocks.
It didn’t make sense to me as I sat on the boulders, sipping my first wine and waiting for the smell of deer cooking to drive me crazy enough to declare that if we didn’t join the group, I was going to starve. Roarke relented – but by then it was dark, so maybe he only stopped looking because he couldn’t see.
It was rather entertaining to watch, and Seth had endless jokes to fill the time.
Roarke’s pants are still rolled up to the knees. He was trying to keep them dry – but that failed when he decided to dive under repeatedly. He did take his shirt off, though, so it’s dry, but he just hasn’t bothered to put it back on.
Roarke, god of sex, is sitting in the flickering firelight with his shirt off and his hair hanging in wet strands down over his chest.
He tips his head back and takes several deep mouthfuls from his round bottle of wine. His long hair topples back in waves and the muscles down his chest and chuckin’ eight pack ripple. No joke, the guy is tall and lean, but every part of him is defined muscle. The effortless kind that makes women drool.
Rynn chuckin’ almost topples off her seat – which gets a glare from Teegan and a chuckle from Seth. I suddenly have a sharp desire to make the fire explode and burn her eyes out. I take a hard breath in a struggle to keep that desire to myself, seriously glad none of my guys have a FireSeed.
I mean, yes, her being blind right now would feel rather satisfying, in a disturbing way, but I’ve smelled burning flesh before – and no matter the reason it’s never nice.
Seth pats me
