“Help,” I gasp at the nearest Elorsin – Killian – as he walks past with two jars of dried fruits.
He smiles, walking right past me. Not even pretending to care.
“I think your faces are cute,” I say.
“Not sure cute is ever Killian’s goal,” Seth says – half the words lost to the fact that now he’s rubbing his chest all over my back, with his arms bear-hug tight around my middle.
“We’re hunting as soon as the rain stops,” Killian says, passing one jar off to Pax, then sitting heavily on one of the single chairs with the second jar in his hands.
He has no intention of helping me at all.
“What was that?” Seth asks, tightening his arms around me. “Hug you harder?”
“Roarke?” I gasp.
Roarke ignores me, feeding another piece of wood into the gentle flames.
“Help,” I beg.
I’m not sure if Roarke is pretending not to hear me or genuinely lost in thought. Either way, he crosses the room and relaxes back in the other single couch without offering any help or even advice. I guess the fire’s going now, so his job is done.
“More?” Seth asks.
I would beg for Pax’s help, but I can barely breathe at this point. What other options does a girl have? I’m already begging – what comes after begging?
Pax sits on the couch next to me and grips my sleeve.
Apparently, the move means ‘let her go’ in guy body language code because Seth grumbles, “No fun,” then unwraps himself from me.
Pax pulls me across the couch, and almost freedom, until I’m nestled against his side – and damn, he smells good.
I should possibly think more about the fact that his arm is wrapped around me, and I’m pretty sure I’m not actually allowed up right now – but vanilla is the only real thing on my mind. Warm, comforting, sweet vanilla.
Seth pulls the blanket from where it had become tangled in his legs, drapes it around me, then starts tucking it into place around my cold toes. I really need to see if any of Eydis’ boots will fit me.
His calloused fingers wrap around my ankle and coax my legs up onto his lap. I don’t argue – it’s comfortable. I lean back, watching the slow drizzle of rain down the big bay window, and the occasional distant flash of lightning along Ximena.
A dried apricot is tossed up then plummets straight into Roarke’s open mouth, followed by a sheepish grin at his own skill.
“Me, too,” Seth says, then opens his mouth wide.
The big guy tosses an apricot at him, which lands in Seth’s mouth with minimal head movement required – followed by four others.
“Yes,” he mumbles around a mouth so full that he’s struggling to chew.
I didn’t realize this is a thing people do with food? Obviously only people who have always had enough to eat.
He starts massaging the ball of my foot with his thumb, pressing along the sides with his fingers, and squeezing my toes together.
Bralls, I almost moan out loud!
Then he moves on to my other foot. I sigh, relaxing into Pax even more.
An apricot appears in front of my face, and I open my mouth to let Pax feed me. The sweet flavors make my stomach growl in appreciation.
Pax chuckles, then offers me another one. Then another, I don’t know, twenty, one at a time as they discuss ways they think Logan’s potion was trying to meddle with their magic.
My eyes droop shut just a little. Being knocked unconscious doesn’t count for sleep. Ever.
“It’s almost been ten minutes,” Killian says.
I feel Pax shift, nodding.
“What’s ten minutes?” I ask.
“Ten minutes since you told Pax he can take your clothes off,” Seth says.
Pax just grumbles. Or maybe it’s the wolf side of him that grumbles. That was a very wolfish sound.
“I don’t understand,” I press, rolling onto my back so I can look straight up at the hard lines of Pax’s face.
I might be about to launch into some argument about needing him to trust me, or treat me as part of the team, but he hooks a finger into the collar of his shirt and pulls it across to display a sigil.
“The prison was empty, and I couldn’t risk another…” He stops to clear his throat. “Unfolding like at Lackshir. So we took precautions.”
As he speaks, I shuffle up and practically sit myself in his lap. Which I’m pretty sure crosses boundaries, but he doesn’t push me away. Doesn’t stop me from straddling his legs and pulling his shirt open so I can inspect the gold circle with its six sharp lines cutting through a swish and swirl. I run my finger over the raised edges. Sigils hurt like bralls – I should know, I’ve had the pleasure of wearing one.
His chest vibrates, his hands sliding to grip my hips and pull me deeper onto his lap. My knees press into the back of the couch. It’s harder than I realized, trying to stay focused on a conversation when my body fits so perfectly into his.
I look into his eyes. “I am a little offended that everyone else here seems to know what’s going on, and I have no clue.”
“Don’t worry,” Seth says, a chuckle hidden in his tone. “I think you’ve got what’s left of his ten minutes to corner the information out of him before one of us is going to have to separate the three of you.”
I hadn’t realized Seth’s inability to add one and one together was so bad, but the magical mark on Pax’s chest is more important right now.
“One minute, Pax. I’m giving you one minute,” I say, my fingers stilling over the sigil.
His gaze settles on mine, with an almost calculating look. It makes the gold of his irises swirl and pulse.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Screw this.
I jab my finger into the center of the burn. “Spill.”
He rumbles, his hand wrapping around mine and tugging it away. But he doesn’t let it go. Our hands are frozen in the space between
