"I'm right?" I asked, raising a brow.
Well...that wasn't what I expected.
"You don't know how to be in a relationship, and you sure as hell don't know how to love someone."
His words stung, slamming into me with the force of a Mage's spell. I physically staggered back a step.
"Gee, thanks," I said dryly, turning away. I refused to let him see that his words had hurt me.
"Z, just listen for a damn minute!" he snapped, and I paused, my back to him. I could hear his heavy breathing accompanied by loud footsteps. In a matter of seconds, he was directly behind me, the heat from his body warming my own. "You talk too much."
"Some people say it's part of my charm," I deadpanned.
Ignoring me, he placed a large, callused hand on my waist. I always wondered what he did to cause such calluses and peeled blisters. From what I gathered and knew of him, he spent very little time outside of the library.
"None of us know what it's like to have a mate. To be in a relationship. Do you think I know? Do you think any of us know? Devlin fucked it up the first time. Killian hadn't been able to last more than five minutes alone in a room with a girl before blurting out anatomy parts. Bash has had more lovers than I could ever count." I stiffened at the last statement, the ugly green monster coming out to play with a vengeance. The last thing I wanted to think about was my mate with another female.
Especially Bash, which surprised me.
I hated him, but at the same time, I sort of liked him. Maybe. Just a smidge.
"What I'm saying is, we can work on this together. This relationship thing. Z, you deserve to be loved.”
"Wow," a sly voice said from the corner of the room. I jumped, recognizing the lilt and husky tone immediately. "That was deep. You changed my entire outlook on life and love."
"Ryland," I said, peering into the darkness. His shadowy form moved until it was hovering at the very top of the wooden wall, dark legs dangling. The shadows clung to him, black tendrils that obscured his features from view.
Except for the one time I had seen his face...
"Princess," Ryland replied immediately. He moved once more, jumping from the wall and swinging on the rope swing. The shadows moved with him, curling upwards, until he was directly in front of me. The wispy shadows danced in the skylight roof.
"Were you spying on us?" I asked, cocking my hip to the side. I shouldn't have been surprised. Ryland had a strange fascination....read as: fetish...with watching people. Lurking in the corners of rooms, the rest of the world oblivious. Listening but never speaking.
Shadows were descended from Pride, and it was rumored that they hid their faces because the rest of the world wasn't allowed to look upon them. With Ryland, I believed he hid his face for an entirely different reason.
A reason I was determined to get to the bottom of, even if it killed me.
"I like spying on you," he said easily.
"Creep." I smiled to soften my words.
"Only for you."
"If you're done now..." Lupe's voice was tight with irritation. "We were talking."
"Excuse me for interrupting your moment. What was next? Romantic stories? A love poem? Ohhh! Maybe you planned to show her that portrait you made of her when she was sleeping."
Lupe's face turned red at Ryland's words, and I turned to face the Shifter with a hand on my hip.
"Really? When I was sleeping?"
"So when he stalks you, it's romantic, but when I do it, it's creepy." He threw his hands up into the air. "I can never please you, woman."
Rolling my eyes at his antics, I slapped him on the chest.
"So are we doing this?" I asked, nodding towards the obstacle course.
Lupe grimaced, but I imagined Ryland would be smiling brightly.
"A woman after my own heart," he cooed dramatically.
Without another word, I threw myself at the course.
HOURS LATER, I found myself dripping in sweat. It clung to my skin like a glossy sheen. My body felt unnaturally heavy, weighted. Halfway through the obstacle course, my nose began to bleed, but a quick trip to the bathroom had stopped the heavy flow. Sweat and copper from my nosebleed permeated the air. Poor Lupe and his keen Shifter senses. I probably smelled something awful at the moment.
Fortunately, he wasn't faring much better. His dark hair was plastered to his forehead, and his breathing was ragged.
"Never again," he huffed, flopping onto his back and extending his arms. I moved to sit down beside him, wrapping my arm around my knees.
"Baby," I smirked.
"Trust me." He tilted his head up to meet my eyes, smile devious. Devilish. "I am nothing but man."
Heat pooled in both my cheeks and core.
"And I'm disgusted," Ryland quipped from where he was sitting opposite us. The shadows were still pulled tightly around his person, but I could see a flash of icy blue eyes peering through the tar-like blackness. "That was an awful pickup line."
"Pickup line?" Lupe retorted, still grinning at me. I liked seeing him smile. He always looked so serious, as if he was weighed down by the entire world. I wasn't sure if he would ever be carefree, but I enjoyed seeing this side of him. "I was only speaking the truth."
My dumbass mouth blurted the first thing I could think of. "Prove it."
Totally didn't consider the implications of such a statement.
Lupe's eyebrows touched his hairline even as his smile broadened.
Ryland chuckled.
"I think she wants us to whip out our dicks," he said to Lupe.
"What is it with females and their fascination with male dicks?" the burly Shifter mused. I had no doubt that it would be just as big as the rest of him.
"Females?" I asked teasingly. "As in, more than one?"
Okay, half-teasingly. I would probably maim any female who dared get too close to my males, let alone see
