Now I was curious. There was something kinda sexy about a guy like Tor reading a book. “What are you reading?” I craned to see his phone screen.
He pressed the phone to his chest. “Nosey.”
“Oh, come on, now I need to know.” I made a grab for the phone and he whipped it out to the side, so I ended up half lying on his chest.
I froze, breasts pressed to his pecs. My pulse kicked up. Don’t look at him. Don’t. Just retreat. Slowly.
His hand brushed up my spine, branding me through the cotton of my shirt, and the temptation to sink into him and stay there rushed over me in an aching wave. But boundaries needed to be upheld.
I pulled back onto my side of the bed.
“We can do this,” Tor said softly. “If this is what you want.”
Urgh. What I wanted was to straddle him and rub against his arousal, what I wanted was to be fucked, but that was the damn mating bond pushing me. But the memory of what Charlotte had done, what she’d been driven to do, acted like a bucket of cold water. It didn’t matter what Heather or Bee said. They weren’t the ones taking a risk with their hearts.
I didn’t want to cross those lines with the guys, but it was unrealistic to think I could avoid knowing them or caring. Friendship was a kind of love, after all, and I could love them like that if I wanted. Was I delusional? Probably, but I was also a stubborn bitch.
I propped up on my elbow and looked down at him. “Tell me about you. Favorite color, favorite food, and what the heck are you reading?”
His smile was slow burn, touching his steel-gray eyes with warmth. “Cornflower blue, steak, medium rare, and…” He held up his phone to show me the epic fantasy title. “I have a soft spot for dragons.” He set his phone down. “Now you.”
“Red, pasta, and I haven’t read a book in a while.”
He stared at me as if I’d told him I didn’t like breathing. “What was the last book you read?”
I scrunched up my nose. “Do magazines count?”
He groaned and then his lips curved in a slow smile. “Cora, Cora, Cora. I’m going to enjoy educating you.”
Fuck it, I was going to let him.
I’m not sure how long we chatted. I’m not entirely sure when I drifted off. But I woke tucked to Tor’s side, my head pillowed on his chest, one leg thrown over his thighs. He was warm, solid, and prime with morning glory.
I tipped my chin to look at his face, finding him awake and studying me with a strange expression.
I stifled a yawn. “What?”
“I slept,” he said. “I slept all night.” He scanned my face. “With you.”
And that was awe-inspiring information? Wait, of course it was. Tor struggled with sleep. He’d told me about his insomnia, but he’d slept through the night with me?
He smiled, slow-burn, his eyes lighting up with warmth. “Cora, I think you may be my talisman.”
“Oh, how cute.” Jasper’s voice was like an icy bucket of water.
I sat up fast. No idea why because I wasn’t doing anything wrong, like riding Tor’s cock, but still.
Jasper’s lip curled and he threw a book at the bed, his gaze fixed on Tor. “Some of us actually do useful shit.”
He vanished.
I picked up the book—a slender tome—and flipped it open. The words were in a language I couldn’t read, written in a scratchy cursive style. A piece of paper fell out.
This is everything Conah could find on the original vamps. I can be there in a blink if you need me. Just call.
Fee.
Jasper had gone to see Fee? He’d gotten this book for me.
Tor picked up the book. “I’ll call Sloane, see if we can get this translated.” He pouted in thought. “I don’t like that he’s bound to you, but I don’t think his motives are selfish.”
“Yeah, neither do I, not anymore. But it’s easier to let him believe that I do. I can’t let my guard down with him.”
“Leif told me,” Tor said. “I don’t like it. Neither of us do, but we get it.” He brushed my hair back off my shoulder. “You need to be careful. Leif, Rune, and I will respect your boundaries. We understand and care about the seal, but I don’t trust that Jasper will.”
I stood a chance of keeping the shifters at bay, but Jasper…He was under my skin. I nodded and smiled at Tor to hide the deep, dark truth.
It wasn’t Jasper I didn’t trust.
It was myself.
Chapter Fifteen
I lay on the forest floor, staring at the sky through a canopy of leaves. My pounding heart slowly returned to resting pace.
Not bad. Rune’s wolfy face appeared above me, his golden eyes bright with exertion. You kept up.
“And I don’t feel like puking.”
Always a good sign.
I’d been running with the wolves for almost three weeks, and training with Sloane for the same, and my mind and body were sharper than ever, and they’d only get more honed with time. When the Sons of Adam came for me, I’d be ready.
Any news from Sloane? Rune asked.
“You mean any luck in translating the book? No.” I sat up and brushed bracken out of my ponytail. “I called Fee, but it went to voicemail. I’ve left her a message saying I need help translating it.”
Elijah and Bramble?
My heart sank. “Nothing from Bramble.” I’d left her a soppy message two nights ago after getting drunk with The Elites. We’d barely spent two weeks together, but I fucking missed her. “Elijah hasn’t checked in either, not with me or with Anna. Rune, I’m worried.”
There is nothing you can do, and worrying is a waste of mental energy without a course of action. We wait until we have information we can act on. He padded around to face me, and then extended his neck and gently plucked a leaf from my hair.
