"I swear to God you drive me crazy," she muttered.
His lips quirked as he kicked the log into place on the coals. "Likewise. Are you doing the dishes, or am I?"
"You cooked."It was only fair.
"Darlin', I plan on cooking all the meals out of self-preservation, if nothing else. Doesn't mean you have to wash up all the time."
"Careful. I'm going to remember that." Eden pushed to her feet, searching for the fry pan so she could fill it with water and set it on the coals to soften the remains of dinner.
Anything to get away from Colton for a moment.
"You finished with your plate?" Colton called out to CJ, who'd drawn the first watch.
Eden turned her back on him, her cheeks hot. She'd been too long without a man. That was the problem. Grabbing the pan, she used the spatula to scrape out the crust on the bottom of it. Nope. Definitely needed to soak.
"CJ?" Colton's voice sounded strange.
Two seconds later, a hand rested on her shoulder. Eden looked up sharply, but Colton wasn't looking down at her. Instead he peered into the shadows of the night.
A familiar nervousness flooded through her. "Shadow cats?"
Again?
Her heart skipped a beat.
Colton knelt at her side. "Not sure. But there's got to be a reason he's not answering."
Boots scuffled over granite somewhere out there in the dark. Colton's head snapped in that direction, tension radiating through his body, and then he cut her a quick look, slashing a hand as if to say,stay there.
Clutching at his knife, he vanished into the shadows of the night.
Armed with a fry pan and a spatula, Eden squatted by the bedroll, not daring to move.Damn him. What the hell was out there? What had he heard?
And where was her gun?
She saw the barrel of the shotgun near her pack and edged toward it, cocking her head to listen as she put the pan aside. The breeze whispered through her clothes, and she thought she caught a faint grunt.
"Why, what do we have here?" drawled a voice.
An enormous man leaped up on a boulder, his body lit by firelight. He wore a gray tank with the sleeves cut off, and muscle flexed in his arms.
Eden snatched the double barreled shotgun and rolled onto her back on the bedroll, pumping two rounds into the chamber and holding it steady on him. "Don't move."
Shadows shifted in the corner of her vision. An Asian woman melded out of the darkness, holding a spear. Her clothes were dark gray; a long tunic that left her arms bare, held together with black leather straps.
And then another woman to the right of her, who looked like she wrestled men for a living.
Eden was surrounded.
"Colton!" she yelled.
No response. Just a muffled grunt and then a hooting sound, out there in the night.
Another voice lifted, hooting back.
A flash of silver went through the stranger's eyes, and Eden's lungs seized up. Wargs. She was surrounded by wargs. She almost pulled the trigger in her fright.
"Stay back."
