“Come on. I haven’t been that much of an asshole.” At her silence, he blinked. “Have I?”
“That’s my cue to leave,” Diana murmured. “I’ll go grab us some dinner. Nice flowers, Vicki.” She left them alone.
“So what’s your deal?” she asked her cousin, greedy to spend some time with herotherfamily again.
“Oh hell.” He groaned and clutched his head by his hair. “She’s brainwashed me. I can’t do anything without that woman’s face popping into my head at all hours.”
“Uh-huh.”
He lowered his voice. “And Vicki, she’sinsatiable.It’s like she can’t get enough of me. And it’s mutual. I’m no longer normal.”
“As if you ever were. Do I really need to hear this?” Vicki contained her laughter at his pained expression.
“I’m serious. The other night, when you were being chased through the woods—and no, please do not give me any details. I’ve heard enough already.”
She blushed.
“The other night I think I turned into one of them. It was totally weird. We were, like, intimate, and the world went cloudy. I felt furry, I swear.”
“You turned feral.” She explained what Malcolm had told her. “Eric was powerful enough to pull that from me, but I’m thinking Diana must be pretty strong to pull that from you.”
“Yeah, or it could be because we’re Conduits. I mean, we’re ‘out there’ even as Conduits. We play with energy differently than others do. Might be why they were taken with us in the first place.” He glanced around her. “Um, what’s with the flowers?”
“I’m not sure.”
At that moment, another group of Ravagers approached carrying candles of every shape, size and color. They placed them around the table, snickered and walked away.
Vicki suddenly understood.
“Candles too? How…romantic.” Sean coughed to cover a laugh.
The table was littered with candles and flowers, a gluttonous display of overdone affection. It was so silly, and so wonderful she had to blink not to cry.Twice in one day with the tears, I’m going for a record.
Vicki cleared her throat. “Shut it, Sean. Look, I think we have to deal with life here as a new reality.”
“No, really?”
She would have belted him if the sarcasm hadn’t been warranted. “Are you planning on leaving Diana in the near future?”
He stopped smiling.
Chapter Thirty-One
“No.” Sean sighed. “You so eager to get back to town and deal with more retrieval work? Because earlier, Dom pointed me to a fully loaded room, the office of our dreams, and mentioned how we were free to work out of an office here, when we weren’t in town doing business. As in, we will at some point leave this place and be Ravagers along with the rest of them. In our own unique way, of course.”
“An office, here?” Good old Dom.Busy with clan business, my ass.
“Aside from what everyone else thinks, I feel it too, Vic. I can’t explain it, but it’s like we belong here now. Does that make sense to you? Or am I just totally a vegetable? The sex is frying my brain in a really, really good way.”
She laughed. “Still gross, but I know exactly what you’re saying.” She leaned close. “Thing is, if you give in too easily, you’ll lose face. They like a challenge.”
“Hell, they’re not much different from humans in that respect. Nothing worse than a woman catering to your every need,” he had the audacity to say as Diana returned carrying his plate of food. He frowned when he saw Vicki glance from his plate to Diana and back. “Stop. She’s just being nice because I threatened her earlier.”
“Really?”
“Just mind your own business.” Sean thanked Diana and stroked her cheek when she sat. The woman smiled at the open sign of affection, and more, of acceptance.
God, the woman really loved Sean. Their energy, theirguers, as the Ravagers liked to think of them, merged without a seam.
