I eased up off of him as embarrassment flooded heat to my face. “Oh, you know. You’ve seen one snake, you’ve seen them all.”
Ward’s amused smile came with expectation in his eyes. “Show me, Evie. If Greg is too small to carry you now, we can find another horse.”
Dread swamped all the afterglow left in me. If only it were that easy. I couldn’t bear to think he would look at me differently after what we just did was so perfect. His dick was too good at seducing me into believing we really belonged together. I wouldn’t be able to hide forever. As soon as someone startled me, he would see.
I climbed off the bed and shifted, unsure what to do with my arms, and settled for a coiled squat.
Ward blinked slowly. He wasn’t saying anything, and I started to sweat. Did snakes sweat? His laughter gradually filled the room, and my whole body sizzled with embarrassment. He got down on the floor with me.
“Oh viper! Look at these little feet! These toes!” He flicked a finger over my claws and my hand dangled uselessly. “Maybe we can get you a pair of pants now. Fit your tiny legs in there. Unless you can actually use them to walk? Do you slither or run?”
I knew he was teasing me. Laughing was certainly better than killing me on sight, but somehow it hurt even more. Prickles of shame washed over me. I was right back in that room with Abner, as he laughed when I asked him to marry me and walked out the door. I had no idea what to do with the lump in my throat or the twist of my heart. Why did he have to ruin the best sex of my life?
Chapter14
Ward
Evie was ominously quiet as we left the bath. I dusted the temple out of my hair as the rest of the empty building came down behind me. Jogging down the stairs, I was eager to finish our quest to get to spend more time with her and root out the off feeling in the still-forming bond.
“I have a proposal. Hear me out.” She put a hand on the center of my chest and I almost said ‘yes’ automatically to make everything better. “I know it’s been kinda dangerous, but that—” Evie gestured to the temple, “—was a lot for just you and me.” She turned her puppy dog eyes on me. “Can we bring them?”
“Who?” I looked around and then at the rag-tag collection huddled by the horses. She couldn’t mean them.
My stomach dropped as Evie’s gesture encompassed the entire group. “All of them. Declan is some sort of wolf guardian thing, so he will be useful,” she said.
No one organized themselves. Random shifters milled about, chatting. Someone snagged a small barrel of mead and passed it around. They looked less fit to quest than Evie. Was she trying to put people between us because I was too rough with her? Was that the problem?
Which one is Declan?I asked.
Evie pointed at the fuzzy wolf she wrapped around earlier. He at least had sharp teeth.
“We’d be ever so grateful. We can be useful!” One of the harem spoke up.
I did my best not to sneer.Matching fabrics to throw pillows?
Evie snorted a laugh, but remained undeterred. The wolf shifted from his mostly harmless-looking fluffy dog state to his human form, that was far too naked to be next to my mate.
“We’re ready to rough up whoever made that.” Declan handed the black box over to Evie, eyes flashing with all the menace of a teacup. He couldn't have been further from the Acerni wolves if he tried.
I turned to Noora. “I thought you two were running away together?”
She shrugged and pulled her man closer. “Always easier to run away in a group.”
Evie’s eyes pleaded with me with a kind of sadness I wanted to erase. This was a dangerous venture. I heard the Goddess when she said we had more relics to find.
All the eager faces staring back at me wouldn’t let me say no. “If… if that’s what you want.” I would give her anything to tear down the wall creeping up between us again. “Can you sense the next relic?” I boosted her up onto Greg, checking her saddle twice, trying hard not to act like I needed to touch her leg as I did it. There was still static in the mate bond and my mind started reviewing every moment of the phenomenal sex we had.
“Please tell me there are white sand beaches and tropical waters to the East,” Evie said.
I couldn’t hide my grimace fast enough.
“Bitterly cold, soul stealing, icy mountains?” she guessed.
“There are plains first before you get to the Infernal Mountains.” I mounted as well.
Evie pulled Noora up behind her on Greg. I wouldn’t be as kind to the harem males, so I built the structure of a spell and healed the sick one. Our pace would be slow with all the extra bodies to account for, but not impossible with the shifters in their animal forms.
“I have a friend who guards the pass, so at least something can live there.”
