I nod. "The dealer I need to contact is notoriously elusive. It's said he has a significant stash, but otherwise, everyone is incredibly tight-lipped about him."
I'm going to loosen Melchom's lips, one way or another.
We walk silently for a moment, and then Everett huffs grouchily. "At this rate, our keeper will wind up with frostbite. It's far too fucking cold for her out here."
"If only we had an oversized fire-breathing egomaniac around to keep her warm," Crypt muses, feigning shock when he turns to spot Baelfire. "Oh, wait."
Bael glances down at my snow-covered boots and promptly scoops me up. "On it. I'll keep her nice and toasty."
"Nope, I'm walking," I say firmly. "My feet are fine. Carrying me is overkill."
"But your cute little toes are cold."
"Boo fucking hoo for them. Put me down, Baelfire."
He tips his head from side to side, debating. "Mmm, nah. I'm carrying your sweet ass all the way there. That way, when we go back to acting all monogamous around the humans, they'll figureI'myour man, and Snowflake will just have to fucking deal with it."
Gods. This dragon is something else. I fight a smile as Everett looks heavenward like he's supplicating the heavens for patience.
It's not that I mind being in Baelfire's warm, deliciously corded arms—but even with shifter strength and endurance, he'll be pushing himself harder than necessary, carrying me six fucking miles in deep snow, and we're already poorly rested. Not to mention, I don't know if my haphephobia will rear its ugly head out of nowhere.
So I'm going to walk my own ass into Tall Pine.
"Last warning. Put me down."
He flashes a bright, flirtatious smile and dips his head to kiss along my jaw, sending pleasurable tingles over my arms and legs. "Yeah? Or what, hellion?"
"Or I'll make you."
When he ignores me and licks the crook of my neck, where shifters mark their mates, I jolt in surprise and immediately twist his nipple through his athletic shirt as hard as possible. He yelps and loosens his arms, so I slip down easily to escape.
I adjust the blanket again, pretending like my neck doesn't feel warm—but it does.Gods, they all affect me way too fucking much when they get flirtatious.
"So cute, yet so mean," Bael sighs dramatically, but the way he leans down to kiss the top of my head as we start walking tells me his ego is as unharmed as ever.
"You four had plenty of warning on that front," I point out with a smirk.
"Touché.”
12
EVERETT
I slipinside through the front door of the tiny cabin, adjusting the paper bags in my arms so I can force the door shut against the pressure of the howling wind.
The shit weather outside tonight is a sharp contrast against the cheery holiday music playing from Baelfire's phone in the combined kitchen and living room area. Baelfire is brushing snow off a short blue spruce tree he just brought in. Festive holiday-toned fae lights twinkle around the windows and above the fireplace, which is crackling with blue fire.
I squint. "How the hell did you make the fire blue without shifting into a dragon to light it?"
"Trade secret," Bael grunts, wandering into the little kitchen to check something baking in the ancient-looking oven.
With how hectic things have been since First Placement, we almost lost track of what day tomorrow is. We've been in Tall Pine for nearly two days, and Baelfire wasn't shitting us when he said this town didn't have much.
Which means it was really fucking hard to find decent gifts for Maven for Starfall Eve.
Still, I think I managed.
Since arriving here, we've slowly recovered from recent events under the thick cloaking spell Maven and Silas put up on this little cabin. Our quintet has spent most of the last thirty-odd hours sleeping or fucking.
