“I promise,” I whisper softly. The door opens and Reed pops his head around the door. “You should really knock before opening the door.”
His eyes run over me, and I know he is making sure I’m okay. “Sorry, I thought I smelt blood.” I know it’s from my shoulder where Tannith just nipped me. I don’t tell him that though and shake my head. He walks into the room and sits on the bed next to me, and he reaches out, tucking my wet hair behind my ear. “You look pale but better. Do you need anything?” His eyes drop to my lips, and I end up doing exactly the same. A new kind of tension builds in the room, and I don’t want to move or even breathe as he stares at me. “Little human?—”
Blackfire slams my door open and steps in, and Reed straightens. “What did we talk about in the kitchen only ten fucking minutes ago, and now you’re alone with her? She already smells like you. Again.”
Reed smirks, and it’s cocky. “What are you doing in here, then? You knew she’d be alone. Seems I wasn’t the only one not listening.”
They snarl and growl at each other, and I frown. What the hell is this all about? Reed gets up, looking down at me. “Restand call me if you need anything.” He winks. “I’m good at cuddling.”
Blackfire snarls and I gulp.
I can only nod, the testosterone and tension in this room suffocating. It doesn’t really get better as Reed stomps past Blackfire, purposely knocking his shoulder and leaving the room in an awkward silence. Blackfire’s boots are like rocks on the floorboards as he comes over to me and throws something on my lap when I sit up. His gloves. Blackfire’s hands are the first thing I look at, seeing they are rough and big, and they have burn marks on the back of them. They look similar to mine. I lift my eyes to his, wishing for the first time I could see his face behind the mask. His eyes cut into mine, and his hands clench.
“You will need these for tomorrow. We’re going hunting for the others, and you’re being used as bait. Every morning until we find them, you will be downstairs before the sun rises, orelse.”
Blackfire doesn’t wait for my answer or agreement; he just leaves and shuts the door behind him with his bare hands. I pick the gloves up, admiring the soft leather and the black diamond-looking jewels woven into the strap around the wrists. I’m keeping these to sell when I get back.
I don’t know what I’m doing as I lift them to my nose and breathe in the scent of amber, of bonfires in autumn and everything Blackfire. Tannith’s sarcastic voice cuts through my insanity. “Why are you sniffing his gloves?”
I throw myself back on the bed and wish for the world to swallow me up.
Chapter Eighteen
“It’s been weeks, Blackfire.” I repeat my sentence, hoping he will actually listen this time. It’s so early, the sun hasn’t fully risen in the sky, and frost sticks to every leaf I stand on. The forest is silent as always, and I’m used to it now. I almost like the silence, if I weren’t walking withhim. Blackfire is as imposing as always, in black leather, and without his cloak, I get a view of every inch of his muscular body. His chest is wide, thick, and dips into a smooth flat waist. Even his thighs would put gods to shame.
Blackfire’s hair has gotten longer, the thick dark locks tracing around the edges of the mask and the back of his neck. He keeps his jaw shaved and smooth, which I sometimes find myself focusing on when I have annoyed him and a tic pops up in his jaw. Orion is classically beautiful, Reed is charming and handsome, but Blackfire is rugged in a way that makes my heart skip a beat. It’s unfair they are all psychopaths.
He stops, turning around, looking at me with disdain. “I’m well aware, and you do not have to repeatedly tell me.” His voice is clipped with annoyance. “We will continue searching for months, if that’s what it takes to end the Folkland. I’m sure you wish to return home as much as I do.”
“I think it’ll actually be a month tomorrow since we started waltzing through the woods every morning at the crack of dawn. Did I tell you I’m not a morning person?” I mutter. “Also, who does the famous Blackfire have to return to? A girlfriend.” I pause. “Wait, no, you don’t call them that. It’s mate or wife, isn’t it?”
Why do I want him to say no one? I still wait for his answer, feeling his eyes fixed on my face as we walk. I’m concentrating on not tripping on the huge tree roots and embarrassing myself. Again. I don’t want to hear Blackfire comment on where I learnt to walk again because I can’t even do that right. “I quickly gathered from your exceptionally amazing mood every morning, when I drag you out of bed and force you to walk in the forest, that you are not a morning person. I assume you are not a night person either, as you grumble at anyone who tries to wake you from your afternoon naps on the sofa.” He has a point. Maybe I’m just not a person who enjoys any time of day…unless I have cake. Which I don’t, so he hasn’t seen my good mood. The cabin only provides the very basics, and none of it has sugar. Or coffee. “And I do not have a mate or wife. You would know if I did. I would want both of the marks on my woman, for the record.”
“How would I know?” I question, actually curious.
Something about the pause he takes makes me meet his eyes. His words are firm, and I feel them like vows whispered against my soul. “If I were parted from my fated mate, I would burn this world down in black fire to get to her. I wouldn’t be here, traipsing through a forest with you and playing the games of goddesses.”
“Oh,” I mutter, unable to form any other reaction to that statement. We both don’t talk again, and I’m actually glad for it. Something about his statement has made my legs feel weak and my stomach burn, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I actually don’t know what a mate is to them. The rumours I’ve heard are that they are like a wife. I should ask one of them, but from Blackfire’s statement, I’m not asking him. Then again, asking Reed might be awkward. Orion is a definite no go.
Things in the cabin have been awkward. I would never tell Blackfire this, but I’m actually quite relieved when we’re out of the house and just walking in peaceful silence. Orion and Elizabeth look like they want to kill each other all the time, and they argue constantly about everything from dinner to cleaning. Reed, Orion, and Blackfire are never alone with me except for our walks here, and I’m not sure what that’s about, but any time that we’re remotely alone, one of them walks out of the room and they argue. Reed is keeping his distance from me, and it surprisingly is annoying. I miss talking to him. Tannith and Elizabeth are petty arguing, and it’s even more annoying because I’m the middle person between the pair of them to translate. My daily walks with Blackfire are a needed escape.
I tug on his gloves, which are massive on me, but the straps over the wrists make sure they don’t fall off, and my hands are never cold. The black gemstones glitter in the sunlight as we pass through a series of hedges. Blackfire makes sure there’s plenty of mushrooms, berries, and various herbs that he finds throughout the forest to make something for me so that I don’t have to eat the rabbits, foxes, and other small animals they hunt in the forest. I’ve noticed he gets rarer and nicer food for me if I don’t complain too much about how walking is a form of exercising and I don’t do that. For the first few days, I got cramps on every walk and my legs burned, but now it’s much easier.
I nearly slam into Blackfire’s back when he suddenly stops. I creep around to his side, following his line of sight, and see why he has stopped. Smoke rises in the sky, and it is coming out of the chimney of a brown brick house nestled almost at the bottom of a ditch, far lower than most of the forest floor. Blackfire looks back at me, and he doesn’t bother hiding his smirk. “Our hunt has finally begun.”
“I never actually thought we’d find someone,” I mutter. “I don’t want to be bait. I know I’m going to be bad at it.”
“But you will do what I tell you,” he growls at me.
“Nope.” I turn around to leave. I get only two steps away before Blackfire has me. He grabs me by my waist and pins me against a tree. I don’t know why; I know it’s completely pointless, but my hand slips to the dagger that he gifted me, and I pull it up, pressing it against his neck. Surprise, followed by dark amusement, ripples across his face. Helaughs. A deep, throaty chuckle that vibrates through the space between us.
His body presses against mine, holding me up as his hand travels to my back, his hand splayed against me. The thin shirt I’m wearing feels like it’s not even there as the heat of his hand is all I can think about. My neck hurts from arching my head to look up at him, and I hold the dagger tight in my grip. What am I doing?
Blackfire’s voice drops. “Are you going to stab me in the foot with that, Hopeless?”
“Stop calling me that. You know my name,” I all but snap at him. “And I’m not doing what you tell me to anymore. Go fuck yourself, Blackfire.”
His smirk is nothing but taunting. “Go on. Do it. Stabbing me might give you one minute to run before I get you. I like my prey scared and running with foolish hope.” He pushes himself closer to me, his whole body pressing against mine, and it’s scary how well he fits against me.
