“Okay, mother.” My smile grew and I pulled my hands from my pockets.
“If you fell, you’d probably conjure a knife out of thin air and stab me when I bent to help you. I’m not saying it for you, I’m saying it for me. I’m tired of you attacking me.”
I grimaced, the nervousness amplifying. “Gotcha. Sorry about that.” I hesitated, feeling sheepish and vulnerable and more than a little embarrassed. But this was important to me. “Did you mean what you said, though?”
He groaned. “Listen, Aurelia, you have to understand, we’ve been eating cheese for days. There is only so much cheese a guy can eat without asserting that he’s never going to eat cheese again. Did I mean it? At the time, yes. Is it a testament to your cooking that I don’t want to eat the cheese you and the cook keep pushing on us? Again, yes. Am I serious? Not totally. I’m sure in a month I will forget all about this and once again eat chee—are you laughing with me or at me?”
“No, it’s just... I didn’t hear your comment about cheese. That one I get. I’m tired of it, too, and I love cheese.”
“Right? See, Sixten told me I was bitching just to bitch, but it’s a lot, right?”
“It is. No, I mean, last night after I’d... stuck you with the knife. Did you mean it?”
“Why? What did I call you? I don’t remember—I’d just been stabbed, after all.”
I bit my lip, hesitating. I felt oddly vulnerable and even more embarrassed now. I shook my head. “Never mind.”
“At the time, I probably did mean it, yes. But it’s like the cheese—I’ll eventually get over it.”
I laughed, shaking my head harder now. He was such a goofy guy. I loved it. “No, it’s not...” I looked away, and then just blurted it out. “You said you thought we were friends.”
“Yeah. Well, you’d just stabbed me. It gives a guy mixed signals.”
“Right.” My heart sank a little, unsure what to make of that and deciding just to let it go. “I’d just wondered,” I murmured, my face probably flaming.
“Wait, what am I missing?” He reached out to grab my shoulder but Weston’s wolf issued a low warning growl. He jerked his hand away and raised them both in the air. “Not touching.”
I looked over at Weston’s wolf, my eyes widened at the strange flood of desire lighting me on fire. His possessive display of ownership turned me on.
“What am I missing?” Dante tried again. “You have a vibe. What’d I do?”
“No...” I waved my hand through the air. This was getting awkward. “It’s nothing. Never mind. I was just surprised to hear that you thought we were friends, that’s all.”
“Why?” He pointed to the side. “Don’t believe what Sixten tells you. I’m loyal as fuck, seriously. I didn’t even care that you tried to stab me. Not for long, anyway.” He paused. “Why, what’s wrong with me? I’m a cool guy. I’m funny. Aren’t I funny, Hadriel?”
Hadriel stood to the side, waiting for the procession to pass. “Wow, spiraling much, Dante?”
“Shut up.” Dante fell back a bit so Hadriel could regain his place.
“He’s funny because he’s too dumb to realize he’s the butt of the joke,” Hadriel said drolly.
“Suck a lemon, Hadriel,” Dante replied.
“Lick a porcupine, Dante.” Hadriel glanced back with a grin. “Haven’t you listened to her stories? She hasn’t ever had friends. People went out of their way to avoid her. It’s surprising to her that her captors would be friendly, let alone declare friendship.”
Heat infused my cheeks and I chewed my lip, the embarrassment washing over me in full force. I sounded desperate. And honestly, maybe I was. It was like having a glimpse into a life you’d only dreamed of and trying to wrestle it into reality. I hated being so obvious about it.
“Oh.” Dante puffed out his chest a little. “It’s not me, it’s her. Cool. I was starting to get a complex.”
Hadriel fully twisted now to stare at Dante for a beat, a dumbfounded look on his face, before shaking his head and facing front again. He then leaned my way like we were coconspirators and said, “If there is ever any doubt, it will always be him, my darling, never you. He’s just a big dumb animal.”
“I’m ignoring you,” Dante told Hadriel. “Yes, Aurelia, we’re friends. Or we will be when we don’t have this abduction thing between us, right? A bit awkward, that. ‘Well, how’d you guys meet? Oh, it was just a little kidnapping situation. She cleaved me with an axe and then I helped keep her imprisoned until she eventually won me over. We’ve been besties ever since.’”
“Do you need us for this, or are you happy talking to yourself for a while?” Hadriel asked him and I devolved into a fit of giggles. These guys were so entertaining when they bantered back and forth.
“This whole thing has been really strange, though, hasn’t it?” Dante mused, looking into the sparse trees along the road. “We did not end up with the person we expected. Not even a little bit. Then there’s the mate situation, which?—”
Hadriel turned and punched Dante in the chest.
