“Do you want to go dive into all the documents the Readers left for you, Squeaks? See if we can find anything helpful in there?”
I look at Ryker and raise an eyebrow. “Squeaks?”
His smile is audacious, and his sky-blue eyes have a cheeky twinkle to them. “Yeah I agree with Knox, all those little noises you make are fucking adorable.”
The other guys chortle at his comment.
“You can’t give me a nickname that makes me sound like a timid mouse.”
“It’s already done, Squeaks, and there’s nothing you can do about it," he taunts me.
I shake my head and chuckle, looking as passive as possible before I lunge for him. Knox slows me down just enough that Ryker slips away laughing.
“I’ll show yousqueaks," I playfully threaten, while trying halfheartedly to get out of Knox’s hold.
“Just wait until we both have the same runes and we’ll see who roughs up who then,” Ryker counters with a wink, and settles into the hammock chair next to Sabin.
My playful smile slips. “Shit, we need to talk about that don’t we?” I ask, looking at each of them.
Sabin surprises me by saying, “Not really.”
I stare at him stupefied.
“It doesn’t change anything. We all wanted things to move forward with you. We wouldn’t have wanted that unless we saw a future with you.”
“I thought you were the poster boy for wanting things to go slow?” I ask Sabin.
“There’s nothing saying that we need to bind tomorrow, we can still go at our own pace. It’s a non-issue.”
Sabin’s relaxed attitude astonishes me. I know we talked about things when we went riding, but I’m still a little bewildered by this accepting reaction.
“The issue is, that being with me is setting you up for an uncertain future. Did you not hear the same history lesson I did about Sentinels involving death, death, and more death?” I point out.
“We’re going to be paladin, Vinna, that in itself invited risk and danger into our future. Being bound to you doesn’t change that," Valen reminds me.
“You already knew how I felt about things. I’m in. I want you, and I’m fucking excited for the new abilities and magic. The sooner you want to solidify things the better, in my book.” Knox gives me a dirty smile and suggestively waggles his eyebrows. I don’t fight the huge smile that takes over my face.
“You guys aren’t freaked out about this at all?” I ask, fishing for reassurance.
They all shake their heads no, and look at me likewhat’s the big deal?
“Does it freak you out?” Ryker asks me.
His question makes me pause for a minute. I’ve been worried about them and what all of this meant for their future. I haven’t even thought about my take on it all.
“I don’t like the reality that I’ll be making you targets by being with you. But giving you amped-up abilities that will help you deal with that is reassuring. I guess I’m just worried if all of you are really okay with this. One minute we’re just deciding to give a relationship a go, and now you’re stuck with me.” I cringe, as the words leave my mouth terrified that one of them will agree with thestucksentiment.
“Vinna, you’re so cute when you’re clueless," Knox teases and starts to tickle me. I quickly scramble away from the delicious torture and shoot a playful glare his way.
“So, Reader documents?” Ryker asks me, repeating his unanswered question.
I huff not really wanting to deal with it today. “I vote for tackling those tomorrow. Let’s do something normal today, something fun," I propose.
“You want to stay in the house or get out?” Bastien queries.
“As long as it’s safe to go out, let’s go out.”
They all become thoughtful.
