“Pierce, get Flynn and Teal.”
Rather than do as he asked, I leaned against a miraculously clean bit of wall. “Haven makes a good point. We can stay till first light.”
Grayson swung his gaze to me. I’d known Grayson my whole life. We were closer than blood, and I could read him, just as he could read me. Right now, he was ready to explode—a calamitous combination of repressed emotion, unacknowledged lust, and guilt. “Teal. Flynn. Now.” He spoke through gritted teeth.
With an apologetic glance at Haven, I went to rouse them.
Chapter
Thirty-Two
GRAYSON
She’d saved me, and as thanks, I dragged her away from the only shelter within miles. The road was nowhere to be at night—a ribbon of packed earth that disappeared into blackness.
I huffed, and my breath fogged in the cold air.
Perhaps we should have stayed at the inn, but if we had, I’d have murdered the men who’d paid to rape her.
She’d let them live. I doubted she’d appreciate my ripping them limb from pathetic limb.
On either side of the narrow road, bare trees stretched skeletal branches toward a moonless sky. Darkness pressed against us, and a chill skittered down my spine.
Was Haven warm enough? Her cloak was worn, nearly threadbare in places, and not designed for truly cold weather. Hopefully, riding with Pierce would keep her warm.
Flynn, who rode next to me, yawned. Loudly.
“Stay alert,” I barked, even as my own eyelids drooped.
“You’re in a mood,” he replied. Then he yawned again, his hand not big enough to cover his gaping maw.
“I didn’t sleep through the fight.” No, I’d fought and fallen and needed protecting. By her. Then she’d healed me. The wound that should have killed me merely itched, an annoyance.
He shifted in his saddle, then glanced over his shoulder, his gaze catching on Haven and Pierce. When he’d looked his fill, he returned his gaze to me. “You owe her.”
“Yes.” I bit at the word as if my teeth could cut through the obligation that came with a life debt.
Flynn’s grin was knowing. He heard everything I wasn’t saying. “Pierce is enamored.”
I ground my teeth. “Yes.”
“You’re enamored.”
“No!”
Flynn’s answering chuckle was reason enough to kill him. He stole another lingering glance at the woman riding in front of Pierce. “Pierce is already staking his claim. Teal’s gone protective. You’re wound tighter than a crossbow.” Flynn’s usual levity faded. “How is it that I’m running fourth? We need to figure this out.”
“What exactly do we need to figure out?”
“We all want her.”
It wasn’t unheard of for a quad to share a woman. But that woman was never a shield. “She’s a shield. End of story.” Her bravery didn’t matter. Her beauty didn’t matter. She existed to protect us. By saving us, she served her purpose.
He dared to chuckle a second time. “Keep telling yourself that.”
I would. Because if I repeated it often enough, I might convince myself.
Chapter
