Sovran glances up at the sky. “It is no longer morning.”
“Yes, itis,” Xeni groans from underneath the pillow.
Sovran’s bewilderment grows.
“He’ll be fine, I promise,” I say as I fight a smile.
Sovran shakes his head, then focuses on me once more. “When your mate has chosen to rejoin society, I have his vehicle.”
Fabric rustles, and I glance behind me to find Xeni sitting up, hair wild and squinting against the light.
“Mywhat?” he rasps, voice thick with sleep.
“The vehicle you left stranded in the woods on your way to Atlanta,” Sovran explains like it should be obvious.
Xeni climbs out of bed with the blanket wrapped around him like a robe, shuffling toward the door with his brows scrunched. He shields himself from the bright rays when he realizes he isn’t wearing his eyepatch.
I freeze as I wait for him to panic.
His gaze drops to the ground, but after a deep inhale that squares his shoulders, he lifts his face again. His uncertainty shows itself as he swallows, but he doesn’t hide, and my chest swells with pride.
“What do you mean, you have my vehicle?” he asks. “How is that even possible?”
A hint of amusement lines Sovran’s face as he nods toward the room beside ours. “Your neighbor remembered where he picked you up. He took me to find it.”
Xeni is full of skepticism as he glances towards the wall between our room and his. “Willingly? I didn’t take him to be the charitable sort, if you catch my drift, andyoudon’t seem like the type to be persuaded to do much of anything.”
Sovran’s lips twitch. “He was… encouraged.”
“Cryptic,” I mutter. “I thought that vehicle wasn’t running.”
“It wasn’t, and now it is.”
Sovran holds out a key, and Xeni stares at it before bunching his blanket into a single hand to accept it.
Xeni and I exchange confused glances as Sovran watches the sky for a long moment.
“The weather is agreeable,” Sovran says, with a judgmental flick of his eyes down at Xeni and his blanket. “You should leave after lunch. There is enough fuel to get you home, and food for your travels.”
“Um, that’s… okay, that’s a lot to take in,” I say after an awkward stretch. “Thank you, first of all, because… wow, that’s incredible. And generous? Also, how did you get the SUV running? And…”
“And what the fuck to everything else?” Xeni interjects, because that pretty much sums it all up.
Sovran chuckles as he glances between us, then pats me on the shoulder with that enormous heavy hand. “Lunch is in an hour.”
He walks away, leaving us staring after him.
Xeni’s hand thunks into my stomach, and I grunt as I turn to him with wide eyes. “What was that for?”
“Saw that,” he mutters as he ducks back into the room, and I snicker as I follow.
Weird as he might be, the guy has a nice ass.
Xeni drops his blanket as soon as the door shuts, exposing miles of pale skin as he swings his hips.
“Jealous?” I tease.
He glances over his shoulder at me with a catty smirk. “Just making sure my ass is the one on your mind.”
