Meg is directing a group of people in tending the fire, while Desi cuts up something and puts it into an enormous pot.
Rory goes straight to where he left his sleeping bag but pauses when he can’t find it.
“Hurry up and strip off, Alpha, and give me your clothes,” Bonnie says in a way that does not, under any circumstances, sound like she might want anything else but those clothes.
Rory looks around and then bends over, undoes his boots, and strips off, handing her all his clothes, and I mean all his clothes, including Vale’s dry hoodie, that she tosses back at his face.
She doesn’t bat an eye at his nakedness. Her eyes don’t even flicker down, though a whole lot of the rest of the people here do.
“Happy?” Rory growls.
“Ecstatic,” she says blandly, turns on her heel and throws his clothes over a rope that stretches across the clearing. It’s just to the side of the fire.
I’m not sure I even like her. This version of her is so cold and harsh.
But she’s compelling, like a fire or a flood.
I just keep wondering what she’s going to destroy next.
“Cyn?”
I turn and find Vale standing beside me.
“Time to get ready,” Vale prompts.
I snap back into work mode, noticing that Rory has disappeared into the tent.
“Can I help you?” I ask Desi.
He looks at me all suspicious-like and then shrugs and passes me a bowl of spuds and a knife.
Ah, cool, something I’m good at. I start peeling the potatoes with ease.
“So, today was a delightful walk, but it gets harder, right? I’ve never been out here before.”
“Oh, it’s going to get so much harder. You’re going to regret coming out here before you end up loving it.”
I nod and smile, only half paying attention to him as I watch everyone else.
“Am I going to get fleas?” Kendall asks plaintively.
“The trek is going to take us deeper into the wild; we’ll be following a circular route. Rafting at one point.”
I know all this, but I pretend I don’t.
“Are there any spots that are really dangerous?” I ask. “It’s just with Rory falling in the river, I’m a bit worried.”
Desi straightens, looking around until he finds Bonnie. “Rory fell in the river?”
“Well, jumped. There was a situation. I thought Bonnie might have fallen in, and I jumped down to help her.” I shrug aiming for nonchalance. “And I toppled the water containers into the water. Rory just reacted, but it’s got me feeling a bit nervous. I mean, the most danger I put myself in is from a paper cut.”
I wish I didn’t lie so convincingly, but people believe me so easily, it’s their own fault, really.
Desi scowls at Bonnie. “There are a few places, but don’t worry, Bonnie, Meg, and I haven’t lost a single person yet, and that is a record we pride ourselves on.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”
Desi relaxes, but I can tell he’s still irritated, and now Meg and Bonnie can feel it, too, though the latter is doing an amazing job at pretending she can’t see us.
