“No! That’s not—”
He cut her off with a glare. “And here’s the evidence. Creeping out of his tent before the morning. Ashamed of him in the daylight, are you? Or maybe it’s just that you want to keep your options open? Something better might come along, after all.”
She desperately tried to pull her arm back, frightened by how mean he was, by the dark look in his eyes.
He pulled her in closer and put his mouth against her ear. “What about it? Maybe I can be your better thing. Maybe it’s me you’ll want next.”
His words sparked something inside her. The kindling that had lain, building steadily over so many months, leaped into a massive inferno of rage that swept her fear away.
How dare he speak to her like that? And what if Val heard it, or saw that Reece had hurt her? He’d kill his friend, and then regret it forever.
She wrenched her arm back, freeing herself. Then, without even thinking, she slapped him hard across the face.
Her hand burned as she hissed out a harsh whisper. “Don’t touch me. Don’t come near me. Your squad would be ashamed if they saw you now!”
He stepped back, her handprint red and livid on his pale face, a glimmer of sobriety flickering at her words, and she almost imagined she saw a moment of horrified guilt swimming in his eyes.
She glared at him, rubbing her arm. “If you say one thing to hurt Val, I’m taking this to your captain.”
He opened his mouth, but all she wanted was to get away from him. She pushed past him and walked away before he could say one more word.
Chapter Ten
Val stoodin the shadows beside a sprawling beech tree as the squad hurried back and forth, setting up camp for the night.
He kept completely still, hidden by the shady branches, watching Alanna as she knelt in the dirt next to Nim, laying a fire.
She was bending forward in a way that tightened the leather of her breeches, molding them to her body, while her jerkin rode up, revealing a band of creamy skin, and his fingers twitched as he imagined running them slowly around that tantalizing band, slipping his thumbs into her breeches and pulling them away.
He leaned his head back on the rough bark and closed his eyes. That vision wasn’t for him.
Nim said something too low for him to hear. It must have been amusing, whatever it was, because Alanna laughed. It was such a rich sound of genuine enjoyment, the kind of pure joy that he had never heard from her before, that it almost took his breath away.
He would have given anything to be the one to give her that. To have the right to laugh with her. To touch her.
Instead, he had avoided her entirely. For three horrible days.
He hadn’t spoken to her once during the long marches, made even slower and more interminable by sharing horses, and he made sure to sit far away from her at the meals he couldn’t miss.
He had chosen to take the longest, furthest watches and had spent every waking moment in the air. Scouting ahead and watching behind until he was physically completely shattered.
Which no doubt explained why he was finally sleeping. In fact, he was sleeping so well that Rafe had moved into his brother’s tent, leaving Val to sleep alone.
He no longer woke up with his muscles tight and his throat aching. Now he woke refreshed and energized.
But his dreams. Gods. His dreams were out of control. Probably the result of long days with his skin itching with his need to touch her. His awareness constantly seeking her, making sure she was safe even as he refused to look at her.
His dreams had become so vivid that they almost felt real. Sometimes they were gentle visions of holding her in his arms, her body soft and warm against his as he nuzzled into the creamy skin of her neck, her soft hair floating around them like sunshine.
More often, they became heated fantasies of pulling her under him, sinking into her hot flesh as she writhed against his skin, whimpering and whispering his name.
But he always woke alone, his dreams nothing more than delusions provided by his own aching desires.
He rolled back his shoulders and opened his eyes, wishing everything was different. Then he pushed himself away from his hiding place, mentally preparing himself to sit beside the fire once more, keeping his eyes firmly elsewhere as Alanna charmed his former squad, became staunch friends with his sister, and, day by day, her bruises faded and she grew stronger and more confident.
Nim turned around as he walked closer and gave him a tentative smile.
They had hardly spoken since their fight, and he realized that she wasn’t certain of him. Gods, that stung. Even his baby sister didn’t know if she could trust him.
