Khalil, Zeke, and I stare at each other in the space of time it takes for us to all come to the same conclusion before the three of us rush out of the truck and to the front door. We reach it at the same time, and I’m not sure who throws it open, but it doesn’t matter as none of us slow down long enough to file through one at a time. Our large bodies become wedged insidethe too-narrow frame and after a lot of grunting, shoving, and wiggling, we finally burst through, collapsing into a pile in the foyer in an embarrassing display.
Aurelia, having a front seat to it all, pauses painting her toenails and looks up from her perch in the loft with her brows raised. She’s freshly showered and dressed in Zeke’s robe, and I can tell it doesn’t go unnoticed by him when his nostrils flare. He looks away, biting back whatever vitriol is on the tip of his tongue when I shove him.
This side of Zeke is uncomfortably new—like navigating unknown terrain while constantly on the lookout for danger. He’s been angry before, sure, but he’s never been mean.
Tatum might haunt him, but I’ll be damned if Aurelia pays the price for that bitch’s treachery.
“Were you being chased?” she asks casually.
Khalil is the first to untangle his limbs from ours and climb to his feet. Instead of barreling for her like he did the entire drive here, he approaches her cautiously as if he fears—just as we all do—that she might change her mind about staying.
“You’re here,” he says once he reaches the edge of the living room, where he has to crane his neck to see her from her high perch.
Aurelia studies him for a moment before nodding once and echoing softly, “I’m here.”
Khalil grabs her ankle and lifts her leg to kiss the bottom of her foot repeatedly in gratitude while staring at her through relieved eyes. “Why didn’t you wait for us?”
Aurelia bites into her bottom lip before reclaiming her foot and shrugging. She glances at Zeke and me before going back to painting her toes with the red polish.
None of us quite know what to say or do since her body language is clearly screaming to give her some fucking space.
So we do.
I go into my room to shower while Khalil and Zeke disappear into the basement to do the same.
We can discuss what the fuck went down between her and the sheriff later.
EZEKIEL
My lungs and thighs burn as I push up the final hill, over the crest, and into the clearing. The snow is long gone, so our glade is green once again, and I can even smell the dew in the air. The air is still cool this high up, but it’s a balm against my hot skin as I wipe the sweat from my brow.
When I see the cabin door, I slow my jogging pace until I’m walking and panting to catch my breath. I usually run every day—sometimes twice a day—but Seth didn’t keep up my routine because I barely made it three miles before turning back.
I’m passing by the woodshed, where the framework of the unfinished bed Khalil’s been building and the small garden that earns a glare from me sits unfinished, when I hear voices and stop walking as if I was caught somewhere I shouldn’t be.
“Where does it go?” I hear Thorin’s rough voice ask.
“Inside me.”
A thud from the shed is followed by a high-pitched inhale in response.
“Where?”
“Inside me, Thorin. Please. I’ve been a good girl,” she pleads in a voice that’s too sweet for the thorns she wears like a crown. “Give it to me.”
My jaw tightens when I hear Thorin’s telling groan coming from the shed where he stores his kills. Losing control, he picks up his pace, the rhythmic pounding of their bodies colliding with complete abandon mingles with their cries, turning our clearing into some kind of salacious Eden.
I assume they’re inside until I start walking again, eager to get away and pass the shed. Catching movement in my peripheral vision, I make the mistake of following the sound and seeing Aurelia pinned against the side of the shed, her legs and arms wrapped around Thorin as he drills into her.
Her hair is unbound and wild, and she’s only wearing her yellow silk robe.
At least it’s not mine this time.
The robe has fallen off her shoulders and hangs halfway down her arms, the panels open so that Thorin can use her body.
I quiet my steps as I sneak past, but I can’t take my eyes off them. I know Thorin’s aware of me. He’s an apex predator. But if he has issues being watched, they aren’t big enough for him to stop and run me off.
The muscles in his bare ass flex as he drives into Aurelia one last time. The divot between her brows deepens, and I tell myself to look away.
