Then had rescued Zion and me from the ambush in Ilasall.
Chased me.
And finally, fucked me.
Probably Zion too, based on how I’d found them twined together in the middle of the night. A nightmare had kicked me out of my dreams.
But it was the warmth radiating off Gedeon and seeping into me that had dried my cold sweat and invited me back to sleep. The scent wafting off his black hoodie I’d stolen had ceased being enough once I could actuallyfeelhim beside me.
Still, I’d awakened in bed alone later this morning.
I’d hoped we would talk it out, but both men had fled my wrath instead of pleading for my forgiveness. I doubted they would get it now. Gedeon had pretended to be dead, while Zion had decided not to divulge this tidbit of information, which he’d apparently been privy to. The lack of surprise he’d displayed at Gedeon’s return couldn’t be refuted.
I yanked Gedeon’s hoodie off the hook next to the mirror. The black material fell into a messy heap on the tiles, and I kicked the fabric, sending it flying to the other side of the bathroom. Seeing his clothing strewn around instead of neatly folded or hung was surely going to put a dent in his ego.
Grabbing the scissors off the counter, I brought the blades to my hair. A little over seven months had passed since I’d been kidnapped and flung into a world I’d had no clue about. The time had come for the extra four inches or so my strands now boasted to go.
“Wait.”
A shape appeared in the mirror. I tracked Gedeon in his approach as he strode across the stupidly vast bathroom.
Dark worn boots, dark fitted jeans, a dark belt and dark long-sleeved shirt, three equally dark buttons at the top—he hadn’t changed at all. Yet the clothing usually blending him with the surroundings couldn’t camouflage the intensity rippling in the shoulders rounded from years of training, the so-silent-it-made-you-question-your-hearing-ability steps, that one rogue lock of his obsidian waves swaying across his forehead, as usual.
“Let me.” He plucked the scissors out of my grasp, switching the instrument for another—a wide-toothed comb. “Tell me if it hurts,” he instructed before beginning to brush my hair.
I barely contained my snort. Ithadhurt for the last three months. An impossible-to-unravel knot would be less painful than living with the knowledge you’d killed one of the two people you loved.
And not intentionally.
It’s not your fault; just an accident, Zion had repeated time and time again, as if it could make me feel better. Especially when I would find him straying to Gedeon’s bedroom every other night.
Finished with detangling my hair, Gedeon moved the mass to fall along my back. “What length do you want?”
“I don’t care,” I snapped. “I just want it gone.”
His reflection’s jaw ticked, and a wicked sort of satisfaction unfurled in my stomach.
And instantly soured.
Hoarding anger was childish; I knew that. Same as inciting it in others.
The bruise on Gedeon’s cheek doused the flurry of emotions wreaking havoc in my soul, and I squared my shoulders. “Where have you been?”
He focused on arranging my locks. “In the shadows.”
“In the shadows,” I echoed, incredulity shining through.
“Yes.” Without meeting my stare in the mirror, he made the first cut. The snip of steel abrading steel elicited a shiver to skate down my spine. “Our compound is essentially a city, so I blended in. Stayed on the outskirts.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “But you stalked us.”
“Don’t move.” He reproached, rearranging my hair anew. “I had to make sure you were safe.”
Another snip, the sound so jarring in the rapidly cooling bathroom that I startled.
“Then why didn’t you come back?”
“Because I saw how well you two were managing the compound. How you prepared for war and navigated any challenges popping up.” A cold edge seared my flesh as he wielded the scissors. “Me showing up all nice and alive would have ruined things. Everyone thought I was taken by Ilasall. If I had simply marched back, they would have suspected something. Would you accept someone who could potentially have been brainwashed by the city into your leadership ranks?” Rough calluses scraped my back as he flicked off my hair clippings. “But staying away from you had ceased being an acceptable option since the day the doc cleared me. I had to make sure you were doing well. So I followed you.”
