“I’ll talk to my fathers and Fate. Maybe they’ll let me come to you for a few days to see you through sols—”
“Shit.”
“What is it?”
Double shit.I didn’t realize I said that aloud. A few of the other passengers glance in our direction but quickly return to their business.
“Tempest, are you there?”
“Solstice,” I reply to Lark, ignoring him. “It’s happening.”
Her previously pinched brows lift in surprise. I’m so glad she knows about Jax. The last thing I want to do is explain what is going on right now in public. “Oh, so this is what being horny is like for harbingers?”
“Stop laughing!” My eyes dart around the metro car, skin prickling with embarrassment and probably something more.
“Do we need to get off at the next stop?” Lark points up to the metro map, chuckling as I glare at her. “Oops, poor choice of words.”
“It’s not funny,” I grumble, crossing my arms over my sweat-stained leotard. Thank goodness I always pack a spare. I’ll need it.
“You have to admit, it’s a little funny.” Lark’s face softens with something akin to pity.
“Tempest, you there?”Jax’s voice calls through our connection.“Hold on. I’m going to talk to them.”
“No, Jax. Don’t.”
He pauses a moment.“Don’t?”
“Stay where you are. Please.”I take a few deep breaths, not wanting to sound stressed and cause him to do something stupid like start a freak blizzard or swap in with some autumn harbinger.“It’s not worth getting in trouble. Not when we are so close to winter. I don’t want to do anything that could jeopardize that.”
I’ve been counting down to winter, my winter, ever since I left Australia.
“But—”
“No,”I warn. It won’t take much encouragement from me to have him doing something reckless. That will only wind up with us separated again—more than we have to be.“Not when you’regoing to ask to get assigned back here. We’ll have the next solstice.”
I’m already slick just thinking about it.
Or maybe that’s the solstice talking.
Fighting the urge to tell him to screw it and come hold me, engulf me with his presence and fill me, I take a few more steadying breaths, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“What can I do?”
“Why do you sound so calm when I feel like peeling off every layer of clothing right here on the metro?”If I have to be hot and bothered, he should be too!
“I’m far from calm.”There’s a sharpened edge to his tone, but on voice alone, it doesn’t sound like Jax is about to sweat out of his skin—not that I think that’d be possible for him.“And if you strip off those clothes, I’ll break out of here and show you hownot calmI am.”
“I wish.”The words are out before I realize they might set off another chain of events. According to Jax, Fate’s very concerned with the effects of him saving me and the ripple of what she’s had to do to fix it. They are leery of the consequences from us solidifying our bond but haven’t gone so far as to forbid him from coming here this next winter.
“Tempest… Do I need to come there?”
“No.”I keep my tone firm, using the hand pressed over my mate mark to refocus my breathing and slow my heart rate as much as I can.“Stay where you are, Jax. I mean it.”
Would this experience be different if I were a Frost? I have the distinct feeling that if I ask him, he won’t tell me. Any mention of if he hadn’t interfered, if I had become a Frost, is quickly met with silence or a change of topic.
“Are you two doing that weird mind-speak thing?” Lark groans, pulling me back to the present. The tracks rumblebeneath our feet, and I glance out the window, noting that we are nearing Lark’s stop.
“Give me a second.”
