There’s an unimpressed huff from Elsa, but she stays quiet.
“Well, I don’t know about you boys, but I’m starving. How about we pause this meeting until after lunch?” the first feminine voice says.
There are several murmurs of agreement followed by the scraping of chairs and feet hitting the floor.
Rachel yanks me away from the door, and the two of us hoof it down the staircase and back to the ground floor of the building. Harlow sticks by my side, the excitement gone from earlier and replaced with wariness.
“There are people going missing?” Rachel asks quietly as we stop in front of the reception desk.
I lean against it, trying to appear casual and nod. “Yeah, Rhys found a pattern in the reports yesterday.”
“None of them aside from the guys seem that concerned about it, though.” She wrinkles her nose.
“I know, it’s weird. Especially since they sent the three of them out to go rescue Jerri and the others when the Scourge took them.”
“Were they sent out, or did they volunteer? Because from what little we heard, I think it’s the latter.”
I have no idea. The guys never really talked about it, and I’ve never really asked. Something I’ll have to remedy soon, since all of this is making my stomach clench itself into knots.
Our conversation comes to a halt as the door to the stairwell flies open and two men and two women stride out. Only one of them—a man with dark hair and eyes—appears to be under the age of fifty, while the others have a mixture of greying hair and wrinkled faces. None of them even so much as look at us as they stride past.
A moment later, Rhys, Alex, and Theo appear, talking animatedly amongst themselves. Rhys is scowling—not unusual—although the thunderous expression on Alex’s face coupled with Theo’s frown tells me they’re all frustrated by how the meeting went. All three stop the moment they see us at the reception desk. Harlow finally relaxes with a huff and wanders off to sniff around.
Theo’s face lights up. “Hey baby, were you waiting for us?” he asks as he strides over, grabs my head and plants a deep kiss on my lips.
The action takes me completely by surprise, so I just stand there and allow him to kiss me with more fervour than is probably appropriate in public. But before I can really sink into the kiss, he pulls back with a chuckle, and then Alex is suddenly there. He slams his lips against mine and presses me back against the reception desk, kissing me passionately.
A throat clears but Alex ignores it. He deepens the kiss, devouring me until I’m ready to say screw it and start ripping clothes off.
“Jesus, Alex. Quit mauling the poor woman before you two end up fucking against the desk,” Rhys says in exasperation.
Theo chuckles. “Not the worst idea in the world…”
Rhys sighs. “Don’t encourage him.”
Rachel snorts on my other side. “I don’t think they need much encouragement. Although I’m not sure I want to be a part of this show.”
Oh, oops. I forgot Rachelis still here.
As much as I enjoy kissing Alex, I reluctantly push at his shoulder. He groans in frustration but backs off, his blue eyes so dark they’re almost black as they zero in on my lips.
“That’s such a good look on you,” he murmurs, his voice a low growl as he traces my bottom lip with his thumb.
I just barely resist the urge to lick the pad of his thumb and fight to get my brain back online. What were we doing here? Oh, right, firing range.
I lean around the side of Alex’s large form. “Hey, Rhys, is there a firing range here?”
The man in question arches a brow. “There is. What do you need it for?”
“Rachel wants to learn archery, and I figured it’d be safer to do it there than anywhere else. Less chance of accidentally shooting someone. Or losing an arrow.”
“I also want my gun back,” Rachel says with a pout.
I point at her. “Yeah, that too.”
Theo snorts. “Of course you do. You had a tantrum that would make a toddler proud when Rhys took that rifle off you.”
Rhys considers it for a moment before answering. “I’ll see what I can do about the gun—but no promises—and after lunch, I can show you two where the range is. Try not to shoot yourself or anyone else. Fuck knows I have enough shit here to deal with.”
