I bite my tongue as Kaiden adds, “Why do you think we encourage you to run the Gauntlet instead of coddling you? We aren’t always going to be able to protect you and you need to be able to fight back or escape if anything like that ever happens again. As much as everyone claims the humans are all dead, we don’t buy it. There’s no way that at least a handful didn’t go into hiding and they are going to hate us more than ever because of it. You need to be able to fight, or run.”
Kinsley musses up my hair and I don’t have the strength to bat him away this time. “We love ya’, Ez, and we just can’t imagine any other guys loving you as much as we do. Most of the men in town would just as soon keep you barefoot and pregnant and never let you leave the house. We want better than that for you.”
Despite my conversation with Elias, my tears do not in fact turn to steam or lava. They just splatter wet drops on the dusty floor.
“Well now I just look like a dick,” I state on a watery chuckle, swiping at my face and the damning tears.
Kinsley pats the top of my head. “But you’reourdick.”
I bat at his arm. “Now who’s being gross?” I laugh, balling up the bag in my hand and tossing into the trashcan nearby.
I lean against the table as Kahl and Kaiden go back to what they were doing before it gets ruined. “But I guess this means you guys are going to need to let up a bit and I should start dating,” I probe, testing the waters.
The three of them wear identical scowls, green eyes pinched with annoyance.
“One of us should go with you so no one can try anything,” Kaiden growls, but Kahl is the one to overrule him.
“No,” he sighs. “As much as we’ve claimed not to, we’ve shielded her to the point of ignorance, as she so kindly pointed out. We need to give her a little room to breathe and make her own choices.”
Kinsley turns to him in surprise. “What happened to you, traitor? We’re supposed to vet them and let her pick between the best candidates.”
I raise a challenging eyebrow. “So the rumor about beating me at the race wasn’t a rumor?”
He blushes, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “It sounded like a good idea at the time. Gave your suitors a goal, killed off a good chunk of them, and even if they won, you’d hate them on principle.”
I bark out a surprised laugh, my previous anger waning over the course of the conversation. “I’ll admit, flawless reasoning.”
He looks more relieved, smiling, before his expression sobers. “If you’re going to be dating though, Kahl has something he wants to tell you about the rules.”
Then he and Kaiden flee the room, throwing Kahl under the bus and I blanch, guessing where the conversation is going based on the last shitshow.
Kahl grimaces and refuses to meet my eye. “Erm, yeah, so,” he stutters. When I see Vyrian coming around the corner, sweat dripping down his bare chest, I look up to Kahl in horror, trying to signal him to shut the fuck up, but he still isn’t looking at me. “If you’re going to start dating now that you know, you can’t, well,” he takes a steadying breath and rushes out, “you can’t have sex with anyone even before you go into heat or it will mean you’ve officially mated with them, despite the lack of heat.” I cover my face with my hands as I see Vyrian fighting a smile. “But you can still do other stuff,” Kahl adds, “even if I wish you wouldn’t. Like blowjobs and stuff. Just no actualsex,sex, understand?”
I don’t even look at him, nodding my head rapidly. “Got it. Can I just ask one thing?”
I can hear the awkward reluctance in his voice as he clears his throat and tries to act like this isn’t bothering him. “Yeah, sure, go ahead.”
I peel my hands off of my face to see Vyrian wearing an amused smirk, leaning against the wall and my brother whose face is as red as his hair. “Could you kill me now, please?”
***
“So,” Vyrian drawls, leaning against my car door before I could make a hasty exit. “You’ve decided to start dating?”
I try to settle my thundering heartbeat and act like my normal self. “Apparently it’s way past time, or so I’ve heard.”
I rehash the encounter with Colton and all the current revelations I was unaware of as he leans against the car, listening patiently. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, you probably just want your shirt back since it looks like it was your only one. Why are you half naked in my brothers’ forge anyway?”
His lip twitches with a smile that goes all the way to those blood red eyes that hold me captive. “Newbloods need jobs too. Also scored a discount on my bow, so double win.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that the next time I bring breakfast, make sure I throw in an extra.”
“Well if you’re already planning on bringing me breakfast, I should treat you to lunch. It’s only fair,” he offers, and for once, I actually accept.
“Deal. When?”
He strums his fingers on the top of the car. “Before Elias’ match. That way if it goes well, I can join you, or if it’s a bust, you have an excuse to bail.”
I can’t hide the surprise on my face. “You know about Elias’ match?”
