“It’s healing fasterthan I would have imagined,” I admit , surprised.
The bruising around Ezra’s ribs has faded to just faint yellow discoloration and she seems to have full range of motion without showing signs of pain. She tugs her camouflaged t-shirt back into place, not that it does any good. With her shock of bright red hair, she’s like a flame in the forest.
“Told ‘ya,” she counters with a smirk. “You need to stop worrying so much, Ren.”
“Here.” Vyrian takes his hat off and passes it to her to tuck her hair inside. It doesn’t fully make her blend into the woods, but it’s an improvement.
We decided to head into the forest bordering Hadeon for our date. Although it was originally meant to be her time with Yri, she suggested‘let’s just make it a threesome,’casually, no doubt choosing her words for exactly the images it brought with them. I’ve spent every day being her shadow since the bookstore, but today feels different for the sole reason of her blurring that line.
Not that I’m complaining in the slightest.
She was completely right and besides the Gauntlet or going out to eat, there isn’t much to do in this town. Thus, we had to get inventive for our group date. At Yri’s suggestion, the vote was unanimous and we geared up within minutes before leaving the house.
Cai’s been avoiding us, so he must obviously be hiding something. In a town without anything to do, there’s nothing more appealing than a mystery.
“Think he’s just been avoiding the house because of me?” Ezra whispers as we dart between tree trunks. “I’ve been there nearly every day and hardly seen him; maybe he’s just sick of me encroaching on his space.”
Yri looks at her like she has three heads. “You’re a goddamn delight, that couldn’t possibly be the reason.”
I muffle a low chuckle as she lifts a shoulder in half of a shrug to agree. “Can’t argue with flawless logic.”
We can hear the sounds of saws and axes now that we’re getting close and drop our volume a bit more. I plaster my back against a tree trunk and Ezra gestures for a boost. I thread my fingers together for her to step in, giving her an extra push so that she can reach the lowest branch above us. Yri follows behind her to navigate the branches while I keep my ass on the ground. I’m many things, but built for stealth isn’t one of them.
I peer around the tree, seeing nothing more than a small crew working away. There are ten of them including Caius, caught up with breaking down a fallen tree into usable pieces. They load the lumber into the back of a truck with a massive flatbed, turning around to start the process all over again. He whips off his shirt to wipe sweat off of his face, tossing it aside and picking his axe up to start in without slowing.
I see the change in the men surrounding Caius in the clearing first, watch their eyes dilate and their hands slow. Soon, they give up all pretense of work, getting agitated, starting to dissolve into fights with one another.
I feel the same pull, but after being assaulted with low levels of the pheromones almost daily, it doesn’t take too much effort to fight the effects. Cai realizes what’s happening, scanning the surrounding area to search for her while tossing frequent glances at the men around him. He grits his teeth, but keeps his hand curled around his axe’s handle.
“Dead kittens, saggy grandpa balls, algebra,” Yri whispers in rapid succession and a surprised laugh slips through my lips unbidden.
Cai’s head whips in my direction a split second before he storms over, looking ten shades of pissed off. His blonde hair is matted with sweat and there are shadows under his usually bright blue eyes, leaving him looking rundown.
“What were you thinking, bringing her here?” he demands on a harsh whisper, glancing back over his shoulder at his coworkers starting to mellow out a bit.
I raise my eyebrow in challenge. There is no single leader in a flight, and as such, the three of us are on equal footing. Cai can be upset all he likes, but he doesn’t get to make decisions for the rest of us.
“She wanted to find out why you were avoiding her.” No point beating around the bush.
He embeds his axe in the trunk beside us, groaning and swiping a tired hand down his face. “Damn it, I’m not avoiding her. Why would you let her think something like that?”
I look at my brother in arms, really look. We haven’t seen him more than in passing the last week and we’ve been so caught up with Ezra, we haven’t been paying close enough attention to how stressed out he is.
“Hate to tell you, Cai, but no oneletsthat girl do a damn thing. She wanted to figure out why you’ve been avoiding the house now that she’s been hanging around, wanted to make sure she wasn’t chasing you out. So we changed our date plan into a recon threesome.”
“Hold on.”
He heads back to the clearing and says something to a couple of the guys, grabbing his shirt off of the ground and a water bottle before jogging back over. I lean back against the trunk, letting him take a minute before he continues.
“So where is she?” he asks cautiously.
“With Yri.”
He nods, assuming he would have gotten her out of here and speaking freely. I have a brief moment where I consider warning him that they’re eavesdropping, but after what Ezra just went through with her brothers, I think she deserves blanket honesty. And Cai, the idiot, is terrible at talking about himself. It’s to help him as much as her because if she chooses to take Yri and I as mates, it means Cai will be left out in the cold if he doesn’t come around. He just needs a push and she needs to know where he stands for all of our sakes before this goes any further.
“I’ve been volunteering for extra shifts,” he finally explains and I give him a look, gesturing to elaborate. He sits down, resting his head against the trunk and closing his eyes for a brief moment.
“We pissed off the leader of a goddamn country, Ren. No way we don’t have bounties on our heads. Why the hell would she consider our flight over all the other options? She’s the one paying you and Yri hates his job; I figure if I can make enough to support us, then it might be at least one point in our favor. Then you two can stay with her so we don’t have to worry about leaving her alone. We don’t really offer much here, Soren. If we can’t even provide for her, why the fuck would she want to be our mate when there are hundreds of better options she could choose from?”
