––––––––
“Angel, I applaud yourbravery, but seriously; that about killed me. For the love of everything, holy or otherwise, please skip the next race. Just a break, not for good.”
She’s getting a piggyback ride from Soren since after breaking through the finish line, she nearly tumbled down all of the stairs as her body gave out. She may have cauterized most of her wounds, which is a badass flex if I’ve ever seen one, but she couldn’t get all of them. She lost so much blood I’m surprised she’s still standing. Add in how dehydrated she must be and the adrenaline crash she’s likely facing and she’s going to sleep for days.
“And ruin my perfect streak?” she mumbles into Soren’s shoulder, fighting to keep her eyes open. “Do Ilooklike a quitter?”
Cai swipes a shaky hand over his face, not faring much better. “No, you look like an adrenaline junky with a death wish. Fuck, Ezra, I can’t believe I let you talk me into that.”
She snorts derisively. “Like you weren’t getting desperate too? My arms fucking hurt. If I was going to fall, I was at least going to go down trying. Besides.” I pass her a water bottle that she chugs down greedily. “Ren would have caught me.”
Soren’s hands tighten possessively on her thighs at her blind trust, rumbling, “Of course I would, little dragon.”
“See?” she tosses at Cai. “It was fine.”
Her arms are wrapped around Soren’s neck as she leans on his shoulder, her eyes fluttering closed as we walk back to our house. Elias is in school and the triplets are at work, but they only hired me on as part time help, so I’m working three hellish days a week right now. More often than not, she spends her time at our house, or us at hers. Since the capture the flag, there’s been an unspoken change, like we earned her brothers’ approval.
That, and I’m going to marry this girl. She kissed me,choseme. She’s part of our flight whether she likes it or not at this point because I’m not giving her up. Sure, there’s some paperwork and a ritual to knock out of the way before it’s ‘official’, but those are just technicalities.
Just call me Vyrian Veles; I’m already working on t-shirts.
“So we’re not going to talk about her chucking Cai aside like a rag doll then? I tease.
“Yeah, would you have even cared if I broke my damn neck?” he demands with narrowed eyes that she doesn’t see, nuzzling into her living pillow and half asleep.
“I would’ve found a nice picture to put up at home and a candle or some shit,” she retorts flippantly.
Cai’s expression softens, catching her slip like the rest of us. Home. She already considers us hers. Fuck, that will go to a man’s head.
We get back home and she comes to when Soren insists she shower before passing out. There’s just too much filth to fully clean and dress her wounds as she is now and we all know that when she crawls into bed, she’s going to be out for a long time.
Presumptuous as it may be, we made sure to pick up some stuff for her to keep here. It was way more work than I imagined, needing to find the right people to trade with. Things especially tailored to female needs aren’t nearly as accessible anymore and Hadeon has been careful to not give away the fact there’s a female within its borders, so everything’s done with the utmost discretion.
At the last minute, I swap out her shirt for one of mine, leaving the pile outside of the bathroom door. We only have one bathroom, so Cai cleans up as best as he can in the kitchen sink until it’s his turn.
Now that she’s out of ear shot, I whirl on Cai, punching him in the shoulder. “What the fuck was that shit!?” I demand, not needing to clarify; he knows what I damn well mean.
He groans, sinking into his seat at the table. “I know, okay? I couldn’t find a better plan and our arms were starting to give out. Would you rather I just let her fall?”
Soren growls, his chest vibrating with his fury. “You could have climbed or slid down.”
Cai thumps his head on the table, exhausted and defeated. “She never was going to back down and you know it. She’s going to climb to the top of the damn world, with or without our help.”
I deflate, his words breaking through my anger as I sense the truth in them. He proceeds to tell us about her speech before she chucked him to his death and I have to agree with his thoughts on the matter.
“Bathroom’s free,” she calls out, towel drying her hair as she comes down the hallway.
“Damn, angel, you look good enough to eat,” I praise without realizing I spoke out loud until it’s too late.
Soren and Caius freeze, waiting to see her reaction to my slip up. While we’ve gotten more casual with our touches, testing the waters, that’s a line we haven’t crossed. Nothing overly sexual to scare her off or get the wrong idea; we agreed. Hell, I haven’t even tried to kiss her again.
She doesn’t bat an eye and I wonder if she even caught my meaning.
“I’ve got to admit, your clothes are comfier than mine,” she tosses out there, dropping into the seat beside me and happily taking the food I slide her way.
She passes out at the table halfway through lunch. Soren chuckles, gently picking her up and taking her over to the couch. He wavers for a moment before sitting down with her instead of laying her down, drawing her into his side. He reclines back and settles in for the afternoon.
“Sneaky bastard.”
