“At least it makes sense why you’re all drawn to me then,” I tease. “But honestly, if I don’t get my heat resistance back soon, I’m going to go nuts. How do you guys deal with it?”
Yri taps a finger on his lips, contemplating. “Your blood is obviously made of lava.”
I choke on my own spit laughing. “You’re right, it’s the only logical explanation.”
I can practically hear Soren’s eyes rolling in his head. “I swear, no one paid attention in biology and health science. Fire dragons are warm blooded, they don’t have the same hang ups as the other three types. She’s not any hotter than usual, she’s just not used to sleeping with other people.”
I gasp, hand fluttering to my chest in indignation. “You calling me a whiner?”
Ren shrugs a single shoulder, smirking. “Just stating facts; interpret them however you like.”
Something catches out of the corner of my eye and I have my gun drawn in two seconds flat. I don’t immediately fire, because not everyone in existence is my enemy. Self-defense is one thing, but murder sprees should be saved for when I can fly away; jail is still definitely a thing, even if I’m a girl.
The man raises his hands in alarm. “Fuck, just take my wallet, no need to shoot!”
I hesitate and Soren shakes his head, releasing an amused breath and putting a hand on top of my gun to force me to drop my stance. “You wear your thoughts more blatantly than Yri.”
I tuck the gun back into my ankle holster, not disputing. “I’m working on it, to be fair.”
Cai shoos the man away and he bolts, not looking a gift horse in the mouth. “Were you seriously going to rob that poor bastard?”
I adjust the strap on my backpack as we walk faster, assuming the guy is going to report us to someone. “What do I look like, a monster?”
“That’s not an answer,” Vyrian helpfully points out and I flip him off.
Cai snorts. “It’s official; you may be Yri’s angel, but you’re my psycho.”
I don’t think he actually knows how to give an insult.
“No need to make me swoon, damn. Trying to flee for my life here.”
He rolls his eyes as we carry on for a few more hours, forcing ourselves to arrive on the outskirts of the next town before slowing just in case the man I probably wouldn’t have actually robbed made a report to the police. By now, we’ve burned through the food we’ve brought with us and are all starving.
“I’ll go,” Cai offers, passing us his backpack. “You three stay out of sight and I’ll bring stuff back.”
I don’t bother contradicting, because I know it’s the smartest move. Despite the fact that I hate sitting around and hiding, relying on others to do things for me, it would put all of us in more danger if I insisted on going with. We were already having issues with my pheromone problem, and supposedly now it’s only going to get worse. I don’t know anyone in this town or what kind of motives they might have.
Ignorance really is bliss and I took it for granted.
We agree that the three of us will wait in the dilapidated barn at the edge of the field, since even staying on the outskirts of the city means people can see us from their windows if they’re looking. We split up, even though I hate it, and make our way through the abandoned field.
The land here is withered and dead, making it clear that no one lives on or tends the property currently. Still, we avoid the house out of an abundance of caution. This isn’t some apocalyptic movie where you can kill anything that moves with no repercussions; not yet anyway. Sure, plenty of violence is overlooked, otherwise the police would never be able to sleep, but there are still limits. We already have enough to worry about without adding another group to the mix if we can avoid it.
The wood is a pale grey mottled with green from all of the rot and it’s riddled with gaps where chunks have fallen down. We make our way in, and despite wanting to sit, I’m leery of whatever might be hiding in the hay bales. We end up using our feet to sweep a space clear in the middle and shake out a tarp before sitting down.
“No way we won’t get tetanus or rabies from this place,” Soren states in distaste, eyes roving the area as he waits for something to pounce.
A laugh bubbles up in my throat, acknowledging how ridiculous we must look huddled together on the floor like this. “Cai’s definitely going to get attacked bringing food in here,” I agree.
By the time Cai comes back, the three of us have relaxed enough that we’re lying on our stomachs, the side pocket of my backpack dumped out in the center as we organize and separate.
“You forget you’re being hunted?” I look up to see Cai rolling his eyes as he walks into the barn.
“No, but we’re bored. What else were we supposed to do? I like sex, but I’m pretty sure we’d all pick something up doing it here,” I joke, lifting the tiny dragon I made out of Legos to show off.
Yri scoots over so that Cai can sit, putting the two grocery bags down that he brought in. One is full of things like protein bars and such we can load in our bags and the other is takeout that’s still hot.
He takes my dragon and makes a few adjustments, giving it a more streamlined design. I look between it and him, impressed as I take the container Soren passes me.
