Ian rolls his eyes. “How the fuck would you know? You haven’t even been here a day.”
Hawk shrugs. “Everybody likes to snuggle.”
“I don’t like to snuggle,” Rheyas objects, though his attention is focused on the multitude of trees surrounding us, looking for anything out of place.
“No, you don’t knowhowto snuggle, there’s a difference,” Hawk corrects. “Try it; you might like it, Sam-I-Am.”
Faster than I can blink, a snowball pelts Hawk in the back of the head so hard that he faceplants into the snow. He emerges sputtering as Ian chuckles, another snowball already formed in Rheyas’ hand by the time Hawk gets to his feet.
“Well, that wasn’t very ni-“ The next snowball explodes on his face before he can even finish his sentence. “So that’s how it’s going to be. Fine. Dibs on Rel!”
My hand is in his a second later as we go sprinting away, weaving between the trees laughing.
“How do we know who wins?!” Ian shouts, sounding mildly less annoyed than before.
“Whoever has their hand on our mate in half an hour! Ten a.m. sharp.” Hawk keeps a firm grip on my hand as we race through the snow, and as the first snowball hits the tree beside my head, I have a quick flash of panic as the déjà vu hits. Running through the snow, shots being fired as the men chased me…
“Shh, you’re alright, I’ve got you,” Hawk murmurs, pulling me behind another tree after we get a good distance between us and the others. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you again, understand?” Leaning closer, he whispers in my ear, “Not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but while the bear might be the abominable snowman, I’m faster. When you’re not the strongest, you learn to play to your other strengths. Things ever get bad, I promise I can get you out of there, deal?”
Swallowing, I nod. “Deal.”
With a grin, he laces our fingers together, taking off again. “They’re trying to box us in, hold on tight.”
As we sprint away, it clicks into place what he’s doing. “You’re trying to trick them into working together, to team up against you by making yourself their common enemy.”
“See? Told the mage you were the only smart one in the bunch,” he teases, pulling to a stop at the base of a tree, he releases me long enough to grip my hips. “How’s your upper body strength?”
“Good enough,” I chuckle, catching onto his plan.
Leaning in, he catches me off guard with the sudden kiss. What was clearly meant to be a quick sendoff morphs into more as I step into him, deepening it. His chest rumbles with appreciation, pulling me as close as our bulky coats will allow.
Reluctantly, he pulls back, bright blue eyes blazing as his gaze rakes over me with hunger. “I’m already the villain in plenty of people’s narrative. If that’s the role I have to play to put our pack together, I’ll do so happily.” He leans in to place another lingering kiss on my lips. “It’ll make the grand reveal all the sweeter in the end. When they realize the person they hate is the one that kept them from losing the best thing to ever happen to them rather than trying to keep her to himself?” He grips my hips tighter. “Hell, they’ll practicallyasktosuck me off in thanks.”
My laughter is cut off as he tosses me up into the air and I grab the lowest hanging branch. Hoisting myself up, he waits beneath me to ensure that I’m not going to fall before giving me a thumbs up and a grin.
“Hang tight, kitten, and I’ll be back with a ladder. Or some hot fireman to get you out of that tree, one of the two,” he declares before sprinting off, crisscrossing his path until it’s a mess of footsteps and tracks.
My cheeks honestly hurt from smiling so much and I couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve felt this…light. Maybe not free, and it’s not the first time I’ve been happy, but things just feel less impossible than they did a few days ago.
Thundering footsteps give Ian and Rheyas away as they get within ear shot. “Where the hell did they go?” My mage bends over to take a few deep breaths.
Rhey tips his head up, inhaling through his nose and grimacing. “Wolf rubbed their scent on every tree in the surrounding area. Until the next wind, we’ll have to listen.”
“Damn. Remind me to ask you to be on my team the next time Rin’s mates start a snowball fight; I owe Ozzy a decent shot to the face.”
Rhey doesn’t answer and I have to cover my mouth before I lose it, shaking with silent laughter as Ian puts two and two together.
“You bastard, it was you, wasn’t it?!” Ian demands.
Rheyas shrugs a single shoulder, resuming his path forward. “You tried to kiss my mate.”
“Ourmate. And you were set on walking away at the time!” Ian seethes.
He really should have expected the snowball that knocked him off his feet as an answer.
“Didn’t mean I wanted to see you take advantage of her,” he growls, and I just cock my head.
Logically I know he’s been removed from society, focused on people sucking. He has a penchant for valuing honor and respect that rivals stories of the olden days, so I really should have caught on by now. Yet I didn’t realize in the midst of him trying to live an honorable life, that he was so focused on protecting mine.
