“No fair,” Hawk pouts beside me on the couch and I look at him in confusion.
“I mean, he offered first. You can open the next one.”
Rheyas snorts a laugh as he passes the can of peaches my way and I pop a slice in my mouth. “No he can’t.”
I shake my head in amusement. “You guys get territorial about the weirdest shit.”
Rheyas opens another and passes it to Ian. The house wasn’t completely wiped out, just down to a few odds and ends sitting around. They didn’t pack up the entire house down to the floorboards, just threw some dust covers on stuff and moved on like it was a dead relative’s house they were hoping to just pawn off as-is at the first offer on the property.
“He can’t manage a partial shift,” Rhey elaborates. “Not many can unless their anger gets the better of them.”
Hawk rolls his eyes, grabbing a lock of my hair and twirling it around his finger. “Yes, we get it, you’re strong. Rel is rubbing off on you; you used to be much more humble.”
Ian swallows, in a far better mood now that we’re out of the cold. “You didn’t even know him before Rel came along.”
Gently tugging on my hair, I’m pulled closer as he kisses the side of my head. “We don’t talk about those dark times. The before times, when everything else sucked, before our mate came into our lives.”
“Laying it on a little thick there, buddy,” Ian retorts, taking another bite, trying to savor the food since we need to ration it.
Hawk starts gently running his nails over my thigh with his free hand. “She doesn’t mind, do you, gorgeous? You know I mean every word of it,” he purrs, and I squirm on the couch.
Trying to fight off the embarrassment of knowing at least two of my mates know how turned on I actually am, I pop another peach into my mouth to buy myself time to come up with a response. Rheyas’ violet eyes meet mine, and it might be my imagination, but they seem to blaze even brighter than usual in the dim lighting.
“Nah, flattery is a good way to pass the time. Unless you guys are ready to call it a night, showering me with praise gets my vote until someone finds a deck of cards.”
Ian gives me a small smile before shaking his head. “Alright, then I think we should start with the most obvious.” He leans forward in his chair, placing his empty can on the coffee table. “How has no one brought up the way you force choked that guy to death?”
Hawk explodes in a litany of animated conversation that has me shrinking back into the couch, cheeks flaming. I may have instigated it, but I meant it more as brushing off the atmosphere we were falling into with sarcastic quips. Honestly, of any of them, I didn’t expect Ian to do anything more than fire shots back.
“Yep, if I didn’t think I was in love with her before, that sure did it,” Hawk agrees, fingers still eliciting a heated path on my thigh.
Rheyas is as reserved as always, but by the heated look that roams over my body, what I wouldn’t give to be able to read his mind. “I was wrong.” At my raised eyebrow, he licks his lips before leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees. “You aren’t as breakable as I once assumed. You’ve seemed perfectly at home the last few days, and even this place has you lighting up like it’s something amazing instead of the dusty shack it is.”
He tosses a glance at Ian. “Certainly built to survive better than the mage.” Returning his focus to me, he smiles. “And not as helpless as you look. You were right; I caught you when you were having an off day and was too quick to judge.”
“Well if that isn’t the equivalent of a proposal, I don’t know what is,” Hawk whistles low.
Swallowing, I nod. “You’re right-“ I wink at my mage “-Ian’s really the princess that needs saving.” Waving off his immediate protest, I counter, ticking off on my fingers, “Didn’t you say you’d already been kidnapped by Rin and her henchmen? So we’ve got kidnapped, ambushed in an attempted assassination, and stumbling around the woods because you’re spoiled. Hate to break it to you, but the evidence is stacked against you.”
He brings a small ball of energy onto his finger and flicks it at me, but it simply passes through without the intended sting as I grin. “Praise goes to your head, it seems,” he jabs, but he’s wearing a matching smile that softens the statement. “Noted; I’ll need coffee before your newly established ritual of morning compliments.”
“When did that become established?”
He gestures at my face, his teasing air giving way to a more serious one. “The second these two saw the way you light up with them.” More hesitantly as he pushes past the awkward wall that’s been between us for a while now, he hastily adds, “And who am I to risk offending the stone-cold killer? It’d be suicide. The only logical conclusion is making sure I stay in your favor with praise and orgasms so you don’t get sick of me and leave me to bleed out in a ditch.”
My chest hurts, and I need to consciously remind myself to breathe. But even that doesn’t ease the ache, hope and nerves warring until they steal any words I could possibly come up with that don’t make me sound like a floundering idiot. My skin tingles, my abilities flaring to life beneath the surface again. I hadn’t paid much attention to it with everything going on, with the way it’s constantly been buzzing between Hawk and Rheyas, but it hasn’t really responded much to Ian’s proximity lately, almost as if it’d already given up and considered us rejected.
A small surge courses from my chest down my arms, and I realize my mistake a split second too late. Peach juice explodes on my face as my energy hits the can that I’m still holding.
Eyes closed, I pass the empty container wordlessly to Hawk, waiting until he grabs it to swipe a hand over my face. “Thank the Fates I didn’t say anything dumb, or I might have looked ridiculous right about now.”
There’s a prolonged beat of silence before they all burst into hysterical laughter. While Hawk leans over to flick his tongue over my cheek, Ian heads upstairs, returning with a damp cloth and offering it to me with a broad grin.
“Thanks.”
It’s ice cold, but I’m just grateful I have the means to clean up instead of this happening out in the middle of nowhere and being forced to fend off a swarm of bees.
“Nice to see you finally got your priorities figured out,” Hawk states, and I’m not entirely sure by his tone if he’s making a sarcastic dig or being serious.
