Turning to me, she steels her spine. “Heck, you had a panic attack when you found out you were marked, too. Tell them; removing it is for the best.”
A myriad of emotions slam through me, one furious thought after another, but not a single one tempts me to return to my depressing state of existence before Amara sparked life into my soul.
“I’m not in the business of lying to the people I love.” Palming the back of her head, I lace my fingers through her wild, chestnut hair. “But Iwillmake you a deal.”
My gaze dips to her bobbing throat as she swallows, and I force my attention back to her golden eyes as she rasps, “So you can cheat? What's the point in that?”
“I’ll always fight dirty when it comes to you, Amara, and I won’t feel a hint of remorse over it either. You’re worth doing whatever it takes to win.”
She softens slightly in my grasp. “What kind of deal?”
“Give us until we get to Khalida to change your mind. If by the time we get there you still want to remove your mate-mark, we’ll have ours removed as well.” I ignore Raiden and Kodiak’s outraged shouts, because they should know me far better by now.
I agreed to getting our marks removed. I said nothing about putting them all right back where they belong a split-second later.
She hums in contemplation, studying my face with suspicion. “And if you change my mind before then?”
“Then you’ll be giving us the greatest gift; faith.”
She scoffs. “Blind faith isn’t a gift, it’s expecting someone else to fix your problems for you, and to shoulder the blame if things don’t turn out the way you’d hoped.”
“I disagree. Faith is a sign that you see what’s in someone’s heart, and choose to believe in their intentions; even when a situation inspires doubt. So believe in us, Amara, even when the rest of the world doesn’t. Believe that everything will work out in the end, because we’re too damn stubborn to give up.”
Clearing her throat, she looks anywhere but at me as she asks, “So who’s going to draw the short straw to try and sway my opinion on the way? I’m not really up for trying to shift again yet, but one of you can carry me back, right?”
I wrap an arm around her lower back and pull her tighter against me. “You're right. One of uswillcarry you home.” As she squeaks out her protest, I haul her up, forcing her to wrap her legs around my waist. “... But we're walking.”
ChapterTen
AMARA
“Walk? That’ll take weeks!”
“That’s the plan.” Stone doesn’t miss a beat, one hand under my ass and the other lightly stroking my spine.
A frustrated growl slips out, deeper and more animalistic than I anticipated and startling me as much as him. Shaking it off, I argue, “There are hundreds, if notthousandsof people that want to kill us. Traipsing naked through the woods without any supplies, for weeks on end, when we canliterally fly home,is stupid. Unnecessarily, incredibly, stupid.”
I glare at Raiden over Stone’s shoulder. “Back me up here, oh mighty war general.”
A hint of guilt flashes across the traitor’s smoky irises before Raiden suddenly finds the forest canopy extremely fascinating. “Everyone will assume we'll head straight back to Khalida and try to cut us off before we make it, but will be banking on us making a beeline there. So taking the scenic route through allied areas is actually the safer option, letting us field the occasional attack instead of getting swarmed en masse.
“They’ll be searching the skies for dragons, not expecting us to be right under their noses because, as you so eloquently pointed out, that would be an ‘incredibly stupid’ plan.” Sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, he finally meets my gaze. “Besides, we never got to properly celebrate finding our mate. All of our plans and schedules have been blown to hell anyway, so we may as well take advantage of the rare opportunity of being completely free to do whatever we want.”
I blink several times, but nope, that’s still Raiden Workaholic Garrison staring back at me. “A honeymoon in the middle of nowhere without so much as a pair of pants or a single cent between the four of us? While people are actively trying to kill us?”
A broad grin transforms his typically stoic face. “Sounds perfect to me. You said you wanted a real life, Amara. If you haven’t pissed off a few people, you’re doing something wrong.”
* * *
It’s late afternoon by the time we reach our destination, after hours of the guys taking Stone’s agreement literally and playing hot potato, mate edition, so I never had to walk. As much as I could pretend to be annoyed about it, frankly? I’m exhausted. One day wasn’t nearly enough to make up for the week of sleep deprivation, and my body feels like it was caught in a rockslide. While I can feel the slight buzz of the electric current in the world around me, the thought of concentrating hard enough to coax it into doing my bidding gives me a splitting headache.
I need to sleep for three days, eat my weight in ice cream, and sit in a hot tub long enough that I forget I evenhavemuscles. Preferably at the same time, but there are too many people that want to kill us to let my guard down.
I’m burning the candle at both ends, and it’s all I can do to hope that I’ll figure something out before there’s nothing left of me to save.
Two massive trees flank a well-worn path leading into -hopefully- friendly territory, but Raiden appears completely confident. With as high-strung as they were a few hours ago, the fact that his shoulders are relaxed speaks volumes, and I find my own anxiety gradually ebbing.
“Seriously, I can walk, Kodi.”
