“Not particularly.”
He skims his fingertips along my jaw, and I barely suppress a shiver. “Not even a little?”
“How can you be flirting right now? Did you forget the part where I was almostshot?”
“With a tranquilizer,” he counters, waving it off like it’s no big deal despite the corners of his eyes tightening. “Look at Stone, you'd have been fine.”
I glance over at my suspiciously quiet mate and gesture to his face to make my case. “He’s sleepwalking.”
Kodi chimes in. “He’s a doctor, he’s used to working on autopilot while half-asleep. Honestly, you should be impressed at his multitasking skills.”
“He’s drooling, guys.”
Both of them snort, but Raiden takes pity on him and throws Stone over his shoulder. “Problem solved.”
One down, a million more to go.
ChapterFourteen
AMARA
I’m making the right decision.
Yet, no matter how much I repeat the mantra, tendrils of doubt slip past my defenses.
Stone was shot because of me. He may be the closest thing to immortal any shifter has ever been, but the rest of us aren’t. Reality will come for us whether we like it or not, and he can’t be in three places at once.
I refuse to spend the rest of my life a paranoid mess always looking over my shoulder, waiting for someone to strike. Been there, done that, and I can attest that it isn’t any sort of life at all. My skin feels too tight, too vulnerable, and my stomach’s been churning for the last hour at the visceral reminder that there’ssomethingcrawling around inside of my body. Even alone, it feels like I’m constantly being watched. I’m frustrated, burned out, and angry at the world.
My entire life I was hunted by men that wanted to claim me, and now, to kill me, but only to get Stone, Raiden, and Kodiak out of the way. I don’t even get the luxury of being killed because I’ve pissed anyone off, yet I'm the one being punished.
It’s bullshit.
Kodiak scrubs a hand over his stubbled jaw. “I’m fucking beat, bossman. There’s got to be somewhere around here for us to camp.”
Sunrise is only a few hours away now, and I’m not the only one dead on my feet. All four of us are running on fumes after walking straight through the night, Stone coming to several hours ago. Blisters riddle my bare feet, and several pebbles are embedded in my soles that I can’t risk digging out. If I sit down for even a second, I won’t get back up.
“There.” Raiden veers off to the right, scanning the vicinity with a calculated eye. “We’ll camp out here for a few days.”
Passing theFor Salesign, I silently sigh in relief. The parking lot in front of the movie theater is wide open and massive, making all of us twitchy over the exposure. The promise of sleep so close now, though, offers a newfound rush of energy to cross it quickly.
Kodiak studies the security system box beside the doors for a few seconds before stepping aside and gesturing me forward. “The floor is yours, gorgeous.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “Come again?”
“Yes please,” he replies without missing a beat. “But first, maybe you could let us in so we can have some privacy?”
“You want me to…”
“Manipulate the security system? Well, yeah. You’re the only lightning dragon around, pretty girl. I can’t think of anyone better suited for the role.”
All of the blood drains out of my face as the three of them stare at me expectantly. “Wouldn’t frying it set off the alarm?”
Wrapping an arm around my waist, Kodiak drags me in front of the keypad, stepping behind me to keep me from running. “Possibly, so it's actually a good thing you’re worn out; it’ll be easier to keep your abilities in check.” Dropping his voice to a soothing timbre, he coaxes, “All you need to do is a little spark. Make the current jump from the active circuit to the one beside it to disarm the system. You’ve got this, firefly, I believe in you.”
At least one of us does.
“If I fuck it up, we can bolt and find somewhere new to hole up in, right? No fault, no foul?”
