Amara rolls her eyes, but can't hide the smile twitching at the corner of her lips. "Stop using flawless logic when I'm trying to be annoyed. It reads like a lost pet tag."
"Does not," he argues, waving his hand and breaking into a shit-eating grin. "Nowit does."
Etched in the metal over her stomach now reads,Amara Garrison, also answers to 'Sparky.' If found, please call…'
"You're such an asshole." She shoves his shoulder with a chuckle and pulls her shirt back on. "Like I don't already look ridiculous enough."
"You don't look ridiculous, you look beautiful."
She raises an eyebrow. "I've been wearing the same clothes for three days, and my hair smells like popcorn oil. I'm all for flattery, but let's at least shoot for something believable."
I frown. "You know, I truly wish you could see yourself like we do."
"Through lust-colored glasses that don't care if I need a shower?" she teases.
Kodi takes off his silver arm band and sets it on her head. "Like a queen."
She snorts. “Yeah, okay.”
He cocks his head. “I’m serious.”
With a weary sigh, she plucks it off her head and passes it back. “Are we ready to head out then?”
But Kodi isn’t letting it go. “As soon as you put that back on, absolutely.”
She snorts. “I’m not wearing a crown out in public, you lunatic.”
“How about we compromise, and you just wear it in the bedroom?” He steps in close, crowding her back against Stone. “We’ll roleplay; master of dragons. Think of all the fun things you could command us to do to please you?” Grabbing her hand, he presses it to his already semi-hard cock. “Because Ifirmlyobject to the assertion that you look ridiculous.”
A spark of heat gleams in her eyes, but she steals her hand back, patting his chest. “Deal, although I make no promises when it’ll happen. Because no offense, but I’m not the only one that could use a shower.”
He barks out a laugh, leading the way across the lobby. “Fair enough. We should head out before it gets any hotter then, or you’ll be sweating through that armor.”
For as nonplussed as we act for Amara’s sake, all three of us are on high alert, scanning everything with a critical eye. But even with everything falling apart around us, it’s strangely… freeing. Being able to simply live in the moment, my legion the only people I need to worry about. It’s been amazing seeing Stone let go of the past and finally allowing himself to be happy. Watching Amara come out of her shell, and even though she wants to remove her mark, it doesn’t feel like she’s running. There are so many more threats to her now than when she first came into our lives, but she doesn’t seem afraid of anything but being the weak link that gets us killed.
Kodi’s right. We need to prove to her that just because she hasn’t trained in combat doesn’t mean she’s weak. Her self-preservation skills put ours to shame.
It's not long before we come across a large chain store that has a little bit of everything for one stop shopping. It takes a few minutes of coaxing for Avery to go hunt down something to eat while we shop, but once we’re through the doors, I realize I shouldn’t have bothered and just let her join us. Nobody even spares us a second glance as we enter barefoot, Stone missing a shirt and Amara’s covered in faded bloodstains we couldn’t fully wash out.
Passing out their IDs and cards, I rattle off assignments. “Kodi, you’re on camping gear, hiking packs, and weapons. Stone, the basics; toothbrushes, soap, protein bars, that sort of thing.”
As they take off, Amara grabs a cart and asks, “What are we after?”
Grabbing a pair of sunglasses off of a display stand, I slide them over her unnaturally bright eyes. Just because we’re going to take a stand doesn’t mean we want to invite unwanted attention before we’re ready. “Clothes and shoes.”
We whip through our shopping quickly and take up a spot near the checkout lanes, waiting for the others. People pass by as if we’re invisible, going about their days on autopilot. When a group of college kids gets into the line nearest us, though, their conversation is impossible not to overhear, and I stiffen.
“Did you hear the latest? Those dragons are going after people now.”
“Oh, bullshit.”
“No, seriously, look!”
Slipping into line behind them, I watch over their shoulders as one guy has his phone out, angled for his friends to watch a video clip. It’s grainy quality and shrouded in smoke, but you can still make out a gold dragon with two men in her claws. I glance at Amara from the corner of my eye, and she sheepishly rubs the back of her neck, pointedly avoiding my gaze.
“Why hasn’t the military stepped in to shoot these things down yet?” one of the guys asks, genuinely shocked at the footage.
Another scoffs, loading groceries onto the conveyor belt. “Because they’re not real, moron. You know how it goes. Everyone was pissed off about the recent tax hikes, then low and behold, dragons are all over the news and all anyone can talk about it. It’s a distraction to keep people from rioting. Just you watch. Next time gas prices skyrocket, there will be some shiny new drama to shift attention away from it, too.”
