“If you want help unpacking, just let me know,” Henri says as we clean up our dishes.
The siren blaring cuts off my reply.
Everyone drops what they’re doing as Orion answers dispatch, putting it on speakerphone for us to listen. The operator rattles off the information about the emergency call, and Orion confirms we’ll accept it.
I follow close behind the others as we hurry to collect our gear.
I already brought my work bag down to the lockers last night, so I pull it out and get my boots on.
“Do you have everything you need? There are extra supplies in here if you haven’t unpacked something yet,” Charm says, opening the cabinets.
“I have everything the academy says I should carry,” I say.
Orion double-checks my bag while I put my coat on and approves it. I’m pleased by the validation, even if it’s forsomething so basic.
Charm hands me maps of our area along with a radio and satellite GPS. I tuck them in my bag alongside the maps I already bought of the Fossfell Mountains.
“You can ride with Magnus and me,” Orion says.
We stow our bags, and I climb in the front of the double-rowed backseat. Magnus is in the passenger seat setting up the GPS for Orion.
Charm’s voice comes through the radio, confirming they’re ready in the other car.
Orion puts it in reverse, and out of habit I turn to watch out the back window.
Except I come face to face with Cato instead. I jerk away reflexively, choking as the seatbelt hits my neck.
Magnus looks back when he hears my gurgling, and I quickly right myself.
“Are you okay?” he asks in his low, deep voice.
“I’m fine,” I say, my voice noticeably strained.
Orion glances at me in the rearview mirror, and I try to school my expression into something normal, like we’re not experimenting with breath play back here.
I slump when they finally look away.
I didn’t see Cato get in the car. How can someone so big be so sneaky?
I freeze as something touches my neck, Cato’s hand wrapping around me to massage where the seatbelt dug in. His warm fingers quickly sooth the sting, chocolate scent wafting over me despite his descenters and the car’s ventilation system trying to whisk it away.
I’m flushed, too warm with the heat blasting and my winter gear on.
Eventually Cato releases me, and there’s no more pain, only heat.
I don’t know if he intended to scare me or if moving in silence comes naturally to him. Except when I turned around, Cato was on the edge of his seat, hovering just behind me. Maybe he was going to say something as I turned around, and that’s why he was so close?
He doesn’t do anything else now, so I try to shake off the uncertainty of his motives.
On the drive, Orion gives me advice, pointing out certain areas they have to watch for rockslides or spots that frequently become impassable with heavy snow. Magnus chimes in occasionally too.
Though he remains silent, I sense the weight of Cato’s presence. Sometimes I think I feel his breath on my neck, but every time I work up the courage to peek at him, he’s lounging back in his seat nowhere near me.
Eventually I force myself to stop looking so he doesn’t thinkI’mstrange. Cato had a sly smile every time I looked, like he knew I was peeping.
I don’t want him to think I’m into him.
Chapter 8
