“You’re trying.”
“Yes. But I can’t help how I feel. I’m working through it. Sometimes I just need to let it out and not feel like I’m burdening all of you with my frustrations. It’s me I’m angry at. It’s me I feel is lacking. Not any of you,” Lucian confessed. “Yes, I miss the damn barnacle. I would miss you more if you didn’t return to me.”
Theo gave him a watery smile. “Sorry for being sort of dumb…”
“Not dumb,” Lucian corrected. “Emotions are complicated. And you think too much. Which is okay. But maybe talk to us before vanishing to seek answers on your own. We are a team, right?”
“Yes,” Theo agreed.
“Good.” Lucian sighed. “However, we’ll be stuck here for the night at least. I’ll need to recharge, and you’ve already used up a lot of energy just trying to keep warm.”
Theo’s cheeks heated at the idea of how Lucian usually recharged his magic batteries, but he didn’t feel at all sexy when he couldn’t stop shivering, even beneath Lucian’s warming touch. The Onari ran hot, and Theo wondered if he should be this cold.
“Sorry,” Theo repeated. “I don’t know why I can’t get warm.”
“It’s called hypothermia, angel. You’re mortal now, remember. Hot and cold are a thing.” Lucian dragged Theo into his lap trying to cover every part of him with his own body for added warmth. “We shouldn’t be out in the wind like this. There’s more magic here than I remember there being, but not enough for me to create walls out of nothing.”
“You’re warm. That helps,” Theo said pressing his face into the crook of Lucian’s shoulder.
“Then rest. I’ll keep you warm until the morning and we find our way out of here.”
Theo burrowed into Lucian’s embrace; the shivering unrelenting.
By the time the sun rose, neither had slept and Theo realized Lucian had used a lot of magic to maintain his Onari form and keep warm during the night. Which meant their trip home would be delayed, even if Theo had gotten any rest to feed him up.
“Sorry,” Theo said again. The sky changed to orange and red, the trees unfurled their branches, letting them fall open. The movement startling, and Theo realized they were likely still as carnivorous as they had been when Lucian had been here. Theo continued to shiver in the shade of the trees, his stomach grumbling in protest at the lack of food.
“I didn’t think to grab food,” Lucian cursed.
Lucian rarely needed to eat, his Onari ability to feed on emotion keeping him charged, and Theo suspected he preferred food they couldn’t readily make like the sweet desserts he highlighted in one of Yuri’s books that he kept in his room.
“I’m okay,” Theo said, putting on a brave face. “Do you need me to feed you to create a portal?”
“You’re not strong enough to feed me right now, angel. I want you whole, not withered on death’s bed.” He tucked Theo under his arm, trying to keep him warm and guided them through the trees, his gaze wary for movement.
“Nothing attacked me yesterday,” Theo offered, but let Lucian guide him.
“Rather be safe than sorry.” He paused to send up a flare of light. The flash peaked the tops of the trees and glowed, pausing and then turning in a direction before vanishing.
“What was that?” Theo wondered.
“Guiding bulb. It’s telling us which direction to go for a change in environment, which may mean mountains, an opening in the woods or even a cliff to fall off the world. But it gives us some direction. This world doesn’t have enough magic for me to use the bulb as eyes.”
It sounded impressive to Theo and he clung to Lucian, happy to not be alone, and hope that they had a direction stirring in his chest.
Lucian sighed. “You stir brightness so easily. It’s like the honey cream filling Yuri used to make, on the back of my tongue. Don’t tempt me. I don’t want to have to carry you.”
Theo tried to swallow his happiness at Lucian’s touch, but failed miserably. He couldn’t help it, and was mildly thankful he continued to shiver, which killed his body’s constant response to Lucian’s proximity. The man could throw him on the ground and ravish him right then and there and Theo would gladly submit.
Lucian sighed and shifted Theo’s body further away from his groin. “Should call you devil instead of angel.” They walked in silence for a spell longer.
“What?” Lucian exclaimed as they broke through the trees to find a sprawl of rock dwellings in the distance. “If this was here before, I never encountered it.”
“Do you think it’s safe?”
“As safe as staying in the woods while the trees are watching us and contemplating how we taste,” Lucian said.
“How do you know what they are thinking?”
