Page 98 of Anywhere

“Dinnie worry. I din’t plan on puttin’ me cock anywhere near your tightly puckered arse either. I wouldn’ wanna catch da I’ma-fuckin-arsehole disease ya seem ta spread.”

Lochlan rolled his eyes before turning around to face his childhood nemesis. For as long as I could remember, they’d been at one another’s throat. It would be nothing for them to throw down in the middle of the schoolyard, pull a practical joke, or even bully one another. What I saw, and what they didn’t seem to see, was that there were sparks of attraction beneath it all.

“As much as I’ma always one ta enjoy listenin’ ta ya argue like a good old married couple, I need ta be gettin’ back to Injerbreck. I’ma gonna be movin’ home and takin’ da head seat at da McGregor table. It be about time,” I said.

“Dat be excitin’, but dinnie be callin’ on me ta move yer shit. Me back be bad,” Caleb teased and pressed a hand against his lower back that had abso-fucking-lutely nothing wrong with it.

“Aye, aye, yer a poor old man now at da ripe old age of twenty-four. Would ya like me ta get ya a cane ta go wit the three cocks ya had fuckin ya last night?” I teased, and all the guys chuckled. It had been a while since we were all together like this, and I wished it was for a better reason than to fend off an attack.

“Ha, ha, ha. Yer a good one, Rhys. Dinnie be such a stranger,” Caleb said, pulling me into a brief hug as I rounded the table.

Making my way to Lochlan, I stopped and put my hand on his shoulder. “Yer family has control of da ports. I feel it would be wise ta shore ‘em up. I tink they be targeted next, and we are gonna need ‘em ta survive.”

“Where are you planning on bringing food in from?”

“I ‘ave a couple ideas dat I be tinkin’ about. I’ll let ya know if any of ‘em pan out.” Lochlan nodded.

“In da shadows we shall seek,” I said.

“But in da darkness, we shall find,” the three guys answered in stereo.

It was time to move home and make some plans to save the island and all those living on it, then kill Rook. Whichever came first. It felt strange to be excited to see Rook and Elewyen, and it saddened me that one passionate night of connecting could push so much of what I’d been feeling behind me. Guilt gnawed at my stomach that I was running off into the sunset with my new triad when I knew that it meant leaving Mari completely alone, with no one to watch her back.

Fuck, why couldn’t life just be easy?

Rook

There was a very good chance that I had just met my match. I mean, we were matched, but I meant in the insatiable department. It was like I flicked on a switch in Elewyen. She had been completely ravenous for the rest of the night, and we hadn’t even fucked. Which was a brand-new experience for me. Either my skills were top-notch or terrible. I was going to go with the first. She just couldn’t get enough.

Something hit my head, and I didn’t have to look to know that it was Barry tossing something else at me. He hadn’t been too impressed with the sexual escapades, and whenever we had taken a break, the furry terror had found something to toss at me. He was pretty innovative for a rodent, but so far, he hadn’t chewed any appendages off, so I was calling that a win.

“Ya awake?” Elewyen asked, her head on my chest with her body pressed firmly against mine.

“Yeah, I haven’t been able to sleep. Some sexy woman keeps waking me up,” I said, and glanced down at her. Her face turned up to mine, and she smiled.

“I’z no sure what ya’ve done ta me,” she said, and shifted her leg over mine. “Ya be thinkin’ that it was like dis for all the women taken from da covens?”

I rubbed my eyes. “No, not from what Mari said. The men were not nice to the women in the past.” I rubbed circles on her back. “You thinking that you might like to stay?”

I could feel her sigh. “I’z dinnie know. I cannie say dat dis is a bad way ta live, and I ‘ave developed…somethin’…where ya are concerned. But ta stay? Naw if Keeva cannie come. She is a must.”

“I don’t see why that would be an issue, and I know that you’re going to like Rhys. He is the nicer of the two of us. I just happen to be on my best behaviour,” I gave her side a squeeze where I discovered she was ticklish. She squirmed against me.

The door slammed open, and we both jumped as Rhys stomped in.

“What in da ever lovin’ fuck did ya do with me stuff? Ya fuckin’ prick! If it wasn’ good enough dat ya take me room, now ya move me shit out of da other room and hide it? Dere betta no be a single scratch on my Tabitha.” The shock of his sudden appearance was replaced with anger as he once more snipped at me. “Well, ain’t dis fuckin cozy,” Rhys said, not letting me answer the first rant. “Def explains da shit dat kept me awake all night,” he growled.

He was on a real roll today. I hadn’t seen him for three nights, and this was how he came home? Oh, hell no. Rhys marched across the room to the boxes that Liam had piled in here to be moved to the McGregor castle, but at the moment, I didn’t feel like moving anywhere with him.

“Dis be all me stuff. Where be me guitar?” He looked around and before I could mention in was in the closet in a case next to mine, he began grumbling about something else and ripping open the neatly labelled boxes.

Elewyen remained very quiet as she watched him, but she didn’t seem nervous about Rhys’s angry outburst. She didn’t draw attention to herself either as he ripped open the top of the first box and, not seeing whatever it was he was after, tossed it aside and went for the next box.

“Elewyen, I need to speak privately to Rhys. Can you give us the room?” I asked her quietly. I tucked a strand of her lovely red hair behind her ear. “This may get ugly. You don’t need to see that.”

She nodded and hopped up. We were trying to convince the woman to stay. The last thing she needed to see was Rhys and me throwing down, but we needed to do something, because I was the one who was supposed to have the bristly attitude, not him.

She pulled on the black T-shirt I gave her to wear, and damn, I loved how it almost came to her knees. It looked amazing on her, and I decided then and there that if she wasn’t naked, this was how I wanted her to dress for bed from now on.