Page 111 of Sawyer

Bryn removes my feet from his head and rolls my pants back up. I reach for him, wanting to make him feel just as good, but he holds my hand in place. “Not tonight, Sawyer. Soon.” Buttoning my jeans, he pauses and clears his throat. “I didn’t taste any blood, but do you need another one of those…cotton things?”

“Tampon?” I chuckle at him and realize all my cramps are gone, eased by the orgasm he gave me. “I think I’m okay.” I’ll wake in a few hours and check.

“Sleep. Sin is champing at the bit to get to you.” He gives me one more kiss before he walks away, taking his chocolate mint scent with him.

My eyelids become heavy, and I’m already half asleep by the time Sin crawls beside me, burying his nose in my hair.

Bryn

Hours pass with only a crack of a branch here and there in the woods. The taste of Sawyer remains on my tongue, and ripe limes squeezed over custard is now my new favorite flavor.

I also burned her tampon, which was only full of what I would consider slick, but that is impossible. It’s strange, and something about it tickles the back of my mind. Then, just as fast, it’s gone.

I’ve checked on her several times now, and the last time she began to run a fever, igniting a fear in me that I never knew existed.

“Sawyer doesn’t look good,” Rumor whispers to me just outside of the cave. “She’s wrapped up in a thermal blanket with Sin, but there are dark circles under her eyes, and her temperature is up.”

I run my hands down my face, my palms scratching over my stubble. My gut wanted us to leave her back in the city, but she would have sat in her apartment alone and unprotected. There isn’t a great option here, and Sawyer is correct—as long as we keep pressing forward, we can find her help or more elixirs or a mage willing to help her out.

“How many elixirs do we have in total?” I bite my cuticle—a nasty habit. With everything going on, I feel as burnt out as one can feel. After getting across that damn bridge, which took far longer than it should have, and finding Sawyer rushing toward us with fear leaking out of her, I’ve had far more than I can handle for the month.

Maybe even the year.

“Fucking Sin had four, plus our four combined, and Sawyer has one left, so nine.” Rumor’s boots crunch over dirt and stone as he makes his way to the side of the cave. Birds chirp in the distance, alerting anyone who’s willing to listen that dawn is on its way.

“I’m thankful for his chaotic nature right now.” I follow Rumor over, reverting to the soldier I am, the asset, the farther I get from the cave.

“It might just save us,” Rumor mutters and crouches down to rest on a log. “Have you spoken with the monarch?”

“I’m about to.” I sink down beside him and pull out the burner phone. Small and cold in my hand, it’s our one link to the outside world. I haven’t used it yet, and the charge is slowly dying. Now is as good a time as any. “I have one more I tucked in Sawyer’s pack. If anything happens, she will have a way to contact the monarch.”

“Do you think he will do anything about Sawyer’s brother?” Rumor asks as he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and hanging his head. Neither of us has slept much, and it’s beginning to show.

“I think that’s the least of our worries right now.” Feeling drained, I fire up the phone and call the only number saved on there.

It takes a few rings before he answers, and another minute before he says a damn thing. “Speak freely. I’m in the safe room.” Meaning he’s tucked away in a room that scrambles anything and everything. It also makes the line sound a little staticky, but I’ll take that over talking in code any day.

“We found it.” I sigh because I’m worried about the cost.

“It exists?” He sounds as surprised as I feel. “I really hoped it wasn’t real.”

“You and me both.” I pause, my stomach churning. “They have trained wolves that hunt gammas.”

“By the fates.” He curses under his breath. “Burn it to the ground.”

“We need to get in and free them all, and, Bast, I don’t know what I’m walking into. Not only that, but…” I pause, not entirely sure I want to talk about Sawyer, but knowing I need to.

“Say it, Bryn,” he demands, refusing to give me a moment to back down or keep a single thing from him.

“Sawyer got bit by a nightcrawler.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and blow out a breath. “She’s my priority, man.”

For several minutes, he says nothing, and Rumor and I hold our breaths.

“How bad is she?”

“She’s running a fever. The bite is slowly getting infected, and she’s already taken one elixir.” Just saying it all out loud sends fear pulsing through me, and the scent of burnt chocolate tickles my nose for a moment.

“Bryn, who is she to you?” Bast asks, voicing a question that hangs heavily in the early morning air.

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