Page 34 of Smoke

13

Smoke

Talk about timing.“What are you doing here?”

Pierce looked ready to kill.

Gate looked exhausted.

I could only guess at how big an earful he got throughout the drive. Poor guy probably wished he had brought earplugs along.

“No. You don’t get to ask the questions.” He pushed past me, looking around the room. “Where is she?”

“Jasmine’s next door. She got the room next door.” Alina looked up at me with wide, anxious eyes.

I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring look.

“Who are you to take her away like that?” He put his hands on my shoulders and shoved.

I staggered back a half-step, then shoved him in the same fashion. He stumbled back and hit the wall beside the door.

“Knock it off!” Gate stepped between us. “This isn’t a fight between two kids, for fuck’s sake. Get it together.” He turned his back to me and held Pierce at arm’s length. “I warned you, I wasn’t gonna let the two of you get to this point.”

“He took her from the cave,” Pierce snarled, glaring at me. “He kept her away for an entire day. This whole day, I didn’t know what the fuck happened to her or if this wasn’t some kind of a trap they fell into when they were looking for Alina.”

“I wouldn’t lead her into a trap,” I spat.

“No? You brought her out here, didn’t you? You made this happen.”

If looks could kill, I’d be dead. I sensed his dragon, knew he wanted to do more than just snarl and curse at me. I knew it because my dragon was roaring in rage. And I was around a hair’s breadth away from reminding him who he was dealing with.

“Excuse me, but could you not talk about me like I’m a child, being led around by the hand?”

The three of us looked to the doorway, where Jasmine stood with her arms folded and her eyes shooting green fire straight into Pierce’s skull.

He broke away from Gate and went to her, wrapping her in his arms, but she was having none of it.

It stunned him. “Why are you pushing me away, when I came out here to find you?”

“How did you know we were here?” Gate added.

She snorted. “I would have to be dead and buried not to hear you guys thrashing around in here like a bunch of animals,” she replied. “And if you’re not careful, you’ll get us all in a lot of trouble. We don’t need management coming up here because other guests complained about fighting.”

Pierce didn’t seem too concerned with any of that. “You don’t know how worried I was about you.”

Her expression softened, but just slightly. “I’m sorry. I really am. I knew you would be worried, but I couldn’t imagine what else to do. I’ll tell you more about it later, if you want. I’d rather not rehash the whole thing right now.”

“No, we’ll talk about it now.”

“No, we will not,” she retorted through teeth clenched so tight, I almost couldn’t understand what she was saying. “I need you to remember right now that I love you, but you still don’t get to order me around. And I understand that it was dangerous for the two of us to come out here, but it was dangerous for Alina, too. Much more dangerous. I couldn’t leave her out here all alone. If you want to yell the mountain down over it, fine. But let’s wait until we’re back there.”

He was ready to blow his stack.

I exchanged a look with Gate that told me he was thinking the same thing.

Then, Pierce blew out a long breath and closed his eyes. Though his hands were still balled into tight fists, he muttered, “Fine. We’ll have it out later.” He opened his eyes just enough to see me. “Us, too.”

“I would expect nothing less.” I turned to Gate. “How did you find us?”

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