Page 10 of A Single Thread Of Hope

“Oh my god,” I breathed as my overused muscles got a reprieve. “You have no idea how good that feels.” The babies were getting so big and heavy, and every ounce of my body hurt from hauling them around.

Erus kissed the shell of my ear. “Anytime you want one of us to help you, just say the word. I’d absolutely stand here all day.”

These guys…I sniffed a little, giving my hormones a very stern talk about not bursting into tears at the smallest gesture, but my eyes misted over anyway. My body was a traitor. “Thank you,” I choked out, and Tryp kissed the corners of my eyes and down my cheeks.

“Our honor. Now, let me feed you. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Want me to throw Demke in the pool and let the dogs try to drown him? They couldn’t, but it might be fun to watch.”

I smacked his shoulder before capturing his soft, pouty lips with mine. He tasted of Erus, sweet and firm, his breath minty like the peppermint leaves he sometimes chewed. I lifted my hands and threaded my fingers through his soft curls. As I gripped them hard, he moaned into my mouth.

Oops. Better stop before this gets pornographic.

I released him, and he whined softly, making Erus chuckle at my back. “Juice would be wonderful, thank you,” I breathed, our lips still brushing together as I spoke.

He groaned and dragged himself away. Erus was still holding my stomach, and bit the curve of my shoulder gently. “Such a sweet and seductive bondmate. I love watching you torturing him.” He gently lowered my stomach, and the pressure on my body made me want to pout. “Come, how about you sit down and relax on the sun lounger? You’re working hard.”

There was a riotous bark-off as the dogs suddenly realized I’d arrived, running over until Cy—now clothed, thankfully—madea growling noise and shooed them away. He sat on the other side of the pool in swim shorts and waved cheekily. I gave him a finger wave and lay down in the sun; the short walk from the bedroom to the pool had been exhausting.

How had I thought I’d manage this while working? If I’d been back in Boston, I’d be manning the drive-thru at Java Llama, trying to lean out the service window. The idea of long shifts with Bob, my dick boss, made me physically shudder. Besides, if you took out the monsters and attacks and ominous prophecies and health problems, I was pretty damn happy here under the Greek sun, surrounded by men who’d brought me more orgasms than I’d ever had in my life.

Erus sat beside me on the warm tiles, his face pressed to my thigh in a way that wasn’t sexual, but comforting. “Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

“Teron, Milo and Néit have just left to go down to Heraklion to pick up building supplies for the town, and some more medical equipment. They also wanted to stockpile provisions in case of an old-fashioned siege. Milo said, and I quote, he was ‘going to buy a drum of dewormer for the fleabag brigade.’” He lifted his chin at a dog that was scratching an itch like it had personally affronted it. “He’s also getting the steaks you promised,” he said quietly, though not quiet enough, because at least fifteen dogs yipped at the word “steak.” I laughed, stroking my fingers through his hair.

A body blocked out my sun, and I looked up at the shadowy silhouette of Demke. “Wren. I was hoping we could talk.”

Erus huffed a disgruntled noise, and I stroked my hand down his shoulder, hating that I’d caused a rift between them. He gave Demke the stink-eye, but still stood and walked toward the pool, diving in, making all the dogs splash in after him. We were going to have to run the filter at twice the rate, otherwise it was going to get real funky real quick.

Demke sat at the end of my lounger, and I shifted my legs over so his big body had room. “I apologize, Wren. I didn’t mean to cause you distress.”

Distress. He called it distress. “I thought you weredead.It would have been hard on a perfectly calm night, but in the middle of a battle…” The pain of seeing him like that was quick to rush back. “You suck. You know that, right?”

He inclined his head. “I’ve been known to suck…”

Somehow, I didn’t think we meant that in the same context. I really wanted to know more about that subject, but he was already moving on.

“I don’t know why I didn’t want to tell you. I tell myself that I didn’t want to add to your stress, even though it’s something that happens every year, and I couldn’t hide it from you forever.” He shrugged. “We’d just achieved some kind of connection, and I didn’t want to ruin it. But as history has a way of repeating itself, I ruined it anyway.”

I sucked in a deep breath, the sadness of his words washing over me.Dammit.I wanted to be mad at him for longer, but right now, I needed to hug him. Opening my arms, I made a smallcome heremotion with my hands. He didn’t hesitate, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and pulling me close. He smelled like pine and salt and some kind of wild magic that I couldn’t describe, but was insanely attracted to.

“You’re forgiven, but no more secrets, okay? Secrets have never helped any relationship. They’re just wounds that’ll continue to fester until they explode like a pus-filled boil.” I gagged a little at my own words.

He laughed, his chest vibrating above mine. “Graphic, but accurate. I promise, no more secrets, even by omission.”

Leaning back, I looked up at him once more. “I mean it. You didn’t just hurt me—you hurt them too.” I indicated Trypand Erus. “And hurting them is something I’m less inclined to forgive and forget.”

He brushed his lips across mine. “And that’s why fate chose you, Wren Mahone.”

Chapter 6

TERON

Our truck was filled to the brim, nearly scraping the ground with what I thought we’d need to survive the next year. I’d even gone to the city to collect it myself, because it would be too big a task to push onto one of the villagers. I’d been surprised when both Néit and Milo had come along for the ride, however. They’d been reluctant to leave Wren’s side up until this point, and when I’d suggested that, they’d both glared at me. But when I saw what they’d put in the back of the truck, I realized they were both doing errands for Wren in their own ways.

Néit had collected a large crate from the docks, paying off a bunch of shifty-looking men to bring it out of an unused warehouse. When I’d asked what it was, he’d said a gift from an old friend. When we made it back to the truck and loaded it, he’d popped the lid, and I’d gotten a peek at what was inside. It wasn’t something I could have predicted.

Inside that crate were honest-to-goodness, God-blessed weapons. Finding one weapon was difficult. A crate full of them? I would have suggested it was impossible, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

Milo had just whistled. “Who the hell is your friend?”

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