Page 32 of Eight Embers

“Hey Delaney,” Spencer says, being completely pedantic, “I think that Shelly might be more dangerous than we originally thought. Don't underestimate her.”

“She seemed friendly enough when I caught you sneaking out of her dorm room that one time,” Delaney sasses back.

I bite my lip to hold in a laugh, because that sounded an awful lot like jealousy.

Apparently Spencer thinks so too because he gives her a wide smile. “I'll have you know, I onlypretendedto date her to help Rush. Yeah, I've been playing the long game. Undercover. Wait. Do people think I actually liked her? Ohgods. No.No, no, no, no, no. That's...horrifying. I just had to pretend to be nice to her and report back to Rush. He's been watching her for years since she was the one responsible for watching over Leo’s curse.”

“So you've never...”

“Considering my you-know-what,” he says out the side of his mouth with a subtle nod to her dads in the front, “has not shriveled off from disease, no.Vehementlyno.”

“One more question,” Delaney asks.

“I'm an open book ma'am,” he says with another smile.

“Do you seriously require a shopping list for three items?”

“Yes,” one of her dads says from the front seat. “Leave the poor guy alone, Delaney. He wrote a list to make sure he goteverything he needed in one trip. I'd say that's responsible, not a red flag. Besides, he made you a questionnaire. That takes effort.”

She's trembling slightly, worrying all of us, I'm sure. It shifts the levity pretty fast.

“What can we do to help you right now? What will make you feel better?”

She grimaces and pats me on the hand, speaking mostly under her breath. “Nothing you can help with, I'm afraid. I'm worried about everybody we’re missing. What if they're not okay? What if they’re hurt or something? You don't need to worry about what I need right now; we need to find them.”

“But we need you at your best if we have any hope of thinking clearly,” Rush explains. We all angle our bodies more towards her, conscious or not. “We can tell you're hurting right now. Would you let me take care of you?”

The demon always tries to come off somewhat aloof, like nothing really bothers him, so this might be the most serious I've ever heard him. It makes sense that it's because it concerns Delaney.

“You should all know how my magic works. If you're not... you know, basically in love with me, I can't feed off of you. That means none of you are a viable option right now; we just aren't there. I appreciate the offer, but it wouldn't work. I'm going to have to just deal with this until we find the other guys.”

Rush opens his mouth to say something, but one of her dads reaches forward to grab something out of the glove box, tossing it back at Delaney. “Here. We brought one of these for you just in case. Mom thought it would be better used coming with us than sitting at home.”

It just looks like a bracelet to me, but it seems to bring some sort of peace of mind to Delaney. It doesn't make me feel any less like I'm about to bust through my pants, but the longer I sit here in this level of arousal, the more I can tune it out. Maybe Rush is on to something with that exposure therapy thing.

Rush stares out the window for a minute, and we all watch the landscape go by, unable to do much else right now. We're stuck in this car, unable to do anything to help Delaney’s other mates, wow it feels strange to count myself among that number, until we get where we're going. Which could take a while I think.

“If you can, you should all try and take a little nap. Whatever energy you can store up now will only help you. And Delaney, I know I seem pretty blasé about this, that we all do, but you know it's only because we know what you're capable of, right? We adore you kid, and we're so damn proud of you. Whatever that goddess has in store for you when you get there, I know you're gonna kick ass. You're strong like your mom.”

We all feel the stare her dad gives us through the rearview mirror. “None of you forget that. Protect her, yes, but don't underestimate her strength. Make sure you don't limit what she's capable of. And if I may offer a word of advice, you guys are in this together. The bond you guys have with each other is just as important as the bond you have with her. You need to know each other well and have each other's backsno matter what. You need to become the best of friends, inseparable, if you really want to flourish. The tighter knit you are, the harder it is for outside sources to fuck with you. So, if you have any shit to get out of your system, I suggest you do it now.”

And with that, both of her dads stop talking. One of them puts on the radio and presses a button that raises a divider between the front and back seats, kind of like you see in really fancy cars orlimousines. I'm not sure I want to know the ramifications of why that exists in their car.

“Your family is royalty, Delaney. Why don't you guys have bodyguards?”

She scoffs at me. “Are you kidding me? I have 11 dads. They are their own bodyguards.” Her head falls back onto the headrest while Rush gets twitchy.

I get the feeling he's amping himself up to try something. I don't want to close my eyes because I don't want to miss it. Whatever it is.

I've never been up close to other people kissing, other than the few times I've been around Delaney and her mates. Since she told me I'm hers, I’ve been pretty withdrawn, spending time in my own dorm, trying to get my head wrapped around everything.

I've seen them with her a time or two of course, but even then, I never felt like I could really watch because I never felt like I belonged there. I was so embarrassed about what was happening that I closed my eyes and tried to block out the sounds. Then promptly fled as fast as possible without being rude or drawing attention to myself. But I can just tell by the intensity in Rush’s eyes when he turns to Delaney that I'm about to get an up-close demonstration.

“I'm only going to say this once, Delaney, because contrary to popular belief, I'm not a masochist. I don't particularly enjoy being rejected, and you may not believe it, but I do respect you. You and Leo are my whole world. Even if neither of you know it.” He picks up her hand carefully, places it on top of his, and starts to stroke the back of it.

From the sound of it, her dad is doing some steering wheel drumming from the front seat, singing his heart out while theone in the passenger seat grumbles about his lack of musical talent. I don't think it escaped anybody's notice that they’ve given us privacy.

“Of course I know how your magic works. I know you're still angry with me for my role in the deception, and I know you feel like I tricked you into sleeping with me before so that I could secure this engagement my dad set up, but the truth is, I was obsessed with you the second I laid eyes on you.” With that he gathers his thoughts, all the while keeping his voice low and even, soothing. “I actually had this big dramatic plan to woo you once we started hanging out. I figured you weren't ready for anything heavy and serious because you were still in school, and the version of me you met then wasn't capable of sustaining myself for very long.

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