Page 199 of Bliss & Her Idols

I grab for the final branch and pull myself up next to Torin.

The branch is thin and rough against my bare thighs. I edge further along it toward Torin, who is balanced perilously close to the end.

He’s no longer wearing his shirt and only his trousers.

I could fall off into the sea of flowers and butterflies below.

The added danger sends a thrill through me.

I’ve long learned that anything worth having comes with a risk.

And a cost.

Torin’s gaze is glassy.

Concern spikes through me.

I reach for Torin’s hand, rubbing his icy fingers. “You’re shivering. What happened to your shirt?”

“It’s hard to beat someone effectively through a shirt. After all, the shirt didn’t do anything wrong, right?”

My eyes widen.

Horrified, I reach my hand up but stop myself from touching Torin’s back like I’m desperate to. The last thing that he needs is someone touching him without permission right now.

I can’t see his back.

Was that the slashes of pain that I felt through the bond?

His quiet acceptance is troubling me.

It’s unsafe to freak him out this far off the ground.

“May I touch you?” I ask.

Torin arches his brow. “Always.”

I loop my arm around Torin’s neck, pressing our bodies tightly together.

I’m relieved to feel his heartbeat, but it’s thudding fast in his chest, which is rapidly rising and falling.

I take a steadying breath. “Do you have anything that we can put on it to help with the pain? Ointments or…?”

“I told you, I can’t feel anything.” Torin’s hair is mussed, falling over his face. Somehow, I think that he actually feels more than most people. “Rory already saw to my back. I used it as a chance to talk to him. He’s never had anyone stand up for him like that before. He’d take a bullet for me now. Don’t worry, we have his vote.”

“You did this to get Rory on side.”

Shocked, I study Torin, as it slowly dawns on me that I’ve underestimatedhim.

Torin’s dedication to rescuing the Idols, as well as bringing down his Head Alpha, is absolute.

He also has the ice cold core of a spy or SEAL who will endure anything to meet his goal.

I never fully realized that until now.

I fucking respect the hell out of him for it.

“Partly.” Torin’s lips curl into a devilish grin that makes me shiver. “And partly to make sure that Mena believes I’m the same beaten pup that she sent away as a college kid. She can’t see me as a threat. Hey, you want to know how much people talk, when they’re beating the shit out of you?”

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