Page 66 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“We all slept with guns,” Ryenne said, lifting her shirt enough to show me the gun she kept sheathed to her waist. “Just in case.”
I breathed through the hot fury that engulfed me. These people would have come here, to Teddy’s home, armed. Would they have hurt her while I was helpless to protect her?
I wouldn’t allow it. Would destroy anyone who’d think ofhurting her. Would burn this entire town, this entire realm before anyone could reach her.
Teddy ran a hand over my trembling shoulder. “Elias,” she whispered, and somewhere in the darkness of my mind, I heard her. “No one came.”
If they thought the commander was lethal, they knew nothing of real danger. I’d happily strip them of their flesh and rip their heart straight from their chest. A slow, torturous death wouldn’t be enough to appease my rage.
Her hand dipped to my thigh, where she squeezed. “Look at me, Elias.”
Obediently, I turned to her. She took my hand and turned it over, where she ran a finger across my palm and over my arm. Back and forth, she stroked me. Soft yet firm. Back and forth.
It wasn’t until she brought me back that I realized I’d opened myself to my primal instincts. Would’ve let it take over completely and lay waste to her town. Ashamed, I retracted my canines and shook my head.
With my head bowed, I stood and raked a hand through my unbound hair. “I’m sorry. I. . .”
She tipped my chin up to look at her. Only her, with her friends fading so far in the distance, I forgot they were there.
“You have every right to be angry,” she assured me. “I’m angry. Hell, I’m pissed. You’ve done nothing but help us while we—me, included—have distrusted you. I wouldn’t have let them. . . kill you. I would’ve shot them myself before they could.”
The way her bottom lip trembled made something inside me break. I touched her lip, and when they parted, I stroked her cheek with the backs of my fingers. I wanted to kiss her and thought maybeshe wanted it too.
But I was a coward. Too much of a coward to try.
“I don’t ever want you to harm someone to protect me,” I said, thinking of the thunderbirds I’d killed. “It does something to your soul. Rips a part of you out that you can’t get back.”
She blinked a few times, and when her eyes became glossy, I drew her to me and hugged her to my chest. Her arms encircled me, and just as she started to hug me back, she dropped her hands to my waist, where her fingers grazed my bare skin.
This—this was unadulterated bliss.
For the briefest of seconds, she nestled her head against me, where my heart hammered against her ear. Could she hear the way it pounded for her? She must have. Then—then she completely undid me by pressing her lips to my bare chest in the most tender kiss.
It seared my skin, my heart, my soul.
I was hers. At that moment and forever—hers.
She leaned her head down, but I let her go when she inched back, her face red and lips wet as if she’d just licked them.
“I, uh, sorry.” Her cheeks flamed redder. “I shouldn’t have?—”
I cupped her cheek. “You can kiss me whenever you want.”
Her eyes darkened, and just as I leaned in to kiss her, taste her, Hee-haw belted out a scream from somewhere in the house. Soft giggles followed.
“Tori’s awake.” She pushed a thick strand of hair behind her ear.
I nodded.
Her friends watched me watch her leave.
“What?” I growled.
While Ryenne smiled wide at me, Donnie glared. Nate was smart enough to focus his attention on his coffee.
“I don’t know how I feel about you and Teddy,” Donnie said, nudging his chin up.
I wasn’t sure if he said it in challenge or concern, so I waited for him with my hands fisted on my lap.
