Page 14 of Bound
Chapter 5
Gage
The drive back to the colony house is quiet. By the time I park the SUV in the two-story garage at the manor, some of my tension has eased.
We climb from the dim interior. T starts over the walkway toward the coded back entrance and stops when I don’t follow. “You coming?” he asks.
I pull my case from my back pocket and slip a hand-rolled free of the small band. “I’ll be in later.”
He raises a brow but keys in his code and disappears into the dark entrance. The door swishes closed, sealing the colony house behind him.
Snapping, I light the end of my smoke and inhale. The sweet smoke curls into my lungs, easing the last of my tension.
Being around my kind again … Maybe I let myself forget just how imperious they are. Branwen and the other lords are just as arrogant as any of the other high ranking assholes under the Hill. Jarrah, too, was like a blast from the un-fucking-needed past.
I’m not even surprised he doesn’t remember me. None of them will. I wasn’t well known among the Folk before I left. Only my father and brother were of importance in court.
Taking another deep drag, my mind summons the smooth curve of Amoret’s cheek. Her arresting irises. Heat floods my dulled senses.
She is beautiful even among the Fae. Like the Spring Court embodied. Her ivory skin would cast out the darkest shadows.
Desire stirs in my gut and emerald flames roll across my knuckles.
I stare at their playful flicker in disgust.
Smoke pressed between my lips, I clench my hand into a tight fist and the fire extinguishes, leaving behind only the barest flush of my skin.
Sickened with myself, I snub out my smoke on the heel of my boot and stuff it back into the case before stalking toward the door.
Even if Amoret did not scream innocence, to take her to bed would be idiocy. I would burn her beauty as everything burns under my flames.
It would be better for the fair lady to stay far from me.
I key in my code and step into the cool, dark tunnel.
Far, far from me.
A faint thump reaches my ears. “Gage.” Tanner’s voice is soft in the dimness of my room, but the urgency in it draws me from sleep. “Wake up, man. Markus wants to see us.”
I roll over onto my back.
He remains several feet away, out of the path of my fire. A lesson hard learned.
I sit up and swing my feet to the floor. “What time is it?” I ask, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“3 A.M.,” he tells me.
Damn.
I had barely fallen asleep.
Bending down with an annoyed exhale, I pick up my discarded jeans from the floor. “Did he say why?”
“No. But he called the whole team.”
That sends me to my feet. I stuff my legs into my jeans, snare my shirt, and pull it overhead before bothering to zip my jeans. Scouring the floor, I spy my boots by the door and grab them as we walk out. It takes some maneuvering, but I stuff my feet inside as we hurry from my chambers and out into the corridor.
The house is quiet around us. Dark.
