Page 54 of Amaros
“This feels so strange this time,” Camriel said.
“What does?”Zoe asked.
“Planning a life,” he said in a musing tone.“I’m used to killing our foes and winning our war, then returning to the Void, or dying and returning to the Void.”
“Do you think this war is going to drag on for longer than usual?”Grace queried.
Amaros sent his second a warning look.If they chose to bond with the women and they accepted, they’d never have to return to the Void ever again.
“That’s my hunch,” Camriel said, sliding a glance at his commander.
Amaros drove beneath the trees again, then they worked together to unload the truck.Camriel carried the deer off to the lake, taking a hunting knife and a large cooler with him.He would do his best to butcher the animal and bring the meat back to cook on the grill.
“We need a freezer,” Grace said, carrying an armful of cookbooks to a corner of the kitchen.Amaros had carried the bookcase inside.He’d left it in a room where it would be out of the weather.
“Electricity would be good, too,” Zoe said wryly.“We’d have to run a generator constantly to keep anything frozen.That would chew through a lot of fuel.”
Hail began to descend just as Amaros entered the room.“I’d better help Camriel with the deer,” he said.He’d listened to their conversation as he’d finished covering the truck with tarps.
“Take a tarp to protect yourselves from the weather,” Zoe suggested.
Nodding, he grabbed one from the room they’d stored some of their stolen gear in, then loped out into the weather.The tarp did a good job of protecting him from the rain, but the large chunks of hail were painful when they slammed into him.
Camriel was hunkered over the carcass of the deer, whistling cheerfully as he ignored the storm.Hail rained down on him, bouncing off his muscular body.A gigantic piece of ice bashed into his head and he merely shook it off.“Brother,” he said in greeting, sensing Amaros’ arrival.
“You’re a madman,” Amaros said in amusement as he tossed the tarp over his second and the deer.He hunkered next to the warrior to watch him in action.
“So, you and Zoe, huh?”Camriel asked.
Amaros stiffened.“What do you mean?”he asked.
“It’s obvious you two have the bond Fate spoke of,” Camriel said.“Why haven’t you asked her to become yours yet?”
“How can I be sure she’s the right cambion?”Amaros hedged.
Camriel gave him an incredulous look.“Fate dropped you directly in the path of the female.I felt your connection as soon as you were close to her.She’s the one you’re supposed to be with, the one who will tie you to this world.You’d have to be insane not to grasp this opportunity with both hands.”
Taken aback by Camriel’s vehemence, Amaros didn’t know what to say.“Not all of the team might feel the same way you do,” he pointed out.“What if they would prefer to fade away than to continue fighting forever?”
Camriel’s knife tore through the deer, slicing up the meat into manageable chunks.He’d ruined the hide, unfortunately.“We’ve already been fighting this war forever,” he said in a tone that was almost sorrowful.“Fate has given us a chance to live, brother.”He turned to regard his leader.“Don’t you finally want to be happy?We need more than a hollow victory, knowing we’ll be sent into exile in the Void for five thousand years.Order has used us for long enough.It’s time for us to have what we’ve always deserved.”
“What if Zoe rejects me?”Amaros said in a low voice.
“She won’t,” Camriel denied.“She feels the bond just as strongly as you do.You told me about her temper, Amaros.Do you really want to make her wait to hear the full truth about the deal Fate made with us?”
Blowing out a sigh, Amaros knew Camriel was right.“I’ll think about it,” he said at last, wondering at exactly what point he’d lost his spine.
“You do that,” Camriel said.“But if I find my cambion, I’m going to spill my guts about the bond and beg her to accept me the moment I lay eyes on her.”
Somehow, Amaros didn’t doubt that at all.Camriel was loyal through and through, but his second craved a normal life.Nothing would stop him from achieving it now that he had a chance to have one.
