I rolled my eyes as he shifted so he could snuffle her arm then her shoulder, finally moving up to her hair. She had the ability to completely disarm the males of any species, it seemed.
She cooed at him and used both hands to scratch a spot on his neck that made his eyes slip closed. She laughed in delight and looked over her shoulder at me. Her movements halted, much to Ayad’s annoyance, but we were caught up in each other’s eyes. She was so beautiful, a smile still clinging to her mouth.
It was like an unseen force tugged my head down. Our lips brushed and I groaned, looping one arm around her waist and tugging her back more firmly against my body. My other hand went to her throat, holding her immobile while I kissed her. Her head was twisted so I could plunder her mouth, but she stayed still, allowing me to do with her as I pleased.
I ignored the angry sounds my camel made and lost myself in the minty taste of her kisses. She was a fucking drug and I was helpless to resist her. The hand at her waist smoothed up under her shirt and she groaned against my lips when I squeezed her tit.
A cough—human, not camel—sounded and pulled me away from her spell. Letting her go, I stepped back. Her lips were swollen, and she was blinking at me like she wasn’t sure what’d just happened either.
Sig’s lips twisted in a wry grin as he stacked bedrolls with the pile that would be going onto the back of Dasha. Leaving Colby with him, I stalked back into the camp, irritated with myself. It was one thing to set out to seduce her so that she gave in to us that much quicker. That was part of a plan. That kiss hadn’t been some thought out device that would further us along. It’d been pure reaction.
Raking a hand through my hair, I glared down at the remaining bags of food I’d be packing onto Ayad’s saddle. She got to me in ways no other woman had ever managed. Made me feel things that went far beyond the physical. It made no sense. In just over a week’s time I was willing to lay down my life for her. As irrational as it was, it was the truth. And it pissed me off. She was supposed to bemine.I wasn’t supposed to behers.I’d never had the urge to belong to a woman before. It wasn’t something I was comfortable with. I was wild and free and did whatever I wanted. Something told me that was going to come to an end.
She and Sig walked back into the camp, chatting and laughing about something. I didn’t miss the fact that she avoided looking at me. It was also impossible not to see his dopey smile. We were all fucked. This woman had us tied around her fucking finger.
* * *
“Areyou going to tell me where we’re going?”
Colby’s voice whispered through the hut. Tightening my arms around her, I shifted to get more comfortable. We’d leave the cots and some of the other basics here for the next time we came back. Our camp we were heading toward had these things there waiting for us. It meant we didn’t have to spend a shitty night sleeping on the floor. “No.”
“Why not? Afraid I’ll tell someone about your secret hideouts?”
No. That would mean she would have had to escape and gotten back to her people for that to happen. In part, I didn’t trust her, but mostly it was because I was used to working with my team and only them. It would take time for me to open up and allow a fourth person into my confidence. It would happen at some point. Certainly not before she started trusting us.
She remained quiet for so long I figured she’d fallen asleep. Shutting my eyes, I concentrated on falling asleep. We were leaving early in the morning, so had loaded the camels after dinner. I didn’t like having them sleep loaded, but that nagging feeling that something was wrong had me making sure we were prepared for anything.
“Rafe?”
My eyes snapped open and I frowned. Had she done that on purpose? Waited until I was starting to drift off to begin talking again? “What?”
“Why did you take me?”
The question made my gut clench. I was grateful it was that question. We still hadn’t told her about her team and she hadn’t asked. I was sure it was because she wasn’t ready to hear the truth. She knew the answer, but couldn’t face it. I was happy to let her bury her head in the sand for as long as she wanted.
“Are you ever going to answer my questions?”
“One day, Pet. But today isn’t that day. Go to sleep.”
She squirmed, melding her body closer to mine, in search of heat. Inwardly, I groaned as she rubbed her delectable ass against my cock. I was already hard and aching, just having her pressed so close to me. Whether she was torturing me on purpose or not didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to fuck her tonight. We all needed as much sleep as possible because I was going to push us all to our limits tomorrow.
Whatever it was that was bothering me, the feeling was getting stronger and I didn’t like it. We needed to leave. Closing my eyes again, I waited until her breathing evened out before I fell asleep.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when my eyes snapped open. It was still dark, and I steadied my breathing as I strained to listen. Something had woken me.
Colby was softly snoring in my arms and it would have been damn cute if my heart wasn’t thundering in my chest. Disentangling myself from her, I got out of the cot and pulled on my clothes and boots.
I grabbed my rifle on the way out the door. Arsen was still asleep in his cot. Pausing as I exited the hut, I listened again. Nothing. Silence met my efforts. I set out on the trail that we used to patrol our camp. I was only half way around when a low trilling sound caught my attention.
My eyes had adjusted to the dark and I saw Sig a few feet off the path, flattened to the ground. Slowly, I got down and low crawled my way over to him.
Without a word, he pointed. Following the motion, I hissed out a curse. Across the sands—and still too close for my liking—was a temporary camp. Tents spread out like dark ships on a sea of sand. There weren’t any lamps or fires lit.
“When did they get here?”
Sig shrugged. “Sometime in the last hour. I was just about to come get you.” His grin flashed in stingy moonlight. “How do you always know?”
I didn’t, but my instincts were finely honed from years of this shit. “Are they searching?”