AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Both ways. And I’ve run back along the edge of it, to see if it widened at all, or changed shape in any way. It does not.”
I have no idea what to make of this. My usually busy headspace has gone completely blank, not a single idea or thought rising up out of my spirit. And the longer I stare at the shape of our map, the further away thoughts and ideas feel.
It makes no sense to me.
No sense at all.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Angie
As Rardek walks out of the room, he leaves a storm of emotions behind in me. Embarrassment, anger, amusement and that dangerous heat that starts the moment I look at him and only builds when he grins at me, turning into an inferno when he laughs.
I should hate him. I’ve always hated arrogant men, and every inch of his seven foot plus frame is full of arrogance. But apparently it’s only a turn off when it isn’t paired with a sense of humour. And both times I’ve snapped at him, put him down, he’s just laughed, as if delighted.
Of course, I don’t know exactly what Sally said to him. How she changed the shape of my words to make them more palatable. But the glitter in his eyes when he grinned at me suggests he knew exactly what I said, even if Sally did change it up a bit.
It’s like he can see straight through into the heart of who I am and it’s extremely…
Unsettling. Unnerving.
Attractive.
I realise I’ve been standing there, silently staring after him for a ridiculous stretch of time. The colour in my cheeks deepens and I brace myself as I turn back to Liv, Brooks and Sally.
All three of them are smiling at me, knowing looks in their eyes.
“He’s not going to leave me alone, is he?” I say, hoping I sound at least a little exasperated, like there’s no part of me going back to that moment in the showers, right before I pulled his tail.
Picturing the water trickling down over his perfectly muscled back and ass.
“No,” Liv says. “And you already don’t want him to.”
I try to bristle, but can’t summon any real strength of feeling behind it.
“I don’t like having choices made for me,” I say - about the strongest protest I can manage while my stomach is still swirling from his proximity a moment ago.
“And you’ll find you’re not the only one who feels that way around here,” Liv says. “We know it’s…”
“Really fucking weird?” I suggest.
Liv barks a laugh. “Yes. Really fucking weird. When I first had the dreams, I figured they weren’t real. Just a little fantasy I’d cooked up. So I was, er, all in with it. You can imagine my shock when Gregar turned up at our crash site a few days later.”
“Same for me,” Sally says, blushing lightly. “Thought they were just dreams, but then Jaskry rescued me.”
“And then you’ve got this guy whose declarations of devotion were hot when they were just a fantasy, but now they’re way toointense,” Liv says. “You’re not sure if you’re ready for it, if it’s what you even want.”
“But part of you is responding to it anyway,” Brooks says. “Part of you feels all light and fluttery when he looks at you like you’re the most precious thing in the universe. Even as your human sensibilities are telling you it’s too much, too soon.”
“We’ve all been there,” Liv says. “We all get it. You want to talk about it - any of it, without shame or judgement - then we’re here. But we’ll also all tell you how disgustingly happy we are, and that might not be what you want to hear right now.”
“You all seem so sure that I’ll be part of the disgustingly happy crew before too long. Rardek included.”
Liv nods. “And I know how irritating it is to be told how you’re going to feel. But none of the mated pairs that have formed so far have been unhappy. I don’t expect you’ll break that pattern if you’re prepared to give it even half a chance.”
There’s a hint of challenge in her tone. Not enough to piss me off, but it’s there, poking at me softly.
“But there’s a way out of it, right? If I decide I don’t want to give it a chance?”
