Page 167 of Crucible
“And if we say yes?” Holding her hips, I lean forward and kiss her belly. “That means your ours, Goldilocks—no bullshit, no tricks, and no take backs. You’re in this one hundred percent until the day you die and every day after because just try to stop us from following you. All of you, Goldilocks. We want everything.”
Aurelia and Thorin exchange a look, and then he smirks. “Told you.”
“Yes, Khalil,” Aurelia says softly. She places blood-stained hands on my cheeks and then leans forward to kiss me. “I’m yours.”
Unable to resist, I pull her into my lap. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
“Do you really care if I am?”
A nice guy would.
But I’m not a nice guy.
“Seth, bring me the tool bag.” While Seth gets the tools, I stand and let Aurelia take my place on the log. When he brings it over, I remove the smallest screwdriver from the bag and unscrew the metal bracelet.
It falls into the snow with a thud, and I hold Aurelia’s gaze as I massage the tender flesh around her ankle. I remember what I said to her after I put it on the first time.
“Does it hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I remember the conflicted look in her eyes when the tracker was locked in place, and she realized she could run but couldn’t hide from us—when she knew she was trapped. She wanted it but resented the feeling.
There’s only one emotion present now.
“You want something, Aurelia. Do you want to tell me, or do you want me to take it?”
“I said that I am yours, Khalil. You can do whatever you want to me. I won’t fight you.”
“Not even a little?”
Warmed by the fire, she’s not wearing her coat, so I can see her nipples harden through her shirt. “Well, maybe a little.”
I hear Thorin sliding the lid of the vat into place, and I look over my shoulder to see the tarp has been cleared. Seth is folding it up while Thorin secures the barrel.
“We done here?” I’ve never been so eager to get home before.
“Yeah.” Thorin glances up at the gray sky, and I do, too. “But it’s going to rain soon. We should stay another night.”
“I never want to see another dead body again,” Aurelia says when we enter the tent with Seth a few hours later. She drops down on Thorin’s sleeping bag with a groan since he decided to do some reconnaissance before bed instead of joining us.
It’s taken us all day to dispose of the drifters and clean the scene, and now we’re all exhausted, cold, and moody as hell.
“Now that you’re one of us, you might see a few more.”
I smile when she glares at me, but the scowl slowly fades after a few seconds when I pull my hair from the tie.
I took my braids out when we bathed earlier, using water from the frozen lake, so my curly hair is now wet and loose around my shoulders. Aurelia eyes me like I’m a piece of meat, which makes me want to drop to my knees and worship her. It’s been a long time since a woman has looked at me like that, and I never particularly noticed it then as much as I do when it’s Aurelia.
“What?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering…who braids your hair?”
“I do. And Thorin when I can convince him.” When she raises her brows in surprise, I laugh and answer the question before she can ask it. “We don’t even have a TV, Goldilocks. We’ve had a lot of time on our hands over the last decade, and we get bored a lot. I taught myself, and then I taught Thorin. It was just another way to pass the time.”
“What about Zeke?”
