Page 183 of Crucible

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Page 183 of Crucible

“Fuck no,” Khalil grumbles after popping off his helmet. “We wouldn’t reach town until well after nightfall, and then we’ll be too tired to show you around.”

I cut Khalil a sharp look, which he pointedly ignores.

Aurelia keeps her expression perfectly sedate, leaving us to wonder if she’s calculating the distance between the valley and Hearth. There’s an odometer on the snowmobile, so if she pays attention, she’ll know exactly how close the town is soon enough.

Suddenly, the hidden cloth I’d brought—the one I hoped I wouldn’t need—is burning a hole in my pocket.

We’re pretty remote out here, but not so much that we’re completely cut off from civilization. The townspeople of Hearth are just all too happy to ignore our presence since they’re used to these mountains being uninhabited anyway. Sheriff Kellyvisits occasionally, but even he knows we want to be left alone, so he keeps his visits to a minimum. It was hard dodging his many questions when he first discovered us hiding out here, and for a while, we were subjected to his overbearing scrutiny. But then we proved useful when we helped him find some missing honeymooners a few years ago. The sheriff’s been our only link to the main world ever since.

“We’ll ride the Ski-Doos down to the main road where our truck is waiting,” Seth informs her.

“Oh. Okay.”

“Aurelia,” I call as I swing my leg over the snowmobile and stand. The hard snow crunches under my boots as I walk the short distance over to her.

“Yes?” Her head swings my way, and she frowns when I remove her green and brown gingham headband from my pocket. At night, she uses it to tie her hair up, so it was easy to find on my nightstand.

“I’ll need to blindfold you, baby.”

Her entire body tenses. “Why?”

“You know why.” Aurelia’s pouty mouth opens to argue, but I beat her to it. “Your chance to prove we can trust you will come once we reach town. Until then, we’re not taking any chances.”

Her lips snap closed, and she glowers at me. I can tell she has an attitude but doesn’t fight me as I step forward to cover her pretty, brown eyes. Once the headband is tied behind her head, I lean down to brush her lips with mine to soften her a little, but she doesn’t kiss me back. She turns away from my touch while her chest heaves from her heavy breaths, and I imagine if she were a dragon, smoke would be expelled from her flaring nostrils. She might even turn me into a pile of ash if she could, and I don’t blame her.

I shake off the sting of her rejection as I help her stand from the snowmobile so that Khalil can take her place in the driver’sseat, but I’m still thinking about it the entire way down to the main road.

AURELIA

Thorin rushes me the moment I climb unsteadily off the snowmobile. I’m still wearing the blindfold, but I know it’s him because of the heady scent of cardamom that’s even stronger now with one of my senses blocked.

And because I could feel his eyes on me the whole way down.

Blindfolded, I had no sense of time.

How long had it taken us to reach the main road? An hour? Maybe less? I wouldn’t be surprised if those fuckers went around in circles or took the scenic route to throw me off even more.

Before I can figure it out, I’m pushed against what I’m assuming is the truck they spoke of as Thorin quickly crowds me. My helmet is ripped off my head, but he leaves the blindfold on as Thorin says, “I know what you’re doing, wolf, and it won’t work.”

It’s an effort to keep my tone level when I respond. “What am I doing, Thorin?”

“You’re trying to make me feel bad for blindfolding you.”

I don’t even have to fake my derisive snort. “Trying to make you regret behaving like a controlling, domineering asshole is like trying to make fire feel bad for burning me. I don’t waste my time with trivial pursuits, Thayer.”

I hear a low whistle and a stifled laugh come from somewhere close, and then car doors opening and closing. I’m guessing Seth and Khalil got in the truck to give us some privacy.

“Kiss me.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You know why,” I answer, returning his words from earlier.

I don’t flinch when Thorin wraps his hand around my throat. He doesn’t squeeze as he lifts me onto my toes, but the threat is evident as it sends a nervous thrill down my spine while my panties become damp. I feel his warm breath skating my mouth a second before his lips do—just as he did at the top of the trail. When I ignore the request a second time, still refusing to kiss him, he slams his fists on the roof of the truck and shoves away from me with a frustrated growl.

The truck roars to life behind me, and then I hear what sounds like gravel under his boots as Thorin retreats and opens the truck door.


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