Cool indigo eyes searched Anna’s face, and for a few moments she was afraid she’d said something wrong. But Kael just shook her head. “I don’t think so. I suppose it may have something to do with it, but I never quite felt like a normal little girl. Normal like the other little girls in my class were normal, I mean.”
“Because you liked other girls?”
Kael nodded. “Yeah, but also…I felt more like a boy. At least how I thought they must feel. I always wanted short hair. I wanted to play soccer in the streets with the neighborhood boys. When Mr. Jacobs took me…well, that may have intensified those feelings, but those feelings were always there inside of me.”
Recalling Elin’s words, Anna asked, “So you don’t feel like a woman?” Now that she had started down this path with Kael, she wanted to keep going.
“Not quite like a woman, no. Not quite like a man, either. I don’t know what I am. I just know that I’m masculine, and I prefer being seen as a man in this society. And I love women, even if they sometimes seem like foreign creatures to me.”
“I can truly say that you’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known,” Anna said. “I’m so lucky to have met you and Elin. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you two.” Anna twisted her hands in her lap, unable to admit how close she had been to giving up.
Kael captured Anna’s hand in both of hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I understand that, too. If it hadn’t been for Elin—” Kael shuddered, and Anna instinctively leaned into her solid body. “I don’t want to imagine what I would have become.”
Anna struggled to regulate her breathing as she stared at her hand between Kael’s. The whole of her concentration seemed suddenly riveted on the scent of her companion and the light pressure of Kael’s hip pressing against hers. “What do you mean?”
“The practicing, when I was alone—” Kael exhaled harshly. “One of the most important things I tried to master was becoming the best killer I could be. And I practiced a lot.”
That wasn’t hard to imagine. Kael radiated dark rage at times, and Anna had been witness to the efficiency with which she dispatched her enemies. She watched the naked pain in Kael’s eyes. It looks like it’s disturbing to remember, though.
“Does Elin know?”
“I’ve spared her the details.” Kael shifted to sheath her knife, her warm breath tickling Anna’s cheek and neck, raising gooseflesh on her arms. “She knows she saved me. I tell her all the time.”
Anna said, “I’ve killed people, too.” She fought to keep her mind away from the powerful sensuality of full lips brushing accidentally against her ear. “Not a lot, really. Four. And only in self-defense.” She remembered Garrett’s killers and cast weary eyes to the ground. “Mostly.”
Kael’s mouth twitched into a wistful smile. “I don’t always feel bad about doing it. I don’t talk to Elin much about that, but…sometimes I think people deserve to die.”
Anna’s eyes slipped momentarily shut in reaction to the scent and faint heat coming from Kael’s lean body, and she had to force herself to concentrate on her words. “I know what you mean,” she replied, feeling short of breath. “I do love how Elin sees the world so innocently. But I just don’t see it the same way. I’m trying, for her sake.”
“I’m glad she has you, Anna. I really am.”
“I’m glad she has you, too.” It was the truth.
Kael seemed embarrassed and bent to retrieve the rabbits. “I like hanging out with you. Maybe we can start sparring lessons again.”
Since the morning when wrestling had triggered Anna’s flashback, she’d only practiced light sparring with Elin. Her gut tugged at her to try fighting with Kael again. He could teach me so much more than Elin ever could. And I trust Kael. I really do.
“Okay,” she said. “Tomorrow morning?”
“Sounds good.” Kael stood, then helped Anna up.
Anna hesitated only a moment before wrapping her arms around Kael’s solid body. Kael brought rabbit-filled hands behind Anna’s back in an effort to return the hug. She nuzzled into Anna’s neck, simply breathing.
“Thanks for coming after me today,” Kael murmured. “It feels good to have another friend.”
Beaming, Anna gave her a squeeze. “Yes, it does.” She brought her mouth close to Kael’s ear. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “You make masculinity beautiful, you know.”
Kael caught her breath and stepped backwards, stumbling slightly. “Thanks. I, uh…I should go clean these rabbits.” Red-faced and holding the rabbits aloft, she added, “And you know…you’re beautiful, too. Really beautiful. And, uh…you should go tell Elin we’re getting ready for dinner.” Another backwards step, and then she turned to stalk away from Anna. “Thanks for the company,” she called back over her shoulder.
“It was my pleasure.”
Deeply involved in her book, Elin didn’t lift her eyes from her reading until Anna reached the high branches of the oak tree where she sat. When Anna clambered onto the branch beside her, she relaxed into a welcoming grin, folded the corner of a page to mark her place, and closed her book. “Hey, sweetheart. How are you doing?”
“I’m good. I’ve been with Kael.”
Sparkling hazel eyes studied Anna’s face with such scrutiny that she squirmed.
Elin smiled big as she watched Anna’s discomfort grow. “Did you kiss him?”
Anna gasped. “No.”
Elin leaned forward with a conspiratorial grin. “Did you want him to kiss you?”
Anna lowered her head, certain that her face was about to burst into flames. “Stop teasing me.”
Elin kissed one heat-infused cheek. “I’m not teasing you.” She caught Anna’s earlobe between gentle teeth and tugged lightly. “I’m curious. I see the way you look at him sometimes.”
Anna shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe.”
“Yeah?” Elin rubbed a hand tenderly over Anna’s side, then slid it up to caress her breast. “He wants to kiss you,” she whispered.
Distracted by the feeling of Elin’s fingers stroking her nipple through the cotton of her shirt, Anna murmured, “Is he a good kisser?”
Elin moaned and rolled her eyes heavenward. “Oh God, yes. He’s an excellent kisser.” Giving Anna’s breast a playful squeeze, she said, “So are you. I think if you and Kael kissed…nothing would be hotter than that.”
“Yeah? You think so?”
“The two sexiest, most beautiful people I know, kissing? Yeah, that’d be amazingly hot. Are you kidding me?”
Anna broke into an embarrassed giggle. “Well, whatever. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to that point.”
“Would you let me watch if you do?”
With a burst of shocked laughter, Anna poked her in the side. “Depends on how nicely you ask.” Would I let her watch? She blushed at the idea. I’d let her do more than watch.
“Sounds like I’d better be nice, then. If you two finally get over your shyness and make out, I want a front-row seat.”
Anna closed the distance between them and traced the tip of her tongue over Elin’s bottom lip. “Or maybe you could join us onstage,” she mumbled.
Elin’s breathing picked up. “I’ve fantasized about it, you know.”
“You fantasize about everything.” And, lucky me, you’re not embarrassed to tell me about it.
“Especially you. And just so you know,” Elin said with an innocent smile, “Kael really likes a lot of tongue when he’s being kissed.”
Chapter Seven
A cold breeze blew over Anna’s lower leg and pulled her from deep sleep. She shivered in displeasure, and aware of the faint heat of the body to her right, she shifted closer, half-smiling at the drowsy thought of Elin and her soft curves. An arm reached out and met her halfway, tugging her close and lazily covering her with a blanket. Content, she floated off into light sleep within moments.
The next time she awoke, it was because a gentle hand was stroking her belly. She could feel Elin spooning
her from behind, one arm curled over her hip, fingers splayed over her stomach. Anna opened one eye and registered the twilight through the tops of the trees and the darkness that still permeated their campsite. It’s not time to wake up yet, she managed to think, and pressed her bottom backwards into Elin’s hips.
Elin’s fingers moved down to the hem of her T-shirt, pushed inside, and traced aimless patterns over her bare skin. As if sensing her rising arousal, the fingers tickled the skin around her belly button before moving up to stroke her breast. The fuzziness around the edges of Anna’s mind receded a bit, and her heartbeat picked up.
Rather than lingering on her breast, the hand slid down over her belly to the waistband of her panties. A single fingertip traced a path along the elastic across her abdomen, then moved to her hip and made its way over her panties to her bare thigh. Anna shifted her right leg, opening herself to further exploration.
Invitation extended, the fingers responded by tickling a light path to the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, before dipping inside her panties to tease before withdrawing.
Anna lifted her hips in a silent plea, answered almost immediately when a big, strong hand reached between her legs and cupped her firmly. Snapped to instant awareness, she blinked in confusion, rolling back so that she could look over her shoulder.
“Kael?”
“I’m sorry, Anna.” Kael’s red face and panicked eyes were just barely visible in the darkness of the early morning. “I was half-asleep. I thought you were Elin.”
“Me, too.” Anna knew she should pull away, but the dimness of the morning and the sensual warmth of Kael’s body made her linger. “Where is she?”
“She’s sitting over there grinning at us like the cat that ate the canary,” Kael rumbled into her ear.
“Do you think she did this on purpose?” Anna stared at Kael’s dark hair. It had been growing out and was the longest she’d seen it.
“That little shit?” Kael whispered. “Probably.” She sat up and asked, “Elin, what are you doing out of bed?”
“I wasn’t feeling well.” Elin’s beaming grin cut through the dimness of the morning. She was sitting on a fallen log over on the other side of camp, dressed in her jeans and a thick sweatshirt. “I decided to get up and sit for a while, see if I felt better.”
Anna lifted her head. “And do you feel better?”
Elin’s grin widened. “Much. How do you feel?”
Kael cleared her throat, and Anna smirked at the chuckle she heard suppressed. “Baby,” Kael said in a stern voice, “I know you haven’t gotten enough sleep. How long have you been out of bed?”
“I don’t know. I could probably sleep some more.” Elin got to her feet and crossed to their sleeping bags.
Anna crawled back over to her side of their makeshift bed, embarrassed to see how far she had traveled to seek out Kael in Elin’s absence. She shot Elin a playful scowl. “Then get back in here, goofball.”
“And take off those jeans.” Kael shifted over to make room. “We’re keeping you here for at least another two hours of sleep. Get comfortable.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining.” Elin removed her sweatshirt and jeans and tossed them onto her backpack.
She slid into the gap between them with a contented sigh. “I missed you both.”
“We missed you, too.” Anna watched Kael’s arm reach over Elin’s waist and pull her into a close embrace.
“I want to feel you, Anna.” Elin encouraged her closer.
Anna scooted in, groaning in bliss when Elin’s hand slipped under the elastic of her panties to cup one buttock. She leaned in to share a sleepy kiss that ended when she nuzzled her face into Elin’s throat.
Smiling, Anna fell back asleep within the safety created by her new family.
Much later in the day, they traveled through a more developed area than they had seen in weeks. Log houses were scattered throughout lush forest that hummed with wildlife, providing brief distraction and plenty of curiosity each time they saw one.
“It’s ugly up there, you guys.” Elin stopped walking and looked up at the dark clouds that painted the late afternoon sky. “It’s gonna pour.”
Anna and Kael joined in her study. A cool breeze had picked up, swirling fallen leaves around their ankles.
The air smelled damp, and Anna could tell Elin’s prediction was dead-on. “I think a storm is on its way,” she said.
“Let’s hope this isn’t a bad sign as far as Kentucky weather goes,” Kael muttered.
Elin looked delighted. “We’re in Kentucky now? You didn’t tell me.”
Kael gave her a playful wink. “You were lagging behind with Anna, or else I would’ve.”
“Cool.” Elin craned her neck and pointed. “Look, another cabin.”
It was probably the fifteenth they had seen that day. Anna and Elin had lingered to gaze longingly at each they passed, but until now Kael had paid them no mind.
“Pretty,” Anna commented. It was large, at least two stories, and constructed with sturdy-looking logs. A red vehicle was parked next to it. “Looks like there’s a road just on the other side of it. I wonder if we’re close to a town.”
“Getting closer, I think,” Kael said.
“We should stay inside tonight,” Elin implored Kael. “Baby, you know it’s going to be miserable outside.
What do you say we bask in the luxury of a roof over our heads while it storms?”
“That does sound nice,” Anna said.
Kael sighed. “We could try to find a nice cave to wait out the rain.”
Frowning, Elin shook her head. “Come on, Kael. What’re the odds there’s anyone in there? We’ll let you walk through and check it out. If it doesn’t feel safe to you, we’ll leave. No questions asked. I’d just really love to be warm and dry tonight.” She cast a sheepish gaze to the ground and kicked at a plant. “And it’s been so long since we’ve gotten to explore someplace like this. I’d like to see what’s in there.”
Anna felt a rush of affection. Elin had a fascination with pre-sickness artifacts. Anything, really: books, toys, even non-working appliances. She had entertained Anna more than once by regaling her with tales of the things she and Kael had discovered in their travels.
Kael’s broad shoulders slumped in defeat. “Okay. You two stay outside while I walk through the cabin.
Don’t come in until I signal.”
She set off up an incline covered with fallen leaves and overgrown vegetation, and Anna and Elin followed.
The steep walk strained Anna’s thigh muscles, making her glad that they were stopping for the night. Kael led them around one side of the cabin, signaling them to keep cover in some nearby trees, then she moved stealthily to the front door, sword drawn. After a brief struggle with the handle, she vanished inside.
Anna and Elin waited for a few moments, attuned to any hint of trouble, then they edged closer, moving alongside the red sports utility vehicle that was parked in the driveway.
“I don’t think this has been driven for a while,” Elin whispered as she traced a hand over the weathered paint.
“Doesn’t look like it.” Anna swung her baseball bat in a gentle arc at her side. A brief flash of memory came to her: her mother, driving her and Marina…someplace. It was practice of some kind, wasn’t it? Soccer?
Gymnastics?
“ ‘Support Our Troops,’ “ Elin read, staring at the faded stickers that were still stuck to the bumper. “I wonder what war that was from?”
Anna snorted in disgust. “There were so many in the end. Who knows?”
“Do you think they realized what would happen?”
“I don’t know.” Anna took her hand and gave it a tender squeeze. “It’s hard to believe that nobody could have imagined where it would lead. When you mix war and technology like that—”
“Elin, Anna.” Kael poked her head out of the front door. “It’s clear. Come on.”
Elin raised Anna’s hand to her lips and kissed her knuckles,
then skipped away over to the front porch steps. Taking them two at a time, she leaned in and gave Kael a grateful kiss when she reached the top.
Kael returned her sword to its sheath. “I don’t want anyone going in the third room on the left upstairs.
Other than that…go explore, baby.”
Elin clapped in excitement and walked inside. Kael remained on the porch as Anna climbed the steps, then opened the front door for her.
“Body upstairs?” Anna murmured.
Kael gave her a somber nod. “Only bones at this point. I moved the remains into the closet, but still…I don’t want Elin seeing that.”
Anna walked inside the dark cabin. “Think there are any candles around here?”
“Actually, yeah.” Kael closed the door behind them. “Plenty. This isn’t a bad place to stop, to tell you the truth. I saw candles, I saw MREs, and I definitely saw a wood-burning stove. I also saw a big tub for bathing.”
“Are you telling me I can take a warm bath tonight?” Anna’s thigh muscles practically sang in relief.
“I’m telling you that both you and Elin could fit into that tub at the same time, if you wanted.”
Anna hummed in pleasure at the thought. “Oh, I’m so glad we stopped here.”
“Good. I like seeing you two happy.”
“I know you do.” Anna touched Kael’s hand briefly. “We…love that about you.”
Kael gave her a look full of awed surprise, but before she could make a sound, Elin’s joyful shout echoed from another room.
“Anna, there’s a bathtub in here! And it’s huge!”
Kael broke into a toothy grin. “I think Elin needs someone to explore with her right now.” Her hand found the back of Anna’s neck. “Come on.”
She walked them back into the cabin, releasing Anna when they found a small room lit by candlelight and gently illuminated by the gray light that shone in from a large window.
Elin stood in the center of the room with a burning candle. She was wide-eyed. “You wouldn’t believe all the great stuff they have here.”
Kael struck a match and lit a few more candles that sat around the room. “The stove is in the next room.
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