“Can we not?”
The low growl of his voice sent a chill up my spine, and I shuddered, but didn’t look away from the cat. I’m surprised he didn’t piss where he sat because Silas looked like he really was going to carve him up. Instead, the cat glared at him, ear twitching, and said nothing. Silas managed to compose himself and calmly turn his head to me. “My apologies.”
I narrowed my eyes, bitterly disappointed that he couldn’t kill the twat, and asked the first thing that popped into my head. “Why me?”
“I cannot say.”
And I was done.
They could interrogate the thing. I was sopping wet through, and not from the jacuzzi. I was pretty sure there was a wet patch on the bed and I needed to get myself under control.
“I’m going for a shower.”
They didn’t argue. “Will you be alright?”
I’d been wondering if Amos was going to bother to speak to me. It was a relief that he had and didn’t seem too pissed. I did kind of feel bad. I mean, I’d kissed him, then I was practically riding his mate, and all that after Silas had seen most of me with no clothes on.
Not that my current attire left much to the imagination since I was still wearing nothing but the bikini. Then, to be fair, if we were playing like that, Silas had first dibs.
I smiled. “I’ll be fine, thank you. And you’re only out here if I manage to drown again.”
I wasn’t even sure if I was trying to be snarky or if I was asking them to stay, but Amos seemed to understand and smiled back. “We’ll be here.”
I looked from him to Silas. Silas was still staring at the cat, but he glanced at me briefly and winked. I couldn’t stop the little smirk from gracing my lips as I got up from the bed. I didn’t look at Rhett. I was more than a bit embarrassed, but I did brush his knee with my hand as I got up and went to the bathroom.
It was a cold shower.
It didn’t help.
17
Amos
Tasting her—touching her—had been incredible.
Watching her with him? I should probably be jealous, but I wasn’t. It was the hottest thing I’d seen in my existence; her little hips grinding against him like she already had him inside her, the way she lifted her ass just enough to feel him better.
And the stoic bastard was basking in it. All that shit about not getting too close, and there he was, letting her ride him half an hour after she’d managed to drown.
I couldn’t look away from them. Her golden hair brushing her back as she moved, her hands stroking through his, the milky perfection of her skin: all visible thanks to the tiny bikini she was wearing.
Everything about her was beautiful.
I managed to glance to Silas. He was equally enraptured. Judging by the way his khopesh hung limply at his side, he was thinking exactly what I was. I wondered if he would join them. I knew I wouldn’t even try, however much I’d like to. There was no way she was going to let us near her after the week she’d had. I was curious as to how the scene before us had developed. It was unlikely that Rhett would have initiated it, however strong the pull of her.
I looked back to them as he ran his hand over the mark on her hip and nudged Silas as Rhett stiffened beneath her. She wasn’t so far gone that she missed it, and I was disappointed when she pulled away from him and asked “What?”
His answer was vague, for him. He usually gave clear and concise replies, but she had him, and he wanted to get back to it. She was having none of it, and I managed to keep my building chuckle buried.
Silas snapped out of it and looked to me. I looked away, watching the rest of their little exchange with interest. I loved how she got angry so quickly, snapping at him when he gave his brief answers to her questions. When he carried on with his evasive replies, Silas answered for him.
“It did. But only while you were dead. It came back when you looked at me, and it’s still there now.”
She turned around, her pretty blue eyes wide with surprise. “You scared the living piss out of me!”
Then she saw the cat. Silas must have realised it was the cat that had startled her most and kicked the thing. He’d warned it not to upset her. She staggered away, losing her footing and landed back on Rhett’s lap. He looked almost pained, but I knew it wasn’t from her landing. Only the feel of her little ass on his cock. I was kind of glad he was suffering.
“How long have you been there?”
She was scarlet. I’ve no idea why she was so clearly ashamed. She was hot; obviously horny. Made sense for her to make full use of him.
When she didn’t immediately move away from him, I couldn’t hide the smirk. Her eyes slid from me to Silas, focusing on his sword, and the look in her eyes turned from shame to fear.
I pulled her attention back to me. “Long enough to know it’s a great view from here. Having fun, Rhett?”
They began their exchange, but I didn’t follow it fully. I was watching her, waiting for her to become upset or distressed. She became neither. Instead, her temper was steadily rising as the cat projected its thoughts to her. She really hated that cat.
If she noticed I was watching her, she didn’t show any sign that it bothered her. But her focus was primarily with the cat. It didn’t last long. She’d had a hell of a day, so it wasn’t surprising that it only took her a few minutes before finding an excuse to leave.
“Will you be alright?”
The other two didn’t seem to care that she’d just drowned, been resuscitated, been put face-to-face with her feline attacker, discovered the thing could converse with her, and was wound so tightly thanks to Rhett’s inability to control himself. She looked like she could burst into tears at any moment.
“I’ll be fine, thank you. And you’re only out here if I manage to drown again.”
She didn’t sound too confident in that last statement. “We’ll be here.”
She glanced over to Silas and smirked, then brushed her hand over Rhett’s knee as she got up and retreated into the bathroom. There was something about the gesture that softened him, and he watched her leave with a concerned frown. I made a note to ask him about it later.
The cat watched Maia leave the room and Silas made a grab for him. Holding him by the scruff of the neck at arm’s length, he snarled at him. “Alright, you hairy little prick. What the fuck do you know?”
The worst thing that cat could have done was purr. When he did, Silas raised his sword. “Do not try me, cat. Who sent you?”
With Maia out of the room, Rhett appeared to have come to his senses. “Perhaps a softer approach would be better?”
Maintaining his grip on the cat’s loose skin, Silas glared at him, but lowered his sword. “After what he did to her?”
Rhett ignored him and looked to the cat. “It is clear that you were sent to help her, so help. You brought us to her. You stated that she would be in danger, and when we found her, she was drowning. We fully believe what you told us, but we do not understand why. Why us? Why her? Who sent you?”
“You’re the smart one, Rhett. Work it out.”
In a swift movement, the cat swung up his back legs, using his claws to gain purchase on Silas’s skin. He had expected Silas to drop him, and I knew what would come next, turning and opening the balcony door as he strode toward me with the hissing cat biting his wrist frantically. I knew he wouldn’t hurt the thing. Even Silas had a limit, but he would walk the line to get what he wanted. He was surprisingly calm, considering the cat had drawn blood and was still tearing at his hand.
“Tell me, Pip, do you land on your feet?”
“My name—”
We were only one story up, so when he hung the cat over the rail, he wouldn’t have far to fall if Silas did let go.
The cat dangled, yowling and spitting when his hand loosened its grasp. Dripping blood all over the cat’s face, Silas watched as the little creature tried to save itself from the impending fall. “Who sent you, Pip?”
“I cannot say.”
“You can, and you will. Who sent you?”
“Rhett has the books. She cannot reveal herself. You are all being watched. She was not supposed to interfere!”
Apparently satisfied, Silas pulled his arm back over the rail and allowed the cat to run back inside. Rhett only made brief eye contact with me, but I knew what it meant. The cat was being truthful, and we were still in the dark with a new responsibility.
Rhett walked to the door and opened it as Silas scowled after the offensive Lord Peregrine, and I watched as he sped from the hotel room. When Rhett pushed the door closed, I stepped back into the room. “I have questions.”
“You always have fucking questions.”
“That isn’t true, Silas. Rhett always has questions. But this is considerably different to what we usually deal with. Our trio has become a quartet if we’re going to keep her safe as instructed by the cat. That poses several problems. How are we to maintain her safety without being with her around the clock? She appears to have worked out what we are, to a point, and that leaves us open to exploitation. How do we avoid that? We each seem to be attractive to her, which makes little sense, but I am in no way complaining. We’re all equally, and oddly, attracted to her in return. So, my questions are how do we approach this? How do we control ourselves? How do we keep a human girl safe from an unknown threat?”
I looked between them. Silas had closed the balcony door and was leaning on the frame, his attention on the bathroom door at the opposite end of the room. Rhett looked thoughtful.
“You think her being attracted to us is unusual?”
I tried not to roll my eyes. Rhett hated when I did that, and I didn’t want to annoy him. “Isn’t it? The situation with you, Silas, was most likely to arouse her, granted. Don’t look at me like that, I know you as well as you know yourself. You, Rhett, who was the most guarded of us twenty-four hours ago, let me remind you, don’t find it odd that you had a dramatic change of heart when left alone with her? It’s magnetic, whatever it is.”
They were both very quiet for a moment, and I waited for one of them to respond. In the silence of the room we could all hear the shower running in the bathroom, but there was no other sound. I felt an inexplicable stab of concern and moved toward the door. “Maia?”
When there was no answer, I rapped on the door.
“What are you doing?”
Silas and his stupid questions. “Checking on her. She was dead little over an hour ago!”
There was no answer and I looked to Rhett, concern washing over him. “Maia!”
The water stopped running and the door flew open. “Fuck me, I don’t need minding. I’m fine!”
She was wrapped in a towel shivering, her skin goosed, and hair hanging in wet tangles around her shoulders. She stormed past me, ignored Silas, and flopped down on the edge of the bed opposite the mirror.
“I know I look like shit, but I’m fine.”
“No, you don’t.”
I grinned across the room as she turned to look at Silas. She didn’t respond to his compliment but asked, “Where did the fleabag go?”
“I threw him out.”
“What did he…tell you?”
She seemed to be taking things rather well, so I nodded to him to explain. Better to give her all the information he had before she began screaming.
“That there is someone watching us. Whoever they are, they want you dead. Apparently, the choking incident at the competition, the taxi almost crushing you and—” he swallowed, unable to finish. I wondered at it.
She didn’t respond, merely turned back to the mirror, and leaned forward to open a drawer. “I want to get myself sorted. I’m starving, and I need some sleep. So, I’ll sort this mess. Sorry, Rhett, I know you had it looking lovely, but I wasn’t thinking and I’m going down to find food. I really must eat.”
“Would you like some help?” Of all the questions to come from Rhett, that was not the one I expected. He moved to the side of the bed and looked at her through the mirror. “It would be no trouble.”
The look that passed between them said more than words. She maintained eye contact with him as her hair dried and her towel was replaced with comfortable sweat pants and a baggy tee.
Her eyes glazed, and I stepped forward to kneel at her feet.
“Maia, I know this is all…”
Blinking back tears, she looked at me and smiled. “I don’t know what to do, or say, or think right now, so I’m going with it.”
Silas cleared his throat from the far side of the room and she looked over her shoulder and laughed. “What are you? Wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t really want to know. Is that real?”
He grinned down at her. “We’ll stick with friends, and yes, it’s all real. Eat.”
The way she scrambled from one bed to the next and tore open the pizza box, you would think she hadn’t eaten for days. We all stayed where we were as she ate, and I’m not sure if it was awe or horror on our faces as she devoured the sixteen inches of pizza. When she was done, she flopped back on the bed.
“Oh, that was amazing. Thank you. Shit, did you want any?”
Silas laughed and picked up the empty box. “No. We can feed ourselves. Dessert?”
The box vanished in a puff of smoke and was replaced by an ice cream sundae in a large glass, complete with cherry and a long spoon. He knelt on the bed and handed her the glass. “We won’t let any harm come to you, Maia. You have my word.”
She lowered her gaze and pulled out the spoon, licking it clean of ice cream and chocolate sauce before digging it back into the cold, sticky mess and looking over to Rhett and myself. “How do you reckon that’s going to work then?”
The smile vanished from Silas’s face and he walked over to join us. “What do you mean?”
She left the spoon in the glass and picked up the cherry, popping it into her mouth and sucking her finger and thumb. “You can’t be here all the time. You have…what do you do anyway?”
“We haven’t done anything important for a long time. Until now. Given the information we have thus far, it would appear we’re here to look after you.”
Whether it was his tone or something she saw in his eyes, I have no idea, but she nodded once and shuffled up the bed. Settled back on the pillows, she continued to eat her dessert, and we continued to watch her from the far end of the room.
When she was finished, she placed the empty glass on the bedside and turned on her side. “If you’re staying, get comfy. If you’re going, make sure the door is locked behind you. I’m knackered. I’ll see you whenever.”
She didn’t try to stifle the yawn and stretched out before curling into a foetal position. Eyes closed, she tugged a pillow over from behind her and cuddled into it.
We looked at one another as she fell asleep. I was the first to shrug my shoulders and looked down at the vacant bed. The sheets were replaced with a thought, and I moved toward it. “I’ll get some sleep. One of you will have to share there, this bed won’t hold the three of us.”
Silas was the next to move, taking the other side of my bed, leaving Rhett scratching the back of his head.
“What? She was close enough to you earlier.” Silas turned out the light and rolled over.
I snorted and pulled a pillow over my face, listening as Rhett moved across the room.
Whatever this had become, it had the potential to turn ugly. The three of us were inexplicably drawn to her. None of us were prepared to leave her. It had gone unspoken, but we each knew that we would step forward and do as the cat had said. We would protect her, whatever came. And whatever it was, really wanted her dead.
What we needed was more information, and the cat seemed to think Rhett could find it. If anyone could, it was him. Silas had proven his willingness to protect her. We three had enough power between us to keep her safe, but we were at a serious disadvantage.
My instinct was to hide her, but there was no way she would agree to that. I’d seen enough of her personality to know she
would never cower. She may have run from Silas, but that was not true fear. Had she really feared him, she wouldn’t have accepted his help.
My only real concern was what she would do to us. We were brothers. Was our friendship, our bond formed over thousands of years, strong enough to withstand our mutual attraction to her?
18
I’d had some fucked-up dreams in my time, but that? Near death experiences, talking cats, and magically appearing food? Not to mention swords and dry humping the hot not-waiter. I needed to have a word with myself.
Right after I’d dealt with the body behind me.
Because I never woke up with anyone’s arm around my waist, not even when I shared with Adam. He didn’t do touching. He was not a spooner. Whoever that was, was. And it felt amazing! I’d always been a spoonee. I liked the warmth; the security of knowing someone was there, and I hadn’t had that in so long. But I distinctly remembered not having gone to bed with anyone. I didn’t remember a damn thing except that mental dream.
The problem, I realised as I stretched out my back, was that I wasn’t remotely concerned about the presence of someone in my bed. Which was even more fucked up than my dream, if you think about it. People have mental dreams all the time. They do not wake up with an arm around them that isn’t supposed to be there and give not one shit.
The arm tightened as I stretched, and I cracked open one eye. As always, I had a pillow pulled into my stomach. I was clothed. And there was Amos laid looking at me on the bed opposite.
“Good morning.”
It wasn’t a dream.
I looked over my shoulder and felt my stomach turn over. The cat. The food. My hair. The dying. I felt myself go rigid, closed my eyes again and pressed my face into the pillow.
“Maia? Is everything alright?”
That was Rhett. I could feel his breath on my shoulder. I could smell him. I could feel each of his fingers on my stomach as they flexed against my skin. My body instantly relaxed and I had to fight to stop my hips from wriggling back to find him. Traitorous fucking libido.
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