Chapter Thirty-Four
THORIN
There’s nothing sweeter than the scent of my songbird filling my nostrils again.
Khalil, Bane, and Aurelia returned an hour ago.
Aurelia spent the majority of that time soaking away her aches and bruises in my tub.
Now the three of us are gathered at the foot of Khalil’s bed with Aurelia tucked under my arm and dressed only in her bathrobe with her hair still wet.
“What do we now?” she asks as we stare at Zeke’s body restrained to the headboard. “How much longer before he wakes up?”
“Hard to say since you knocked him out before the tranq could take effect, but it usually wears off within a few hours.”
“He was going to kill you,” she reminds Khalil. “He was going to cut your throat right in front of me. What was I supposed to do?”
He looks annoyed while I lift a brow at him over Aurelia’s head. I seem to remember him mocking me endlessly, but it looks like Bane got the best of him too.
“I’m not blaming you, Goldilocks. You did the right thing. Uh…thank you for that by the way.” It only just occurred to him to thank her for saving his life because we’re so used to doing it for each other that we don’t even bother bringing it up after the fact.
“You’re welcome.”
“Nothing we can do now,” I say, going back to her earlier question before pulling her from the room. “Are you hungry?” She lost her arrows in the river, which would have made hunting hard. There are shadows underneath her eyes that only a good night’s sleep and a well-balanced diet can fix.
“A little,” she answers as she lets me steer her upstairs and far away from Bane.
I bring her up to the table and sit her down before walking over to the stove, grabbing some wood, and throwing it inside to get it fired up.
I then grab the kettle and fill it with water before setting it on the stove.
I get started on fixing her something to eat.
I don’t want her to wait long, so I grab the fixings for a sandwich and throw together a hearty one with some baby carrots on the side before setting it in front of her on the table.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask after she takes the first bite.
“I should be asking you that,” she answers around a mouthful. “You’re the one who got hurt, not me.”
“Had to be a rough couple of days.”
“I’ve survived worse, remember? At least there wasn’t snow.”
“I see your point.” I’m content to watch her eat for a while until the kettle begins to whistle and I hop up to make her tea.
Khalil comes up the stairs, and he pulls her chair out from under the table and lifts her up before taking her place and sitting her in his lap. “Looks good,” he says.
She places the sandwich to his lips, offering him some, and he takes a healthy bite of it with his gaze locked on her.
“That’s for her,” I snap. “She needs to eat.”
Khalil sits back with a grin. “Then make me one.”
I cross my arms and kick his leg under the table hard enough to make him scowl. “Make it yourself.”
When Aurelia wordlessly offers Khalil another bite and he takes it, I roll my eyes and shove away from the table to make the fucker a sandwich so he can leave hers alone.
Aurelia sips her tea while Khalil devours his sandwich in a few bites.
I get up from the table and go into my room before returning with the radio. I hand it to Aurelia, and she looks up at me questioningly. “You need to radio the sheriff and tell him you’re okay. He radioed, looking for you the morning after you disappeared. He’s been on our case ever since.”
“Shit.” Aurelia grabs the radio but then pauses. “You know, don’t you?”
“Yup,” Khalil answers.
“And you’re not mad?”
“You saved our asses when you had every reason to let us burn. Resenting you for having a safe way out would only make us deeply unworthy of you,” I say. “So no. We’re not mad.”
Aurelia exhales like she’s shedding a heavy burden and then calls the sheriff. After a brief but tense conversation, she ends the call and leans back against Khalil before closing her eyes.
“Time for bed,” I say as I stand.
Her eyes pop open, and she sits up. “What about Bane?”
“There’s nothing we can do now, and he’s not going anywhere. You need the rest.”
The three of us head down to the basement, but Aurelia takes us all by surprise when she hooks a left at the bottom of the stairs and goes into Khalil’s room instead of hers.
“What’s up, Goldilocks?” Khalil asks with a frown as we follow her inside.
“I’m sleeping in here.”
“The fuck you are,” he snaps.
“Someone has to watch over him, and he won’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Actually, I do. He saved my life. Twice.”
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t a danger to you.”
“Then stay and keep an eye on us. I don’t care what you do, but I’m not leaving. It could be Zeke who wakes up. How do you think he’ll feel if he wakes up in these cuffs? The least we can do is make sure he doesn’t wake up alone. It’s worth the risk.”
When we don’t respond, Aurelia climbs onto the bed and curls herself against Zeke’s side.
Blindly, she pats the bed behind her, and when Khalil and I lock gazes, since there’s only room for one of us, I tip my chin toward the bed.
He’s been out there searching for them nonstop.
He needs the rest as much as they do. Meanwhile, I feel like I’ve had enough to last a lifetime, so I head to the chair in the corner and take a seat to keep watch while they sleep.
It isn’t long before Aurelia and Khalil are sleeping right along with Zeke.
The sun is creeping into the sky when I’m jarred awake by the rattle of a chain.
Memories from last night come flooding back, and I sit up in the chair with a jolt to see a body sitting up in the bed. The room is still dark, so the furniture is cast in shadows, but it’s clear who it is.
“Zeke?” The head turns slowly, eerily toward the sound of my voice, and I sigh. “Bane.”
I stand, and he yanks against the chain. The wooden headboard groans, and the sound jars Khalil awake, his rough movements waking Aurelia next.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?” She rubs at her eyes and then notices Bane. “Oh God. It’s you.” She then turns to me with wide eyes. “What do we do?”
“I vote we knock him out again.” Khalil cracks his neck and stands like he’s getting ready to do just that.
“No! Don’t. Just…wait,” Aurelia pleads. She turns to Bane when she sees us do as she asks, and my body coils tight when she lays her hand on his arms. “Bane?” His gaze won’t leave me though, so he continues to struggle against his bonds. “Bane, please. It’s me. It’s Aurelia.”
Hearing her name seems to do the trick, and his gaze slides slowly, cautiously away from me and down to her at his side. “Mine.”
“Yes…yours,” she agrees placatingly.
I feel my nostrils flare and my muscles flex while Khalil sneers.
We hate that fucker, and the feeling is more than mutual.
“Thank you for helping me, but I’m safe now. I need Zeke or Seth. You need to wake them up. Can you do that?”
“Cave,” he snaps at her with his face too close to hers for my comfort. All of him is too close to her for my liking.
“I know, I know. I didn’t stay in the cave.” Khalil and I swear viciously under our breaths when she swings into his lap without warning. Bane goes still, sitting back against the headboard with his own body tight as if he doesn’t trust himself with her.
It’s enough for me to walk forward to remove her from his lap, but his gaze shifts to mine when he sees me approaching, and the look in his eyes raises the hair on my body while the unspoken threat echoes around the room.
“Thorin, stay back. I’ve got this.” Aurelia returns her attention to Bane. “They won’t hurt me, but they think you will, so I need you to play nice.”
Bane’s glower darkens even more. “No.”
Khalil and I startle at hearing Bane speak. Aurelia said he had in the dell, but hearing it makes it all the more real. Bane can speak. Why the hell hasn’t he ever tried talking to us instead of trying to kill us?
“All right then,” Aurelia presses on while I silently lose my shit. It’s like dedicating your life pursuing a theory just to discover that everything you knew was wrong. We weren’t even close to understanding Bane. “Can you wake up one of the others like you did in the cave?”
“No. Mine is not safe.”
“Bane, listen to me. I am safe. I’m home. Give me back Zeke or Seth,” Aurelia demands firmly this time.
“No.”
“Why the hell not?” Aurelia snaps. My muscles coil in preparation to strike and get her out of the way just in case Bane makes a move.
“Cabin is not safe.” Before Aurelia can continue this redundant endless loop, he adds, “I-saac.”
Khalil and I stiffen and exchange a look while Aurelia sighs. “Isaac isn’t here, Bane. It’s just us.”
“He’s coming. Mine not safe.”
Bane doesn’t speak again after that. He just keeps careful vigilance, growling and struggling against the cuffs whenever Aurelia tries to leave his lap.
Half an hour passes like this before Aurelia spins around in Bane’s lap, putting her back to his chest as she addresses Khalil and me. “I have an idea, but I need your help.”
“What is it?” Khalil asks.
“Leave the room.”
“You could have kept that idea to yourself,” Khalil replies while crossing his arms. “No.”
“Bane is clearly guarding me. I think he feels threatened with you both in the room. He won’t believe that I’m safe until you leave. I’m not asking you to leave the cabin. Just step outside the door where he can’t see you. I’ve reasoned with him before. I can do it again without your hovering.”
“Fine,” I say as I rub my throbbing temples. “We’ll be right outside the door, but no farther.”
“Good. Before you go, there’s one more thing I need.”
“What?”
“The keys to the handcuffs.” Before I can tell her no, Aurelia holds out her hand and wiggles her fingers. “I promise not to use it until I’m sure he’s gone.”
Cursing, Khalil shoves his hand into his pocket and removes the key. He places it into her palm with a warning look to keep her promise.
Khalil and I leave and close the door behind us. A moment later, we can hear her talking to him and his short replies. This goes on for two hours with Khalil and me pacing a hole in the floor before we hear footsteps on the other side of the door. When it opens, Aurelia is standing there alone.
My gaze flies over her to the bed to see that the cuffs are hanging there open, and the body on the bed is relaxed as he leans back with a disarming grin and his hands behind his head.
“What’s up, bitches?”