Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Abydos
The slam of the SUV’s door was drowned out by a crash of thunder, and the rain beat like needles against my scalp. But it didn’t matter. Because I was in the storm again.
I staggered away from the vehicle and tipped my head back. My suit was already soaked through, and I struggled to breathe through the lashing wind and water. My broken tusk ached from the impacts, and my throat clenched with the emotion I hadn’t allowed myself to feel for so long.
When tears flowed from my eyes, I told myself they were because of the violence of the thunderstorm…and I almost believed the lie.
I was here.
I was alive.
And finally…I was feeling.
My claws extended to their full length, my Kteer exulted in the freedom. As the energy from the next lightning strike gathered, I threw out my arms and tossed back my head and roared.
Even behind my closed lids, I could see the lightning, feel its energy wrapping around me. Another deep breath, and as the white lights faded from the darkness, I roared again. Then again, loving the sensation of the natural world cocooning me.
How long had it been since I’d locked myself away?
Away from my friends. Away from my brothers. Away from this energy. Away from the world.
I missed it. I missed them.
Another roar, then a fourth, and my breath left me.
Finally, my Kteer felt calmer, and to my surprise, laughter edged its way up my throat. Gods below, I couldn’t recall the last time I’d laughed, but now it felt appropriate.
I was drunk on a thunderstorm, wasn’t I?
Still laughing at my own foolishness, I bent to scoop up a large handful of the gravel from the parking lot. When I reached for the SUV’s door, I was shaking my head at myself.
“Sorry about that,” I announced as I slid, dripping wet, back into my seat.
Riven’s eyes were wider than I’d ever seen, white showing all around the green irises, and she gripped the armrest. “Are you okay?” she croaked, and yeah, that was definitely a croak. “I thought you’d been electrocuted.”
“Nah.” My smile felt easy, but I heard her suck in a breath when she saw it. “It hit to the south.” I held out the handful of gravel. “I had to prove myself.”
“Holy shit, Abydos,” she breathed, then lunged forward to clap both her hands over mine, closing the rocks in my fist. “You don’t need to kill yourself to prove anything. I’ll believe you.”
Huh.
Had she been…scared for me? I twisted in the puddle I was making on the fancy leather to face her. “I wasn’t in danger.”
Her fingers twitched around mine. “When you started to yell like that, I wasn’t sure if I should call for an ambulance. I thought you’d been hit by that lightning strike.”
Maybe it would have been better to let her believe that, because the gods knew I couldn’t explain how cathartic screaming at the sky had been. So I just smiled and shrugged. “I wasn’t.”
“And now you’re smiling! Good God,” she breathed, her gaze darting over my face. “Maybe you are injured.”
“I’m soaked, is what I am.” I turned my hand upside down, pouring the gravel into her hand, then reaching for the ignition. “Let’s get home before I ruin this car like the last three.”
She snorted softly, but I could feel her attention on me.
It wasn’t until we pulled out of the parking lot, and I turned toward the north—my house was on the cliffs in that direction, and there was only one major road that went around the island—that she exhaled and sat back in her seat.
“So. You grabbed a bunch of rocks.” I saw her pick up one from the corner of my eye. “What’s this one?”
“Granite,” I answered without hesitation.
She hummed, dropped the piece of gravel to her lap, then held out another. “What about this one?”
“Granite.”
“You’re not even looking!”
“I don’t have to look.” My lips twitched again. “Gravel is usually made of granite.”
She huffed. “That’s cheating. This one is a different color. What is it?”
I pulled one hand from the wheel and held out my palm for her to drop the rock into it. Pinching it between my claws, I lifted it to my mouth. “Basalt,” I said, just from the smell of the wet volcanic remains.
When I handed it back without looking, she clucked her tongue. “What causes the spots on this one, mister wise guy?”
I recognized the turn to my property coming up and took it carefully in the pouring rain. Then I held out my palm again and lifted the piece of gravel to my face. My tongue flicked out. “Quartz in the granite. Feldspar, which is really common. Biotite is causing the dark specks.”
“Holy shit,” she whispered as the house came into view, outlined by the storm over the ocean behind it. “Are you serious? You can taste the rocks?”
As I waited for the garage door to open, I sent her a smirk. “How do you think I found my lithium mine?”
Riven rolled her eyes and snatched the rock back to cup in her hands with the rest. “You tasted the lithium?”
Was there any reason not to tell her? I was feeling relaxed, after all. So I shrugged, then edged the SUV carefully inside the garage, next to her sedan, which she’d finally begun to park inside.
“Your world is a mirror of mine. I knew where the ores and minerals were in the mountains you call the Rockies. I learned to identify them during that year we were kept at the laboratory, and afterward, I studied their worth.”
I’d been so godsdamn angry then, so full of rage at the humans and their hatred. I’d been determined to prove myself, to beat them at their own game.
“So you knew where to find the lithium?”
“I knew where there was a deposit in my world. It hadn’t been found yet in your world, so I used my share of the government’s hush money to build my first company.”
And destroy the land.
I pulled the keys from the ignition harder than intended. That decision had led to death and destruction—not just my guys, but the very nature I once revered.
“You’re remarkable, Abydos,” Riven whispered.
No.
No, I wasn’t.
So I wrenched open the door, desperate to get away from her stare. “I’m going to dry off.” Maybe a dry cleaner could salvage this suit. “I’ll bring in your stand mixer afterward. Don’t touch it.”
On that command—I had to give it, knowing my stubborn little human would try to get it out of the trunk herself otherwise—I slammed the door. Not just on her, but on the swirling tempest of emotions in my chest.
Riven
Holy. Shit.
I just… Wow. After Abydos stomped out, I slumped against the seat of the car, still holding a handful of fucking rocks, and tried to remember how to breathe.
Being with him in such close quarters had been playing merry hell with my libido, but then getting caught in that storm with him? Seeing him unleash that raw power and energy? Watching him rage at the storm as if it had personally done him wrong?
Seeing him laugh?
Yeah. “Wow” didn’t cover it.
I felt tingly…as if I’d been standing too close to a lightning strike. Wrung out, but also strangely energized.
I needed a drink.
Chuckling at myself, I managed to get the door open, briefly considered disobeying and trying to get the stand mixer from the trunk myself, then shook my head and decided to deal with the rocks. Excuse me, the granite.
In the kitchen, I arranged them in the windowsill herb garden I’d planted the other day. It would be a few weeks before I had any useful basil, but in the meantime, I liked the way the rocks—the feldspar and biotite—glimmered in the recessed lighting. Humming quietly, I turned to the wine fridge.
I’m not a sommelier, but I’m not bad at wine pairings, and I’d learned Abydos’s preferences. I also knew my preferences, which were much cheaper. As far as I was concerned, when it came to picking bottles I was going to drink, price was the first consideration, then label.
Anything with a cartoon animal was an automatic Yes I’m going to try it for me.
This one had a purple penguin on it, and dammit, adorable purple penguins made me smile. So I pulled it from the bottom shelf—where it couldn’t be confused for one of the bottles I’d purchased for Abydos’s dinners—and unscrewed the top.
Yes, it was a screw top. Stop judging me.
My brows rose with the first sip. It was surprisingly light and not too fruity. Delicious, and dangerous.
Grinning to myself, I kicked off my boots and planted a hand on the counter to balance as I pulled off my socks.
There. Everyone knows wine tastes better with bare feet.
I curled my toes on the tiles and strolled toward the bay window set above what would be the breakfast table if the master of this house didn’t eat in the big dining room each morning.
The storm still raged, and if you think bare feet are cozy while sipping wine, just throw in a magnificent thunderstorm, and you’ll go all gooey.
I stood, entranced, my wineglass hovering near my lips, as the lightning lit the clouds. Slowly, I allowed myself to sip, savoring the tartness as it slid down my throat, my breathing shallow with wonder…
And then I heard Abydos step into the room.
I turned away from the show, sipping from my wine once more, trying to pretend a casualness I wasn’t feeling.
His feet were bare as well, his gray sweatpants hanging low on his hips and the sleeves on his black Henley shirt shoved to his elbows, his chest visible at the neckline. Did orcs have hair on their chests?
I realized my mouth was watering, desperate to learn the answer, and I hurriedly took another sip of the wine.
“I couldn’t stay away.”
Abydos stepped closer, his bare feet making no sound. How had I known he was here, before? I don’t know. It just seemed as if I was always aware of his presence in this house.
So I forced a nod toward the window. “Welcome, then,” I managed to rasp. “Just enjoying the storm.”
“Yes.” He didn’t look toward the window but held my gaze. “Me too.”
Oh God.
The air between us seemed as charged as the maelstrom outside. I found myself holding my breath as I shifted closer, offering the wineglass in a stupid gesture.