Chapter 34
Chapter
Thirty-Four
TEAL
The heavy snow on the ground muffled the sound of the horses’ hooves. A near-solid wall of white obscured anything further than a dozen feet away.
Next to me, Grayson turned in his saddle and grunted. “Where did she get the fucking cloak?”
What cloak? I, too, turned. Haven rode with Pierce, and she was wrapped in a gray cloak. An hour ago, she’d been swathed in threadbare fabric that matched the dark gold of her hair. “She has interesting powers.”
Grayson snorted. “She has interesting secrets.”
And I yearned to discover each and every one of them. Yearning was new, both unwelcome and enticing. I shifted in my saddle as I remembered hearing her voice in my head.
Please. I’m desperate.
She’d begged so prettily that my balls had tightened painfully. I’d pounded into Flynn mercilessly, imagining him fucking her as I fucked him. My overwhelming desire—for each of them—had made each thrust more brutal.
I need you to come. She wanted us as badly as we wanted her. And, oh, the ways we’d take her. Make her scream. Make her ours.
“Now!”
I’d exploded, coming so hard that stars twinkled at the edge of my vision. Flynn had jerked wildly as he roared in ecstasy before going limp beneath me.
“We have to have her,” he’d whispered.
“Soon,” I’d promised even as I wondered why the shield fascinated me.
She was nothing like the women who usually caught my attention, dark-haired beauties with demure expressions and a willingness to kneel before me.
To crawl. Haven would never crawl. But if she did, I was fairly sure she’d destroy me.
The icy wind picked up, and my horse huffed its discontent.
I could barely make out Haven and Pierce in the swirling snow. “Can you see?” The conditions were growing more dangerous by the minute.
“No.”
“The weather is getting worse.”
Grayson shrugged. “We ride.”
We ought to stop and take shelter. If I were in charge, we’d already be on the ground and looking for a windbreak. But Grayson was our leader, and he was already in a vicious mood, so I held my tongue.
We were four alpha males. Four warriors with a penchant for violence.
Four men born to dominate. The struggle for power had nearly torn us apart until, at last, we’d decided Grayson should lead.
He was the best choice. Pierce was too cold, Flynn too hot, and I was too …
me. With Grayson in charge, I saved my need for control for the bedroom.
“Teal?” Haven’s voice made my cock twitch.
Please. I’m desperate.
I shifted in the saddle. “What?”
“Can you construct a shelter?”
“He’s a warrior.” Grayson’s lips curled into a sneer. “He doesn’t build cozy cottages.”
“According to Pierce, she stood over your body and fought off multiple attackers. Maybe you should dial back the disdain.” My voice was so low that only Grayson could hear it.
“Don’t tell me you’re considering it?” His eyes narrowed as if I’d betrayed him.
I suppressed the urge to whack him on the back of the head. “It’s cold, and the visibility is shit. We could easily lose the track.” Also, the temperature had dropped in the past hour. Tiny shards of ice mixed with the snow. The wind was punishing. Taking shelter was smart.
Grayson mumbled something about “going soft,” but he reined in Caspian.
I picked a few widely spaced trees at the side of the narrow track and called vines from the frozen earth. It took a few minutes to weave the vines between the tree trunks.
Flynn tried to help by holding one section in place, but the vines kept slapping him on the ass.
“I think it likes you,” I told him.
“The feeling isn’t mutual,” he muttered. “There’s only one person allowed to spank me.”
I bit back a laugh.
Despite Flynn’s help, three solid walls took shape, blocking the wind. Then I added a roof. There was enough room inside for the horses and for us.
Haven slipped out of the saddle and hurried inside. “Flynn, will you please light a fire?”
He hopped off his mount and trotted after her.
“Like a dog following its master,” Grayson muttered. “You’re both pussy-whipped.”
We should be so lucky. “Give it a rest, Gray.” I slid out of my saddle, grabbed Flynn’s abandoned reins, and led our horses inside.
Haven crouched in front of a merry fire and warmed her hands. She didn’t spare Grayson a glance when he stomped into the shelter. When Pierce and his horse entered, she offered a small smile.
Grayson busied himself with the horses, taking off their saddles, rubbing them down with a dry cloth, and doling out oats.
Now that we were all inside, I built a fourth wall, then created a small hole in the ceiling above the fire.
A few flakes blew inside, but they were better than choking on the smoke from Flynn’s little blaze.
Pierce pulled our provisions from the saddlebags.
And Flynn? He sat down next to Haven and stared at her. The expression on his handsome face was intent. Obsessed. Was he … drooling?
I shifted, trying to block Grayson’s view. Our fearless leader already knew Flynn was enamored. Flynn was often enamored. But not like this. Obsession was new.
Grayson, who was in an ugly mood, prowled the small space like a caged predator, his frustration radiating outward in waves.
“Here.” Pierce offered Haven a piece of hardtack.
“Thank you.” She brought the biscuit to her lips and wrinkled her nose.
“Problem, Shield?” Grayson’s face was tight with annoyance.
“Nope.” She popped the p and took a tiny bite.
He stopped his pacing and stared down at her. “I have questions.”
“You’re welcome.”
He stared at her.
“For saving your life. You’re welcome.” She could have let him bleed out. She hadn’t. I wondered why.
“We’re even.”
“Even?” A flush colored her cheeks. Prettily. “You’re the man who ripped me from my home and then let Drake and Carron torture me. You threw me into the pit to die. If I were you, I’d never mention ‘even’ again.”
“I saved you from the wyvern.” It was official. Grayson was a fucking idiot.
A storm raged in her gray eyes. “As I remember, the wyvern ate your sword. I gave you a second weapon.”
“How?” he demanded.
She stared into the fire as long seconds passed, ignoring the rising tension.
“Answer me!”
She shifted her gaze. “Do I demand you share your secrets?”
“I’m in charge.” Spoken like a man who’d lost control.
I winced on his behalf. Even an idiot, which Grayson definitely was, could tell that wasn’t a winning argument.
“Because you’re a man.”
“Because I earned the right to lead.”
“Is that what you call it? Leadership?”
Grayson ground his teeth. Loudly. If he kept that up, he’d need a dentist.
Haven smiled sweetly. “How many female guards? How many female councillors?”
Flynn raised his hand. “Ooh, I know this one. Is it zero?”
Haven chuckled.
Grayson ground his teeth. “We’re not talking about politics. We’re talking about you.”
“Politics are what landed me here. Politics give men power and leave women vulnerable.” A fire burned in her eyes as her gaze traveled between the four of us.
We’d threatened her grandmother, and she hadn’t forgotten. Or forgiven. I forced myself to meet her gaze, hoping she’d see the regret in my eyes.
“Ease up, Grayson.” Pierce, who’d taken the other seat next to Haven, held up his hands in mock surrender. “Truce?”
Grayson ignored him. “Where did the sword come from?”
“I called it,” she snapped.
“How?” He stepped close enough to loom above her.
I itched to put my hand on his shoulder and pull him back. Instead, I strengthened the vines keeping out the wind. Apparently, with Haven present, my strategy for conflict resolution was passive-aggressive gardening.
Haven stared up at him for long seconds, then her shoulders slumped, as if she’d decided arguing with Grayson wasn’t worth the effort. “If I know where something is, if I can see it in my mind, I can call it to me.”
Next to her, Pierce stared into the fire as if his life depended on it.
“How?” Firelight reflected in Grayson’s eyes as he scowled at her.
“The mechanics?” She held her hands out to the fire’s warmth. “I have no idea. I just can.”
“It’s how she survived the pit.” Pierce’s face shuttered, as if the thought of her alone and suffering bothered him. “She called for food and water.”
“You can call for food?” Flynn perked up, waving the hardtack at her. “Can you get us something better than this?”
“You want me to conjure you something to eat?”
He nodded eagerly.
A pot of lumpy oatmeal appeared in front of him—the exact pot from the shields’ dining room. He stared at the unappetizing mush in horror. “What’s this?”
“What the guards feed their shields.”
He nudged the offending pot with the toe of his boot. “You can’t blame me for that. I don’t run the kitchen.”
“Try it,” she insisted.
He pulled a spoon from his mess kit and did as she asked. His lips drew away from his teeth in disgust. “It’s so bland. No one could eat this.”
Haven’s expression hardened. “Yet they served it every day. You could demand better treatment for the women.” Her voice was as cold as the wind howling outside.
He gaped at her. “We protect women by protecting the kingdom.”
Her lush lips curled into a sneer. “Like you protected me?”
Furrows cut into the space between his brows, and he gazed at her as if she was a particularly vexing puzzle. “What’s made you so bitter?” Was he trying to rile her? He was certainly riling me.
Sometimes, Flynn needed a gag—a fucking ball gag.
Haven turned toward him, giving him her whole attention. “Do you really have to ask that? I’m entitled to my bitterness.”
Flynn looked crestfallen. “You blame us?”
He was a bigger idiot than Grayson. Of course she blamed us. It was our fault.
“You’re surprised?” She sounded incredulous. “You watched while your friend whipped me.”
“He’s not our friend. Drake is a fuckwad.”
“You still watched,” Haven said quietly.
“So he wouldn’t go too far.”
“Enough!” The ugly red flush on Grayson’s face was a warning.
A warning Haven chose to ignore. Her little hands tightened into fists as she glared. “You think you’re the heroes. You’re not.”
Her words cut deep. I wanted to protect her, to claim her, to bring a flush to her cheeks not caused by anger. But if that was how she truly saw us …
“Enough!” Grayson roared.
She raised her brows and stared at him as if he’d just proved her point.
“If you think we’re so awful, why do you keep saving us?” The ill-considered words slipped out before I could stop them.
She pursed her lips and stared into the fire as if the answer to my question could be found in the flames.
I knew the answer, but I pushed away the uncomfortable truth. Haven wasn’t just a shield. She guarded people. All people. She did our job better than we did.