Chapter Twenty-Five
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AMAROS CHECKED HIS watch frequently during the sprint back to the house where he’d left the girls. As estimated, they returned just before five hours had passed. “They’re still in there,” he said when he came to a stop. He was more relieved than he’d expected.
“Are we finally there?” Camriel asked, looking and sounding a bit ragged. “I need to rest and recharge.”
“We’re here,” his commander confirmed.
A curtain twitched and Amaros waved in greeting. Zoe’s face appeared for a moment as she studied his second in command. “He’s even bigger than he looked in my vision,” she whispered not quite quietly enough.
Camriel gave Amaros a confused glance, but he avoided looking at the knight. “We need to leave,” Amaros said, knowing they could hear him clearly. “I want to be back at our base before nightfall.”
“Good luck with that,” he heard Grace say in amusement. “We’ll have to speed the whole way back.”
Camriel was starting to look wary by now. “Who are these females?” he whispered.
“You’ll see in a moment,” Amaros said, still putting off the inevitable. Crossing to the garage door, he heaved it upwards to reveal the truck.
Instantly captivated by the huge black pickup, Camriel gave it an appreciative smile. “This I like,” he said in approval. “Can I drive it?”
“You can drive it tomorrow,” Amaros promised just as the girls entered the garage from a door on the back wall.
Camriel’s brows drew down into a dire frown when he sensed them. “They’re cambions,” he said with his upper lip lifted. It was an instinctive reaction based on the interaction he’d had with the creatures in the past.
“And you’re a big, blond doofus, but we’re not going to judge you for it,” Grace retorted snarkily.
Camriel turned to his leader incredulously. “You can’t expect me to...”
“Treat them with the same respect you treat myself and your fellow knights with,” Amaros said to cut him off.
“Their sires are our foes, but Fate intervened this time. The cambions aren’t evil.
” They don’t know about the choice Fate gave us yet, he said telepathically.
It took a lot of power for him to communicate without words, so he only did so rarely.
His strength would increase as more of his team turned up.
Getting the hint that he wasn’t supposed to mention a possible bond with the females, Camriel turned to study them.
They were both staring at him through hostile eyes now.
“Ladies,” he said with a polite bow. “I apologize for speaking ill of you. My name is Camriel and I’m pleased to meet you both. ”
“I’m Zoe and this is Gracelyn,” Zoe said, willing to take the olive branch he was extending.
“Grace,” the teen corrected her, then sneered at Camriel’s clothing. “Nice outfit, dude. Where did you get it from? The kids’ section of Walmart?”
Glancing down at his sweatpants and t-shirt, Camriel grinned. “At least they show off my muscles,” he boasted. Flexing his biceps, the fabric tore with a pained ripping sound.
Grace cackled and he laughed along with her. Zoe smiled and Amaros shook his head. His second always managed to win over the ladies. He just hoped Zoe wouldn’t fall for his charm.
“I call shotgun,” Camriel said, pulling the saying out of his new vocabulary.
“Your legs are too long to sit in the back anyway,” Zoe said in agreement. “We’re ready to go if you are.”
Amaros glanced into the back of the truck. “What’s under the tarp?” he asked.
Grace gave him a challenging look. “Books and a bookcase to keep them in,” she said.
“What sort of books?” Camriel queried, opening the back door for the tiny cambion.
“All sorts,” she said excitedly. “I can’t wait to start reading them.”
Zoe shared a look with Amaros. They were both glad to see she was happy. Their gazes locked and he had to tear his eyes away. The knight would miss having Zoe sitting next to him during the long drive home. At least he could see her in the rearview mirror once they were all safely buckled inside.
“Spacious,” Camriel said in approval, smoothing his hand over the leather seat. His head almost brushed the roof, so he slumped down a bit to give himself more room.
“Wait until you hear the engine roar once we hit the freeway,” Amaros said with a grin as he drove out of the garage.
“Boys and their toys,” Grace said mockingly.
“You have your books, we have this beast,” Camriel said defensively. “Can I get one of my own?” he asked, giving Amros a pleading look.
“We’ll see,” the knight replied.
“That means no,” Zoe confided in a loud whisper, then the girls snickered in unison.
Camriel was instantly crushed. “Aw,” he said in disappointment.
“I just meant we might not be able to find another truck as big as this one,” Amaros said, flicking the females an exasperated look.
“We’ll find one,” Camriel said with supreme confidence. “And it will be mine,” he vowed.
“I like him,” Grace decided in amusement. “He already feels like a big brother.”
Camriel turned to flash her a grin. “I like you, too, shorty.”
She made a face at the nickname, but Amaros couldn’t sense any animosity. He hoped the rest of his warriors and the cambions they gathered together would get along as well as these two.
“I’ve been thinking,” Zoe said as Amaros made his way back towards the mountains. He gave her an enquiring look in the rearview mirror. “We need to raid a library and gather as many books as we can,” she suggested.
“You’re my new God,” Grace said, putting her hands together in prayer. “I’ll worship you until the day you die.”
Zoe gave her an amused look before continuing.
“Our base needs a lot of work. We’re going to have to add plumbing, get some form of electricity going and figure out how to build furniture.
We’ll also have to learn how to hunt, butcher animals and use their hides for clothing and other things if we have to. ”
Amaros nodded in agreement. “That’s a good idea,” he said. “I’m sure there must be a library in Manhattan.”
“Getting to it and transporting a lot of books out of the city might not be easy,” Zoe said. “I wish the internet was still running. It has everything we need to know stored on it.”
“Physical books are going to be a necessity,” Camriel figured. He’d never even seen or heard of books before Fate had infused him with the knowledge. He even knew how to read.
“We’ll also need tools,” Grace pointed out. “We should find a construction site and steal everything we can.”
“Hardware stores will have supplies, too,” Zoe added. “We might even be able to find heavy machinery in the construction sites that will help us.”
“I can’t wait to find the rest of our unit,” Camriel said. “We should be able to get most of the repairs done fairly quickly.”
“You haven’t seen our base yet,” Grace warned him. “Did Amaros tell you it doesn’t have a roof?”
“Only part of the roof is missing,” Amaros corrected her. “I gave Camriel a full description of the three wings.”
“It’ll be fun patching it back together,” the big warrior decided. “We’ve never had a chance to do anything like this before. This is the first time we’ll have a real home.”
His tone had turned dreamy and Amaros shot him a warning look. The females didn’t know the knights had the option to become bonded to them. It didn’t feel like the right time to drop that truth bomb on them. He would have to have a quiet word with his second to make sure he didn’t blurt it out.