Chapter Nineteen
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CAMRIEL WAS DEVASTATED as he watched his mate run away again.
He couldn’t really blame her. She was wounded and they were outnumbered by their foes.
A bullet nicked him on the neck, reminding him that the battle wasn’t over yet.
He raced over to scoop up the guns he’d dropped, then took cover again.
It took over an hour to finish hunting down all the vermin who’d tried to kill his cambion. When he was done, he returned to the spot where he’d last seen her. “I’ll be seeing you again soon, mate,” he vowed.
His vision went strange and he saw double for a second.
As if he’d summoned her, he saw his cambion standing right in front of him.
She was staring at him intently. She was even more beautiful without tension hounding her.
Realizing he could see her, her eyes widened.
“Mine,” he said in utter satisfaction, claiming her as his even though she wasn’t really there.
The vision faded, but his heart soared. Cam had no idea what this strange talent was that she possessed.
She had to have been thinking about him to appear so suddenly like that.
Her lack of hostility was a good omen. His only concern was how thin she looked.
He didn’t like the hollows beneath her cheeks.
“I need to fatten her up,” he decided. First, he had to prove to her that she could trust him.
The romance books he’d been reading should help.
That was if he could focus long enough to articulate his thoughts the next time they spoke.
He’d been so nervous about scaring her away that he’d fumbled their first real interaction.
Remembering the few words he’d managed, he flushed in embarrassment. “She probably thinks I’m stupid,” he mumbled as he trotted back to his truck. They’d been in a harrowing situation, but at least they’d both survived mostly intact.
Camriel was tempted to search for his mate, but he might scare her away again. It was probably best to let her come to him when Fate chose the time and place. He drove back to the base, wincing when hail bounced off his vehicle. Luckily, it wasn’t gigantic this time.
He made it home without his baby suffering any damage.
He was glad to see the path to reach their lair was now wider.
The truck that had carried the bulldozer up the mountain was gone.
The bulldozer and cement truck were parked next to the shed that contained their fuel.
Amaros had also moved some of the dangerous debris from the road with the bulldozer.
Amaros emerged from the north wing as Cam drove beneath the trees. “Is your cambion alright, brother?” he asked, raising his voice above the storm.
Camriel climbed out of the truck, glad for the cover of the trees. “She was wounded, but she survived,” he replied. His commander nodded in relief, then they covered his ride with tarps and hurried inside.
Zoe and Grace handed them towels when they entered the great room. The fireplace in the center of the room was blazing and they’d put their cushions close to it. “Tell us what happened,” Zoe requested.
Toweling his hair dry, Cam sank down onto a cushion.
Amaros dried his hair while standing up.
“My intuition was right,” he reported. “I followed my gut and it led me to a small town. I heard gunfire and sensed my cambion.” He described the vicious fight and the limited interaction he’d had with his mate.
“So, she can fight,” Amaros said, glad for the confirmation.
“She’s good with knives and with that wicked curved blade,” Camriel said proudly.
“It sounds like a reaping hook,” Grace figured.
“We’re really glad you’re both okay,” Zoe said. “Let’s hope your cambion has healed by now.”
“The bullet went through her side, so it isn’t lodged inside her,” Camriel said. He’d seen holes on both sides of her jacket, as well as blood. The thought of her being injured made his insides clench. “I wish I could kill them all over again for hurting her,” he growled.
“It’s a pity she ran away,” Amaros said. “Hopefully, she’ll realize you’re not her enemy now that you’ve fought together.”
“You’re really going to have to work on your communication skills, Cam,” Grace said in a pitying tone. She sympathized with his mate for being shot. She’d put the bullet that had hit her in the thigh in her bedroom. It was a memento of her near death experience.
He’d told them about his moronic attempt to talk to his female. “She makes me nervous,” he said defensively. “I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as her before.”
“What does she look like?” Zoe asked in fascination. She and Amaros had gone through this process themselves. It was fun to watch another knight falling for his perfect match.
“She’s tall and has dark brown eyes,” Camriel said dreamily.
“Is that it?” Grace asked skeptically. “There’s nothing else you can remember about her?”
He gave her a cranky look. “She has short black hair, dark olive skin and her cheeks are too prominent,” he reported. “It’s hard to tell her musculature, but she’s strong, fast and she moves like a trained fighter.”
“How tall is she?” Zoe asked.
“She comes up to here,” he said, indicating her head height.
“She’s six feet tall,” Amaros figured.
“My cambion has a unique talent,” Cam said with a grin. “I’m not sure how she did it, but she appeared before me after I finished slaughtering the humans.”
“What do you mean?” Grace asked in confusion.
“She somehow projected her image to me,” he replied. “I saw double for a second, then she seemed to be standing right in front of me.”
“Did she say anything?” Zoe asked.
“No, but I told her she was mine again,” he admitted.
“Did you use one word again, brother?” Amaros asked pityingly.
“It was all I had time to say before she disappeared,” his second said, hunching his broad shoulders defensively.
Zoe’s brow was furrowed as she tried to figure out what sort of talent her fellow cambion possessed. “Maybe she can astral project,” she said.
“Don’t people have to be asleep for that?” Grace asked.
“I have no idea,” Zoe replied. “We’ll have to question her about it when she turns up.”
“I’d suggest letting her come to us,” Amaros told the warrior. “She’s probably already spooked enough after you told her she belongs to you.”
“Twice,” Zoe pointed out wryly. “The poor woman probably has no idea who or what she really is, let alone what Cam is.”
“It’s going to be a shock to all of the cambions when we tell them about the bond,” Grace added.
Camriel nodded in agreement. “I screwed up,” he admitted. “I just blurted it out in the heat of the moment.”
“The middle of a gunfight isn’t the best time to try to woo someone,” Amaros said in amusement.
Heaving a sigh, Camriel placed his damp towel on the floor. “It’s hard to think when I’m around her,” he confessed. “It’s like I turn into a Neanderthal.”
“Did you ever fight any Neanderthals?” Grace asked, eyes wide in anticipation.
“Ziegel got into a fight with a small pack of them once,” Amaros said.
“What happened?” Zoe queried.
“He took five of them down before one of them bashed his head in with their club,” Cam said.
“Poor Ziegel,” Grace said with a snicker. “He got eaten by a T-rex and murdered by a Neanderthal.”
They shared a laugh about the ill-fated warrior’s plight.
“I see you managed to move the boulders,” Camriel said to change the topic.
“It wasn’t easy, but the bulldozer got the job done,” his leader said.
“We’ll have to put the septic tank somewhere at the front of our base,” Zoe figured. “Unless we cut a path through the woods to fit the cement truck through when we try to build one.”
“That would take a lot of work,” Grace said doubtfully. “We need to test the ground before we try to dig it up. It’ll be a lot easier to dig the hole in soil rather than trying to blast our way through rock.”
“Good point,” Amaros said in approval. She might be young, but the teen was smart.
“I saw a boring machine at the hire yard. It should be able to dig down far enough to see what we’re up against.” He picked up the book about how to build septic tanks and they became caught up in discussing their plans.
Cam slipped away after an hour and headed to his bedroom.
He’d carried a few closets in before they’d headed to the hire yard.
Using the power tools, he began piecing them back together.
Humming beneath his breath, he replayed the short amount of interaction he’d had with his cambion over and over in his head.
There was something familiar about her, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
They’d never met before, but she sparked recognition anyway.
He’d seen her dark eyes, dark olive skin and short black hair somewhere before.
Sucking in a breath, he figured out where he’d seen her eyes before. “Phul!” he said in a near snarl.
Amaros had come to check on him just in time to catch what he’d said. The knight strode inside, ready to call on his sword. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“I think my mate is Phul’s offspring,” Cam said reluctantly. “She has his eyes, hair and skin tone.”
“Fate went out of her way to meddle,” Amaros said ruefully. “My mate is Rahab’s daughter. Your cambion is Rahab’s second in command’s daughter.”
“I’m sure they’ll both be thrilled when they find out we stole their offspring from them,” Camriel said without a trace of amusement.
“Fate was wise to send the two most powerful soldiers’ cambions to us first,” Amaros said. “The last thing we need is for Rahab or Phul to have access to our mates’ skills.”
Camriel handed Amaros the drill and picked up the next section of the closet he was putting together.
They’d get the job done a lot faster with two of them working on it.
“I want our bedroom to be finished so my cambion will be able to move straight in when she’s ready,” he said.
The furniture could be moved when they were ready to install new flooring.
“Count on it, brother,” Amaros agreed. Soon, every bedroom would be outfitted appropriately.
They’d already stocked up on clothing for his knights.
Zoe and Grace intended to take all of the clothing from the sporting goods store and other stores in the nearby town.
They had no idea what sizes the other cambions would be.
It would be smart to have a wide variety of outfits ready for their growing family.