Chapter Twenty-Five
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CAMRIEL MENTALLY KICKED himself as he swam back across the lake. His connection to his cambion faded, but he could still feel her when he reached the shore. He pulled on his clothes and shoes, then reluctantly trudged back to the base.
The others were waiting for him in the great room. Zoe took one look at his glum face and shook her head. “What did you do, Camriel?” she asked, knowing he’d screwed up somehow.
“I asked Victoria to bond with me and she refused,” he said morosely, then sat down on the folding chair one of them had brought into the room. He’d figured out that Zoe had known her fellow cambion had arrived. It hadn’t been his turn to wash their clothes at all.
Amaros reached over to put his hand on his shoulder for a moment. “I’m sure it was a shock to hear about her true origins,” he said in commiseration.
“We didn’t get that far,” Cam admitted.
Grace didn’t look at all surprised. “Talk us through it,” she said. “Tell us everything that happened.”
Taking a deep breath, he laid it all out for them.
“I sensed her and decided to swim across the lake to speak to her,” he began.
The females exchanged a look, but allowed him to continue without interrupting him.
“I heard her talking as she was washing her clothes,” he went on.
“I stopped and hid behind a boulder in the water to work on a plan.” He could tell they didn’t think that had been such a great idea when they both frowned.
“What happened next?” Grace asked in a neutral tone.
“My body reacted to the sight of her and I tried to cool off by swimming underwater to her,” he replied.
“What was Victoria wearing?” Zoe asked, sounding worried.
“Just underwear,” he replied. “She’d just washed them and she was wet, so they clung to her skin.” His tone sounded dreamy even to him.
“What were you wearing, brother?” Amaros queried. From the way his lips were trying to quirk upwards, he’d already guessed the answer.
“I was naked,” Cam admitted, sinking down into his chair when the females exchanged incredulous looks.
“Oh, Camriel,” Zoe said, shaking her head in disapproval. “Please tell me you didn’t walk right up to her with your bits on display.” She gestured at his groin without looking at it directly. His erection had deflated, thankfully.
“He did,” Grace declared when the warrior remained stubbornly silent. She put her hand over her face and groaned. “Did Victoria run away screaming in terror?” she asked, voice slightly muffled.
“No,” he said sullenly. “She ordered me to back up until she couldn’t see my boa constrictor anymore.” Grace snickered, immediately knowing what he was referring to.
“Your what?” Zoe asked, eyebrows shooting up, then lowering when he pointed at his crotch. “Oh,” she said, face reddening.
“Her language is different from normal,” Camriel said. “Instead of using swearwords, she substitutes them for other words, like fudging and shizzing.” He smiled in remembrance. “I think she’s adorable.”
“It is kind of cute,” Grace agreed.
Zoe was looking at him like he’d grown another head. “At what stage did you do any thinking with your brain instead of your boa constrictor?” she demanded.
“I had a good plan,” he said defensively. “Victoria just wasn’t ready to accept my bond yet.”
“Exactly what did you say to her, Camriel?” Amaros asked. He was barely stopping himself from laughing, aware that it would hurt his second’s feelings.
“I walked out of the water and dropped to my knees in front of her,” Cam explained. “I put my hand over my heart, then asked her to bond with me and become mine so I could cherish her forever.”
Amaros manfully held in a snort of laughter. “Well, you definitely lived up to your vow,” he said. “You told me you would beg your cambion to bond with you the moment you found her.”
“Technically, that was the second time he’d met Victoria,” Grace pointed out.
Zoe looked up at the ceiling as if she was searching for something. Cam had a feeling she was trying to stop herself from exploding at him. “Can you fix this, Zoe?” he asked, feeling as foolish as he knew they all thought he was.
She lowered her head and cast a look at him. He was relieved to see she was more frustrated with him than disappointed. “Grace and I will have to speak to her,” she decided. “I’m sure Victoria would rather see a couple of women than you two right now.”
“That’s a great idea,” Grace agreed. She was eager to meet someone else who was like them. “We’ll try to undo the damage you did, big brother,” she said with a smirk at the knight. “If we do, you’ll owe us big time.”
“Take some venison with you,” Cam requested. “My cambion is beautiful, but she’s too thin. She needs meat.”
“If she needed meat, she wouldn’t have ordered you to hide your dong,” Grace joked. Zoe cracked up and the kid giggled along with her.
Amaros gave his bonded an amused smile, then leaned over to kiss her on the temple. “I’ll put some of the venison in a container,” he offered.
“I’ll go with you,” Camriel decided, determined to make sure his female had the best cuts.
Grace waited until the warriors were absent before she leaned over to whisper to Zoe.
“I wish we’d been there to see Cam courting the cambion,” she said, wiping away tears of mirth.
“I can just picture him buck naked and on his knees with his dong standing at attention as he begged his mate to accept him.”
Zoe muffled her hysterical laughter with her hands and the teen joined her. They had to get their hilarity out of their systems before the knights returned. Cam’s feelings were already hurt from being rejected. They didn’t want to make things worse for him.
Amaros sensed Zoe needed time to recover, so he deliberately took his time to choose some venison with Camriel.
They found a small container to put it in, then Amaros stopped his second in command before he could hurry back to the females.
“Don’t despair, Cam,” he said. “I screwed up with Zoe at first as well,” he reminded him.
“Everything worked out for us in the end.”
“You didn’t screw up as badly as I did,” Camriel said glumly. “I did everything wrong and now she hates me.”
“Yes, you botched it, but Victoria told you her name,” Amaros pointed out. “She wouldn’t have told you if she truly hates you.”
Cam brightened at that prospect. “You could be right,” he mused. “She didn’t run screaming in terror when she saw me naked, either. That has to count for something.”
“You’ll win her over,” Amaros predicted.
Camriel’s confidence was shaken, but he was determined not to fail again. “Thanks, brother,” he said, grateful for his commander’s support.
He carried the container with prime cuts of venison back to the girls. They’d donned their long winter coats for the trek around the lake.
“We’ll follow behind you, but keep our distance,” Amaros decided.
He didn’t want to leave the females vulnerable, especially when he hadn’t scanned the newcomer yet.
He couldn’t allow any of the cambions to join their group until he’d determined the state of their souls.
His knights could tell whether people were good or evil, but they didn’t have his innate skill to sense how deep the darkness went.
“I hope Cam didn’t scare Victoria away,” Grace said as the females left first.
“She’s still here,” Zoe told her, apparently getting one of her hunches. “It might take some explaining to get her to understand Cam’s approach, though,” she added.
They looked over their shoulders at him in disapproval, making him feel like an idiot all over again.
The knights hung back and followed the females at a distance.
Camriel relaxed when they were close enough for him to sense his mate more strongly.
Victoria hadn’t fled, which proved just how brave she was.
He couldn’t wait to get to know her and prove that he was the knight for her.