Chapter Thirty-One
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CAMRIEL WAS CERTAIN he’d blown it again when he told Victoria he knew she was fertile.
Females had always been easy conquests in the past. His mate was very different from them.
It would take effort to sway her to bond with him.
He knew he was up for the challenge, but he couldn’t deny that being rejected over and over hurt.
Her mood changes made his mind spin and he never knew how she was going to react to the things he said. At least she was allowing him to enter her cabin. Neither he, nor Amaros, had spied the small dwelling while they’d hunted. It was well concealed among the trees.
“This is it,” Victoria said when she led him along a short track. “Home, sweet home,” she added.
“It’s tiny,” Cam said in disapproval.
“Yep, but it’s all mine,” she retorted, then opened the door.
He followed her inside and glanced around. She’d swept the floor and he could see the remains of a fire in the fireplace. “At least you have windows,” he conceded.
“It beats sleeping under a log,” she joked.
He smiled in reaction and her gaze went to his mouth. It lingered there for a few seconds before she turned away. “Where do you want me to hang the clothesline?” he asked.
Victoria looked around at the clothing she’d hung from hooks. “From the highest hooks,” she requested. “I don’t want to strangle myself if I get up during the night.”
Camriel unraveled the thin rope and began stringing it from the hooks.
He crisscrossed it from wall to wall several times, giving her plenty of line to hang her clothing from.
Conscious of her watching his every move, he wished he’d shucked off his jacket first. He wanted her to admire his body.
He knew his cambion was attracted to him.
She’d barely been able to keep her eyes off him when he’d been naked in the lake.
His boa constrictor rose at the memory of her beautifully sculpted body.
It was impossible to will his erection away.
He turned his back so she wouldn’t see it.
“There you go,” he said, finishing tying the knot to secure the line.
Grace wouldn’t have been able to reach it, but Victoria wouldn’t have any problems. “I’m just a short walk away if you need me, Victoria,” he said, keeping his body angled away as he spoke to her.
“I know,” she said, watching him as he stepped over to the door. She waited for him to open it before she spoke again. “When did you want to go on our first date?” she asked.
Jubilance surged through him and he gave her a huge grin. “Tomorrow?” he suggested eagerly.
She shook her head and disappointment took over. “Give me a day to recover from my journey,” she requested. “I’ll come over the next afternoon at one o’clock to visit the girls. You can take me on a date afterwards.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Camriel said, back to grinning happily again. He blew her a kiss and she rolled her eyes. Shutting the door, the knight practically floated back to the base.
“It went well this time?” Grace surmised excitedly when he returned, wearing a huge grin.
“I didn’t screw it up completely,” he confirmed. He’d stopped to splash cold lake water on his face before joining his friends.
“What did you do wrong this time?” Zoe asked. The trio were in one of the bedrooms in the south wing, putting furniture together.
“I let it slip that we can sense when females are fertile,” he admitted sheepishly. “Victoria thought I only wanted to bond with her to get her pregnant so we can increase our army.”
“You have no game when it comes to women,” Grace told him sadly. “Absolutely no game at all.”
He scowled, but he didn’t try to deny it.
The romance books hadn’t been of much help so far, but he had plans for their first date.
That reminded him of his mate’s plans. “Victoria is going to rest tomorrow, but she would like to visit you girls the next afternoon at one o’clock,” he said.
“Then she said I could take her on our first date.”
“Nice one, brother,” Amaros said with a pleased smile.
“See, I have some game,” Cam said to Grace.
The teen held her thumb and finger a fraction apart. “Yeah, about this much,” she said with a smirk.
“We need to help you plan your date,” Zoe decided.
“So you don’t embarrass yourself horribly,” Grace added.
“I’ve got it covered,” Camriel said confidently.
Even Amaros was skeptical about his claim. “I can’t wait to hear this,” he said in anticipation, then drilled the next section of closet together while Zoe held it steady.
Cam helped Grace with the closet she was putting together and outlined his plan.
“I was thinking of putting a picnic together,” he divulged.
“I’ll fill a basket with snacks and a bottle of wine.
I’ll take a blanket with us and drive to a nearby meadow.
We can get to know each other while we watch the sun setting. ”
“That sounds great, except for the part when the late afternoon storm sweeps through and you get pounded by hail,” Grace said.
“The storms are arriving later and later,” Camriel reminded her. “If it looks like one is coming early, I’ll drive her back here.”
“It’s a good plan,” Zoe conceded. “Just don’t mention anything about her fertility and you hopefully won’t stick your foot in your mouth again.”
“He’s already got both of them wedged in there pretty firmly,” Grace said, then they both snickered.
Camriel was too happy to have found his cambion to be annoyed. So far, he’d done a terrible job of wooing Victoria. That was all about to change. She would have one day to gather her strength, then he was going to turn on the charm. She would be his by the end of their date. He was sure of it.
“Did Vic like your bedroom when you gave her the tour?” Zoe asked.
“She likes the rug,” Cam said, proud he’d claimed it. “I think she’ll be happy there when we become bonded. The only thing she mentioned was that the window facing the trees needs a curtain.”
“It needs an actual window first,” Grace said. “Not to mention a proper door.”
“We’re working as fast as we can,” Amaros said. “It would go a lot faster if more of my team would turn up soon.”
They all looked at Zoe expectantly. “Stop trying to force me to have a vision!” she grumbled with a scowl. “I haven’t seen any hints about when the next knight is going to arrive yet.”
Amaros gave her hand an apologetic squeeze. “I’m just eager to be reunited with my men,” he said.
“I know,” his mate said, tone softening. “I know you miss your brothers and you just want them all to be together again.”
“It seems cruel that they’re straggling in one by one,” Grace pointed out. “It’s also unfair, since the soldiers all arrived at the same time.”
“Fate has her reasons for the timeframe she’s using,” Amaros figured. “Everything she does is calculated to assist us to win our wars.”
“But you don’t always win,” Zoe said. Camriel picked up on her concern and so did Amaros.
“We’ll win this time,” her mate said. “We have to,” he added grimly.
They all knew what would happen if they lost. The cambions would be subjugated by their sires.
The knights would fade away forever once they were defeated.
It was an unthinkable outcome. Camriel refused to allow his mate to be controlled by Phul.
None of the cambions deserved to become slaves for the Soldiers of Chaos.