25. Cherry
Cherry
“What do you think?” Chase asks as I watch the woman making funnel cakes. “Do you want to try one?”
Glancing up at him, I ask, “Will you share one with me? In case I don’t like it?”
He grins. “Oh, you’ll like it. But of course we can share.” He wraps an arm around my shoulder and moves us to stand in line. There are only three customers in front of us, and I take the opportunity to glance around the fairgrounds.
Everyone seems so happy, and it makes me smile. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that there are good people out in the world. That not all humans are evil.
I watch a few kids screaming as they chase one another around their parents’ legs, in what seems to be a game of tag.
Behind them, I see a couple walking hand in hand as they smile at one another.
On my other side is some sort of target shooting game, where a handful of teenage boys are aiming toy rifles at moving ducks and trying to shoot them.
As we step forward in line, I twist out of Chase’s arm to keep watching, letting my hand slip to his. A quick glance tells me my other guys are still watching me from the picnic table they secured for us, a mere twenty feet away, and I turn back to watch the boys shooting the ducks.
I decide I want to try that one next. It looks like fun.
Someone steps directly in front of me, blocking my view as I step back and look up into the stranger’s face.
He’s around the same height as Maddox, and completely average looking.
I never would have noticed him if he hadn’t stepped up in front of me, especially as he’s a human.
“You want me to win you a prize, sugar?”
My eyebrows shoot up in surprise at this guy’s audacity.
Then I glance down to where I’m gripping Chase’s hand, wondering if he didn’t notice it.
Before I can ponder that, Chase is gently tugging me behind him as he steps between us, his voice a deep growl as he puffs out his chest, asking, “Did you just proposition my girl?”
I peek around Chase to see the stranger’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “Your girl?” he asks before gesturing over his shoulder. “I assumed she was your sister or something. For the past few minutes, she’s been giving the men at that table over there googly eyes.”
I slap my hand over my mouth to stop from laughing. I guess it would be weird to a human, seeing me holding hands with one man while looking at someone else with heated eyes. But Chase doesn’t seem to feel the same amusement as I do, stepping closer as his free hand clenches into a fist.
Reaching inside, I feel his anger rising, and deciding I don’t want a fight here, I quickly interject, stepping to Chase’s side as I ask, “If I was his sister, would I do this?” I turn toward Chase, shoving the tips of my fingers in the front of his jeans and yanking, forcing him to face me.
He could have easily resisted my tug, but I’m glad he doesn’t.
I slide my hands up to cup his face then pull his mouth down toward mine.
He’s so tall, I really need his help. I'm glad when he catches on, his hands finding my waist as he bends down and kisses me.
Quickly, I forget about the stranger as the kiss turns heated.
I have to pull away to fan my face, my skin feeling scorched.
“So what?”
The stranger talking startles me as I assumed he would have left, knowing I’m taken. But strangely, he just shrugs, as if Chase doesn’t have four inches and eighty pounds on him.
“Doesn’t mean she’s not looking.” I frown, not just annoyed by his persistence, but by the fact that he’s talking to Chase, not me.
“She’s not.” Maddox's voice comes from behind him, making him turn to look at my other four mates standing there like a wall of drool-worthy muscle and deliciousness. I lick my lips as Chase and I turn to watch them, my hand finding his again.
“Who are you?” the stranger asks.
“Who the fuck are you?” Hunter asks, taking a step forward so he’s almost chest-to-chest with him.
The stranger tosses his thumb over his shoulder as he speaks. “I was just talking—”
“I don’t think so,” Hunter says, cutting him off and surprising me. The stranger drops his hand and glances around at my guys, clearly confused by what’s going on.
“She’s taken,” Bain says, cracking his knuckles and making the man take a step backward toward us.
He quickly throws his hands up in the air and shakes his head. “Fine, whatever.” He glances at me before adding, “She’s not worth it anyway.” And as he turns away, a whispered “Whore” slips from his lips.
I gasp as Hunter tackles him from behind, knocking him to the ground as the man twists, landing on his back.
My jaw drops as I watch Hunter punch the man across the face. Then he gets up and dusts himself off calmly like nothing happened. I have a feeling he didn’t put his full strength into it since the guy is still breathing, just a little blood dripping from his nose.
But my view of him is obscured as Hunter steps right up to me and picks me up. “Hunter!” I gasp as my legs and arms wrap around him. But he doesn’t respond with words; instead, he tells me what he’s thinking with his mouth as it presses to mine.
I’m not sure if knocking the guy out turned him on or if it’s the adrenaline from the fight, not that you could actually call it that. But either way, I feel his need for me pushing through the bond.
He pulls back panting, his eyes bouncing between mine before they look over my shoulder, then a grin pulls at his mouth.
“I have an idea,” he says as he starts marching away. One quick look over his shoulder and I can see the others are following us, even stepping over the man’s body to do so.
Some people are watching us with wide, unsure eyes, but as Hunter stalks through the crowd carrying me, those faces fade from view.
“Where are we going?” I finally ask as I try to turn my head to see where we’re heading.
“The Ferris wheel.”
Up ahead is a huge Ferris wheel. It’s so big I have to tilt my head back to see the top as we approach. It must be well over a hundred feet tall. It contains at least a dozen little pods around the perimeter that I can’t see inside.
Lowering my head, I watch as a family in line steps into a pod.
It’s a lot bigger than I would have expected, and instead of seats inside, it’s empty so you have to stand up.
The lower half of them is all metal, but the top half of the walls is made of glass or clear plastic, allowing the people inside a 360-degree view while being completely contained inside with no risk of falling.
I never knew they made Ferris wheels like this. On TV, I’d only even see the small two-seater kind, that looked like you could slip right out of them or rock too far and fall to your death.
“You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” Chase asks from our side, a mischievous grin plastered on his lips.
Glancing back up at the top pod, I shrug. “I don’t think so. Though I don’t really remember ever being somewhere high up.”
“She has phoenix DNA,” Gage says through the bond as he follows behind us with Bain and Maddox. “I doubt she’s afraid of any height.”
He’s clearly speaking through the bond to keep the conversation private, so I do the same when I tell them, “I wish I could shift into a phoenix. I bet flying is fun.” I watch the Ferris wheel turn, trying to imagine what it would be like to have wings.
“Personally, I’m glad you can’t,” Chase says back through the bond. I look at him in question and he adds, “How am I supposed to protect you if you’re out of my grasp?”
I suppose he has a good point, but if I could fly, wouldn’t I be out of danger’s way?
I’m distracted as Hunter carries me right up to the Ferris wheel. Luckily, there’s no line. Seems like everyone here prefers thrill rides like the one we passed that spins insanely fast. That didn’t intrigue me at all.
And Hunter clearly prefers the Ferris wheel. That’s why he had marched halfway across the fairground to ride it.
“Let’s go!” Chase says excitedly as the ride operator opens, lets a family of four out of a pod, then gestures for us to go in.
Hunter carries me inside along with Chase and Gage, but Maddox and Bain stay back. I frown as the door closes and I watch them through the glass.
“You’re not coming?” I ask in worry through the bond.
“We’re keeping watch from down here to make sure you stay safe,” Maddox answers calmly. I’m not sure what exactly that would entail, but I don’t have time to ponder that as we start to rise, and I’m granted a view of the fairground, growing smaller below us.
“Over here,” Chase says from the other side of the pod.
Hunter carries me over as I hug his neck, turning to look with him at the expanding scenery before us.
We must be at the end of the fairground because in front of us is a large field, with some sort of crop in it, but behind that is lush forests that roll into hills and valleys with the sun shining down at the most perfect angle, making everything look exceptionally beautiful.
“Wow,” I whisper as my eyes struggle to take everything in. “It’s beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as my mate,” Hunter says, making my head turn to him. He’s not even glancing at the view; his beautiful brown eyes are glued to me. My heart flutters in my chest as I take him in.
His brown hair is a little more disheveled than usual, and as I reach up and run my fingers through it, I suddenly remember the way he tackled that human.
It had all happened so quickly, I barely had to process the fact that Hunter—my sweet and caring Hunter—had lost his cool and attacked a man because he called me a name.
My fingers trail down the side of his face and across his unshaven jaw. I love the stubble there, the prickles giving him a rougher edge.
“You attacked that guy for me,” I say softly as I watch his brows pinch together. He nods once. “Why?”