“You can go hunting with Lucky, fix cameras with us, and we’ll even show you how to protect yourself, if you want,” I say agreeably.
Everyone should know how to protect themselves these days. That just makes sense. We’d only take her out when we were there to protect her anyway.
Eden stands up from Beau’s lap, right in front of my hand.
Would the damn woman just shake it? I don’t usually make concessions. Does she have to keep pushing her luck?
Blue-gray eyes sear me; I can see her sharp brain picking apart my words as though she’s a human caught making a deal with the faerie king, trying to spot a trick. I manage to stop myself from shifting.
Just.
“And you’ll tell me the truth? Bring me in on everything, the same as the others?”
I narrow my gaze on hers. “You’re not a soldier.”
“Technically you’re not anymore, either,” she reminds me blandly. “And neither is Jasper, and he’s still included.”
I cross my arms over my chest.
“Or maybe,” Eden continues, “it’s because I’m a woman, and you think that I—”
“For fuck’s sake,” I snap. “Fine. Fine. Going forward, we’ll tell you everything— if you agree to follow our orders. I won’t have you going off half-cocked thinking you know best and putting yourself in danger.”
She blinks at that, and Beau smirks.
“Because the others would be upset,” I grit out.
Beau gives me a dry look.
“And for the record,” I say to both of them, “Jasper has been training with us for years, had the same security clearance as we did, and we still don’t bring him out with us most of the time.”
Eden studies me. Sharp. Intense. Then she nods slowly. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
She thrusts out her hand. “Yes. It’s a deal.”
I put my hand into hers and shake.
With her small, warm palm in mine, I have the strangest feeling that I’m handing over far more than I bargained for.
Maybe she’s the faerie queen after all.
Chapter 25
Eden
SURVIVAL TIP #267
If you’re hunting big game,
make sure you don’t get gored.
T he forest vibrates with life. Sun dapples the thick undergrowth as it twitches with scurrying animals. Birds trill to one another, darting from branch to branch. Spotting a particularly dry patch of leaves, I correct where I’m about to place my foot and silently thank Beau for thinking to bring me supple leather boots among the multitude of lingerie. They’re soft and silent and offer me far more protection than my last pair of shoes. My poor foot has only just recovered from treading on that stone.
I shouldn’t be out here at all, really. I know I shouldn’t. But despite all the quite reasonable conversations I’ve had with myself this morning, I still find myself tracking Dom and Beau through the woods while they make their way to the broken cameras. Dom’s main argument against me coming today was that I couldn’t keep up. All I’m doing is proving them wrong.
Right?
It’s too late to turn back now, anyway. It’s been hours, after all. I may not be a gun-toting hard-ass with buns of steel, but I am a useful person. I’ll track them to the cameras, surprise them with my apparently shocking ability to keep myself alive for a few hours in the forest, impress them with my stealth, and then help them to fix the cameras.
Or watch them fix them.
To be fair, I really can’t help with repairing wildlife cameras.
I can’t delude myself entirely . . . this will probably end very badly for me. Either one of them could snap me like a Kit Kat —and gobble me up just as fast too.
But after they get over being pissed, maybe they’ll be impressed?
Maybe?
Oh, their stupid muscles and stupid smiles and stupid kisses are making me stupid. I’m going to be in so much trouble.
For the third time in as many minutes, I study the ground. The trees. It isn’t easy. They’ve left far less trace than most game.
Still, they’re two large men, and no skill in the world can completely disguise the impressions of their boots. Small leaves have been crushed with a heel here, a slide of dirt there. Making a decision, I push on to follow a few bent twigs.
Maybe I shouldn’t be testing them so much. It’s only been two weeks, after all, and Dom did make some major concessions last night. I probably should have waited, followed the agreed pace.
But the truth is, they terrify me.
I’m scared to death that I’m going to wake up one morning and all of that independence I’ve worked so hard for, all of that self-worth, will just vanish in a cloud of mindless orgasms. That they’ll tell me what I want to hear, and I’ll start nodding along like I always do and just find myself the pampered princess they’ve been treating me as.
I need more than that.
I don’t want to be defined by who I am to them—I did that with my husband and that was a disaster. I need to be an equal.
Free. I need to be defined by who I want to be.
And I want to be like this. Free and wild and brave and settled in the forest. It’s so good to be back out among the trees.
I’ve been following them since dawn, and the sun is high in the sky now. Past noon, certainly. Surely Lucky has found my note by now—I left it in the kitchen, and he never stays out of there for more than a few hours. Even after my little white lies to the three of them, that will clear things up. I hope they aren’t too worried I’m gone.
And I really hope they don’t come after me.
Abruptly, a rough, masculine voice snaps an order ahead of me. It’s far enough through the thick brush that I can’t make out what he said, but I know it’s Dom. Satisfaction and pure nerves crash through my veins, and I take a deep breath to settle myself.
I should call out, I know. Let them know I’m here. But the hunt is almost . . . thrilling. I wonder just how close I can get before I’m discovered. Why I’m craving that look of shock on Dom’s face, I have no idea, but I want it badly. I want that smug confidence gone.
Slowly, and as carefully as I can manage, I ease my way through the trees, slipping behind anything that will hide me as I move forward.
Keep low, stay steady, and watch your damn feet, Eden.
In a few minutes, I can hear them. They’re not making much noise, but definitely more than me. A few minutes after that, I catch glimpses of them through the trees. They’re wearing their Army uniforms, to my surprise, and I can only see them because they’re moving so purposefully.
“This . . . it . . . fine . . . ”
Grimacing, I pick up my pace just slightly, wanting to hear what they’re saying. I manage to get closer, close enough that I can see the stubble on Dom’s jaw when he turns his head. I lower my foot . . . only to feel the fragile indent of a twig against my boot. Catching my breath, I glance down and move it to a safer patch of dirt before putting my weight down.
My heart pounds giddily in my chest.
“Yeah, well, if you didn’t want to talk then you shouldn’t have dragged me out here,” Beau snipes in a tone I’ve never heard from him before. His accent sounds softer too, for some reason.
I slip between two trees, following.