I hesitate. I don’t want to be awkward here, but—
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“Forget the plan.”
Still, I’m unsure.
She sighs. “Babe, I say this with all the love in the world, but don’t cockblock me. I want this.” Her eyes flick over my shoulder, and she smiles broadly. “And I will definitely not cockblock you either.”
Before I can glance over my shoulder, a warm hand falls to my waist, and I feel Kane’s heat at my back. If I were any less intoxicated, I’d be embarrassed that Kane overheard Sybil’s words. Instead, I lean into the shifter at my back, my need still building.
“Hey there,” Sybil says to him, giving Kane a tiny wave.
“I don’t want to leave you,” I insist.
“I trust Sawyer with my life,” Kane says, jumping into the conversation. “He won’t let anything happen to your friend.” To Sawyer, Kane adds, “Walk her home at the end of the night.” Those words are accompanied by a burst of shifter magic. It brushes my skin and bends the soft light out here before settling on Sawyer’s shoulders.
I don’t know much about pack hierarchy and dynamics, but I think I just witnessed a bit of the power play involved.
“Kane, man,” Sawyer says, “you know you don’t have to tell me.”
I think I’ve been given all the reassurances I can. Still, I don’t like leaving my friend out here regardless. Sybil must see it on my face because she pulls me in for a tight hug and whispers in my ear, “Babe, go screw the brains out of that man. I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow. Promise.”
She releases me, then pushes me into Kane, who catches me by the upper arms. To further drive home the fact I’ve been excused, Sybil drags Sawyer’s mouth back down to hers.
All right, message received loud and clear.
I turn from her, and Kane is there, his eyes shining a little too brightly.
“You’d fit right into the pack, you know,” he says, as we move toward the outskirts of the clearing.
“What do you mean?” I ask, threading my fingers through his.
“Pack doesn’t leave their own behind. You were ready to drag her out of there, and even with all our reassurances, I can still scent your worry.”
He can scent what now?
Shit, what else has he been smelling over the past few hours?
I redirect my thoughts back on topic.
“Sybil’s my best friend,” I say as we leave the clearing, the trees looming around us. “She’s always been there for me. I’d give my life for that girl.”
That wolfish glint is back in Kane’s eyes, watching me like he’s tracking my every movement. “Like I said, you’d fit right in with the pack.”
I’m somehow both flattered and unnerved by the compliment.
Lycanthropes have been known to lay a claiming bite on witches out late in these woods.
“Where did you want to go?” Kane says, interrupting my thoughts.
Right. We hadn’t decided on that.
“My place,” I say, leading Kane along by his hand.
Three steps later, I nearly twist my ankle when I step on a branch wrong.
Freaking heels.
Kane catches me before I go down and reels me in close.
“You okay?”
I swallow and nod at him.
“Good.” He smiles and leans in a little closer. “I’m pretty good at giving piggyback rides—if you’re interested.”
I’m a witch, a symbol of revolutionary feminism. I don’t need a man to carry me, or coddle me, or worry over—
“Hell. Yes.”
Kane lifts me and swings me onto his back and, ah, provides some relief for the poor, aching balls of my feet.
“Hold on,” Kane says, and then he runs.
I yelp, nearly falling off at first. I wrap my arms around Kane’s neck and then laugh and laugh.
This is ridiculously fun. Kane is going to get so laid. So laid.
“Someone’s eager,” I whisper into his hair, wrapping one of his sandy curls around my finger.
“Can you blame me?” he says over his shoulder. “I want to get back to kissing those lips.”
“It’s not fair to be hot and have good game,” I whisper back into his ear. I follow it with a brush of my lips.
Before he can answer, we pass a naked couple. I yelp when I see a witch who lives down the hall from me getting railed by a lycanthrope.
“Oh my—titties!” I meant to say goddess, but I sort of just said what I saw instead.