Page 47 of The Edge of Never

“Ye’re sorry for teasing me?”

“Yes.”

Laughter erupted from his chest. The force of it shook my whole body. My head popped up, and I eyed him warily.

“What’s so funny?”

After a minute, he settled down a bit. I froze when he reached out and touched my cheek.

“Ye are. If ye decided tae stop teasing me, I’d think there was something wrong with ye.”

“You… you don’t mind?”

He bit his lip. Why was that so hot? Why was he so hot? Fuck, I wanted him. I wanted those big hands everywhere, touching, feeling, claiming. It wasn’t fair. It was fucked up to feel this way. And yet my body ached. My desire flared. It needed sating somehow.

“Yer troublesome mooth is the least of mah concerns.”

“What’s the most pressing one, then?”

“Oor survival.”

Well, that put a dampener on my libido.

Our survival. Not his, but ours… like we were a team. I suppose in this situation we were. It didn’t surprise me, considering how protective Thane had been since the very beginning. It was only now that I felt the weight of it. We’d been here for two nights and there had been no sign of rescue. That didn’t bode well for us.

“I mean, that’s mine too, but I was trying not to think about it.”

I let out a sigh and rested my head back on his chest as my fingers rubbed together again. It was the only stim I could do that wouldn’t draw too much attention.

“We dinnae have tae talk aboot it.”

“But we should, Thane. This isn’t good. You can’t walk out of here and I can’t leave you.”

“Ye could.”

I shook my head.

“No, I can’t. I have a terrible sense of direction, so I’ll get lost and freeze on the side of the mountain knowing my luck.”

“Ye didnae let me finish. I wasnae saying ye should leave me here, just that ye could if ye wanted tae.”

“There’s no wanting to leave you. I can’t. You’re my best chance of survival, just as I’m yours. And besides, I didn’t go to all the trouble of saving you to let you die out here alone.”

I shouldn’t have said that, but the fact he thought I could go off and leave him here didn’t sit well with me. Didn’t he know by now that I would do anything to make sure we both got through this?

“I dinnae wannae die when am trying tae live again,” he said in a quiet voice that was full of restrained emotion.

My heart squeezed painfully. If I didn’t have reason enough to keep him alive, then that would have sealed the deal. How could I walk away from him knowing he was shrouded in grief and was trying to fight his way out of it?

Without thinking about it, I wrapped my arms around him as best as I could and held him.

“I won’t let that happen.”

“Ye gonnae save both of us from this?”

“I’ll try my best.”

I wasn’t sure how, but I would find a way. There had to be one.

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