Page 46 of Moonlit Alexandrite

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s all sorted,” Dash said with a mischievous grin. I shook my head in wonder, Colbie really did have her work cut out for her with this one.

“Hi guys, how are we all today?” A bubbly redhead bounded over to our group, her gray eyes twinkling as she looked around at everyone.

“You must be Garnet,” Ren guessed, extending a hand to shake. Of course, he was the polite one.

“That’s me. Are we all ready to start the day?”

After we had all introduced ourselves, Nettie, as she insisted we call her, led us down to the edge of the loch where a bunch of kayaks waited.

“Two to a kayak, make sure you have your life jackets on.”

Ren helped Newt into his while Tase snorted and raced Dion to the boat I was standing beside. “I don’t need any of that shit when we’re out on my...” Tase cut off with a strangled shout as Dion slammed a fist into his balls and stepped over him to claim his spot with me.

“That wasn’t very nice,” I scolded Dion gently.

“He’s just upset he didn’t think of it first. Allow me to assist you into our conveyance for the day.”

I couldn’t help but giggle at the faux gentlemanly accent he affected as he took my hand. “You’re on my list now,” Tase groaned, rolling to his knees and pausing to breathe through the pain. Dion winked at me as he pushed us off the shore and pulled himself in behind me.

Paddling became progressively more difficult the further we went up the river. Our destination was a network of caves near Cupid Falls.

When I was ready to remind everyone I was not A. fit, or B. outdoorsy, our kayak jolted slightly and began to glide under its own power.

Tase.

My kelpie winked as he passed us, lazing in his own vessel with one hand submerged in the water beneath him.

Dion let out a snort. “Show off.”

“More than you deserve, jackass,” Tase replied happily. Too happily. He was definitely scheming.

Ren and Newt approached on our port side — Nettie had taken the time to run us through the different sides of the boat, much to Tase’s amusement — Newt waving frantically.

“This is awesome!” he hollered as their kayak rocketed past. Apparently, Uncle Tase had mad skills. As though to prove this, a series of waves flowed underneath us, tossing us about just enough to irritate Dion.

“Quit it,” Dion called to the kelpie who was now concentrating on Colbie and Dash’s boat. With a grunt, Tase pulled his hand from the water and made us paddle our own asses the rest of the way. Damn it.

Northwest of the town, we pulled into the western bank and hauled our kayaks ashore, just shy of the rapids that led up to Cupid Falls.

“The cave system extends underneath the entire town. However, much of the water was diverted generations ago so the townsfolk could make use of the cave systems for storage, mining, and more recently, a nightclub.” Nettie continued filling us in on many of the local geographical features and the plan for our adventure day. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Dash and Colbie. He appeared to be trying to engage her in conversation with very little success.

“If she had pigtails, I’m sure he would pull them,” Ren muttered in my ear. I smirked in agreement. Clearly, the cat wanted the bat’s attention, but my bestie was not swayed by his tenacity outwardly. I could damn well see the spark of interest she was trying to cover, though. We would definitely have words later.

“Who would like to be first to rappel into the abyss?” Nettie asked with a flourish of fingers.

“Colbie,” Dash piped up. If looks could kill, he would be more dead than my flowers the other night.

“Go on, grow some balls,” he said with a wink, and I cringed.

Shit, he was dead.

He knocked her in the back, trying to move her closer to the mouth of the cave as she stood firm with her arms crossed. She raised a single eyebrow at him, and I felt all three of my mates shiver as their instincts warned them of danger.

“Why would I need to grow some when I can cut them from your still twitching corpse?”

Dash’s grin stayed fixed, but no one missed his hands moving to discreetly cover his crotch.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

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