Page 349 of Shadowblood Souls
Zian shifts his weight, peering at the water and then the group of us. His eyes linger on me, the mix of longing and uneasiness only starker now.
I pause. “We wouldn’t have to get totally undressed. I’ll stay at the opposite end of the tub.”
Andreas taps his knuckles against Zee’s arm. “We’ll all be in there, just hanging out. No pressure, no expectations.”
Zian wavers for a few seconds longer and then squares his shoulders. “Yeah. Why shouldn’t we?”
A gentle smile curves Dominic’s lips too. “Why don’t you get in first so you can enjoy a good float before the rest of us join in? We should scrounge up some towels anyway.”
We leave Zian by the jacuzzi to prowl through the rest of the room. Dominic checks the actual bathroom and emerges with a stack of fluffy beige towels that he shakes a little dust off of.
Andreas and I give the bed the same treatment, stripping off the duvet and fluffing it out. The sheets underneath look almost pristine.
I’m tempted to sprawl on them right now, exceptI’dget them all dirty.
Jacob returns from his own search through the bathroom with a crow of victory. “Biodegradable bath oils. Now we’re living in real luxury.”
He carries the glossy green bottles over to the tub, where Zian has stripped down to his boxers and gotten in. His brawny body just barely fits without bumping against the sides, drifting on the rising water.
It’s nearly reached the overflow drain now. Zee reaches to tweak one of the controls, and a hint of steam puffs into the air from the jets.
He dunks his head to slick his short hair back and grins at Jake, looking much more relaxed now that he’s actually in the water. “Well, pour that stuff in then. We should have the full experience.”
As Jacob drizzles the oil in the tub, a thin froth of bubbles forms on the surface of the water. Andreas shucks off his facility-issue tee and athletic pants and slides into the jacuzzi kitty-corner from Zian.
I guess we’re all getting in now. All four of these guys have seen me at least partly undressed, and the room is dark enough that I’ll be mostly cloaked in shadows anyway, but all at once my skin tightens with self-consciousness.
They don’t pressure me either, though. Dominic tugs off his shirt with a little extra effort to work around his tentacles, noteven glancing my way. Jake sheds his pants like it’s no big deal at all.
With the attention off me, I relax enough to peel off my own tee and pants, leaving my necklace on like usual. The air is so warm that I’m not at all chilled even in my sports bra and panties.
They’re like a bikini. Like I’m just going for a dip in a pool.
No big deal at all.
As I promised Zian, I slip into the water at the far end from where he’s settled. We form a ring around the edges of the tub, my calf brushing Andreas’s next to me, one of Dominic’s tentacles coiling around my elbow beneath the bubbles.
Zee’s set the temperature nice and warm. I let out a sigh and sink a little deeper until the bubbles tickle my chin.
“Maybe a soak will make tomorrow’s hike a little easier,” Jacob says, stretching one arm and then the other in front of him.
Zian leans back against the smooth wall. “Are there any other roads around this place that aren’t so overgrown? If they left any vehicles behind…”
Drey shakes his head. “I did a circuit of the whole hotel when I was first checking it out. There is another road, a little wider than the one we came along but just as choked. And I didn’t see any cars around anyway.”
Dominic hums to himself. “We could head that way tomorrow and see where it takes us.”
“It’s a totally different direction from where we were heading before,” Andreas says. “I don’t think it’ll take us to the city.”
I tip my head back, letting the water seep through my braid and up my scalp while I consider the possibilities. “Griffin hasn’t sensed any large populations any closer than the city we knew about. And a little town might not have the resources we’d need to make a real escape.”
However exactly that’s going to work once we see what we have to work with.
Drey gives my braid a teasing tug. “You’ve led us well so far, Tink. I trust your judgment.”
The brush of his fingertips against my neck sets off a heat much more potent than the water’s steam. As my face flushes, he traces his fingers across my cheek.
All at once, pheromones of desire lace the air from all around me. A shiver of need travels through my body, the shadows in my blood quaking with it.
