Page 28 of As Darkness Fall
“Anyone not up to date on what’s going on?” I snarled, leveling my gaze at everyone, daring anyone to challenge my statement.
There was silence, aside from the gentle whisper of a night breeze as it filtered through our little camp. One by one, the others met my stare. In the end, none of them spoke up. They had heard it all or enough of it to understand what was going on. That was good, because I didn’t know if I had it in me to explain to everyone what Johnathan had done.
My anger was the only thing holding me together at the moment. Pure, righteous fury at Lars and Johnathan and anyone else willing to work for that psychopath who thought himself a leader. They were all guilty, as far as I was concerned. Each and every one of them was as bad as Lars. They were enabling him to act this way, without speaking up or out.
While I wasn’t going to go out of my way to hunt them down, I made myself a promise right then and there. If any of them got in my way, I wasn’t going to hesitate. Whatever it took to get Jo back, I’d do. They would simply become collateral damage.
I bared my teeth, a silent challenge to Lars.I’m coming for you.
“Sounds like someone pissed you off real good,” Fred commented from the far side of the fire, his nonchalant attitude catching me by surprise.
“You could say that,” I agreed, taking a second to catch my breath, letting the fury inside me subside. I was going to do this, but I needed to do it properly. Think it out, andthenact.
Thanks, Fred,I thought, pausing to wonder if maybe he’d intended that. There was certainly more to him than it seemed at first.
“Someone did piss me off,” I repeated in a slightly more controlled tone. “They took someone. Someone I care for, who didn’t do a damn thing wrong. So, we’re going to fix it.”
“You keep sayingwe,” Aaron drawled from nearby. “Like we’re all going to go haring off on this rescue mission. But we never signed up for that. We’ve only signed on to go back to Seguin with that moron.”
He pointed at Johnathan for emphasis, though everyone knew exactly whom he’d meant. I wondered if it was just to reinforce the point with Johnathan. Not that it was necessary. Before it was all said and done, he was going to beveryaware of that fact.
I grinned, turning to face him. Aaron was a stickler for his contracts. Once he agreed to them, he stuck by it. To the end, it would seem, based on what he’d told me earlier. But if he didn’t have a contract, or if he hadn’t been paid, he didn’t go. He’d made that muchveryclear.
“I guess it’s your lucky day, then,” I said with a grin. “Because guess where we’re going?”
Aaron frowned. Then he sighed. “We’re still going to Seguin, aren’t we?”
“Yup,” I said. “And we’re just so going to drop Johnathan off in the same room my friend is in. A swap, if you will. And you signed up for that, so unless you want to break your contract, you and your men—”
Aaron waved at me to stop. “Fine, fine. You win. We’ll rescue yon bonny lass, or whatever the hell we’re calling this thing now. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, nodding slowly. “Good. I’m glad we could get that settled so easily.”
“Extortionist,” Aaron muttered under his breath, but there was a tinge of humor to it, and I saw his eyes sparkling in the firelight.
He was, I think, a good man deep down inside. It wasn’t something he liked to admit or showcase to the world, because he also had a reputation to maintain. But it was there, and something like rescuing Jo from an asshole like Lars was probably right up his alley.
That only left one variable. Vir had been watching me silently this entire time. I locked gazes with him, trying to maintain my composure, though it was hard. The more direct attention I paid him, the more my Soulbond pushed me in his direction. His face was so guarded, his reactions impossible to read, that I couldn’t fathom how he felt from afar. I’d have to ask him.
“What about you?” I said quietly. “Are you up for a rescue mission? I know you’re anxious to get back to the Direen, but…”
I shrugged helplessly, earning me what I hoped was an understanding nod from the immortal being sitting ten feet away. And wasn’t that still wild to think about?
“Like Aaron, I already volunteered to go to Seguin,” Vir pointed out. “Since we’re still going to the same place, it does not seem like anything has truly changed.”
“Sorry for dragging you all over,” I said with a grimace. “If I could just throw you back through the barrier, I would, you know that, right?”
Vir smiled, and my heart fluttered. “I do believe you’ve made that point a time or two, yes.”
“Good,” I said. “Then, you can just take this change of plans as part two of your punishment for forcing me to be Soulbound to you.”
That wasn’t what had happened atall, and Vir sputtered as he tried to protest his innocence while across the fire Aaron sat in silence, listening to the byplay, clearing unimpressed with it.
I wasn’t overly fond of it either. It felt too much like flirting, and that would only encourage Vir, but I couldn’t help it. Unlike Johnathan, Ididn’thate him, and I knew I’d never be able to bring myself to do so. Which made itmuchharder to resist the temptations of our bond.
Regardless of how I felt, I wasn’t going to let myself get drawn into it. Aaron would just have to suck it up and deal with it. The one thing I absolutely didnothave time for was ego-stroking. Not him, not Vir, notanyof them. I was too busy to stroke that or anything else of theirs that might need it. They would just have to suck it up for now and play nice, becauseneitherof them had a claim on me.
If I was going to choose one of them—and eventhatwasn’t guaranteed—it was going to bemychoice, which had nothing to do with their wants. And once I got rid of the Soulbond, I would finally be able to figure out what those wants were without outside interference. And wouldn’t that be nice?
