Page 41 of Storm of Summer (Wild Haven 3)

RHYS

I’m not sure whose idea it was to sneak over to Miri’s house to crash their party. The night started with the four of us being embarrassingly pitiful without the girls. While I realize the slumber party was a ladies only event, I really don’t like the idea of Zara doing something on the list without me. As much of an asshole as that might make me, I still don’t care. Ezra pretended he didn’t give a shit what Ruby was up to, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. I suggested we get drunk, and we did. Well, except for Davis, who doesn’t drink. Then Ezra started looking up pranks on his phone and somehow, we were sneaking into the conservatory of Wild Cottage and breaking Miri’s favorite blue pot.

“No. No boys allowed.” Ruby has an empty bottle of tequila in her hand, and I’m a little afraid she’s going to whip it at one of us. Ezra’s the most likely candidate, but Ruby’s a loose cannon, so you never know exactly what she’ll do.

“This is a way better experience for the list than dancing on a bar.” Lena says and then starts laughing, her face nearly turning red.

“I’m still pissed about my pot.” Miri flicks her hand toward the mess Davis is trying to clean up and all the plants move with the motion.

“Whoa.” Miri’s hand snaps back and she clutches it to her chest. “What the hell was that?”

“You just made all the plants in here move.” Ezra looks down at his bottle with a frown. “Or did I imagine that? I’m not that drunk.”

“No, that just happened,” I confirm.

“Do it again,” Davis says in his gruff tone, but Miri obviously knows him well enough not to be offended by his attitude.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“You won’t,” Davis replies with a lot more conviction than I have.

Miri seems to consider that for a moment before she swats her hand through the air. A long, flowering vine snaps out and smacks Ezra in the chest, knocking him backward off the table, again. Somehow, the ass manages to land on his feet and pops back up with an indignant look on his face.

“Hey, what’s up with the targeted hit?”

Miri bites on her bottom lip, her shoulders lifting in an apologetic shrug. “Sorry, you were the closest. Did I level up or something? I’ve never done anything like that before.”

Zara steps closer. She’s been hovering behind the rest of the girls, taking in the scene with watchful eyes. “It’s likely that all of your powers will grow stronger since the eighth person of your Axis is now here.”

Like the rest of us, Zara seems to have accepted that she’s the eighth in our group. I have absolutely no doubt of that truth. What I wasn’t aware of is how her appearance could so drastically change everything. I’m no longer scared of the Axis, and while I don’t know shit about my magic, it doesn’t seem like an evil monkey riding my back anymore.

“Can we come in the house, babe?” Davis steps toward Miri until he can snake an arm around her waist and yank her against him. The smile on her face betrays her answer before she speaks.

“Fine. But don’t break any more of my shit.” She points at all of us. “That goes for every one of you criminals breaking into my house.”

Davis kisses Miri and then smacks her ass before going back to the broken mess of pottery to finish his clean up. I head toward the stairs, wanting to get closer to Zara. The vague thump of music can be heard from the kitchen, and we all follow it back to the game room.

Lena turns it down to a tolerable level as I come to a stop next to Zara. “Are you having fun at your first slumber party?”

She grins up at me, the overly bright look in her eyes telling me she’s about as drunk as me.

“I am. Ruby keeps trying to get me to do nonsensical things in the name of the list.”

“And are you?” The tips of my fingers brush against her arm. I don’t even mean to move, but my body keeps drifting toward her on its own. Drawn to every part of her.

“Some of them. The others are just bizarre.” Zara laughs, obviously thinking of one of the items on the list.”

“Like what?”

“Crash a wedding, and when they ask if there’s any objections, say, ‘I object.’”

“Do they even say that at weddings these days?” Archer asks as he sits on the couch, hooking an arm around Lena’s waist and bringing her with him. Zara doesn’t bother answering him, probably because she has no idea.

“There’s also riding a giraffe, petting a cheetah, and combining someone I’m from the future.” She ticks the items off on her fingers as she lists them.

“You know what we should do now?” Miri says as she and Davis come into the game room holding hands.

“Get mauled by a cheetah?” Lena laughs and Ruby scowls at her.

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