Page 65 of Entangled

If I’m impolite to her, is Dom going to think I’m jealous?

Of course, Iamjealous, but I would really rather he didn’t think that. I have a handle on it. I’m a mature, reasonable adult after all, even if I do feel as emotionally tossed about as a tugboat in a windstorm. Some jealousy is natural.

Besides, it isn’t the real reason I want to feedHeathersome special soup.

Jasper grimaces. “I’m sure they have their own catching up to do. Perhaps we should leave them to it.”

My stomach sours. Okay. Maybe it’s partly the reason.

I’m about to respond when there’s a commotion by the cave’s entrance.

A muscular woman backs out of the tunnel on her knees, her crossbow trained on the opening. She holds it steady as she stands, and I recognize her as the woman who tackled Jayk in the forest earlier.

A figure follows after her, crawling slowly but with his head held high and eyes trained on the arrow in his face like he’s readying to catch it. With that fierce expression, I almost believe he could manage it.

Alastair.

My breath catches at seeing him alive, in a confusing mix of guilt and anger and worry. His bandages are soaked with sweat and sticking to him with fresh blood, but though he moves tenderly and his wounds are still only just starting to slowly scab over, for the first time I realize how much better he looks than the first day I saw him.

“Do you have him?” a voice calls urgently from the tunnel, alongside an ear-chilling screech.

“Yeah, I’ve got him,” the woman calls back. “You deal with her.”

“Yeah, right,” the strained voice calls back. There’s a loudoof, and the sound of a scuffle, and then two women are wriggling out of the cave—one is the short-haired blonde I half-strangled earlier... and the other is Akira.

Akira is struggling fiercely, and two people rush over to help the blonde with her. They lead her over to a far cave, and my stomach turns as I watch.

I hope they take care of her.

“Alastair?”

I turn in time to see Mateo pulling to his feet, pushing back the large man beside him. “Alastair!”

The man lets him go but trails watchfully close. Mateo staggers over to Alastair, his expression torn.

“Stay back,” the woman with the crossbow snaps, but Mateo ignores her, stepping in close to the burned man.

Alastair’s expression is unreadable, but I think I see his shoulders ease, just a bit. Mateo rests his forehead against his, and Alastair slips a hand to the back of his neck as they begin talking in quiet voices.

As much as I want not to care, the unrestrained emotion in Mateo’s face right now, as he sees Alastair alive, hits my own tired emotions a little too hard.

I resist the childish urge to say, “I told you so.”

The large man stops beside us and sighs. “The pretty ones are always taken.”

Jasper gives him a reproving frown. “They’re Sinners, Bentley.”

“That is on the con list, for sure.” He looks down at Jasper and winks. “Is that you making me a better offer?”

My brows fly up, and I examine thisBentleymore closely. He’s a bear of a man, all thick, wild long hair and shoulders the width of my old bookshelves. His chest hair peeks out from his shirt, and his nose looks as though it’s been broken more than once. But I suppose he’s rather attractive, in a very unpretty kind of way.

Possessiveness surges in me. I give Bentley a polite smile, though it feels tight on my lips. “Jasper isn’t interested in men. Sorry.”

Dear God. That wasn’t what I meant to say.

And certainly not likethat.

Goodness gracious, I might as well have peed on him!

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