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Stupid fucker would probably squeeze the air from her lungs and not even realize it.
His annoyance only lasts a moment, though, as she pushes her pants down her legs, and just like that, she’s standing in front of us in only her underwear. Her face is bright red, and judging by how her eyes shift around to look at anything that isn’t me, I’d guess it has less to do with the temperature and more with her current state of undress.
Unable to stop myself, I flick my tongue out to taste the air. It’s one of the more useful parts of my beast, being able to taste possible threats and prey. It helps us stay one step ahead of most things, especially when on a hunt. Right now, I only taste Serena, but it’s not just her usual scent. It mixes with the hardy scent of her arousal, which pulls a pleased hiss from my beast.
“Blair!” Serena’s high-pitched shriek bounces off the cave walls as I pull her into the water with me. My beast isn’t happy, but that’s not surprising considering what he wanted.
The water isn’t deep on this side, and the glowing crystals light it up, making it easy to see. Serena wiggles in my hold as we plunge into the warm water, but she doesn’t try to escape, once again trusting me. One of the perks of being so big is the ability to cover a great distance. So, while my center rests at the bottom of the pool, I can still hold my head above the surface. I give Serena a moment to adjust before slowly releasing her, and she treads the water. I’d ensured that we went in far enough from the dock that we didn’t hit the bottom but not so deep that she would be in danger if she panicked. I should have known she would be fine, though, she always is.
“Is this your way of telling me I stink?” she teases, splashing me playfully. My beast hisses, clearly not getting the joke, but I do. Grabbing her ankle, I pull her under before releasing her. She pops back up a second later, only to spit a mouth full of water at me, and I reel back, causing her to break down in a fit of giggles.
“Not that I don’t enjoy this little swim break, but you said you wanted to try something, and somehow, I don’t think swimming was what you had in mind, B.” She kicks her legs up so that she’s floating, looking up at the cave ceiling. “The water is perfect, though,” she says with a sigh, closing her eyes.I take a second to admire her like this, calm and relaxed.
I’d shifted to keep her from noticing my arousal, but I hadn’t thought about the fact that talking like this would be an issue.
“The water is perfect, and that’s part of the reason we’re here,” I tell her, shifting back. She startles at the sound of my voice, thrashing a bit in the water, and I raise my hands in surrender when she glares at me.
“Asshole,” she murmurs before she goes back to lazily floating. “So what does the water being perfect have to do with anything?”
I can hear the speculation in her tone, but at least she gives me a chance to explain. If I were Lyle, they would have been at each other’s throats by now. It’s something about their dynamic. We each have our own unique relationship with Serena, and he has always been the stubborn, overbearing asshole who knows how to get under her skin, the same way she gets under his.
Some day, those two will explode. I’m just not sure if it will be good or bad…
“You said your shadows knew with Garrett. That it was as if you were a wyvern yourself. I don’t love the idea of him dropping you from the sky, but I’m not the biggest obstacle with that one.”
Serena snorts a laugh.
I don’t know about that.
Her voice rings clear in my head as I watch her, but she gives no indication that she meant for me to hear it.
After the first day, talking with the guys has been hit-and-miss. We can do it while we’re shifted, but other than that, it’s been rare. Storm and Garrett seem able to do it easily, but I think that is due to their bond with Serena.
Neither of them has said much about communication with her, though.
I file the thought away to look into later. I don’t want to give her another thing to obsess over right now.
“So, I thought we could try it with my beast,” I tell her, which seems to get her attention. She goes back to treading water so that we can talk easier. “What does a bathhouse have to do with your beast, though?” she asks, looking around.
Instead of answering, I let her try to piece it together. Her brows scrunch, and her nose wrinkles as she thinks about it. The moment she gets it, her eyes light up with understanding, and I can’t help but smile at her.
“The heat?” she asks, sounding unsure but excited.
“Yes, the humidity is where I’m most comfortable,” I tell her with a nod, and she beams at me.
“Wait, so why swim? Why couldn’t we just sit up on the dock?” she asks, her smile slipping slightly.
“Believe it or not, my beast prefers the water. I can hold my breath for hours, and hunting is just as easy underwater as above. I prefer the taste of meals from the water as well. Unfortunately, bodies of water weren’t very common near us, which would have made hunting harder for everyone else.”
I watch as she thinks over my words before her lips pull down in a frown. The distance between us suddenly feels like an ocean, and the need to be closer to her has me swimming toward her.
The moment I’m within arms reach, she smacks my arm. It doesn’t hurt; in fact, it hardly even stings, and I see her frustration grow when I don’t react.
She swims toward me, her hands coming up to rest on my chest before she shoves me back with a grunt of annoyance.
“Ugh! Why do you do that?” she snaps, raising her hand to no doubt hit me again.
I don’t give her the chance, worried she’ll do more damage to herself than me, especially without her beast for added strength. My fingers wrap around her wrist, and I spin her away from me before pulling her into my chest.
