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“Yeah, I’m good.” There was a catch in her voice, and for a moment, he could have sworn there was arousal laced in her words. No, that can’t be right. More likely she was shocked as fuck that they couldn’t control themselves. He wanted to assure her that they would never let anything happen to her, that they would protect her, and that shoving their sexual relationship in her face was not intentional. When he told her without flat-out saying he and Mason fucked, she hadn’t really responded. He didn’t know if she was okay with it, didn’t really care if she wasn’t, but that didn’t mean he wanted to make her uncomfortable or put her in an awkward position either.
Sparrow may have only been in their company for the last three days, but the alpha male inside him wanted to ensure her safety. There wasn’t a doubt that she had issues taking down the sick, but she was half the size of them, and so fucking young.
He nodded, knowing she could see him even if he couldn’t see her. He sat back down on his pallet and brought his knees up so he could rest his forearms on them. Fuck, he was tired and aroused… and confused as fuck. It had been far too long since he felt the softness of a female. Mason was hard muscle and strength, just like him, but Sparrow was so much smaller than they were, so delicate and fragile-looking, even if she was strong in her own right. Mason stayed by the window for a few more minutes, and despite the fact that he refused to acknowledge he wanted Sparrow, Asher knew better.
After a while, Mason finally sat back on his pallet but did not make a move to touch Asher. He was pissed for whatever reason, and Asher was too tried, and too annoyed by the other man’s aloofness to every fucking thing, that he lay down, closed his eyes, and prayed for one night of restful sleep.
Chapter Five
It was March, and even though the sun was right above them, it was still a bit chilly. Sparrow adjusted her backpack on her shoulder and picked up her pace so she wasn’t so far behind Mason and Asher. She noticed them look over their shoulders a few times, but they kept the same quick speed as they stayed near the tree line. They had been walking for what seemed like half the day, and she heard Mason murmur that they should be nearing Rockport within the next ten minutes.
A green sign indicated they were entering Holten County. The glint of a car pulled off to the side of the road had Mason holding up his hand for everyone to stop. He gestured for them to move farther into the protection of the trees and then curled his fingers for them to follow behind him.
He lowered his hand to the handgun tucked in the back of his jeans and pressed his other to the knife attached to his outer thigh. She saw Asher unsheathing a long hunting knife and held her breath on what their next move would be.
“Stay behind me, Sparrow.” Asher kept his voice low, but before she could take one more step, he curled his fingers around her waist and pulled forward until she was flush with his body. Her chest was pressed to his back, and she had to look around his arm just to see anything. Sparrow wasn’t weak by any means, could take care of herself, and had at every opportunity, but she would be lying if she didn’t admit, if only to herself, that she liked having this big, strong man wanting to protect her. If there were still feminist groups around, they would probably bitch-slap Sparrow for her thoughts, but she had been alone since everything happened, and despite the fact that she had been with small groups at some points during all this, she had always been fighting for herself.
They continued to move through the brush, and it was clear Mason had seen something before she did. In the car sat an infected female. She was motionless aside from the twitch in her fingers every once in a while. Most of the time, they just roamed around aimlessly, but Sparrow had seen some of the sick in an almost dormant stage, where they weren’t sleeping but staring off and in an almost inanimate state. She didn’t know if that was what happened when they didn’t eat, or if that was their version of sleep, but she had never engaged them to find out.
Mason stepped on a twig, and although it was small, the crack of it echoed all around them and had the three of them instantly stilling. They were hidden behind the thick trunk of a tree but could see the infected turn her head in their direction. For a solid minute, all she did was move her head back and forth, most likely trying to see any kind of movement. But none of them breathed as they looked around to make sure there were no others hidden nearby.
