Snapping his gaze away, Daryl turned to face Rachel. “Yeah, just a bit bored.”
She grinned. “I can imagine. But I think we’ve almost found everything we need, so at least you’ll have company while we build the raft.” She glanced over at Jason, then took a few steps closer to Daryl until only inches separated them. In a voice barely more than a whisper she said. “I meant what I said last night. I won’t say anything. To anyone.”
Daryl assumed she was referring to Cam.
“But,” she hesitated, and he couldn’t help the huff of laughter. There was always a but. “Sharing a room will only go so far in explaining why your scents are all over each other.”
“I know.”
“If you carry on doing what you were doing last night, then I’m pretty sure the whole lodge will know soon enough. And whether I tell him or not, it’ll get back to Cam.”
Daryl sighed. “I know.” If he was honest, the more he thought about it, Cam finding out was becoming the least of his worries. “And it’s a moot point, anyway. There won’t be a repeat.” Rachel studied him, bottom lip drawn in between her teeth, and Daryl looked away, focusing on the water again.
“That’s a shame,” she said eventually. “I think Jason would be good for you.”
Turning to her, Daryl met her gaze. “But I wouldn’t be good for him.”
Heavy footsteps sounded behind them, crashing through the undergrowth, and thankfully put pay to any further conversation as Nathan and Luke appeared.
“It’s a good job stealth isn’t required for this task.” Daryl shook his head at the pair of them.
“Like a herd of fucking elephants.”
Luke shrugged. “We need to be fast, not quiet.”
He had a point, but Daryl needed something to take his mind off his chat with Rachel and needling Nathan and Luke seemed like the perfect solution. He pointed to his right, where Jenn’s team had all assembled by their pile of gear. “Not fast enough it seems.”
All three of them glanced to where he pointed.
“Shit.” Nathan frowned and turned to Rachel. “What’s left to get?”
She pulled a ratty piece of paper out of her pocket and showed it to him. “This.” She tapped the paper. “Which Kara and Tash have gone to get. And this one that Will and Clive are looking for.” As she spoke, Kara and Tash came into view, a lot quieter than Nathan had been.
Daryl looked at Nathan with a raised eyebrow and got a mouthed “fuck off” in return.
Nathan put his hands on his hips. “Right, if you three get everything laid out and start building, me and Luke’ll track down the others and see if they need help. How does that sound?”
“I think I’d be more use here,” Luke offered. He gestured to the gear in a heap on the floor.
“There’s a lot to sort out.”
They both looked to Rachel.
Daryl liked how easily they’d accepted her as beta. They’d had Gareth from day one, so the change must have taken a lot of getting used to, especially because she was only a temporary pack member. Admittedly, he’d been sceptical at first. But that was his job—to look out for Cam and the
pack.
Rachel had proved to be all right though, and if the alpha council thought she’d make a good beta, who was he to argue?
In this case, he was glad he’d been proved wrong. Rachel gave her all to this pack, and that’s all Daryl cared about.
As he watched them divide the equipment into piles according to what would be needed first, his mind and his gaze drifted back over to Jason.
I just need to get through tonight, then we can go back to how we were.
Surely being the one blindfolded was the worst part of the deal? He’d had to rely on Jason for almost everything, hyper-aware of his presence, his scent, his hands as they guided him.
Daryl was the one in control this time, and he refused to let himself get caught up in the intimacy of it again.
