“And you.” Heading for a wary Sabrina, I snatch her up and throw her over my shoulder without breaking my stride.
The air rushes from her lungs, but since my shirt doesn't burst into flames or even get singed, she can’t be that pissed about being manhandled. Admittedly, we’ve yet to test if we’re immune to burns like she is, but our clothes wouldn’t survive unscathed, regardless.
Which means Slade’s right, and despite being pissed off and disintegrating everything she touched for the last forty-five minutes, the second she thought she might hurt me, her control snapped into place. She wants to protect us even at her own expense, andthatis not the Sabrina I fell in love with. My Sabrina wouldn’t hesitate to cut someone out of her life if they didn’t respect her boundaries. She’d happily tell any of us to put up or shut up, and then somehow come out the winner whether she lost whatever bet we had going on or not. But she does not sacrifice herself for the sake of other people, even if she loves them, because she understands her value isn’t lesser than theirs.
Or, she did, before my brothers and I got our claws into her and dragged her down to our level.
We make it out of the tree line the same time that Cinjin is hopping up into the truck bed, Slade leaning against the open tailgate with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. Carefully lifting her over the side, I set her down between my brother’s legs. With a little prompting, I have Cin wrap his arms around her stomach, forcing him to be her human seatbelt.
“Stay.”
Leveling me with an unamused glare, she deadpans, “Would you like me to roll over and beg too?”
Pulling her bag from the backseat, I rummage around until triumphantly withdrawing the e-reader Kaige bought her, returning with a wink. “Damn straight I would, but let me finish getting camp set up first.”
“I can help,” she objects, but begins to accept defeat as Cinjin catches onto what I’m doing, kissing her neck and whispering, “Don’t ruin my get out of work free card.”
Resting an arm on the side of the truck bed, I lean in to cup her jaw, pulling her close enough that I can kiss the top of her head. “I'm not saying you can’t,I'm saying you shouldn'thaveto. You’ve got seven men here, gorgeous, all of which have some serious groveling to do. So there’s absolutely no good reason why you should make it easier on us.”
She furrows her brow in genuine confusion. “Groveling? I get those three, but not you guys. Maybe kind of annoyed, not gonna lie, but requiring groveling is a bit of a stretch.”
Quickly darting a look at Slade, he gives me a subtle shake of his head, but I reach into my pocket anyway. Hives immediately begin breaking out on my arms and neck, and I scratch at them with my free hand, but push through the discomfort. Slade may not technically be our pack’s alpha anymore, but that technicality doesn’t mean shit to my subconscious. Not only am I going through with a decision that Slade warned me not to, making me second guess myself and worry I’m about to make the wrong call. But by forcing the confrontation again instead of sweeping it under the rug until she’s in a better headspace, I might very well be wreckingallof our relationships with our mate.
I’m usually content with the fact that I was born a beta, but moments like these remind me how miserable it can be.
Passing her the list, I wait until she sets down the e-reader to take it from me and explain, “Yeah, us too, because we’re really fucking stupid. So could you just-” gesturing for Slade to pass me his pen, he fishes it out of his pocket and hands it to me, which I pass to her. “Can you circle the solutions you like? Or scribble in better ones? Because there was nothing in the cheat sheet you gave me about what to do when you’re this upset, and I really need you to stop me from fucking up even worse trying to repair the damage by telling me exactly how to fix it so you’ll be happy again.”
A solid two minutes pass by in complete silence as she reads over the paper before finally looking up at me. Every second that ticks by without her saying anything has my skin on fire, and I anxiously tear at the skin around my shirt collar when she starts trembling. As those trembles turn into shudders, Cinjin and Slade shoot me vicious glares.
Shit, I broke her. I really fucking broke her this time. What the hell was I thinking?
When she sputters a small, watery laugh, we all freeze. “Stop being sweet and endearing when I’m mad at you; it’s cheating.”
Relief slams into me like a freight train, stealing the breath from my lungs, and I thump my head on my forearm, leaning on the side of the truck. Collecting myself for a few seconds, I eventually look up.
“I’m not trying to, but I can’t help myself.” Scratching the back of my neck with one hand, I gesture to Cin with the other. “Clearly, I took all of the good genes in the family before he came along.”
Her gaze flits over me and she sighs with a shake of her head, turning to Slade. “Someone grabbed a first aid kit when we stopped for the camping supplies, right?”
Nodding, Slade opens the door to the back seat and rummages around for a minute before unearthing it and passing the box her way. Rifling through it, she withdraws some tiny packets of anti-itch cream and an antihistamine. Cin helps her off his lap and she slides to her knees, shuffling closer.
Passing me the tiny pill first that I dry-swallow greedily, she tears open the first packet. “We don’t have a lot, so where’s the worst of it?” Sheepishly, I tug the collar of my shirt aside. While spreading it on, she tosses a glance over her shoulder to Slade. “You made the list?”
He presses his lips into a thin line. “Perhaps.”
Using two fingers to spread the ointment around my neck, she points out, “Your handwriting is a dead giveaway, I hate to tell you. Too many years signing your life away behind a desk.”
Relenting, he nods, bracing himself for whatever lashings she’s about to send his way. Always keeping us on our toes, she simply pats the spot beside her in offering before returning her attention to using the last of the anti-itch cream on my arms. After a confused moment of hesitation, Slade climbs into the truck and sits down stiffly beside her.
Using the front of my shirt to wipe off her hand, she resituates herself and rests her head on Slade’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispers, sounding rundown enough to sleep for another three days.
Visibly relaxing, he smooths a hand over her hair. “I’m sorry I couldn’t think of better ideas off the top of my head. Primarily, I was attempting to get a point across and threw it together in a hurry, but halfway through I realized I was actually drawing a blank for genuine solutions.”
Reaching out to snatch the discarded paper, she looks it over again, and we keep our mouths shut to give her as much time as she wants without interruption. Abruptly, she sits up straight, and holds a hand out in front of Cin expectantly. Passing her the pen, she thanks him before reaching for my arm. Rolling it to the smoother skin on the inner side, she begins scribbling, and I couldn’t hide my grin if I’d tried.
Note to self: If I’m going to be an overprotective pain in the ass, make it the sexy kind, not the dickish version.
Cin already has his arm out waiting for her when she turns his way, sliding closer for a better angle.Reminder: The others are dirty rotten liars, and I haven’t done a single thing wrong. I’m a delightfully affectionate murder-puppy that Sabrina chose as her first mate for a reason.She then proceeds to doodle a pirate ship on the back of his hand with her at the helm in a feathered captain’s hat, and a stick figure beside her labeling Cin as her first mate.
