“I found it,” he tells me. “I found exactly what you need.”
Inspecting the contents of the bag, my cheeks grow even hotter. There might not be all that many words I can read in Drakian yet, but thanks to my dirty bookclub with Kilter, I can certainly read each of their titles. I quickly stuff them back into the bag, hoping no one will question why my cheeks are on fire.
Chapter 13
Reva
Jack’s on his back, eyes closed and a slight smile on his face. As I kneel beside him on the floor, Torin helps me to feed a bandage around his waist, which I tie in a neat knot. Before I can pull away, Jack tugs at my arm, and I sprawl awkwardly onto his chest with a squeak.
“Well, hello there.” His sloppy grin has returned as he opens one eye and peers at me. “You can use me if you like. I don’t think you like me much, but here you are, tucking me in and snuggling me when I feel lonely.” He wraps an arm around my waist, and it’s like an iron bar, pinning me to his uninjured side. “I don’t know why Kitty and Tor aren’t already here. If I were them, I’d never leave your bed.” He giggles to himself. “Never”
I wriggle slightly, shooting a pleading look around for one of the other men to help extract me from this overenthusiastic embrace. Jack’s wrong; I don’t dislike him. But his obvious attempts at flirting always seem to fall kind of flat. They tend to feel like manipulation attempts, nothing real. But he seems in earnest right now, even if he is loopy for whatever reason.
Kit takes pity on me, detaching Jack’s arm. “Come on, bud. Torin will cuddle with you if you need someone.”
“I can’t believe a bird bit me,” Jack says, poking at his side with a pout. “I thought we were pals. You know, I used to sneak out really early when I was a kid since it was the only time I couldshift without anyone noticing. I’d go sit on the rooftops with the other birds.”
“Uh huh,” Kit says as I manage to shift out of reach. “That sounds kind of lonely.”
“I was a lonely kid,” he slurs. “Then I met Torin, and he was like no one else I’d ever met. He didn’t pretend to like me in public and hate me behind closed doors.” Jack grins, squeezing his eyes shut. “He hated me right to my face.”
I snort, glancing up to meet Torin’s amused gaze. “How did the two of you become friends?”
“You know how people say if you spend enough time in Ashwick, the smell kind of seeps into you?” Jack says.
“Uh huh.”
“It was like that.”
“You’re saying you were like a bad smell?” My lips twitch as Torin lets out a soft chuckle.
“Yeah. I’m a lot to take.” Jack’s smile slips away, and my gut clenches.
“Maybe we should get you to bed.”
“You should get some sleep too,” he says, pushing up until he’s sitting upright. “You can’t have gotten much sleep after all the hanky-panky with Tor and Aster. I saw them both staggering out of your room, and I know that look. Sex drunk, right?”
“No hanky-panky,” I insist.
Jack’s eyes are overly bright as he peers around at us. “That’s a shame. It might help with your little issue.” He turns his focus onto Aster, who’s looking very shifty all of a sudden. “Show them the books, bud.”
Aster’s cheeks are flushed bright red as he awkwardly fumbles with the bag Jack dropped earlier, plucking out a handful of books with thick leather covers. “I asked Jack for books on how we might boost my magic,” he mumbles.
“Is that where you’ve been, Jack?” Torin grumbles. “Stealing from libraries again?”
Jack pulls a face, rolling his eyes. “I’ll have you know, I got all of these from a bookshop and I paid them money.”
“Well, good for you,” I say, my curiosity piqued by Aster’s bashful reaction.
He clears his throat. “They’re, uh, they’re on sex magic. How you might use sex as a boost to get more power.”
Now I know why Aster is looking all hot and bothered. My eyes dart around and I quickly discover both Torin and Kit have already got their eyes locked on me.
Jack
“HOW LONG DID IT TAKEyou to go through this lot?” Reva asks, flipping through one of the handful of books I dragged here in my raven form.
I bark out a laugh. If she only knew.
