“It’s past curfew. You need to be in your tent,” Ben hissed, coming around to the side of us to where he could finally see me.Like he wanted to see me.
Bile rose in my throat when I saw his weapon was drawn. Even seeing us hadn’t prompted him to holster it, as though he liked the subtle display of power.
“What can I say, except that we were listening to our wild cores?” Calder murmured, letting a wry playfulness into his voice.
“Yeah, well, there’s a curfew for a reason. I told you, it gets dangerous out here.” Ben waved his gun around like it was a wand thatcould make wolves and bears appear from the surrounding woods. In front of me, Calder went eerily still, watching him.
“I’m going to have to report you to Dr. Julia for breaking curfew.” The barrel steadied on us. “There’s going to be repercussions for not listening to me. There are rules here. You can’t just do whatever—hey!”
Calder lunged, grabbed the barrel of Ben’s weapon, and, with a flick of his wrist, emptied the chambered bullet and dropped the magazine to the ground.
It happened so fast that both Ben and I couldn’t fully react until it was over and the gun was hollow and useless in his hand.
“What the hell? What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the younger man blustered, scouring the ground for the fallen clip. “I wasn’t going to shoot—”
“Never aim a weapon at something you don’t plan on shooting,” Calder warned, frost coating his voice. “If you tell them about curfew, I’ll have to tell them you have no idea how to properly handle a weapon and you put our lives at risk.”
Taking my hand, Calder led me away from the scene, at all points shielding me from the guard and his furious string of curses.
“I’m watching you,” Ben swore, and I heard him ruffling frantically through the debris for the clip.
“Just keep walking,” Calder said from behind me, his steady hands on my waist, guiding me through the forest back to our tent.
I didn’t take a full breath until he zipped the flap shut with a single swipe of his arm.
“Do you think—”
“No, he’s not going to say anything.” Calder strode over to the table and picked up his reusable water bottle, uncapping it for a drink but pausing before lifting it to his mouth. “You shouldn’t have come looking for me.”
My slack jaw snapped shut. “You should’ve told me you planned on going to Maxwell’s RV tonight.”
“It wasn’t going to take two people to search through her things.”
“It would’ve gone faster.”
His eyes flicked to mine, and their normally serene golden-green was now mottled with anger. “With greater risk.”
He lifted the bottle to his lips and took several swigs. My eyes ran over him. He kept himself still partially facing away from me. My pulse fumbled, and my legs pressed tighter together.
He wasn’t the only one still feeling the lingering effects of that kiss. Mine just weren’t as visible.
“Calder—”
The water bottle landed with athunkon the table.
“I’m going out to send a message to Callum. I’ll be right back. Stay here.”
This time, he didn’t leave anything up for interpretation. Not his instruction. Not his anger. And definitely not the evidence of his attraction straining against the front of his pants.
Chapter 15
Lara
This time when I woke up, there was a depression on the other side of the bed. A fossil where the furious man had slept. Who knew, though, for how long?
I’d tried to wait it out while he went outside last night, but my eyelids couldn’t hold their own. Despite their failure, I couldn’t regret the hours of unblemished deep sleep that had claimed me.
It was the adrenaline crash that had tossed me into exhaustion.Not the desire to relive that kiss in my dreams.
