Page 6 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

I braced myself for whatever I sensed.

“Fuck, he’s cute.”

I frowned, because that was about the last thing I expected.

“You know, you shouldn’t fuck out here alone.” Carter’s voice broke through the moment, making us turn to find not just Carter, but Kenyon beside him.

And, yep, there was Yun peeking out from around Carter.

I didn’t know what they’d seen, but clearly they’d seen something.

“Don’t be jealous,” Ingram said, twisting to face them but keeping me hidden. It gave me the chance to right my jeans. “Not my fault I’m a better lay than you.”

“Rude.” Carter crossed his arms but didn’t seem bothered. “Next time do it where we can all see it, though! Come on, that’s just the normal bro code.”

Ingram peered over his shoulder, and once he found me dressed again, he turned his attention back on Carter. “You gotta pay for a show like that. I don’t work for free, you asshole.”

“Come on,” Carter said, following Ingram. “I’ll keep my socks on! Then it won’t even be gay!”

Kenyon shook his head and followed the others while Yun stared at me. At first I wasn’t sure what she’d think—at least until I sensed the waves of lust pouring off her.

Maybe we all fit better than any of us realized.

Chapter Four

Ingram

People were supposed to hate dungeons, but I’d never felt that way. Maybe it was because of my connection to the shadows, to the space between the realms, but this place felt as much like home as my own. It never made me uncomfortable, never felt like somewhere foreign, where I didn’t belong. In fact, I even felt a sort of camaraderie between the monsters and me.

I’d even wondered before if there wasn’t some greater connection between espers and monsters. Maybe we were bound together, created from the same energy, not as different as we like to pretend. Sure, we killed each other, but in my experience the closer people were, the more likely that was to happen. I couldn’t deny that I was the least comfortable I’d ever been here, though.

That was probably because of Yun. I knew exactly how fragile she was, and I didn’t want to risk anything happening to her. All it would take was one bite, one errant swipe of some claws, and she could get taken away. There were injuries that even Kenyon couldn’t fix, after all.

Still, none could deny the eerie beauty of the place. The purple streaks in the sky danced like the northern lights, and even the things that came from our world seemed to lose their color.

I glanced over at Kenyon.

Maybe not all the color. His shirt was just as loud and annoying as ever.

We’d kept searching as we headed toward the portal, gathering anything useful. We hadn’t found any good weapons, but thankfully, we didn’t really need them. Still, it helped to have something. We had found a single pistol with a few rounds, but that had gotten handed over to Yun.

I didn’t love the idea of arming her—partly because she could turn it on us just as quickly, with her temper. I also felt like it was already admitting defeat, as though we were saying that we wouldn’t be able to protect her so had to let her do it herself.

Even if I understood the reasoning and accepted it, I didn’t like it.

“You’re sure you know how to use that?” I gestured at the holster that held the heavy gun at her hip.

“I went through basic training with the guides,” she reminded me. “Every guide learns self-defense. I got top scores, in fact, at the gun range.” She lifted her chin as she said that, with a pride I had to admit looked good on her.

She too often worried about, well, everything. She blamed herself for every problem, never thought she was good enough, and was always waiting for others to see it, too. Watching her gloat was a rather nice change.

Which reminded me that I hadn’t actually gotten off earlier—either time. I wasn’t the type to usually enjoy edging myself, and this sure drove that point home.

Oddly enough, though, I wasn’t crawling out of my skin. I didn’t have the gnawing pain inside me. I hadn’t, not in a long time, not since…

My gaze moved over to Yun, a side-long glance that had me admitting, yeah, that had been mostly due to her. I wasn’t sure what it was about her that did it, but she filled me up in a way nothing else ever had. It had turned sex from a craving into something I simply wanted.

It was nice, like it took that pressure off.