Page 8 of Awakened Light

He raised an eyebrow. “Emilia would have won if you hadn’t cheated. You had a head start.”

Mark scoffed. “Cheater schmeater. Just because your half-vamp asses are still slow from whatever it was that witch did to you, doesn’t mean you need to be all jelly that I’m faster than you. Both of you.” He pursed his lips and flicked his wrist at them. “Haters.”

Emilia tossed her arms around his neck. “I could never hate you. Never.” Her chestnut brown hair cascaded around his face as she covered it with kisses until he broke down in laughter and wrapped her up in his arms.

I stood quietly watching them for a few more moments before Annella’s impeccable senses picked up my presence.

Her head swiveled in my direction, and her face lit up when she saw me. “Thorne! You’re alive! We were just saying we may need to go on a rescue mission.”

“Oh, is that what this is?” I joked as I started toward them. “Training for my rescue?”

“Training? I don’t need training to save your arse. I could save it solo with my eyes closed.” Curling her full red lips into a smug smile, she flipped her long, auburn hair over her shoulder with a flourish.

“Indeed, you could.” I walked to her side and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. Annella may look like a harmless, beautiful pixie, but she was as lethal as any of us. More lethal, if I was being honest.

“Welcome back, brother.” Aiden pulled me in for a brief hug. “I was starting to worry that you hadn’t made it home.”

“Yeah,” Mark chimed, widening his big brown eyes. “I saw that freaking Xena warrior princess on the beach. I was scared for you.”

The mention of her caused a knot to twist up inside my stomach, but I forced a smile onto my face. “Catrain. Yeah, she turned out to be pretty cool.”

Annella arched an eyebrow. “Pretty cool? She looked straight up ready to shank you when we left. I take it you won her over with your irresistible charm?”

I wished more than anything that I had.

“Well, she didn’t kill me, so I suppose I did.”

“And?” Aiden asked, expectant eyes waiting for more.

“And nothing.” I shrugged. “We just became sorta friends. She showed me some of her magic, and I told her about the world out here.”

“And that’s all?” Annella goaded. “You lose your touch, stud?”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “Nah. She was cool. Really cool. Just the whole ‘eternal enemies’ kinda got in the way of anything more.”

“Romeo and Juliet were enemies. They found a way.” Mark furrowed his brow and lifted a finger. “Although, spoiler alert, they did die in the end.”

His reference transported me right back to the beach when I’d said almost the same thing to Catrain. For a second, I could almost smell the scent of heather she’d used in her hair.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Emilia said, pulling me from my memory when she pulled me in for a hug. “So, tell us... how was it?”

“First, I need food. I’ve been living on hog’s blood.”

They all pulled a face, and then Mark whooshed off and returned a second later with a glass full of blood.

“A very bloody Bloody Mary,” he said with a smile.

“Thank you.” I tossed the blood down my throat. After three days of hunting and drinking from wild hogs, even though this was blood from a bag, it tasted as good as blood hot from the vein. “Wow. I needed that.”

Almost instantly, all my strength returned. I hoped that maybe when I was back to full strength, the sadness I felt over Catrain would somehow disappear. Like perhaps it was just a symptom of the blood loss.

But I would have no such luck.

“Okay, now tell us all about the Picts. I’m fascinated.” Emilia took my hand and led me over to the long table beside the pool. Small flames flickered from the rocks in the center, and two glasses of blood and two margaritas sat in front of the chairs. Aiden and Emilia took their seats in front of the margaritas, and Annella and Mark sat in front of the glasses of blood.

Emilia took a sip of her margarita and set down the glass. “It’s just incredible the Picts still exist, so come on... tell.”

Mark eyed up her drink, and Aiden noticed the longing glance. “Regretting living off blood?” he teased. “Wishing you could have a nice, cold margarita?”