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Harrison couldn’t help but grin too. Damn, they’d needed a spell like this. With that problem solved, he relaxed and looked out the window. They were still in the Texas panhandle and it was nothing but flat plains, but there was a simple beauty to the land. Still, it wasn’t enough to capture his attention, which seemed determined to take him back to that kiss.
No matter what he told himself, he’d felt something. If he didn’t know better, he would think that maybe he was Hale’s soul mate.
That thought didn’t freak him out as much as it should have.
Chapter
Thirteen
Hale leaned his shoulder on the trunk of a large oak tree, his eyes locked on Harrison as the man remained bent over his laptop. Fingers flew across the keys in a rattling burst and then fell silent again as he turned from his screen to look at whatever Wiley was pointing to in a book on his left.
The two men had kept their heads together since they left Oklahoma. They’d found a useful cloaking spell, but now they were digging through their database and comparing existing spells against the new little booklet they’d acquired. The pestilents were getting too close for comfort. After the recent attack, even Hale’s perpetual optimism was shaken. At this rate, it was doubtful that they’d all make it to Sedona.
Firelight danced across Harrison’s hard features, making his frown appear even more foreboding. But for all his scowls and grumpy words, Hale’s eyes inevitably fell to the man’s surprisingly soft lips. How could someone so cold and brusque melt his entire body with a kiss?
Not to mention the fact that Harrison gave off every vibe of being a very straight man.
Definitely not straight.
Straight men did not kiss other men like they meant to taste the very bottom of their soul. That hadn’t been a kiss. It had been possession. Domination. Hale had been fucking owned, and he loved every second of it.
What the hell was he supposed to do about that? Sure, Harrison tried to blow it off as a fluke, but Hale was not buying it.
He very much wanted to repeat that moment and see exactly how far they could go. Even if it meant them both burning up completely.
“What the hell are we supposed to do about the pestilents? Do we find somewhere to make a stand? Somewhere away from people before we reach Sedona?” Lucien suggested, pulling Hale from his untimely fascination with Harrison’s mouth. Yeah, they had more important problems to worry about right now.
Hale’s gaze drifted back to Harrison, but the man was concentrating on his laptop again, seeming oblivious to Lucien’s question. It felt like the kind of thing Harrison would be very much against. Engaging the pestilents prior to reaching Sedona increased the risk that they wouldn’t all make it to the rift.
“It’s a big chance,” Clay said slowly as he flipped over some chicken breasts cooking on the fire.
They’d arrived at this wooded area in the national park just a couple of hours before sunset. While the three SUVs were clearly visible from the road, they’d tucked the tents and campsite a bit of a walk away from the vehicles. It was a shame that Clay couldn’t conjure up a little more coverage for them. But in early March, the trees and bushes were still relatively barren. A sudden burst of green leaves would be more eye-catching than their campsite. Right now, the only thing to draw a person to their location was the fire, but Clay felt confident that in the woods, he’d be able to sense the approach of the pestilents. They weren’t going to be surprised tonight.
Putting up the tents and prepping the campsite was the longest break Harrison had taken from his computer. The second Lucien lit the fire and the guys started talking about food, Harrison and Wiley had huddled together to resume their research.
“The more we go up against them, the higher the likelihood they are going to take one of us out,” Grey argued.
“But aren’t we already taking that chance by letting them surprise us along the route to Sedona?” the Fire Weaver countered.
Baer threw his arms up in the air. The big man was seated next to his mate, his legs extended toward the fire. The Animal Weaver seemed completely at ease in the camp, but he’d also been the one to select the spot and issue all the orders when they were setting up, thanks to his years of experience working as a park ranger. “That’s why Wiley and Harrison are working on the cloaking spell, so they can’t surprise us any longer.”
Hale nodded and pushed away from the tree. He wandered across the camp and bent to reach inside the tent he was sharing with Harrison. He grabbed his bag and dug around until he found the heavy flannel he occasionally used as a jacket. With the bag shoved back into the tent, he moved to Harrison and draped the shirt across the man’s shoulders.
