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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Jorik
I’d never seen anything so beautiful in all my fucking life as Haina standing there on the dock waiting for us. And when she smiled, it was no exaggeration to say that the world truly got brighter, the air got warmer, and the sun got hotter. Fuck, even the breeze smelled sweeter when she smiled.
It was our collective fear that after what happened on the boat, she would have cut and run. That we’d scared her off for good and she would have taken her chances in the woods or be captured.
But there she was, waiting for us, as gorgeous as ever. Stronger than ever.
Because our woman was so fucking strong.
Even though we’d only been gone for six days—we were close to normal after five, but gave it another day just in case—it seemed like an eternity that we’d been gone. That we’d been away from Haina. I certainly felt years older. Weary and weak. Tired and tortured.
When we entered the cabin, a feeling of unfamiliarity crept over me, as if I was experiencing everything for the first time now that I was no longer under the influence of the serum. I thought things had been clear before—that the serum gave us clarity and the ability to not only literally see better, but also make logical decisions quicker—but now with my body clean, I realized how much of a fog we’d been kept in our entire lives.
Now, things were truly clear. Now, the air smelled sweeter, colors seemed brighter, and my love—nay, my obsession with Haina—was even stronger.
We had all worried that our feelings for her would be diminished after we went through the detox, but that wasn’t the case.
My brothers and I had discussed it, and we all loved her just as much as we did before we went on the sailboat—possibly more. Even Grumpy Penis Zane admitted that he loved her, even if he didn’t entirely trust her.
“Y-you guys must be hungry,” she said, a slight quaver to her voice, as she led us into the clean, bright cabin. She had pulled back all the drapes to let in the morning light, and it appeared as though she’d even dusted.
I could only imagine that she’d been going stir-crazy with worry and to distract herself she kept busy.
Rix, Zane and I nodded almost absentmindedly. We all had one thing on our minds, and food—despite how hungry we were—was not it. After we caged the beasts in our minds, we made sure to eat the rations Zane packed for us and sleep. We were still exhausted and hungry, weary and certainly haunted, but there was one thing that propelled us all forward, that kept us all going and determined not to give in to our addiction.
And that was Haina.
She plunged her top teeth into her bottom lip, eyeing us with a wary glint. “I have lots of grouse. Shot two yesterday. And I went and collected more groundcones and some tubers from a pond not too far away. I fried them up, made sure to add salt. Didn’t burn them.” Her laugh was awkward and forced.
My gaze flicked to Zane’s, then Rix’s. We were all thinking the same thing. We wanted her naked and to be inside her. To claim her in every way. Toreclaim her now that we were free of the serum. But we also didn’t want to scare her.
We also knew we stunk.
But the need to reconnect with our woman was excruciating.
“I actually have some water on the stove from when I made mint tea. Here…” She grabbed four mugs and emptied the rest of the steaming pot into them, then tossed in a few leaves. “You guys drink up. Warm up, and I’ll start boiling some water to run you a bath. You must be craving a nice, hot bath.”
“That’s not what we’re craving, Kitten,” Zane said, his voice just as raspy as Rix’s and mine. All of our throats hurt from how much screaming we’d done over the last six days. It’d take some time for our vocal cords to recover.
Her nipples tightened beneath the baggy white T-shirt she was wearing, and her skin flushed a gorgeous pink. I had to bunch my fists at my sides, my nails digging deep wells into my palm as a reminder not to rush her and take her mouth, shove her against the counter and sink into her heat.
And I knew we were all feeling the exact same way.
We’d craved her blood for six fucking days, and even though we no longer needed that blood, the desire forherwas still there. We craved her. She was an even more addictive drug than the serum, and none of us had any desire to give her up.
Haina’s throat moved on a hard swallow, and she backed up toward the door that led outside. “I … you guys need to rest. You need tobathe.You need toeat.”
“Oh, we want to eat,” Rix murmured, only wincing slightly from the pain I was sure he felt when forced to speak. I felt that same stretch and scratch in my throat.
Good thing what we wanted to do didn’t involve a shit-ton of talking.
She shook her head, her eyes wide, slightly panicky. I hadn’t realized it, but all three of us, Zane, Rix and myself, had taken several steps toward her. Not meaning to, we’d cornered her.
Sucking in a sharp breath, she reached into her back pocket and whipped out her Yakku blade, holding it in front of her. A tear slipped down her cheek. “Please don’t make me hurt you. I … I thought you were back because you were better. D-down on the dock … you seemed fine. A-are you not fine?”
Oh, fuck. I hung my head and shook it.
