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Excited, smug smiles slid across their both faces like they were actually getting ramped up at the idea of traipsing across the continent with the sole focus of killing the president, his entire family, and destroying his DNA line, which he apparently had frozen in some lab. Because, you know, maniacal dictators with god complexes did that kind of thing.
Rix clapped his hands together, then stood up with liquid-like grace. “Fuck, I haven’t been this excited about something in forever. Fuck, maybeever. A purpose. A purpose with hope.” Then he stripped out of his shirt, dropped his pants like Zane had, but instead of subtly jumping over the side of the boat, he did a little run and a flip before landing in the water with a mighty splash.
I was unable to get the image of his chiseled stomach, round, perfect butt, or that flash of what was between his legs out of my mind. I’d never seen a naked man before, and now in the span of five minutes, I’d seen two.
Make that three.
Jorik sauntered past me, showing me his butt and his wide, muscular back, which tapered to a narrow waist. He climbed up on the metal railing of the boat and leaped up in the air, only to curl himself into a ball by hugging his knees and landing in the water with a loud splash. Of course, a bear would make an enormous splash.
I scrambled up from where I was sitting and went to the edge of the boat to stare down at them. The sun had set now, and there was very little light left in the sky. Where their hands moved in the water, blue light flickered magically.
“See the phosphorescence, Angel?” Jorik asked with a smile, treading water. “Cool, huh? It’s caused by bioluminescence in algae and microscopic marine creatures. I’m honestly surprised they survived the ocean temperatures rising, but then again, adaptation is how you survive, so …” He swirled his hands in the water more, causing bright blue light to flicker through his fingers. It was beautiful.
“Water’s not as cold as you think, Wildcat,” Rix added.
“Global warming took care of that shit. Even this far north,” Jorik replied.
“But still don’t look at my cock. It’s not a fucking hot spring. So things are kind of turtling.” Rix snickered. “I’m a grower not a shower. However, this poor shmuck is neither a growerora shower.” He pointed to Jorik which prompted Jorik to swim over to Rix, push himself up a bit, put his hands on the top of Rix’s head and shove the guy under the water. Rix came up a few moments later sputtering, cursing, but also laughing.
“You going to go swimming, Kitten?” A deep, gravelly voice beside me made me jump and gasp.
I spun around to find Zane, still naked and dripping wet, leaning against the railing beside me, close enough that our elbows touched. His normally wavy mussed hair was slick against his scalp and nearly hanging in his eyes. But that just made him appear all the more dangerous, like he was keeping something hidden behind the ebony veil.
“Youdoknow how to swim, don’t you?”
“There’s a pool in the compound. Of course, I know how to swim,” I said bitterly.
He snorted, then lifted one muscular shoulder, turning to face me, not caring an ounce that he was completely naked. I allowed my eyes to slowly traverse the length of his body from top to toe. I’ll admit, out of curiosity, I allowed my gaze to linger on that long, weird thing between his legs for several seconds longer than the rest of him.
A deep, raspy chuckle from his chest had me lifting my gaze to his. He lifted his brow with the white scar through it. “Your heart is beating out of control,” he said with amusement, tilting his head. “I’ve never felt a heartbeat like this before. At least not one I wasn’t about to kill.”
I licked my lips and swallowed. “I’m just excited about finally getting to touch … the ocean. I’ve never swum in anything but a chlorinated pool before. It’s really deep and dark and…”
My breath hitched when Zane reached out and twirled a strand of my blonde hair around his fingers, staring at it like it was a puzzle he just couldn’t solve. “Don’t tell me the big, bad Hellcat is scared.”
I jerked away from him so he was forced to drop my hair. With a lift of my chin, I snagged his eyes. “I’mnotscared.”
That smug smile I wanted to slice off his face with one of my Yakku blades was back. He also managed to add a bored expression to his features, too, which only angered me more. “Sure, Kitten. And your heart isn’t threatening to beat out of your chest right now. Don’t forget…” He leaned in close, his mouth right next to my ear. “You’re part of us. Every power you have, we have, too. I can smell your fear. I can hear your heart. I cantasteevery one of your panted breaths.”
Why did my nipples just get hard?
I jerked away from him once more, hoping my glare was hard enough.
It didn’t seem to be, though. Zane just snorted and shook his head. “Can’t hide anything from us.” But the way he said that didn’t speak of conviction. He did believe that I could hide things from them, and the growl that rattled through his chest after he spoke confirmed it.
I curled my top lip into a snarl as my fingers went to the bottom of my sweater. I peeled off my sweater, T-shirt and sports bra in one fell swoop, tossing them to the side.
The sudden inhale of Zane’s breath was not lost on me. Neither was the increased thump of his heartbeat.
Now whose heart was threatening to beat out of their chest?
I removed the strap around my thigh that still had my daggers and knives. I’d already ditched the utility belt before I crawled into the bed at the front of the boat. Setting the strap on top of my sweater, I pulled down the black sports leggings that I routinely trained in as well as my underwear.
I didn’t look at Zane once, but I could feel his eyes on me. They burned hot, and my skin became flushed with the heat of his gaze. Gooseflesh broke out across my skin, and my nipples became painfully hard.
I took a deep breath and finally lifted my head to look at him.
I knew he knew that my pulse was wild.
