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He tears his gaze from the other man and gives me a hesitant smile. "Any place in particular you want us to lay?"
Us. We.These are all things he's saying to make a point that I'll be sleeping with him today, and I want to scream at him. To tell him this is not the place to piss all over me and claim me as his own. We have enough shit to deal with.
"Just lay it anywhere."
He notices the edge to my voice and lifts a brow, but I don't explain. I don't need to. He knows exactly what I'm doing and exactly why I'm doing it.
"Ann," Dusk says, rolling a bit to look at me, then patting his bedroll. "Should we get some sleep? It was a long night."
"She's not sleeping with you," Rayne says, venom in his voice.
"She's not sleeping with you," Dusk throws right back at him.
“And who is going to stop her from sleeping with me?You?” Rayne looks at Dusk like he's looking at a spider he could kill with a flick of his hands. I almost remind him that killing someone with his mind doesn't work against shadow beasts, but I'm sure he remembers. Maybe he's already tried his abilities since he came back.
Dusk slowly climbs to his feet, and I match his movements as the big shadow beast crosses the cave to stand in front of Rayne. "Try me."
Rayne steps a little closer, chest puffed out, eyes dark and flashing with anger. "But you're injured. It wouldn't be a fair fight."
“And you're a dead man in a borrowed body. I think I'll do just fine." Dusk's light blue eyes scream insults his mouth never forms.
"Guys." I'm not quite between them, but I'm moving closer, trying to decide just how to handle all of this. I've never had men fighting over me before. I've never had anyone outside of Rayne even give me a second glance. "Let's just cool down." The words sound lame, even to my own ears, but I can't help it. "We're all just tired and overwhelmed."
"This isn't about any of that," Rayne says, still glaring down at the other man. "It's about this prick having a chip on his shoulder."
Onyx rises from where he was sitting, and I swear the tension in the room grows tenfold. While Dusk I can trust enough to not start an all-out fight, I don't have the same faith in Onyx. If he gets involved in this, they're all going to end up hurt. And that's the last thing we need right now.
Lifting my chin and putting out my hands, I say, "Stop this right now! I'm not kidding!"
Onyx moves to stand near me, eyeing Rayne.
Dusk looks back at him, and Onyx signs something that I'm sure isn't good.
"You're right," Dusk says. "Maybe the dead man should go back to the main cave so we can all relax."
"No." Everyone looks at me. "You are not kicking him out of this cave. Because if he goes, I go too, and I don't want that. And I don't think you guys want that either.”
Dusk shakes his head, his expression one of disbelief. Like my words are a betrayal. “Let’s get out of here. I need some fucking air.”
They walk out of the cave without a backwards glance at either of us, and I have the miserable feeling that they think I was taking Rayne's side. I wasn't. I just don't want there tobea side. I don't want it to be me and Rayne versus them. We're on the same team. They just need to realize that, and Rayne's behavior isn't helping.
“Fuck, Rayne.” I’m torn between the man I know as my truest mate and the men who say I’m theirs.
He shrugs. "It's not my fault the beasts are so unreasonable."
I glare at him. "They're not beasts. They're men. Men who have saved my ass more times than I can count. Men who care about me."
His cocky demeanor falls away. "This is hard."
"I know." My gaze holds his. "But has anything ever been easy between us?"
"Between us? Yes." He gives a small smile. "It's the rest of the world that hasn't made our romance easy."
I wrap my arms around myself. "Rayne, you know I love you, and that I've missed you. Missed you more than words can say. But things are already hard enough. Can't you just make them easier?"
His face says it all. He knows he's fucked up. “Come here.” He holds out his hand and there’s nothing I can deny him, not after I lost him. Not after the hole he left in my heart.
I take his hand. He grabs some new blankets and lays them down by the fire. Then he sits down and pats the space next to him, all the tension gone from his body, from his expression.
