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“Wait with me,” she said, taking the bags off her shoulders and setting them on the coffee table. She plopped down on one of the leather couches and almost brought Corbus with her if it wasn’t for him letting go of her hand.
“I shouldn’t,” he said, but she was sure that his words weren’t convincing even to his ears.
“Grab a blanket and we’ll wait together,” she amended. “I’m sure they won’t take long. I’m surprise they haven’t arrived already, actually, since we had to take a detour.”
Corbus looked at her skeptically but nodded. He walked around the couch and Mykie didn’t look behind her as he went to find something to warm them up. She bent down and undid the straps of her shoes, letting out a sigh of relief after her feet had a moment to melt into the plush carpet. She cursed herself when she realized that she didn’t grab sneakers to go home in the morning.
She peered over her shoulder before looking at her bag. Corbus was taking a while to grab a blanket. Would she have time to change quickly?
She stood up and dug in her bag, grabbing her shirt out first. She knew it would take her a minute to undo the string on her red top, especially on her own. She was especially struggling to get it unknotted and swore under her breath. Why did she choose to wear that shirt of all nights?
She felt gentle and cold hands touch her shoulder. She almost jumped if not for the hot breath that tickled across her neck.
"Do you need help?" Corbus voice broke through the silence in the room. "You seem like you're having a hard time."
"If you could get it untied," Mykie tried to gulp, but her mouth was too dry, "that would be amazing."
He gently picked up her hair and moved it to one side, flipped it so it was in front of her body. From there, his cool hands moved down her back and she could feel how careful he was moving as he untwisted the strings and undid the clasps underneath.
She could tell that he was holding his breath as he got to the end of the string. She turned around, holding a hand to her chest so the loose top didn't fall as she spoke. "Did you find a blanket?"
He nodded mutely, gesturing to the blue comforter that lied folded on the couch. He must have dropped it once he spotted that she needed help.
"Let me get dressed, and we'll relax and talk," she murmured.
"There's a bathroom down the hall, if you need it," he said in a tight voice. Mykie caught his visible swallow when she peered up at him through her eyelashes.
"Thank you," she said, gathering up her clothes for the night in her free hand and walked down the hallway. There was a door that was cracked open at the end of the hall with its light, but she realized that was a bedroom. The missing blanket on the bed was also a dead giveaway to who's room it was.
She rounded the corner and checked the next door, finding the bathroom. She flicked the light on and got to work on lifting the shirt over her head and shimming her leather skirt off her legs. It was when she was down to her bra and underwear that she really studied her body in the mirror on the back of the door.
She was in no way plain or thin, but she wasn't pudgy either. Dexter and Noah made it clear that they wanted her to work out more this year so she could gain more muscle. She was curvy, to say the least, but she didn't have one particular part of her body that she could brag to be her "greatest asset". She thought she had a decent butt, but she’d never say it aloud.
Her body was void of any blemishes beyond the tattoos on her waist on both sides. Dexter and she first went to get one done for a late eighteenth birthday present for her. She had added more on her birthday every year and had formed into an intricate area of tattoos on her right side filled with different symbols, including some Celtic. One stood for strength—which Dexter and Mykie both got together—and another that was a dragon that was twisted into a knot. The last was a Celtic Knot to represent how her new life begun with the Cantil. She also had Valkyrie wings beside her hip bone to represent her part in the Cantil. Her last tattoo was one that Jezebeth talked her into and was the only one on her left side. It was a snake that’s tail started on her lower hip and twisted along the left side of her stomach until it’s head curled under her left breast, which represented the Cantil as well. It was the only tattoo that was in color, the rest of them done in blacks and grays.
Not many had a chance to get to see her tattoos, since she didn’t get into a lot of situations where she’d be undressed. Renly definitely saw them the night she stayed with him, but she was curious as to why he didn’t ask about them, or at least comment.
She traced her fingers along the snake, comforting herself for the conversation she was about to have. Corbus… he had something going on. His grip on her arm when she was driving scared her more than she showed him. He wanted her attention so badly that he almost ran them off the road. She wasn’t cocky enough to think it washerattention that he desperately needed, but attention itself. He didn’t like being ignored, and she certainly seemed to ignore him tonight. It explained his comforting attitude on Saturday when she was stressed out, but it didn’t explain what he said that day. What did he mean about people “watching over his shoulder”? That seemed like he hadtoomany eyes on him, which made his actions in the car even more confusing. Which way was it: attention-deprived or attention-overloaded?
It made her also question why Caspar and he weren’t friends. Did they compete for attention against each other, or they didn’t recognize the desperate need the each of them had for someone to like and care about them?
She didn’t forget his other statements in the garage either, about Renly telling the other boys to back off from her. Who was he to say who could talk to her and who couldn’t, especially after one drunken night? While a part of her thought it was flattering that he wanted to spend more time with her and her attraction wasn’t one-sided, the other part was angry. While she was trying to balance working and figuring out where she stood with the boys, Renly had been working against her and making it even more difficult to tell who genuinely liked her or who was being friendly.
She sucked in a breath. Is that what she wanted? She wanted them all to be interested in her? Is that why she was so angry that Renly called “dibs” on her?
She hugged her midsection as she stared herself in the mirror. She knew what she looked like, and the same features—green almond-shaped eyes, a small nose, and thin lips—stared back at her. However, she’d never seen such a confused expression on her face. What was she doing with these boys?
Again, Jezebeth’s words came back to her, and she changed her question. What did shewantfrom these boys? She never got what she wanted because she always sabotaged herself. Did shewantthese boys? She thought for a moment and almost amended her words again, but stopped herself. In a normal world, people didn’t phrase it like that, but she was a Cantil, where lines were blurred. In the eyes of the snakes, the relationship she might want was normal. Men had multiple wives or girlfriends at the same time, which was agreed upon within the group of people. Why couldn’t she do that, too?
She wouldn’t be surprised if some of the male Cantil would argue against it, but Mykie was all for going against the norm. She was one of the few women Cantil, so would it be such a shock to see her adopting a practice that the men did? Just because there were more than two people in the relationship didn’t make it any less real. It didn’t make the love or affection towards each other less genuine.
Technically, in the eyes of the Cantil, the boys would be like having Hatchlings. Typically, the Cantil turned a blind eye to the affairs of relationships unless someone was in danger or the Cantil itself was at risk. Just like with Caspar, the partners of Cantil were seen as their responsibility. They would leave Mykie alone just as long as her Hatchlings didn’t pose a risk.
She nodded her head and smiled at her reflection. She bit her lip to quell the desire to squeal aloud as she finalized her decision in her head. She’d take a page out Jezebeth’s book for once, and see where her desires led her and take what her heart wanted. While she was known for being headstrong and warrior-like, that seemed to only apply to missions for the Cantil. When it came to her love life, that inner-warrior seemed to tuck tale and strand her without a moment’s thought. It was time to grab that warrior by the ponytail and drag her right back, now that she decided that she wanted.
The only thing left to do now was to figure out what theboyswanted, exactly. Also, to convince them that she wasn’tjustRenly’s, as much as he might want her to be. Caspar already knew better than that, or he just ignored the rules in the friendship that Renly put forth. If everything went to plan, it was time to teach the boys what it meant to share.
She quickly changed the rest of the way, throwing on a new pair of undergarments before pulling on her jogging pants and T-shirt. Now that she knew what she wanted, it was time to put her plan into place, starting with Corbus. All she had to do was go out there and tell him that she wanted him. She’d reaffirm it by kissing him, then they’d lay with each other on the couch. Where things led after that was all up to how the moment played out.
