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Kas looked up from the outside cave wall, where he’d been leaning against the smooth rock.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said with a smile, ruffling his black hair away from his face.
“Back at you,” I murmured, strapping on all my knives and lacing my leathers and my boots. I didn’t like feeling unprotected out here. “Any animals tonight?” I remembered his story about Blaise and the fairy creature, shuddering as I wondered if we had unlimited lives out here, like some Earth video games, or if the mist would start playing for keeps soon.
Kas shook his head and leaned in to take my mouth in a sweet, soft kiss. He tasted of the bitter leaves we often chewed at night to keep awake.
“If you’re tired, I can keep watch,” I offered.
He smiled again, more apologetic this time. “I keep waiting for the mist to grab you. It’d be too risky without one of us sitting out here, too.”
Sighing, I leaned my head on his shoulder. He was right - the mist should have already come for me. But what if it didn’t?
Maybe something in the game play had changed.
I was in a new section, after all, and Blaise had stolen my team’s book. I shivered - that might mean my team had lost.
Although, if I was here, then technically the book was still with my team.
“You’re thinking awfully hard,” Kas said, threading his fingers through mine. “I’m not skimming your thoughts, but I can feel them.”
“I’m so glad we figured out the mindspeak. I felt so alone out there with Jillian and Darnell,” I said instead of getting into my tangled thoughts about the labyrinth.
“I’ll always be here when you need me, Kana. I think even Nicolas has shown that. I’m your weapon.” He squeezed my hand and turned his head to look directly at me, his dark hair shining in the moonlight. “But more than that, I want to be here because you want me. And because Iwantto be here.”
I felt what he was saying as much as heard it. He didn’t want either of us to feel forced together because of the mist or the prophecies.
“I love you, Kas,” I answered simply. It was all he needed, and the sweetest, proudest grin I’d seen from him broke over his face.
He slid down the rock wall into a sitting position, pulling me with him.
I climbed into his lap and wove my fingers into his thick black hair, our mouths meeting in a kiss that said so much more than words could. We were choosing to be together, over and over. Neither of us had trusted the other when we met, but I could feel the energetic and emotional bond between us now, so much stronger because we’d each worked through our suspicions.
“We make an unlikely pair, don’t we?” I murmured against his lips.
“A gorgeous pair,” he said with a chuckle, giving my ass a squeeze and nipping at my lips.
“Yeah, you’ll look pretty good up on that throne next to me,” I blurted out, surprising myself. Kas stilled, pressing me back enough to look deep into my eyes.
“Are you saying-”
The crack of a branch behind me had us both on our feet, weapons drawn. Here in the Fauna section, it could be anything, but the skin on my stomach began to burn again, feeling tight and itchy.
“Gobbelin,” I whispered to Kas under my breath.
When he didn’t answer, I spared him a glance, and worry shot through me.
He was pale, his hand shaking as he tried to steady the heavy club I’d left in the cave earlier. Without a word, I shoved one of my knives in his other hand and yanked the club from him.
“Go get the others,” I said. He looked like he might pass out, and I didn’t want him anywhere near this fight.
Fucking do it, I hissed in his mind as he hesitated. The blast of ice magic worked like an alpha’s command might, and he twisted away, ducking into the cave just as a gobbelin stepped casually around the corner.
This one had more of a feminine shape to its body, though it was still thick with muscle and just as tall as the trio we’d fought the day before.
“Princess,” she rasped, the voice like an icy wind over dry leaves. I clamped down on a shiver - she knew the vampire language.
And she knew who I was.
