AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They all returned my greeting, and Saber, who seemed like the straight man in any TV Land sitcom, asked, “Did we wake you?”
“Oh no.” I covered a yawn with my fist. “How long was I asleep?”
“A few hours.” Draven, I noticed, wore an apron. “You must be hungry.”
“I’m sorry.”What on earth must they think of me?“I arrive and pass out like the dead for all those hours. I didn’t drink a thing except apple juice on the plane, I swear.”
Saber came to sit beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. “You’ve been through so much, Ilya. It stands to reason you would be tired, and the fact that you felt secure enough to sleep here like that is a compliment to us.”
“I haven’t slept the night through since my parents’ accident. Nightmares and just my mind racing have been pretty bad. I figured it was normal…”
“Seems about right.” Saber stroked my arm, and I leaned into him, seeking the comfort he offered. “Any nightmares during your nap?”
I searched my memories. “I don’t think so. And I feel rested.”
“Not enough,” Menace growled. “If you’ve missed all that sleep, you’ll need to go to bed early tonight.”
I startled a little at his stern tone, but Saber continued his caress of my arm. “He’s gruff, but he’s right. You’re going to need to get good sleep so you don’t make yourself sick. Nobody could go through everything you did and emerge unharmed.”
“Okay. You’re right.” I’d been pushing the exhaustion back and struggling through day to day. “If I’d thought too much about it, I’d probably have collapsed.”
“You can collapse here if you like.” Saber smiled at me, those kind eyes twinkling. “But why don’t I show you your room whileDraven gets dinner finished? We’ve already taken your bags up there. Later we can talk about having the things you have in storage shipped here.”
“Oh, that would cost a fortune. And I don’t really need everything that’s in there.”
“And we don’t think it would make you happy to fly back there and sort it out, so we’ll just order one of those pod services to handle it. Then you can go through it at your leisure and donate or throw away what you don’t want and bring in anything you do. This is your home, too.”
He stood up and held out a hand, and I took it. “It’s upstairs.” I allowed him to lead me up and to a room at the end of a longish hallway. “We didn’t have time to do much to fix it up, but anything you want or need, you just say the word.”
“I will.” I let go of his hand and stepped over the threshold, taking in the cozy space. It was neither masculine nor feminine, but the furniture was well made and glowed with polish, the large, wide bed piled with quilts. “This is wonderful.”
“It was set up as a guest room, but we don’t have guests, really. You do like it? What can we change?”
“Nothing I can see.”
“There’s an attached bathroom, as well, through that door.”
He pointed and I entered to find a deep tub and separate shower, nothing fancy but everything nice, clean, and apparently new. They really must not have guests. “Is there time for a bath before dinner?” I had only a shower in my apartment, and I hadn’t had a soak in a tub since I couldn’t remember when. “Or I’ll take one after.”
“I think Draven has it almost ready, but I can tell him you’re not quite ready.”
“No. I’m hungry, too.” I hadn’t been hungry, either, until today, until I arrived in this home with these men. “I don’t wantto make you wait any longer than you already have. Just let me wash my face and hands, and I’ll be ready.”
He sat down in a chair in the bedroom, so I pulled a fresh sweater out of one of my bags and took it into the bathroom with me. Feeling refreshed, I emerged and returned downstairs with Saber. It left me bemused that he’d waited like that, but it made me feel protected and content in a way I didn’t know quite how to analyze, nor was I sure I wanted to. Not quite yet.
I was glad I’d decided not to bathe before we ate because a feast awaited me. The table in the dining room was filled with dishes of food gently steaming. Rare roast beef, fluffy mashed potatoes, emerald-green peas, so many dishes, I wondered again at the lack of expected guests. But as we began to eat, I soon saw why there was so much food. These big, strong, muscular guys could eat. And they also urged me to take seconds and thirds. With my appetite just returned, I gobbled more than I should. So much for trying to be a femme fatale. But maybe these guys wanted a different kind of girl than the ones who toyed with a salad and maybe a french fry stolen from their plates. The more I ate, the happier they seemed. And when they’d cleared everything away, not allowing me to help at all, I took the opportunity to head for that bath I’d yearned for.
I ended up in the shower just to get clean then went downstairs to ask the one question that kept me from being completely at ease.
Settled back on the sofa with a cup of delicious hot chocolate in my hand and Draven and Menace on either side of me, I was tempted to forget about asking tonight. Just enjoy the moment. But no. This was important. I’d asked it before but I didn’t feel like it was fully answered.
“So, what about the rules?”
Chapter Fourteen
Menace
The female asked again about the rules. She was good and sturdy and brave. I already liked that about her. It took a strong and fearsome woman to be the mate of an orc. She had tripped in the woods, but that was our fault. We had forgotten her eyesight wasn’t the same as ours. It didn’t make her weak. In fact, I blamed myself for not preempting that part of the walk home.
