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“Don’t ever thank us,” Gunnar whispered. “Let’s just get out of here.”
I was so glad to be going home.
* * *
The street was the quietest I’d ever seen it. The bar’s lights were off, and so were the ones up and down the street. They all came for me; everything was shut down. I had arrived on their planet soaking wet and terrified but determined. Now, despite the bumpy landing thanks to the lightning, I was home.
As we got off the shuttle, Crew bent over, and I climbed on his back. They wanted to carry me around, to see that I slept and ate. For the time being, I would allow them to spoil me a little. I was tired—bone tired—but I was home, and I would heal there.
However long that takes.
“Is Raine okay?” I asked them, not caring who answered.
“She’s very glad you’re back. She offered to come by if we needed her, but it seemed best to have her stay behind with Kitty.”
He was right. Their planet was magic. The people were, too. Maybe she and I could both find our way.
When they carried me upstairs to the bar, I missed the sounds of the music and the people talking downstairs. “Can we open tomorrow night?”
“If you want.” Mace pulled on the end of my hair. “Whatever you want.”
“Then I want to open. I want things to be as normal as possible as fast as possible, okay?”
They set me down in the bed and Gunnar took off my shoes. “Sure. Ransom can have a fight with someone and everything.”
“Why am I the one who’s having the fight?” He shoved Gunnar. “It could just as easily be you.”
“No,” Gunnar said as he sat down on the bed. “I’m a pacifist.”
“Sure. Those were some real peaceful things you did when we lost her. You are a man of no violence.”
Gunnar yawned then shot me a wink. “Maybe just for Raven.”
19
SURPRISES, ALL AROUND
I knew Gunnar had already awakened and left the room as I got out of the shower. How did I know? The area outside of the bathroom felt empty. That might be nuts, and I might be wrong, but I would be surprised if that was the case. My men brought presence to a room, intense ones. Everyone else woke up except Gunnar when I slid into the shower, so I tried to be quiet. I knew it to be impossible, unless I had one of those little devices to hide voices…I immediately realized they’d hate that idea. I could practically hear them—they’d rather be awake and hear my heartbeat than asleep and not hear it. Some of them might even hear it while they slept, for all I knew.
Drying my hair took a long minute, so I stepped out with the towel around me. I needn’t have bothered, since I was right—the room was empty. Besides, they all saw me naked. A lot. Still, wrapping the present for them seemed the least I could do, since they all so loved to unwrap it.
A motion out the window caught my eye, so I headed there to watch a bright blue bird swoop toward the mountains, climbing toward the sky. I smiled, as I hadn’t spent much time looking out windows since my first day there. When I heard the knock at the door, I turned and said, “Come in.”
Ransom leaned in the doorway, staring at me with a hot, possessive gaze. “Damn, that’s beautiful. The sunrise. You. That towel.”
I blushed, smiling a little because he did notice the wrapping paper. “Good morning. Did you sleep okay?”
They’d surrounded me on their big mattress, with Crew and Ransom the closest. Mace and Gunnar had slept on either side of Crew and Ransom, so I had no idea if they’d slept well. I knew I had , with all of them touching me.
“Did I sleep okay?” He grinned. “Yes. None of us slept the whole time you were gone, so I’d say we all needed to just pass out. There was no way any of us were going to rest without our Raven home. My sweet butterfly.”
“Ah…look how poetic he sounds.” Mace snuck past him, ducking into the room with Crew close on his heels. A second later, Gunnar joined them.
Ransom elbowed him. “You just wish you could say sweet things to her.”
I looked down at my towel. I wasn’t particularly dressed to see everyone yet. “What do we do now?”
“We go see your doctor friend. She is unfreezing her own brother, so he’ll be up soon. Once she’s finished with him, she’ll let us know when we should expect others to be thawed out and fixed.” Gunnar rocked back on his feet. “And we open up the bar, if that’s still what you want.”
