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“You can trust me.” River’s hands were balled against her chest as she leaned forward, boring her eyes into mine.Please trust me, she said in my head. “And I promise you, it will be safe. We take the utmost precautions. Our organization hasn’t stayed hidden this long and grown this large without discretion and loyalty. No one will hurt you.”

If I wanted answers, did I really have another option? Elijah was right. Leaking Earth while having an Air Marking wasn’t safe. It was our only plan, and I was going to this meeting.

I let my eyes travel back to Elijah. “The block will not break,” I reaffirmed. “I’ll be okay. And E.Z. will be there if need be. It’ll be fine.”

It would be okay. Goddess, it better be okay.

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” E.Z. assured.

Elijah visibly shook, clenching his fists and jaw in frustration before grabbing an ax and marching off into the trees. I watched his back as he left, feeling guilty for his poor attitude. Much of it was on him, but some was usually also on me.

I understood Elijah’s concerns. I really did. I didn’t like the idea of going any more than he did. I couldn’t deny that I was excited to see Earth Region but wasn’t looking forward to meeting with a rebel leader. If there was an alternative, I would have jumped on it.

“Don’t you dare feel guilty,” River insisted, breaking the awkward silence that lingered from Ash’s tantrum. “He’ll be fine. He just knows he can’t win this fight. And he doesn’t know how to play nice with others.”

“River!” I jerked my head towards her. “We have talked about this. That is very invasive.”

“Well, stop screaming at me. Or…” she trailed off, flaring her eyes wide, “block me.” The brat dared to send me a bright smile and tapped my knee.

“Alright,” she said, standing and patting her exaggeratedly bloated stomach. “I’m going to make camp before we lose the light,”

She stretched her arms above her head and then took off towards the gear, collecting what she needed and finding a spot to set up around the fire.

“So, Kaia, soon to be my Claimed, I get to be your Keeper tomorrow,” E.Z. said, a massive smile on his face while he wiggled his eyebrows salaciously.

“Will I have to act the doting, dam-er Claimed without a thought in my head or a word on my lips?” I chirped sarcastically, but I was smiling, and it could be heard in my voice. “E.Z., sir, I’m sure you’re so tired after this long, stressful day of being a man. Please allow me the pleasure of removing your cloak and offering you a chair while I serve you dinner and then rub your feet. All while batting my eyelashes innocently at you, of course.”

I blinked said lashes at E.Z. and flashed him an amused smirk.

“Kia Claimette, I’ll gladly let you remove as much of my clothing as you want. And please, Goddess, rub anything.” E.Z.’s mischievous eyes were bright as he wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Plus, I love dinner. Are you on the menu?”

I held up my hand and glared to stop E.Z. from saying anything else. He winked at me. The turd.

“First, please tell me you’re not going to subject me to that nickname the whole time we’re pretending.” I counted off my fingers, going for stern governess vibes. “Second… nope, not touching the rest of that.”

I was fighting an idiotic grin I had no chance of combating as I stood and walked over to make a bed for the night. I wanted to check on Elijah. He hadn’t gone far. I could hear the rhythmicthwack, thwackof his ax. But I needed a bed before it got too dark.

“May I have a bed roll so I can set it up?” I asked as I approached Griffin. He was working on setting up his own bedding, no doubt with half his concentration on our conversations.

He wasn’t radiating calm like he often did.

“This one is yours. I’ll take care of it.” He lowered his voice, adding a deeper grumble to his words. “We still need to talk.”

“About what?” I hesitated, his severe demeanor worrying me. I figured we already had that talk.

Chapter19

Griffin

The tiny ball of sass had looked deflated during that conversation. I saw the fear and worry in her eyes. She was shit at hiding from me. She would cower in front of anyone again if I could help it.

Compound that with the fact that she wasn’t eating, and I was pissed. I had considered hand-feeding her when she put her plate down. I did not give two shits about anyone else. They could skip dinner, and I would fight E.Z. over their portion. The girl needed to eat. She’d been in a steel cage for almost a week.

Fucking Aiden. Charging in and fucking everything up. Asking questions and delivering a River that no one asked for or wanted. She made me twitch. I didn’t like to twitch.

I had watched Kaia, trying to be her silent support, but something shifted between us. Her cheeks flushed, and the shy glances changed to something heated. She wasn’t self-conscious anymore. She wasn’t nervous. She was turned on and reacting to me. She took away all my rational thoughts. A deep burning need had filled me, a primal side of myself I could barely suppress. She wasn’t mine, couldn’t be mine, but she was all I could think about.

I was not a stranger to women. I was often their dirty little secret. A challenge for them. An escape from their otherwise dull lives. They didn’t expect anything from me but a thrill, getting off on the fear that came with being under my control. They secretly sent me sly smiles and winks when their overweight, over-inflated, overly stupid Keepers looked away. I begrudgingly nodded at the brave ones who managed to hold my eyes for longer than a minute without flinching and looking away. They were the only ones who stood half a chance of handling me.