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Slowly, once I can even consider moving, I drop to my knees again, lowering her to the grass before I pull out. My eyelids fall closed as I try to catch my breath.

“Holy fuck.” My words are a rasp, my throat burning from fuck knows what as I force my eyes back open so I can look at her. I instantly frown when I find her standing before me, tugging her pants back into place before she starts fixing her shirt and bra. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

“Not yet, you’re not,” I grunt, my mind a damn vortex of thoughts that I can’t piece together.

“I am,” she states, reaching for her cloak. She drapes it over her shoulders like I’m not still a trembling mess on the ground right now.

“We need to talk about this, Addi.”

“We don’t need to talk about anything, Brody.” She gives me a pointed look, like that’s the end of it, but it’s so far from it that she has no idea.

“Addi.” It’s a plea, a fucking plea from my lips, and she offers me what I can only describe as a sympathetic smile in response.

Crouching before me, she leans forward, pressing a featherlight kiss to the corner of my mouth.

“Thanks, but you were a means to an end.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I bite, my cock still semi-hard and exposed with the condom in place. I’m a mess. A fucking mess. It’s all her fault, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“It means you fucked me out of your system, and I ensured Cassian fucks all the way off,” she explains with a smile, standing again.

“How do you figure?” I ask, intrigued with where her head is at since mine is a fucking mess.

She shrugs. “I fucked his friend. He’ll leave me alone now.”

I laugh. The sound gives me the strength to stand and remove the condom from my dick before I tuck myself away. She stands, frowning at me as my laugh softens into a chuckle.

“What’s funny?” She can’t help but ask, and the uncertainty in her eyes only confirms that she’s not ready for the answer.

“You’ll see,” I reply with a wink before eliminating the distance between us. I lift my hand to her cheek, and when she doesn’t immediately bat me away, I grin triumphantly before running my tongue along her bottom lip. The shiver that consumes her is bliss, and I’m not the one feeling it. “And by the way…definitely not out of my system.”

THIRTY-TWO

RAIDEN

“Where’s Brody? He was supposed to be helping us,” I grind out, pacing the lounge area of my room as I wait for the most infuriating mage that I’ve ever met.

Kryll shrugs like it’s not really a concern, earning a glare from me, but it goes right over his head like usual. How I’ve survived so long with these fools is beyond me. They leave me second-guessing every decision I’ve ever made, but somehow, I can’t walk away from them.

I think that’s what annoys me the most. They’re the sort of family that gets under your skin, forcing unconditional love from you without your permission, and somehow, I’m not even mad about it.

It really does need three of us, but Cassian is off sulking somewhere, and Brody is fuck knows where. I can’t keep up with my friends on their damn emotions at the moment. Cassian seems to be consumed by all of the shit that went down at the diner Friday night. I don’t understand why he was pissed with Addi in combat class. She offered him a free pass to be rid of her and he refused. That’s some bullshit right there. And to top it off, he decides she has to sit with us.

We don’t need this drama. I’ve already got my hands full with Vallie without the added layer of some annoying fae that enjoys getting under my skin more than Brody does.

Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to calm the stress rising inside of me, but it’s pointless at this stage.

The memory of the vines wrapped around my boots as she sauntered away flashes in my mind, irritating me even more. I can feel my chest tightening, which is not what I need right now. I need to stay focused.

Fuck.

“Let’s just get it over with,” Kryll states, as if he can sense the inner turmoil consuming me, and I shake my head.

“We need another man.”

“I know that, but we don’t have anyone else we can trust, so it’s the two of us, or we don’t show.” He’s so matter-of-fact it pisses me off.