Page 45 of Balance

“No.” Titus pulled at my hands, holding them between us. “You should punch him in the face.”

My breath caught, my chest twisting painfully.

“But”—he turned my hands in his, examining my wrists as he ran his thumbs over my racing pulse—“I wish I could do it for you.”

“Why can’t you?” I asked, not realizing how the question sounded until his eyes met mine, his heavy brow was raised in both question and in amusement. “I m-mean,” I stuttered, horror washing over me. “I’m not asking you to punch him! I just noticed that Damen always seems to be in charge and everyone listens.”

“Damen is the heart of us,” Titus replied. “It’s your job to guide him, but it’s the heart that makes the final decision. Besides, we’d made a vow to never interfere with each other’s relationships with you. That was Julian holding back, by the way. Don’t be surprised if you see Damen beat to a bloody pulp one of these days.”

“Julian would beat up Damen?” My throat closed at the very thought.

“Julian would gladlykillDamen for you,” Titus said, his voice deceitfully calm despite the words coming out of his mouth. “You’re the only thing that could get him to go against his instincts.”

Instincts?

“But not you?” I asked, hoping the question didn’t sound as terrible out loud as it did in my head. But the disparity was intriguing.

Titus chuckled, a low throaty sound that caused my toes to curl. “No,” he said. “Not me. I’ll kill anyone else you want though.”

“What’s this?” Julian slipped beside us, looking at our entwined hands. For a brief instant, I was safe with the knowledge he had no idea of what we’d been discussing, but then he spoke. “Do you want me to kill Damen?” he asked, eyes glittering with eagerness.

“No!” I frowned at him. “I do not.”

What a terrible thing to joke about. I only wanted to maim Damen a little, to show him that I was not to be taken lightly. That would not happen if Julian came swooping in to my defense.

He frowned, his bottom lip jutting out. “Fine, darling. But ever change your mind, just say the word.”

I glanced between them, confusion making me light-headed. What in the world was happening? Every time Damen did something stupid, Julian appeared to lose more of his control.

Damen, still at the counter, turned on his heel and addressed the room. “Time to go.” The ranger got up from his seat, setting aside his comic, and brushed off the bottom of his jacket.

Damen looped his fingers through his belt, surveying the room with a steady gaze, apparently unable to feel the animosity aimed in his direction. “This is Troy,” he said, nodding his head toward the green-clad man. “The park is actually closed, but he’s willing to, begrudgingly, give us the ranger’s map.”

“There are some rules,” Troy began, clearing his throat as his silver eyes passed over our scattered group. He seemed to be almost bored until his focus finally landed on me. Titus stiffened, hands tightening over mine, as the ranger sucked in a breath, doing a visible double-take as his gaze traveled from my boot-covered toes up to my beige puffy hat.

His nostrils flared as he looked to Damen. “Actually, I just remembered, protocol changed recently. I’ll take you to the drop-off point myself.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Damen’s eyebrow began to twitch, and his posture turned in something imposing. “You’re a park ranger, not a tour guide. Just give me the damn map.”

“No.” Troy shoved a few papers around on his desk and snatched up a set of keys. “Rules are rules.”

“Rules that didn’t exist two minutes ago?” Damen protested, his voice a growl.

I glanced around Titus’s arm—both he and Julian had discretely moved in front of me as Troy’s attention wavered. It might be nice to have someone to show us the way instead of blindly following a map. But the question remained, how could he not have noticed me before? I’d been standing here the whole time; it wasn’t like I’d appeared out of thin air.

Unless…

I grabbed at Titus’s sleeve, waiting until his attention was on me. “Did you…”

The thinning of his lips was answer enough. He hadn’tonlybeen trying to make me feel better. Somehow, Titus had been able to mask my presence—at least for a little while.

But why?

“Come with me or not,” Troy said, shrugging. “But I’m about to leave for patrol. If you don’t come now, you can see yourselves out of my park.” Then he stalked from the room, authority radiating from him, clearly expecting the rest of us to follow.

And why wouldn’t we? Without knowing a logical place to begin, it would take even longer to find Miles. We were so close already; it would be stupid to abandon the plan now.

“We’ll figure it out ourselves,” Damen was hissing at Titus. He’d crossed the room as Troy left, and had detoured over to us. “It can’t be that hard, it’s only two million acres. Especially once we find his trail.”