Page 46 of Balance

It seemed as though Titus, and Julian, from the looks of it, were about to agree. In the meantime, Bryce, Brayden, Finn stood to the side, waiting for a decision.

And nobody looked very happy.

Men.

If it were up to their stubborn pride, we would lose this chance to find Miles. There was absolutely nothing wrong with asking for directions, and there was no need to make this harder than it had to be. We could deal with Troy for ten minutes, and then, once his usefulness wore off, we could dispose of him.

I’d slipped out of the room before anyone even noticed, following the park ranger outside.

Troy stood at the foot of the stairs, silver eyes flashing as he glanced back at me.

“S-sorry,” I stuttered—that expression seemed eerily familiar. “We’re coming. Please wait.”

“What, by yourself?” he seemed almost eager. “The loud asshole didn’t seem thrilled.”

Damen was loud, and he was not thrilled, but he would learn to deal with it. He couldn’t always get his way.

Disappointment was a part of life.

Calling him anassholeon the other hand…

But I didn’t reply before Bryce stepped onto the patio. “All good?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Yeah.” Tension I wasn’t even aware I’d been holding fell from my shoulders. “Are they coming?”

“Now they are.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “You didn’t really give them a choice, coming out here without waiting for Damen’s decision.”

I did wait for his decision, but it was the wrong decision; so there was no use in hearing him out. He was letting pride win over logic.

Besides, what was Damen going to do about it? Absolutely nothing.

I was going to find Miles one way or another, and I wasn’t about to let Damen Abernathy tell me how to live my life.

“For what it’s worth,” Bryce began, pulling me aside as the rest of our group came grumbling onto the patio, “I think you’re going to do just fine.”

Chapter Twelve

Bianca

Hike

“Hurry it up,” Troy commanded, halfway across the gravel already. “I’ll drop you off. Leave your car here, it won’t make it.”

Titus, who’d been stalking through the parking lot ahead of me, paused at Troy’s order. His shoulders tightened and he turned, but Troy seemed to be unaware of the danger lurking behind him.

In my opinion, Titus was far scarier than Damen could ever hope to be.

“I’m taking my car,” he said, glowering.

Something in Titus’s voice seemed to resonate with Troy, and the uniformed man spun to face the dragon, his overbearing posture deflating.

“And it wasn’t going to stay parked anywhere near here anyway,” Titus responded, continuing his way back to the vehicle, Damen at his side.

I swallowed, slipping away from Bryce, and rushed to catch up with the two. Their legs were much longer than mine, so I basically had to sprint to match their strides.

“Is it okay?” I asked, noticing their shortened pace. “Are you upset with me? I just want to find Miles and go home,” I added, glancing at Damen. I might have still been hurt over what happened in the car, but why did it feel like we were on the cusp of something much larger. “Do you have to keep breaking rules? Why can’t you just not argue with the ranger?”

“We’ll be breaking a lot of rules before this trip is over,” Damen explained, shoving his hands in his pockets as he glared behind us.