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Eden

Give a girl the right costume and she can conquer... well, maybe not the world, but definitely a few lovesick men.

My muscles are sore and aching, but the hot water beating down on my back is a steamy release. I’m covered in bruises from being tossed about by explosions like I’m a ping pong ball, but it could have been worse.

Dom is recovering well. The heavy bullet wound in his upper arm is stitched and clean, and he has comfortable access to our pain medicine. He has three cracked ribs, and the bruising is deep and swollen over most of his chest. It will take him a while to regain full mobility, but... he’s alive.

Beau’s stint in the med bay was quicker, cutely laid up in the bed next to Dom’s. He had a slight concussion and various cuts and bruises, but he quickly decided he was fine and checked himself out.

But despite our win here yesterday morning, the last day and a half of recovery was intense, and the mood is heavy and somber.

After we’d confirmed that the remaining Sinners were truly gone from our woods and on their way back to Cyanide, the cleanup began swiftly. The bodies of the Sinners and the Reapers were gathered and burned—or burned still piked in the moat if they couldn’t be recovered.

With the acrid scent of kerosene and roasted bodies in the air, we began collecting the discarded tools and tents the Sinners left behind in their panicked retreat. Grim and methodical, we took blankets and cookery and anything of value they didn’t grab on their way out.

The food most of all.

We dragged their abandoned food in by the armful, load after load—until our stores grew fatter than they had been in months and there was nothing more to carry.

To secure the slipping rock around the side tunnel, Jayk and my brutes worked with Sara, a bright-eyed brunette who used to be a structural engineer—and who became decidedly less bright-eyed when she saw exactly how much damage Lucky and I caused.

Reluctantly, I turn the shower off and step out. The others will be in soon for their turns, and not just because we’ve given up all pretense that we’re not all sleeping in Jasper and Lucky’s rooms.

But also because Jennifer is currently crying her heart out in Dom’s room, nestled between Ida and Ethel, and she needs some privacy.

There have been some... hard decisions made since the Sinners left.

Faced with the two options of going to farmlands alongside the Reapers and facing all the danger and all the risks of being there right now, or staying here at Bristlebrook, the civilians were heavily split on what they wanted to do.

They talked for hours about it yesterday, long into the night, with all Reapers and Red Zone locked out of the conversation so they could discuss the pros and cons freely.

But in the end, about thirty-two civilians decided to go with me and my brutes—and tomorrow, we’ll leave for the farmlands to prepare for the onslaught attacks we know will be coming from the Sinners.

The rest of the civilians will stay at Bristlebrook and re-fortify.

Despite the mixed reactions to that decision.

Many of the Reapers objected loudly, begging and arguing in turn about the dangers of staying here alone, but the civilians wouldn’t be budged.

The Sinners have been defeated twice at Bristlebrook—and the women here have proven they can defend themselves.

Bristlebrook is where they feel safe.

Which, as far as my brutes were concerned, was all there was to it.

And quietly, I’m relieved about it. I don’t want these women to have to face the same dangers we’re up against.

They’ve been through more than enough.

Slowly, my stomach sick and heavy, I begin to towel myself off.

Everyone heard the break-up between Jennifer and Sawyer yesterday, just hours after the battle. They heard his confusion and heartbreak and how he begged her to please come with him. That he’d keep her safe.

That he loved her.

They heard her tell him that she wouldn’t feel safe there anymore. That she doesn’t feel safe anywhere right now. That she needs to be here with her people.

I listened by the door with my heart in my throat, ready to intervene if she needed it, unwell to my marrow.

Taking a steadying breath, I hang my towel and resecure my bun.

It’s okay.

It’s for the best.

Someone as fierce as Jennifer should never be with a man as weak as Sawyer.

Those of us who are leaving will set off for the farmlands first thing tomorrow morning.

The Reapers’ home base has been radioed, and they know to expect us.

Arthur and his people will travel with us most of the way, until they can safely avoid the Sinners on their trip back into Red Zone.

We’ve given Arthur our satellite phone so we can stay in close, more secure communication through the coming days.

The decisions all sit heavily on me.

We all know death is following us now, but at this point, we have little choice but to turn around and face it. We’re committed to this war—and those Sinners need to die. It’s the only way we can be safe... and it’s the only chance their captives have, too.

I swallow hard.

God, I hope Heather’s okay.

She saw Dom get shot, too.

Dismissing the thoughts I’ve already spiraled over too many times, I pick up my glasses. I need to get dressed and then check on Dom again. I don’t think he’s used to being on bedrest, and he’s already testy and impatient to get up.

But right before I leave the bathroom, I see a note pinned to the door.

Just trust me on this, but I’d turn that into a deep cleaning operation

xoxo love you

PS leg shaving has never looked so hot

Lucky.

I stare at the paper, torn between laughter and a vague incredulity. That isa hell of a note to receive cold after the last few days.

But . . .

I turn back into the bathroom and spend the next fifteen minutes judiciously cleaning, remembering the entire time how thoroughly Dom inspected me in the shower last week.

And that was only my pussy.

By the time I’ve slipped, naked, to the bathroom door, I’m tingling with the memory and anticipation is prickling over my skin.

If Lucky is leaving me a note, am I in for a night with him and Jasper?

My breathing quickens at the thought.

Then again, the others are all meant to be sleeping here tonight. I know it’s only just dusk now, buthow does that...

I hear footsteps in the next room.

Slowly, I crack the door open, peeking out.

“Hey, beautiful.”

Edging closer, I open the door, craning my head to see him.

Lucky’s eyes sparkle at me in amusement. He’s standing not-so-casually in front of the bed—and on top of the bed is...

“Um. Lucky. What is that ?” I ask, my voice too high.

I slip out of the bathroom, trying to get a better look at the familiar wooden box, the lingerie, and the utterly absurd red-and-white costume that?—

“Hm?”

His gaze is traveling slowly, heatedly over my body.

My naked body.

My tripping pulse begins to thrum in my throat. It’s been such a heavy few days, terrifying and sickening and disillusioning, full of so many betrayals.

There’s something so simple and so... so freeing in seeing that kind of undisguised mischief ready to be unleashed.

Especially in him .

My Lucky, with his perfect, lickable dimples, and stupidly carnal sweatpants, and big, beautiful heart.

Slowly, I walk up to him and stretch my arms up over his shoulders. His hands immediately slide around my back, then cup my ass, dragging me against him with a low sigh.

His cock presses provocatively into my stomach through the soft fabric of his sweats, and his fingers begin to knead my ass, like he can’t help himself.

My mouth an inch from his, I smile. “You making plans for us I should know about, sweetheart?”

Lucky’s eyes brighten, and his soft laugh gusts over my lips. “Sweetheart, huh?” His mouth slips over mine. “I could get behind that.”

I lean up to kiss him, and our lips slide sinfully against each other. It’s a hot, slow, delicious tease, a game of anticipation and release, rushes and sinking, heated need. I pant into him, and he groans, stealing that too.

Whenever Lucky has his mouth on me, I cease to exist for anything else.

He lifts me up by my ass, moving me to the bed, his mouth still working over mine, and I cling to his neck as he leans down over me, my body waking up with vicious eagerness. I tunnel my fingers into his hair, tugging him down harder.

The next sound that leaves him is half a laugh and half a groan as he hikes my legs wide and crawls onto the bed, settling over me.

His mouth hardly leaves mine, and by now we’re just a tangle of tongues and hot breath and panted whimpers.

He sucks on my lower lip, and my tongue and presses his fingers between mine until we’re tangled everywhere.

Lucky kisses with his whole body, with unbridled eagerness and wicked cleverness. More than any of them, I think he enjoys it the most, just kissing .

His mouth moves briefly to my neck, and I gasp, my head spinning, my lips damp and desperate for more.

Although... I also know exactly what he can do elsewhere with that mouth.

“I love you,” I whisper between pants.

It wasn’t what I meant to say, but it spills out anyway. After the battle and the misery and... and all of it to come, I feel like I can’t say it enough.

His golden hair is long and loose, and its silky strands tickle over my breasts as he sucks softly at my throat, nips at my collarbones. It’s like being gilded in him.

But Lucky glances up from his kisses, his laughter settling into something soft and warm and quietly solemn. “I love you too, Eden.”

“And I love you both,” Jasper says from somewhere behind Lucky, then I hear a soft sound of exasperation. “I knew I shouldn’t have left you here alone. Don’t distract her, Lucien. They’ll be up in less than half an hour.”

They ?

Don’t distract me? Isn’t this my surprise?