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“You’re taking me to the mess hall?” I said as we rolled to a stop.

“And let those vultures get at you? No fucking way. I admit, it's not especially original, but I was gonna grab us some food and then take you somewhere... special.” He looked down at the driver’s wheel for a moment. “What do you like? I’ve just realised I have no idea.”

“Can’t eat seafood or eggs,” I said. “Otherwise...” He looked lost, really, really lost. Like if he fucked this up, something awful was going to happen. “Look, why don’t we both go in?”

“I know that doesn’t fit with the date bullshit thing, but that’d be really fucking good. I’m just as likely to give you food poisoning if I do this on my own.”

“That’s fine,” I said with a laugh, jumping out of the car, Buddy at my heels. “I don’t really need the whole manly ‘order for his woman’ thing.”

“Thank the Great Wolf for that.” But despite all his protestations, he came to my side pretty quickly, putting his arm around me and bowing his head for a quick kiss.

“Jack, what are you doing down here?”

Both our heads jerked up to see Mick and some of the blokes from the fencing team standing by the doorway to the mess hall.

“Mick.” Jack’s voice had instantly flattened, and I felt him begin to pull away. I shoved my hand into the back pocket of his jeans, stopping him from going any further.

“And the beautiful Julie. There’s been talk of you taking petitions.”

“She’s not taking any more petitioners,” he replied, moving forward to put more of his body between me and the other men.

“Pretty sure the lady can speak for herself,” Mick said, his lips curling slightly.

“And what’re you doing with a woman, anyway?” one of the other guys said with a sneer. “No use to you.”

“And not just any woman. She’s Shaun’s.”

I felt his body tense at the same point mine did. You’re very similar , my Tirian said. Hackles up at the first sign of a fight.

They’re disrespecting Jack and me. That can’t be allowed to stand.

You protect him as one would a mate.

“Pretty sure Jules is capable of making decisions about who she’s with, and who she’s not,” Jack snapped.

“You reckon? What about the shit that went down at the Stores building the other day? She smells pretty fucking creamy right now, and that can’t be from you.”

Two of the men took steps forward, scenting the air. I felt the shift in Jack’s arms, the muscles coiling as he readied himself to strike.

“What is with the scent thing?” I shouted.

“Like everyone seems to smell every damn change in my vagina. Do I stink or something? How about only those people whose faces will be buried between my legs at the end of the day sniff my twat to determine whether I’m into them or not. Because right now, that’s Jack.”

He gave a pleased little purr that had the two men frowning.

“What’re you gonna do with a pillow biter like him? Wouldn’t know his way around a woman’s body if his life depended on it. Try one or more of us. We’ve got what you need. Mick’ll fuck your boy, if you don’t want him missing out.”

I turned to look at Jack, saw the flexing of his jaw and the burn of his eyes, and I stepped in close.

I could hear the ragged rasp of his breath now.

He started when my lips touched his, something that had the guys laughing, but I didn’t care.

I’d wanted him to slam me against the wall, rip my jeans down, and work himself up inside me when we talked, so it was taking all my will to go out and do something outside.

I tried as we kissed—his hands going around me—to inject every single bit of that longing, need, and hunger into it.

His mouth fell open, his tongue flicking out to cover mine.

His lips followed mine when I finally pulled away, so I placed my hand on his cheek, looking into his eyes until he came back online.

I’d intended to turn and let the guys sniff me all they liked, smell whatever it was they did when I was turned on, but I didn’t.

He gave me a small smile, then uttered a little growl before kissing me again.

God, I wasn’t entirely sure I was on board with this no sex thing.

He smelled of sunshine and drying grass and bracken ferns.

“C’mon, we better get some food before the kitchen’s close,” he said when he finally pulled away. He took my hand, and we walked around to the kitchen entrance.

We built ourselves an impressive picnic basket, despite our minds only being partially on the job. Jack kept snatching up foods and forcing me to taste them until the kitchen staff kicked us out. He grabbed a couple of bottles of beer and then put the basket in the backseat.

“What the hell is with the smell thing?” I said as we got back into the car. “Every bloke seems to be sniffing me. I can’t smell when you’re turned on.”

“Don’t need to,” he said, reaching down and grabbing his crotch. “Nah, the Great Wolf didn’t give us blokes much to deal with the mysteries of women, but this.” He tapped the side of his nose. “This we have, at least.”

“Wow, this is beautiful!” I said when we pulled up. We’d parked on the side of a riverbank, the water quite low, trees and shrubs growing thick along the far bank. A broad trunk spanned the gap between the banks so you could walk across.

“Hold onto that,” Jack said, pulling out the basket. “Where I’m gonna take you isn’t that picturesque.”

Buddy followed us, tail wagging as we made our way down the bank, then walked across the tree.

Jack strode up the rise, hair gleaming in the sun, parting the foliage with a practised hand and revealing a thin path.

On the other side was a huge forest of trees, a great umbrella of foliage letting only small amounts of sun through.

The path wound its way through, partially covered by ferns.

“Stay close, Bud,” I said as he went bounding off.

“Behind here,” Jack said, stopping on the buttress roots of a large tree. He took my hand as I clambered over, and then I saw it.

Whoever had made this little bower had taken a bunch of young trees and wove them together, creating a little nest out here in the forest. Those trees had continued to grow, tied together at the crowns as they were, and with the combination of ferns and grasses, it was like a small room in the middle of the forest.

“This is beautiful,” I said, not sure why he’d downplayed it so much. He looked pleased and just waved me in.

The hush of the trees settled somewhat inside here. The air was instantly closer, but not uncomfortably so. It just changed from being huge and expansive to intimate in quick procession.

“Here,” he said, passing me a wooden crate. “Not exactly five-star accommodation, but...”

“It’s OK,” I said, looking around. “Did you make this?”

“Me and Hawk did when we were kids. We were always reading books about faerie settlements in forests and created our own when we couldn’t find any.

” As I inspected it, I noted the keepsakes and photos tacked to the trunks of the trees.

There were pieces of string with shells threaded through them and feathers, animal skulls and carved bits of wood.

But there had been more at some point, that was clear.

There were plenty of nails with only remnants hanging from them.

I reached down, retrieving a piece of glass from the dirt, its colour a deep blue.

“Don’t go digging around in there yet,” he said, placing the basket between us and starting to retrieve dishes. “What do ya fancy? Pasta salad or a sandwich? There’s some pastries as well.”

“Jack...”

I put a hand on his, stopping his excavating for a moment. This was more than just some childhood cubby.

“Not yet, Jules. I promise, I’ll show you everything, because you’ve got to know what you’re taking on. But not just yet.”

So, we sat and ate. I was oddly hungry, but the peaceful quiet had taken on a kind of eerie quality now. Jack watched my eyes search the bower, cataloguing every change he and Hawk had made, and then finally, he put his food aside with a sigh.

“Women, you’re as curious as cats.”

“This comes from your extensive experience?” I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth, too similar to the stupid shit the guys back at the mess shed were saying.

His reaction was interesting. Rather than hardening, his eyes went soft and unfocused.

He nodded and reached around, pulling out a primitive-looking spade that looked like it’d been carved from a piece of wood.

He tested the ground in the centre with the point, until he found what he wanted.

I watched the muscles shift under his flannel shirt, then he threw the spade to one side once he hit what he was after.

He scraped the dirt away from a metal box with his hands and then pulled it free.

He tried the lid, and when it didn’t come away, he pulled a pocket knife out and used the blade to prise it open.

He laid the lid, scarred by rust and covered in dirt on the ground and then reached in.

The stuff that had hung from the nails had been collected and stored here. Ripped pieces of paper and photographs, torn fabric and crushed dried flowers. He placed it all on the dirt, like some kind of offering before looking up at me.

“If you’re serious, if you really do want us like you say you do, you need to know.

This place, Hawk and I built it when we first started having feelings for each other.

We used to come out in the forest and fuck.

Our mums knew what we were up to, a lot of young blokes go through a bit of a phase when they’re teens, working out what you can do with your dick other than piss.

Everyone turns a blind eye to it, boys will be boys and all that, and what with so few girls, no one says anything.

We can’t get pregnant, so there’s no lasting damage, right? ”

He set the box down, brushing the dirt from his hands.