Page 16

I tell myself it’s the exhaustion—mentally, emotionally, and physically—that has me needing Rallan even more. It’s all of that exhaustion that has me sighing and moaning when he crawls into bed next to me and begins to care for my hair.

He’s barely started on my hair before I undo the ties on my shorts and shimmy them down my body.

I leave the tunic on because I’ve grown used to wearing it to bed.

Rallan hisses when I throw the shorts onto the floor but doesn’t make any remarks about it.

It’s been days since I’ve been able to fall asleep comfortably since I’ve been dressed in tight shorts every night that we’ve been travelling.

“I need to grab something really quick,” Rallan says as he lays my locs back down next to my head.

I mumble something incoherent since I’m so close to falling asleep.

I hear him walk over to the wardrobe, open it, and grab something before closing it again.

Then he’s crawling under my blankets. I don’t miss how I can feel even more of his cool scales than I should.

“If you do not have to wear pants, I should not have to either,” Rallan whispers in my ear.

My eyes flash open, but the look of anger I want to give him is dulled in its intensity when my lids are only hooded, and lust is simmering under my skin. Rallan must know because he takes mercy on me.

He holds up a silky-looking material and tells me what it is. “This is for your hair, I believe.”

This time, my eyes fully open, and I sit up in bed, a smile splitting my lips.

“Is this a bonnet?” I ask, taking the silky material from him and looking it over.

It definitely is a bonnet, and I’m quick about securing my hair and tightening it around my head.

I turn back to Rallan when it’s secure and throw my arms around his neck.

“Thank you.” I hold him close to me, my face buried in his neck as I thank him a few more times.

Rallan groans deep in his chest, his arms wrapping around me and holding me just as tight with one of his hands cupping the back of my head so I keep myself buried against him. Then, as though it pains him, he pulls away from me and lays us both down so we are facing one another in bed.

“I would love to take credit for how happy you are now, but this was not a gift from me.”

My heart stops for a second. I’m pretty sure not a single pump of blood happens. Then, it beats rapidly like I’m about to die.

“Vex?” His name is barely a sound as I say it, and I see the way it has Rallan’s nostrils flare.

“Yes, I am sure it was him. He is the one who built this house, and he is the one who made this room for you.” Rallan’s voice is softer than I expected since I’m pretty sure he hates Vex.

The way he’s talking about him now, it doesn’t sound like he hates him.

In fact, it kind of sounds like he appreciates that we’re currently sleeping in a house that my ex prepared for us. “He cares for you very much.”

My teeth clamp down hard because I don’t know how to take Rallan’s words. Rallan hates Vex. He’s made it clear everytime I’ve ever talked about Vex. He tells me that I can do better, that Vex doesn’t deserve me, and that I shouldn’t ever think about him again.

Now, after talking with him for a few hours, he’s not mad at him anymore. No, I don’t believe it. This must be another joke, and I don’t know what Rallan thinks will be funny about it. I’m not going to ask him so he can laugh at me and my emotions.

“I’m going to sleep.”

I turn over so I’m facing away from Rallan.

I hope it’ll make him realize he’s unwanted.

Instead, he shimmies closer to me until he’s the big spoon.

His arm snakes around my waist, and he pulls me flush against him.

I can feel that he’s hard against my back, but he doesn’t make any remarks about it or try to do more with it than just hold me.

“We will speak in the morning,” Rallan says.

I don’t fight him on it. I don’t tell him to find a different bed, and I definitely don’t tell him to stop holding me.

He’s been holding me for weeks now, and I can keep telling myself it’s just because I fall asleep while he’s doing my hair.

But we both know it’s because I like how it feels to be in his arms.

“Hey, Rallan?” I ask as sleep starts to soften my muscles and expand my inhibitions.

“Hm?” The sound vibrates down my back from where his chest is pressed against me.

“If Vex got the house ready for us, where’s he staying?”

I let my head loll back a bit more until I’m right against him and can feel his chin resting on the top of my bonnet.

He doesn’t answer for long moments, and when he finally does, I don’t know if it’s the beginning of my dreams or if he’s actually answering.

I only know that I don’t really hear anything as I let sleep take me away.

“I am thinking we start with the houses closest to the great hall. Not all males will want to live that close, but it will be safer for the newer females.” Rallan’s voice is what wakes me in the morning, but I don’t know who he’s talking to.

Not that I care very much since I can feel his arm wrapped around my body.

During the night I must have managed to snuggle between Rallan’s legs with my head resting on his upper abdomen. I smack my lips and nuzzle closer to him. I can feel a huff of laughter come from him as he places a hand against my back and strokes me through my tunic.

“No, I understand that, but we need to get work done on Beren and Lyath’s farm as well,” Vex says, not sounding the least bit perturbed that I’m currently snuggled up with someone who isn’t him.

Wait.

My eyes shoot open, and I push away from Rallan so fast that I take the blanket with me as I scramble away from him.

“Come on, man,” Vex says as I all but fall out of bed, yanking the blanket with me to keep me fully covered.

“I didn’t know she was going to leave me naked in bed,” Rallan says with a laugh.

I shoot him a glare. He just places a pillow on his groin where his dick is out of its pocket. I turn my glare to Vex next, who has the decency to look embarrassed to be sitting on the foot of my bed, having a conversation in my bedroom while I’m fast asleep.

“What are you doing here?” I snap.

“Your mates were discussing our plans for the day before you woke up screaming and crying and kicking,” Rallan chuckles again, and it takes everything in me to ignore his comment. I’m not taking the bait, no matter how good he is at dangling it in front of me.

“You live here too?” I ask Vex. He gives me a barely-there nod. “He knew?” I tilt my head in Rallan’s direction, and again, Vex nods. “Okay, I hate both of you. I’m going to find Deja and Nia. Don’t come looking for me. Don’t bother me.”

I march out of the room with my blankets, not even giving them another look.

“You are not wearing pants!” Rallan calls out when I’m close to the front door.

I put on my most angry face and return to the room to grab a fresh pair of shorts and a new tunic. I narrow my eyes at the men sitting on my bed. Vex looks guilty. Good. Rallan looks like he’s enjoying himself immensely. Not good.

“Have a wonderful day, Simone,” Rallan says with a smile way too big for how terrible of a morning this has started out. Then he kicks at Vex. “Say goodbye to our mate. You cannot woo her if you cannot even tell her to have a good day.”

My left eye twitches as I realize what’s happening. I’m being teamed up on. It’s made so much worse to know that my ally, or who I thought was my ally, is actually a traitor. “No one is wooing me.”

Rallan rolls his eyes. “I have successfully wooed you,” he says and then turns back to Vex. “Tell her to have a good day, maybe say her name, and then also mention how beautiful she is. She is the most beautiful female. I am sure you know this.”

I open my mouth to say something right as Vex does.

We see each other and close our mouths. Then I start to speak about telling them that I hate them again, but Vex starts to tell me to have a good day.

Overall, it’s awkward and unnatural, especially when I remember how easy our relationship was before he dumped me.

I turn from the two scheming jerks, not giving them a chance to attempt their wooing any longer.

“I’ll fix this,” Vex calls out right as I get to the front door. Somehow, this makes everything worse.

“That was not telling her to have a good day,” Rallan groans, and I hear his horns hit against the headboard. “How did you woo her the first time if you are this bad at it?”

I don’t hear Vex’s response because I’m walking out of the house and toward the great hall.

The only thing I know is that I need to come up with a plan.

The last time I let my heart be swept up by an alien, he dumped me, and I ended up thinking I was going to die naked and alone in the middle of the woods on an alien planet.

I doubt things could get that bad again, but I’m not willing to take that chance.

I thought since they hated each other, I could rely on never having to choose between them. If they’re working together, though. Then my excuse of having to choose is moot, and now I have to face the fact that I don’t want to be with them because I’m scared.

Nope. I don’t want to think about that. I want to think about how I’m about to give them the coldest shoulder they’ve ever received, and I’m going to find Nia and Deja to keep me company while I do it.