Page 14 of Those That Are Lost (Hidden Vampires #2)

The guys quickly get me moving towards the valley, our intended destination, but with each step, I feel more wobbly on my shaking limbs. I make it a few feet before the world tilts and I fall into waiting arms.

Consciousness creeps back in the form of flickering orange light and the worst pins and needles sensation cresting in waves across my body.

Opening my eyes, I discover that there are indeed caves in these mountains.

At least I assume we’re still in the mountains.

We’re definitely in a cave, the rocky ceiling above me informing me of my whereabouts.

I can tell both guys are close by because they’re scents fill the space.

As I become more lucid, I also hear them talking quietly.

Shifting to stretch out my aching limbs, fleecy material rubs against my skin, sending prickles across it. I let out a small whimper at the sensation.

“Red, are you awake?” Ty’s voice comes from close by, my eyes move on instinct to find him.

He’s kneeling beside me instantly, helping me as I try to sit up, fighting the stabbing of a thousand pinpricks as I move.

“Hi,” I croak.

“Glad to see you conscious.” Henry comes to crouch in front of me too. He touches my forehead, then takes my pulse at my wrist before stepping away again. I don’t miss Ty tracking his touches with a clenched jaw. Seemingly satisfied, Henry moves back once more, walking to the fire.

I take in our surroundings properly. The cave isn’t huge but tall enough for the males to stand at their full height. The entrance is as tall as the space but snow has been piled up against the lower half—a four foot wind break if we’re laying down and a gap left in the top for the smoke to escape.

A small fire has been lit in the middle of the space.

I’m currently near the rear, wrapped in two sleeping bags and the blanket I refused to leave behind.

I’d bought it from one of the locals in Wintica and it was a heavy wool from their own sheep.

Ty had convinced me he’d carry it as his pack had been the least full.

I’m glad he had now, considering all my gear was at the bottom of a lake.

That’s when I realise my clothes. I am no longer wearing jeans, or my jumper or coat. In fact, I’m in a loose t-shirt and what feels like a pair of boxers. Neither item is mine.

“We had to take your wet clothes off,” Ty tells me. “We wouldn’t have been able to warm you up otherwise. Your body went into hypothermic shock.”

I nod, knowing they would’ve done anything to help me recover, but I take a small inhale and recognise Ty’s scent on the t-shirt. I dismiss the way my heart feels heavy in my chest knowing I’m wearing his clothes. “Are we still in the valley?”

“Yes, this is the first cave we spotted. I didn’t want to waste time looking for a better one when you were so cold.”

“Here, drink this.” Henry comes back and offers me a crooked shaped bowl.

I rear back, realising that it’s a skull. “What the fuck?”

“It’s blood,” he says.

“In a skull!”

“I may have sacrificed one of the goats. This was the only vessel I could think of. You both needed blood, this was the first creature I happened to stumble upon.”

“You hunted a goat?” I stare at the macabre cup in his hands. Nearly retching at the sight of the haphazardly cleaned-off bone. The scent of blood hits my nostrils, however, the grossed out feeling receding as my fangs drop.

“Don’t worry, I killed it humanely. It was very quick.”

I tentatively take the skull from his hands as I sit up, but not before I ensure the blanket is wrapped around me. It might be warm with the fire but it’s not that warm .

Peering into the main cavity, where the animal's brain would’ve been, I see there is indeed about a litre of warm crimson liquid inside.

Pushing down the full body ick, I pick a place where the rim of the skull looks cleanest and raise it to my lips. The sweet liquid coats my tongue and I immediately feel a little better. It's not even in my stomach yet but I can sense how much my body needs this.

I drain every drop without pause before handing the dead creature’s head back to Henry and lapping a wayward smear of blood from my lips.

“Feel better?” Ty asks, eyes roaming over my form. I catch him lingering on my mouth and feel a flush of warmth from his gaze. I pass it off as the blood rush.

I nod. “Thank you,” I tell him, my eyes meeting his crystal blue ones. “For saving me.”

“Always, Red.” He raises a hand and brushes his fingers gently down my heated cheek. I can’t help leaning into the touch a little before I remember that I shouldn’t. I can’t let him in. The voice might be quiet right now, but I know it's not gone. I’m too broken for it to be gone.

I stifle a yawn as tiredness takes over. Ty gives me another one of those soft smiles. “You should sleep. The blood will heal you but it’s still been a long day.”

“We all should get some rest, we’ve got another day’s hike tomorrow,” Henry adds from across the space, whilst feeding the fire.

I wiggle down into the bedding once more. The males shuffle around the space as I close my eyes and bask in the heat kicking out from the flames a few metres away. I'm nearly drifting off as two bodies jostle the toasty warmth I’m building inside the blankets.

“What are you doing?” I groan.

“You’ve got to share, I'm afraid. Seeing as your bag is now in a lake, we only have two sleeping bags and one blanket between us. And it's too cold, even with the fire, to sleep in the open,” Henry tells me. “Plus, this’ll help you keep your temperature regulated.”

“Sorry,” Ty apologises as he slips in behind me. I get the feeling he isn’t really sorry at all but I let it slide. Henry is right about the cold, and I am the one who lost their sleeping gear.

Henry lays out on my other side. Even with the sleeping bags unzipped it's a tight squeeze. I try to stay on my back, feeling that’ll be the best position, but I’m soon having to turn onto my side as I get squished between the two hulking males.

In my sleepy haze, I turn to face Ty. He doesn’t hesitate in letting me nuzzle up to his naked chest, his scent luring me in with its comforting spices. One of his arms finds its way under my head and the other rests against my hip.

The cocoon of his soft skin and hard muscles is too hard to resist. I forget Henry is at my back, that one of his legs is up against my own. Instead, I get distracted by lightly tracing the swirling black ink above Ty’s pectoral.

“No funny business you two,” Henry says over his shoulder. I feel my face turn crimson.

“Just go to sleep,” Ty growls at his friend, the sounds vibrating his chest.

“I’m only warning you. If the scent of arousal gets any stronger I will be kicking you both out into the cold. I’m not leaving this cave.”

It’s not just my face now, my whole body feels flushed with embarrassment. I almost wish for another dip in the lake.

Ty’s thumb, brushing my skin in a gap that’s appeared between the t-shirt and his boxers that I’m wearing do nothing to cool my current predicament. “Sleep sweetheart. Let your body rest,” he whispers so close to my ear, I’m unsure if Henry would be able to hear.

Somehow that thumb turns soothing, and I manage to relax enough that sleep pulls at me once more. I’m almost succumbing to it when I hear the guys speak again.

“Thank you for that.” Ty’s voice drifts over me.

“You’re welcome,” comes Henry’s sincere reply.

“I’m being sarcastic.” Ty’s voice drops, deadly serious. “I need you to not goad her like that.”

“Why not?”

“She doesn’t need that pressure right now.”

“Maybe you both do. It's clear you’re meant to be mated.”

“Henry. She’s been through a lot and still suffering from it all. She doesn’t need any more change right now. Besides, I don't know what's best for her anymore.”

Does he really mean that?

“You don’t mean that.” Henry voices my thought.

“I fear I’m only helping her remain in her trauma. I’m wrapped up in most of it.” I feel a slight tightening of his arms at the admission. I want to tell him that he’s wrong but I don’t move, don’t let on that I’m awake.

“Or it makes you the only one that can pull her through the other side. I see the walls Ty, the ones she’s erected. But I also see how she reacts to you. She wants to reach out. Keep trying.”

“I won’t push her,” Ty says with venom in his voice. I wonder if he’s thinking of Adicious like I am at Henry’s advice.

“I didn’t say push,” Henry clarifies. “And I’m not pushing her. Just bringing out the feelings I can see written on her face that she won’t let herself acknowledge. There’s a difference in trying to push through to her and bringing her out of her tower.”

“I’m trying. I’m just not any good at it. ”

“The first part is the important part. Keeping trying.”

“What if I fail?” My heart constricts in my chest as Ty confides in his friend.

“What if you don’t?”

“I’ll get the rest of my life to worship the only thing that makes all the bad seem worthwhile.”

“That seems like a valid reason to not give up,” Henry says, and I feel him reach over me to squeeze Ty’s shoulder. I don’t know when he turned over but he must now be facing us.

Sleep pulls me under as the weight of Ty’s feelings wrap around my heart and dig into the foundations of the barriers between us.