Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
After a while, Austin left to get us food. This time, he didn’t feed it to me. I could tell he wanted to, but also that he worried about his control. Mine was slippery, and I didn’t want to leave what felt like a celebration of some kind to disappear into the darkness and each other’s bodies. We needed to practice a little restraint.
“Why haven’t you fed me at home?” I asked him, and immediately felt myself blush. “That’s a sentence I never thought I’d ask a grown man. I feel like I should call you Daddy or something.”
He huffed out a laugh and finished chewing his fish, one of the ones he’d caught earlier, apparently. Then he shrugged. “It’s not the same in a kitchen with plates and forks and everything. Feeding someone off a fork is a Dick and Jane thing. Like ‘here, have a bite.’ It’s civilized.”
“I remember feeding my son when he was a baby. That was anything but civilized. But I get what you mean.”
“Basically, it takes the thrill out of it. But out here with the open fire, in nature, when our primal sides are singing…” He shivered. “It’s different. It’s how mating should be.”
“Okay, but what about sitting on the deck with barbecued meat?”
He studied me for a silent beat. “I could see that. I can tell you’re eager to try it.”
“When we’re alone, yeah. Yes, I am. Then maybe I’ll show you how fun chocolate fondue can be.”
It was my turn to shiver.
“I spoke to the basajaun when I was up getting food,” he said after a moment, putting an arm around me and drawing me closer. “We’ve passed all of the trust trials. They don’t fear us.”
That stab of guilt cut through me again. I knew he felt it, but he didn’t press this time. Instead, he went on.
“Brochan showed very well, not to mention the others. He got slapped down, and Niamh and the rest apparently stood by placidly, not a care in the world.”
“Niamh seems to be pretty good at reading him. She would’ve stepped in if there was a problem.”
“True. Nathanial excelled as well. He took the beating, got up, fluttered his wings, and waited for more. Sebastian surprised them a little, apparently.”
“He did? But he was with us the whole time.”
“No, they caught him a second time, when he was out with Cyra.”
I hadn’t heard about that. He hadn’t mentioned it when I saw him at the camp before dinner.
“The lead basandere went for him…” Austin shook his head and looked away. I felt his amusement in the bonds before he shook his head again and started chuckling. “Please don’t ever mention this to me in public, because I won’t be able to keep my composure.”
“Why? What happened?”
He kept chuckling. “I guess he just froze up and fell over.” He bent over to laugh a little harder. “He didn’t swear, he didn’t shout, he just fell over before the basandere could even touch him. Stiff as a board he fell, then just lay there like he was playing dead. She stopped at his feet and stood there looking down at him, not sure what to do. Nessa was laughing so hard that they couldn’t ask her what was going on. The basandere actually picked him up like a baby and carried him to their version of a medic to have him checked out.”
“No,” I said, laughing with him now. “He did that once when we were training and the basajaun snuck up on him and scared him, but he came out of it. I bet her carrying him just made it worse.”
“Nessa told me the story. She said she hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time. After they confirmed he was fine, just afraid, the only thing he said to her was ‘I told you so,’ and he walked away.”
“That’s terrible, poor guy. I can’t imagine that could be construed as showing well, though.”
“It’s confused them, I think,” said Austin. “The lead basandere is supposed to be able to see people’s essences. She can see their potential, basically. She reads alpha in him. And honestly, as Elliot Graves, I see that side of him too. But not here, obviously.”
“He wears a different persona when he’s Elliot Graves, almost like he’s hiding himself with someone else’s skin. He hasn’t accepted a connection from my gargoyle, but occasionally, I can get readings on him. Maybe it’s the teacher–student bond or something. It seems there are all kinds of connections and links and bonds in the magical world.”
“Or maybe your gargoyle is just latching on to anything it can, and he hasn’t shut that facet of your relationship down?”
He asked it like I might know. When I shrugged, he went on.
“I’m not sure how healthy that is, hiding oneself, but he certainly hasn’t pulled on that persona here. Maybe that’s a good thing.”