I kissed the top of her head again. “As you should.”
“Do you think we should wander back over to the campsite?” Sophia glanced over her shoulder.
“Do we really have to?” I joked.
“Eventually,” Sophia said with a smile.
I stood and reached out to help her up. “Come on,” I said. “Let’s get some rest. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” Sophia chuckled.
We walked hand in hand back to the tents, where we would finally get to sleep under the warmth of blankets. It was going to be a magical experience, but nothing in comparison to the exotic pleasure that Sophia made me feel inside. She stripped down my layers, and I applauded her for her efforts in helping me embrace a softer, slightly less paranoid side of myself.
11
Sophia
I wanted to make sure I did my part and carried my own weight around the base camp. I learned that they had a team of shifters who made new tents out of fabric each day so they could accommodate any new shifters coming to join the force and seek refuge among the hundreds already here.
I quickly learned that there were jobs for everyone and that each task was equally as important as the next to keep the flow of the camp arrangement running smoothly. I would have been embarrassed to just sit around being useless. It was important to me to be productive and viewed as an asset to the others.
I wasn’t helpless. I wanted to prove that to the guys that I deeply cared about, in case they didn’t realize it already.
I climbed into the tent that I had set up with James and Ayden. Blaze and Cameron were still out in the woods. I worried for them both, but I knew that they were self-sufficient and could fend for themselves.
Cameron was used to being out in the wilderness during the dark, but Blaze wasn’t. I glanced up at James as we lay down next to each other. Ayden was there too. I was sandwiched between them, relishing their radiating body heat.
It felt good to have their warm, masculine bodies pressed up against mine. I felt safe. I knew they would protect me.
“I hope that Blaze comes back soon,” I mentioned.
Ayden yawned and stretched. He never seemed to be bothered by anything. “He’ll be fine. You don’t need to waste your energy fretting over his wellbeing. He’s a bear, he can act like a bear if he needs to defend himself.”
“It’s just…” I glanced up at the triangular pitch of the tent and trailed off. Every so often, a breeze carried through and made the top of the tent wobble and wave slightly.
“What’s wrong?” James propped himself up on his elbow and gave me an inspecting glance. “You seem anxious about something.”
I managed to give him a smile. I had just shared an intimate moment with him at the edge of the camp and I had reveled in every second of it. It was lovely to eat dinner with him and then cuddle after too.
“Blaze mentioned to me that he’s still looking for his family…”
“Oh. Yeah.” Both James and Ayden nodded as if they knew exactly where I was going with this.
“He’s always been looking for them,” Ayden confirmed.
I frowned. “Don’t you guys think it’s sad?” Suddenly I wasn’t tired anymore. My heart ached for Blaze.
“Maybe he’ll find them one day,” Ayden stated casually.
“I thought he only shifted when he felt threatened though?” I asked and eyed them both expectantly.
James sighed and leaned back against one of the pillows we had been given by Ralph after we’d set up our tent. Ralph had proudly stated to us that the pillows were handmade with cotton picked from the fields in the valley down below the mountains.
With some reluctance, James nodded. “Yes, that is normally the case.”
“Do you think he feels threatened about something?” My heart pounded anxiously.
“I don’t see what he would have to be nervous about here,” James said. His demeanor was relaxed, which helped calm me down somewhat.
“Maybe he knows something we don’t?” I asked and peered between them.
Ayden narrowed his eyes defensively. “Like what? Ralph is already be proving himself as a good man with genuine intentions for the shifters. It doesn’t matter if he’s not one himself. I mean look at Otto and Leo—”
“You’re right,” I quickly interrupted. I gave Ayden a warm smile. Those were his friends, after all. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend…”
“You didn’t,” Ayden sharply insisted. Then his features softened and he patted my knee. “I am sorry too. I guess we’re just all a little tense.”
“Which is why we should probably get some sleep,” James suggested. “In case you all haven’t noticed, sleeping in a tent is far better than sleeping on a cold and hard rock in the caves.”
I chuckled. “Yes, this is definitely an upgrade for sure.”
James stroked my back. It was extremely relaxing. He played with my hair and fingered the strands. My eyes fluttered briefly closed. I was getting sensationally stimulated, feeling tingly all over my body from the way that he rubbed me.
James was very engaging. He knew exactly what to do to pacify my mind. Ayden watched us as if he was hungry with desire but didn’t know how to express it with James in the tent too. He lay down and stared up at the ceiling. I made a mental note to try and find some downtime with Ayden where we could talk in private. Ayden worked best in one-on-one situations.
Ayden had a lot to offer, but he was always wound up about something. He was confident, but at the same time, it was almost as if he thought that someone was out to get him all the time. I could certainly relate, being held prisoner in a Master castle for so many years in a row, but now that I was free, I was trying to make sure I didn’t let my past define my future.
Even when I had been in captivity under Thom’s iron fist, I had still clung to the hope that someday I would be able to escape, and it had worked.
My hopes and dreams had eventually manifested and now were being replaced with even brighter prospects. I was grateful to be where I was tonight and every night.
As long as it wasn’t under the dictatorship of Thom or his guards, I felt safe, even if there was a web of danger waiting to entangle me with every step I took.
“Why don’t we just try to live for the moment?” Ayden asked. “That way we know we have each other, and we can try to lift each other up when it’s needed.”
I turned to look at him. I locked his gaze and felt the passion flickering in his eyes reach my heart. I smiled at him in response. For Ayden to suggest something like that was definitely a step in the right direction for him, a sign of growth.
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said.
“Me too.” James nodded. “There’s no reason for us to spend unnecessary time worrying about things we can’t change.”
“I’ve tried to live by that mindset for my entire life,” I admitted.
“It’s not a bad motto to have.” Ayden shrugged.
I leaned back against the crook of James’s shoulder and nuzzled in close to him. I adjusted myself under the sheets and let out a soft sigh of contentment.
“Why don’t we take turns sharing a happy memory? Something that makes us feel joy when we reflect on it? Something from our pasts that brought us delight?”
“I’ll go first,” Ayden said abruptly.
“Okay.” I smiled and focused my attention on him, noticing that James did the same.
Ayden cleared his throat and crossed his legs as a nostalgic smile began to spread across his lips. He propped his arms behind his head and gazed up at the tip of the tent.
“When I was a kid, I used to go down to this creek next to the cabin where we lived.”
“That sounds nice,” I said.
“It was.” Ayden nodded. “It was a little outside of town, on the outskirts. It was peaceful there. We didn’t have the noise of the village to worry about. I would go fishing with my dad. Sometimes I would catch somethin
g, but most of the time I wouldn’t. If it was a little fish, my dad usually would make me throw it back.”
“Did you ever get to catch anything to bring home to eat?” I asked.
Ayden beamed as he met my gaze. “One time I did. I caught a bass. It was so beautiful, I wanted to keep it as a pet.” He chuckled reflectively at the memory. “My dad said I couldn’t do that. He told me we either had to eat it or let it go.”
“So, what did you choose?” James looked at him.
“You won’t believe me.” Ayden laughed.
“Try me.”
“I said I wanted to put it back.”
James grinned. “You’re right. I don’t believe you.”
“I didn’t want him to miss his little fish friends or get separated from his little fish family.”
At Ayden’s admission, the tent went quiet because James and I knew exactly where he was coming from. We had been ripped from our own families, every single one of us.
“Thank you for sharing,” I whispered. “I’m sure it makes you feel better to think about those times when you got to go fishing with your father.”
Ayden smiled. “Yes.”
“I’ll go next,” James said with an enthusiastic grin.
I repositioned myself to look at him. “Go for it.”
“When I was a kid, my dad and my uncle used to take me on these trails that led away from the village. I was always afraid of them at first and thought they were mysterious as they led into the woods, but the farther we ventured, the safer I felt. I knew that my dad and my uncle would always keep me safe.”
“That’s sweet,” I said.
Ayden watched his friend. “What did you guys do when you went out into the woods?”
“We would train, mostly. Martial arts, that kind of thing.” James shrugged. “My dad wanted to make sure I could defend myself.”
“But you’re a jaguar,” Ayden said. “That’s defense enough.”
“And you are a lion.” James nodded. “But you didn’t always shift, and neither did we.”
James grinned as a gleeful memory apparently popped up in his head at that moment. “We would sometimes have races in our jaguar forms, though.”
“That sounds fun,” I said. “You are pretty fast.”
“I had a lot of practice to get there,” James chuckled.
“I guess it’s my turn now,” I said with a dreamy sigh, shutting my eyes to enhance the vision dancing in my head.
“I was close to my dad too. Sometimes he would come home from work and he would have a special treat for me. He would put it somewhere in the house and make me go on a scavenger hunt to find it.”
“That sounds fun,” Ayden said.
I opened my eyes and smiled as I looked into his gorgeous blue eyes. “It was. My dad had a way of turning anything ordinary into an exciting game.”
“I’m sure he would be proud of you today if he saw you,” Ayden said. His features were incredibly genuine, and the purity of his heart really shined in that moment.
“I hope so.”
After that, we lay down next to each other, but even with them flanking me from both sides, I still couldn’t relax and shut my brain down in order to succumb to a peaceful sleep. I was exhausted, but sleep just wouldn’t come to me tonight, no matter how diligently I chased after it.
After James and Ayden fell asleep, I grew restless. I lay there for what seemed like an eternity. I felt trapped by the hazy fog inside my brain and I needed to get some fresh air. Blaze still hadn’t returned. I decided to go out and search for him, maybe just at the edge of the clearing.
I told myself that I wouldn’t wander very far without assistance. I was just curious and still rattled by an unsettled feeling about Blaze and his whereabouts. I knew that Cameron was out there because he had no other choice, but what about Blaze? What was preventing him from coming back to the camp where he belonged?
I didn’t have the answer, but I wanted to find out. I carefully climbed from under the sheets without rousing the other two. I slowly unzipped the tent, stepped out and then sealed it back up again.
I waited for a few seconds, heart drumming in my chest, to make sure that they didn’t wake up before I ventured out any further.
With every step I took, I knew in my heart and mind that I probably shouldn’t be doing this.
Go get back under the covers with Ayden and James, my mind roared at me in contempt, but I didn’t listen. I had always been stubborn with my own thoughts. I wouldn’t let them take me hostage.
I walked to the edge of the clearing and stepped into the woods. When nothing happened to me, I took another few steps, albeit guarded ones, into the density of the surrounding trees.
After a few seconds of bone-tingling silence and watching my breath puff through the air and disappear into the darkness, I heard the sound of leaves crunching behind me.
I was afraid to turn around, but I knew that I had to in order to learn what I was up against and how to quickly protect myself.
A shadowy figure moved in the shroud of darkness, taking shape as it approached me. I knelt down and summoned my wings, which immediately hardened around me like protective armor. I bit my bottom lip so hard that I tasted blood, but it was in an effort to prevent myself from screaming.
When I looked up, I saw a man standing above me. I blinked to focus on him and waited, bracing for impact and praying that my wings wouldn’t fail me. My throat felt constricted and I couldn’t get enough oxygen. All I could do was think about how I wished that I had just listened to my instinct and stayed in the tent with Ayden and James.
12
Blaze
Even though her black wings covered her tiny ballerina body like a protective shield, I could that she was slightly trembling. I couldn’t believe that I was the one who caused her this disruptive fright.
I didn’t understand why she was out in the woods to begin with, but I was alarmed. Something must have gone wrong. Was she trying to escape the camp undetected?
“Sophia?’ I gently whispered to her and the echo of my voice carefully trailed through the wind.
It was dark and cold in the forest. I could see my breath in a puffy fog in front of my face and my cheeks felt raw. I glanced down at Sophia. She peered up at me with curious eyes as they attempted to focus and reveal who was standing in front of her.
Her teeth were chattering, and her cheeks were rosy from the chill hanging densely in the air. She looked like a delicate porcelain doll. Her wingspan had grown substantially in an effort to protect her from a threat.
As it turned out, the threat was trivial because it was only me.
She blinked and continued to inspect me. “Blaze?”
“That’s right.” I gave her a warm smile. “It’s only me, sweetheart.” I was completely enamored of her.
As soon as she heard the familiar sound of my voice, her wings disappeared. The threat in her mind had been removed. There was nothing to fear with me beside her.
I had already shifted back from bear to human because I hadn’t wanted to startle her, but I had clearly failed because it was too dark for her to realize at first who I was.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I told her, just for an extra dose of reassurance.
I crouched down beside her and tenderly stroked her back. She winced for a split second, then I felt her muscles begin to relax slightly.
“What are you doing out here all by yourself?” I whispered.
“I was…” she trailed off and continued to stare right through me as if trying to figure me out and discover the answers lying quietly under the layers in my soul.
“Hmm?” I gently pressed.
“I was looking for you,” she admitted with a sheepish smile that enhanced her beauty and made me want to melt into a puddle for her.
I would have done anything for her in that moment. I would have fallen on an enemy sword at the sensual way she gazed into my eyes under the silver cast of the moonlight.
&nbs
p; “I told you I would be back,” I said and gently stroked her cheek. “I didn’t think that I was gone for long enough for you to come searching.”
“I was just worried about you, that’s all.” Her eyes flickered with defensiveness. I could feel a twinge of resentment in her demeanor.
“I’m sorry that I made you feel that way,” I said and took her hand. I squeezed it and pulled her closer to me so that her body heat would warm me.
Once I was more confident that she had calmed down, I took a loose strand of her black hair and tucked it behind her ear.
“You shouldn’t have come out here alone,” I said. “It’s too dangerous, although I do appreciate your concern.”
Sophia pulled slightly away, but our arms were still interlocked. She gave me a scrutinizing look.
“I could say the same for you,” she said.
I smiled. She was feisty when she wanted to be. She could hold her own, and I admired her for that.
I grazed my thumb and index finger over her cheek and then I traced the trail and edges of her perfect jawline. She had amazing bone structure.
“I can protect myself a little better than you can because I’m a bear.”
Sophia sighed as if that weren’t a viable excuse in her mind.
“Hey…” I gently lifted her chin with my hand. “I’m fine. I’m not hurt. That’s the most important thing, right?”
Sophia managed a tiny sliver of a smile. “I suppose you are right.”
“Good.” I was pleased to have the conversation shift in a more lighthearted direction.
“For the record,” I said. “I just wanted to clear my head. I needed some downtime. I wanted to be alone, just so I could think things over.”
Sophia gave me an empathetic glance as we walked hand in hand back in the direction of the rebellion camp.
“I can relate to that, actually.”
“I’m still hopeful that I’ll find my father and brothers. I guess now that we’re here, I’m feeling slightly disappointed in the fact that I haven’t seen them yet.”
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