by M. J. Haag
Inside, though, several called out.
“I need lookouts on the roof,” Ryan said softly. “We need to watch every direction to make sure more don’t gather while we’re inside.”
His eight fey took running starts and climbed the vertical face of the store while the one carrying Ryan joined Tor in the center of my group.
“A store like this is how Mya almost died. Stay next to Tor at all times. Grabbing distance, no farther.”
I didn’t even want to leave Tor’s arms.
The group of bloody fey emerged, their arms full of infected bodies.
“Did you check the tops of all the shelves?” Ryan asked.
“Yes. It looks like other humans have been here. Many of the cans are missing.”
Ryan swore and glanced at me.
“It’s still worth checking,” I said.
We moved inside, thoroughly surrounded by fey. And it was a good thing, too. The easy-to-eat items were gone. The candy section was decimated. But, the baking aisle was almost untouched.
Fey with totes packed up what I indicated. It was a decent haul, including the overstock supplies we found in the back. When we had cleared everything we could, we went in search of another store. We got lucky and found one not far away.
Unlike the previous store, the new one hadn’t been touched, and there were far fewer infected inside. We gathered as much as we could from that one as well. I even managed to spot a novelty t-shirt for the city in a triple X.
“This will give you more shoulder room,” I said, holding up the soft grey shirt for Tor’s inspection. He barely gave it a glance before his gaze went back to scanning everything around us. All the fey watched our surroundings as alertly as Tor. It made me feel more on edge but also well-guarded.
I tucked the shirt into my jacket along with a handful of candy bars and indicated I was ready to be picked up again. Tor relaxed slightly when I was in his arms and opening a candy bar. I eagerly took a bite and held it up to him. He only hesitated a moment before chomping off a portion.
Smirking, I watched him chew and swallow.
“Well?” I asked softly. “Was it good?”
“I like the peas you make better.”
I snorted a laugh and ate the rest myself.
The runners who transported the supplies carefully varied their paths to and from the trucks. Despite their efforts, they still drew infected attention. More calls rang out as we left the store, and I could see concern on Ryan’s face and pure panic on the other two human’s faces.
I looked up at Tor. He winked at me. The gesture was so unexpected and shocking that any fear I’d been starting to feel vanished. With a small smile, I rested my head against his shoulder as he jogged with the rest.
The group slowed, and I lifted my head to see a fey on top of a nearby building. He was gesturing like we needed to back up. Tor and the other fey looked to Ryan, who was already looking behind us at another rooftop fey. That fey was gesturing to keep going.
Ryan swore.
“I knew you’d kill us one of these days,” one of the men said far too calmly.
Nearby an infected called out.
Tor didn’t wait for direction. He started running toward the nearest building. He grunted, shifting my weight.
“Hold me,” he said a moment before he jumped. I clasped my arms around him and clung to him like a baby monkey. He moved fast, using his feet and one hand to propel himself upward. When he stopped, I had a three-story view of the surrounding area. Infected were flooding in from the indicated directions.
“Can we run along the roofs and avoid them?” I asked.
“It would be better to kill as many as we can,” Tor said, setting me down. The other human-carrying fey joined us, and we all watched the scene unfold below.
It was complete carnage. For the infected. Heads flew, and bodies dropped as the fey methodically worked their way through the horde. I winced each time one of them disappeared under a wave of infected. Thankfully, the fey reemerged every time. A bit bloodier than before, but they emerged. When the infected saw they were losing, a call went out and their remaining number retreated. A few of the fey followed to pick off the ones they could.
“I think we can head down,” Ryan said.
That was all the prompting Tor needed to pick me up, and my eyes went wide with understanding.
“You’re not jumping, are you?”
“It’d be safer than trying to go down through the building,” Ryan said as the first fey jumped over the ledge with his human.
I swallowed hard and looked up at Tor.
“Isn’t it going to hurt your knees?”
He leaned in to press his forehead against mine.
“Only a little. I will be fine.” He lightly rubbed his nose against mine. “No screaming, June. The infected will hear.”
I closed my eyes and nodded, not pulling away from him. His forehead left mine, and I felt the briefest brush of his lips against my mouth before the world dropped out from under me. My stomach rose to my throat, but I didn’t make a sound. Not even when Tor landed with a jarring jolt and grunted.
Heart hammering in my chest, I opened my eyes and pressed a palm against his cheek. He turned his head to brush his lips across the skin then took off running, hoisting me higher in his arms. It gave me a view of the fey trailing us and the massacre we were leaving behind.
There were so many bodies. I could only hope that meant we were leaving the city a slightly safer place to scavenge in the future.
As the bodies shrank from view, one of the infected stood. I frowned, trying to squint as Tor turned the corner. I could have sworn it didn’t have a head. The shock of the confrontation and the ensuing scary drop to the street must have rattled me too much. That or I needed glasses.
Resting my head against Tor’s chest, I watched the buildings fly past. It didn’t take us long to reach the trucks where fey were still showing up with the final supplies.
“Looks like you ran into trouble,” Richard said, surveying our group. “Maybe it’d be better if I drove home.”
I was more than willing to let him take the wheel and gratefully settled in the passenger seat. Thankfully, the ride home was as uneventful as the ride out, and we reached the safety of Tenacity’s gate well before dusk.
“It was a good thing we didn’t have a huge crowd with us today,” Ryan said when Matt greeted him. “It left more room for the supplies we found.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
Rather than waiting around for the haul to be divided, Tor and I returned to Tolerance. As soon as we cleared the wall, I insisted he let me walk.
“Your arms have to be screaming by now.”
He frowned at me.
“It means they must be tired from carrying me most of the day.”
“A little tired, but I could carry you longer,” he said.
I wrapped my arm around his waist and gave him a side hug.
“Thank you for keeping me safe today. How about, to show my appreciation, I give you an arm massage after you take a nice relaxing shower?”
“Yes,” he said immediately. “I like when you touch me. I’ll shower afterward.”
His pace increased, and a smile lifted the corners of my mouth at his eagerness. I doubted any massage I gave him would be as good as the one I’d received but didn’t think that would matter to Tor. My heart gave a stuttering thump, which I did my best to ignore.
He opened the door for me and had his shirt and boots off before I managed to unzip my jacket. Laughing, I carried my candy bars and his new shirt to the counter.
“Which hand is your dominant hand?” I asked.
He gave me a perplexed look. “Both of them.”
I knew they didn’t have a written language that they could remember and wondered if he was unaware of a dominant hand because of that.
“Let’s try something.”
“Okay.”
I tossed a candy bar to him, and he caught it wi
th his right.
“I’d say that’s your dominant hand.”
“No. The candy bar was closer to my right side. I caught it with the hand that made the most sense.”
I threw another candy bar to the left. He caught it easily with that hand, flashed his teeth at me, and sat on the couch.
“Wow. You really are ambidextrous?”
“Yes.”
“Is that a common trait in your brothers?” I asked as I got us both a glass of water.
“Yes. We are all ambidextrous. You’re not?”
“Nope. Right-handed. I was asking because I figured your dominant hand would be the arm that’s most tired. Now I’m not sure which one to start on.”
I offered him the glass. Instead of taking it, he clasped my hips and lifted me. I was so focused on not spilling the water I didn’t realize what he was doing until I straddled his lap, one knee on each side.
“Now you can rub both at the same time.” He grinned at me and took one of the cups, drinking the water in a few long pulls.
I watched his throat work with each swallow, too stunned to do anything else.
When he finished, he nudged my glass.
“Drink. My arms are tired and sore and need massaging.”
Unable to help myself, I grinned at his teasing and drank my water. He helpfully set our empty glasses on the couch cushions beside him before leaning back. I couldn’t stop my sweeping gaze from taking in the expanse of his chest before glancing at his equally impressive arms.
He flexed the one I was looking at, and a flush rose to my cheeks.
“Embarrassed?” he asked.
I nodded even though I wasn’t entirely sure if I was more embarrassed or turned on.
“I think it would be easier if I was sitting next to you.”
“How do you know when you haven’t tried it this way?”
Giving in, I reached out both hands and gave his biceps a tentative squeeze. He made a pained face.
“What? I barely touched you, and you’re ten times stronger than me. There’s no way it hurt.”
He reached between us and adjusted himself.
“There. The pain’s gone. You can keep touching me.”
I burst out laughing, and he grinned in return. He continued to tease me in the most ridiculous ways as I rubbed his arms, which was like rubbing cement. Only much smoother. Although my legs got tired, I didn’t settle my weight on his lap like I was sure he wanted. However, he did complain that his shoulders hurt. And once I’d rubbed those, he complained that his chest ached.
A knock on the door saved me from having to wave the surrender flag. I scrambled off his lap and around the couch, listening to the echoing rumble of his chuckle.
Emily’s brows rose when I flung the door wide. It was probably due to the flush staining my cheeks.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“It’s fine. Tor’s enjoying tormenting me.”
“Very much,” Tor said, close enough to make me jump.
“Do you want to come in?” I asked quickly.
Emily shook her head.
“I wanted to stop by with a quick update and a biscuit.” She handed me a folded napkin with a warm lump inside. “The fey are doing great, and the supplies you found today will keep us going for at least the three days we planned.”
“Longer would be better.”
“That’s what she said,” Emily said with a smirk.
I flushed crimson, remembering Tor’s impressiveness.
“If you want to go for more supplies, Ryan is willing to go out for another bigger run. Not the city, though. I guess today was too close of a call.”
“It was,” I agreed. “But I trust Ryan’s intuition and the fey to keep us safe.”
“Sounds like you’ll be going out again then.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the biscuit.”
“You’re welcome.” With a wave, she walked away.
I closed the door and turned to Tor, who was half a step behind me.
“Do you want to try the biscuit without honey?” I asked, holding up the napkin.
He studied me for a long minute, no playfulness in his hungry gaze. Before I could get too nervous, he flashed his teeth at me and moved to bite the napkin-wrapped biscuit in my hand.
“No, not like that,” I said, dodging his attempt and hurrying to remove the paper. “Like this.”
I showed him the biscuit and took a small bite. It was good. Really good.
Tor captured my hand and brought the food toward his mouth. His lips brushed my fingers as he took a bite, and I felt a new round of heat flood my face. My mouth went dry, making it twice as hard to swallow under the circumstances. Tor’s thumb stroked the back of my hand before he released me.
“It’s good when it tastes like you,” he said, watching my face flush further.
I stepped around him and hurried to the kitchen to set the biscuit down and refill my glass.
“We didn’t find any meat today,” I said as I moved. “We should consider offering a few of the roasts in your freezer to the soup kitchen efforts. And it was fun having people over last night. What do you think of having your brothers who helped protect me over tomorrow night?”
I paused to gulp down some water, thinking that chaperones would be good. Safe.
“We could play some games, too,” I added.
His hands settled on my shoulders, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.
“You talk faster when you’re nervous. Why are you nervous?”
When I didn’t answer, he plucked the glass from my hand and turned me around. I stared at his chest until he nudged my chin. Whatever he saw in my eyes had him tugging at his ear briefly.
“Since coming to the surface and discovering females existed, I have spent all my moments learning. What do they like? How do they think? What makes a female happy? I still have much to learn, June. Help teach me.”
I released a long shaky breath and tried to form a logical explanation that wouldn’t embarrass the heck out of me.
“I spent the last while touching your arms and shoulders. And before Emily showed up, you wanted me to rub your chest as well. Then you gave me a look that seemed to say you were hungry for me and ate the biscuit from my hand.”
“Yes,” he said after a lengthy silence.
“I don’t know how to explain what’s going on in my head right now without sounding like an idiot.”
He wrapped me in a hug and soothingly stroked my back. The comforting hold was too good to pass up. Especially in my current state of awkwardness. I wrapped my arms around his waist and returned the gesture, leaning on his calm strength.
“You cannot sound like an idiot. You are the smartest woman I know.”
I almost laughed considering he didn’t know many.
“I asked you for time, and you’ve been giving it to me. But you’re also being incredibly sweet and nice. And you’re very open about your interest in me. I’m trying to be fair to us both by making sure I have enough time to get over Adam. To find myself again. But instead of finding myself, I’m thinking indecent thoughts about you, and the things I’m feeling for you are…confusing? Conflicting?” I sighed and continued to snuggle against him, enjoying the feel of his hand on my back.
“Tell me what you feel for me,” he said. “We can both try to understand then.”
I immediately shook my head.
“No. If I did that, then we’d both be confused. I don’t want to create any tension between us when things are comfortable the way they are.” I lifted my head to look up at him. “I know I said you should touch me less, but I like that you hug me whenever you can. You always seem to know when I need one the most. I don’t want that to go away.”
He gave me an extra little squeeze.
“I will always hug you. I like the way your body feels against mine.”
A laugh escaped me, and I started moving my hands over his bare back, giving in to the need to touch those strong, corded mu
scles.
“I like the way your body feels against mine, too, and I probably shouldn’t.”
“No, you should. I like the way it feels when you touch my skin. We should see if you like the same.” He tugged playfully at my shirt, and I quickly pivoted out of his hold. The teeth he flashed at me told me I’d read the situation correctly. He was playfully teasing but willing to touch if I allowed it.
“If you choose meat from the freezer, I will run it to Emily’s house tonight. You can tell my brothers tomorrow that they are invited to dinner.”
The extra tasks and planning helped the evening slip by. While Tor ran the food to Emily’s, I made a simple dinner for us. We ate together and watched a movie before I yawned and said I was headed for bed.
After a shower that should have relaxed me, I lay on the comfortable mattress, lost in thought. I wondered if being honest with Tor was the best route. He didn’t understand that what I was feeling now might change with time. What if—
The sound of Tor’s steps in the hall outside the door quieted the doubt in my mind. Relief flooded me instead, and I realized a part of me had been waiting for him to come to bed. Was his presence that comforting? Was I growing so used to him sleeping beside me that it was the only way I would find rest?
I closed my eyes, hiding from that potential truth.
The door brushed open, and I listened as Tor crossed the room. I could feel him when he finally stood beside me. The need to open my eyes and see what he was doing burned within me.
“Sleep sweet, my June,” he whispered before pressing a kiss to my forehead. I melted inside even as I started to panic. Did he know I was awake?
I knew he didn’t when he straightened and moved away.
Peeking through my lashes, I watched him enter the bathroom. The door didn’t quite close behind him, and I heard the rustle of his clothes followed by a long sigh. Then wet noises. My eyes went wide when he groaned softly.
He was masturbating. Just like he said.
I looked around the room, wondering what the hell I should do. Run? No. He’d hear me and would know that I heard him. I promptly squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to notice the increase in sound coming from the bathroom or the drawn-out groan that seemed to go on far too long…until I remembered the quantity of sheen when he’d come on my leg.
