Rejected And Claimed By Her Trio Alpha Mates

chapter 63

After washing up again and letting the mindless task of scrubbing at my skin settle my thoughts a little, I climb out of the water. There’s a towel waiting for me on shore—thanks to Malix, I suppose, though I never saw him return with it. It’s not the thickest of towels, a little travel thing, but it does the job. I dry off and wrap the damp fabric aro

und me to go dig some clothes out of my bag.

Kian is building a fire while Frost and Malix skin the deer the other two shifters brought back with them. All three of them glance up as I return in my handkerchief-sized towel. I crouch beside my bag to dig out my jeans and a clean tank top, and I notice both Frost and Kian tilt their noses into the air.

Toward me.

Fuck. Can they smell the lingering scent of s*x on me? Even after I washed off in the lake again?

They turn their suspicious gazes on Malix, who just smiles charmingly as if he has no idea what they’re thinking.

Frost looks away out into the darkness beyond the light of the fire, something like hurt in his expression, though it isn’t exactly easy to read him. Kian catches my eye, anger tightening his lips as he sizes me up. I put my chin in the air and drop my towel, pointedly facing him naked as I step into my jeans.

I refuse to feel bad about having s*x with Malix. First of all, it was f*****g amazing, and I’m not even going to lie to myself that it wasn’t. Second of all, they’re all three my mates and they know it, so not one of them has more right to me than another. And lastly, Kian rejected me three years ago. He doesn’t get to be pissy about s**t.

Plus, it’s not going to happen again, so he can calm the hell down.

My jeans got some gnarly rips in my accident. A big patch of fabric is torn over my right thigh, where I got the worst of the road rash, and both knees have frayed holes, too. On the plus side, the big hole on my thigh leaves the last of my rash open to the air. Good, because it itches like hell.

Yanking my shirt over my head, I head over to join Frost and Malix at the deer. “Need help?”

Malix grins and hands me a knife. “Go ahead and saw off bits for grilling.”

I start working on the deer’s muscular hips, keeping my head down and avoiding eye contact. I don’t want anyone to bring up the fact I had s*x with Malix and try to air grievances like a couple of petulant pups. I’m too exhausted to deal, and the low level pain I’ve been sitting with since my bike wreck is heavier than it was earlier.

But luckily, Kian avoids the topic. He joins us and starts placing cut steaks in the fire. “If that crazy motherfucker is right, we should be close to the Tree of Life. We found the ravine while we were hunting. It’s narrow and fairly short. I figure we’ll find the tree tomorrow.”

Malix whistles. “Damn. Crazy to think we’ve almost made it.”

As I set a steak aside on a tiny piece of aluminum foil that Frost dug out of his pack, it occurs to me that I have some pretty mixed emotions about finding the tree. Once we’ve got the ingredient we need, Frost and I can dose ourselves and get this horrible f*****g poison out of our systems. And that’s good news, right? But it’ll also mark the end of our agreed upon truce, and like Malix told me earlier in the lake, their plan after that is to head off back toward that weak point between the realms.

Meaning we’ll be on opposing sides again, and I’ll have to hunt them down and kill them.

That thought hurts more than I’d like.

While we cook the meat and eat dinner, I stay quiet, lost in my thoughts and worries. The three of them aren’t exactly chatty either, though God knows they could just be sitting there conversing with their minds in whatever secret shadow person way they have. Yet another barrier that keeps me from ever truly being a part of their world..

Not that I want to. At least, not the world they’re aiming for.

We clean up after dinner, then pick places around the fire to lay down and rest. I’m packing up my dirty clothes and my knife, getting ready for an early start tomorrow, when the pain hits.

I gasp and go down hard on my knees.

My body might as well have fallen into a bonfire. I’m aflame from head to toe, and I can’t breathe. I fall to my stomach on the grass and gasp for air, but it’s like my lungs have forgotten how to work. My limbs go stiff, and the nerves all over my body feel like broken glass, sharp and shattering and tearing me apart from the inside even as I can’t move.

The world tilts. I roll onto my back to the sight of Frost’s pale, concerned eyes and realize he’s the one who rolled me. Dark edges press in around my vision, blocking him out, and I’m still gasping, still trying to get air through my useless throat. All I know is agony, my muscles cramping, my organs screaming.

Frost’s cold fingers close over my throat, and suddenly, some of the pressure eases. Enough for me to wheeze in a lungful of air.

My whole body twitches and my vision goes dark, then comes back, then goes dark again. I struggle to stay conscious, but it’s hard. I bob in and out of the blackness, and the black is where it doesn’t hurt. If I stay there, I won’t have to feel like this.

But I’m not ready to die, and the darkness behind my consciousness scares me.

I don’t know how long the poison attack lasts, but eventually, the pain fades enough for all my senses to return. Frost is still holding my head, his cold fingers tracing calming circles on my temples. I shake for a while longer, hoping the last of the pain will vanish, but it doesn’t.

It lingers inside me. Everywhere, a part of me, here to stay. Lower level, but constant.

Malix leans over me and smiles, although worry glints in his violet eyes. “How you feelin’, kitty?”

“Peachy keen,” I reply through gritted teeth.

Frost raises an eyebrow, looking at me like he doesn’t quite believe me, but I ignore him and sit up, groaning with the effort.

“I just need rest,” I assure him, brushing his hands away.

Malix and Frost remain sitting beside me while I rearrange my crap and lie down, using my backpack as a pillow. We usually shift to wolf form to rest because it’s easier on the hard ground, but I don’t have it in me right now. I curl up on my side, facing away from the dying fire, and close my eyes.

The guys move around a bit more, talking in low voices as they finish cleaning and packing away their own things. Then the clearing goes silent.

Still, I hurt all over.

I watch the underbrush and trees sway gently on the breeze. It’s peaceful, and on any other night, it’d be the perfect focal point for me to meditate on and pass out like the dead. But tonight, the pain is just too real. Too raw.

Why didn’t it go away?

Because I’ve reached some kind of critical juncture where the poison is half a day away from killing me?

I take a deep breath and let it out, my gaze following the tree limbs as they dance gently back and forth.

Master the pain. You can do this.

Suddenly, Frost’s spicy warmth appears at my back, distracting me from the hurt.

He lies down behind me without a word, then snakes an arm around my waist and tugs my back against him. His long, lean form spoons me, and the weight of his arm over my torso chases away my focus on the pain.

I breathe in his scent and sink against him. His presence, the connection between us that stretches like a taut wire connecting us heart to heart… all of it eases some of the agony burning through me. I don’t know how or why, but within moments, I feel better.

Frost’s breath tickles the skin of my neck as he whispers, “You’re hiding how badly you hurt.”

“After the attack, the pain didn’t go away.”

He tightens his arm around me. “I thought something like that.”

He tucks a leg between mine, and it’s such a claiming position. Not in a s****l way, but in an affectionate way. The way a guy might cuddle his girl in front of the TV on movie night. It sends my heart into overdrive and confuses all of the already muddled feelings inside me.

Closing my eyes, I focus on every part of him where he touches me.

“Do you feel like this all the time?” I ask.

“Yes.”

I slide my hand up and rest my arm over his, entwining our fingers. “I’m sorry.”

Nobody’s more surprised than me when I realize I actually mean it.

Frost doesn’t respond with words, but his arms tighten around me until I forget where he ends and I begin.

Wrapped in his warmth, I finally sleep.