Page 18 of Light the Fire

CHAPTER THREE

Haina

ThankGodIwasright.

We found the sailboat, and after Jorik and Zane did a thorough sweep of the boat for explosives and/or soldiers, we boarded. And just in the nick of time, too. The sky was starting to lighten.

There was no sign of Neffers, though.

My heart hurt at the thought of my ally, my only friend, being tortured by Moord. How much did he endure before he finally broke and gave Moord the plan?

I had to be grateful that Moord was dead and all other people at the compound and soldiers sent to ambush us were dead, too. Neffers’s death would not be in vain.

I would not squander this gift of freedom when he’d given his life so I could have even a moment in control of my own life.

Once down in the small galley of the sailboat, we unpacked Neffers’s supply kit again only to find that cunning son of a gun had packed a cloaking device. We really should have explored the contents of that kit sooner. It could have saved us a lot of trouble, but oh well, better late than never. And now those soldiers were dead. A few fewer people to hunt us down.

Because we all knew that the hunt was far from over.

We expanded the cloaking device around the boat so that when drones were sent out, they wouldn’t see us. We would still sail at night, though, since the cloaking device wasn’t foolproof and would be less effective during rough seas and in broad daylight.

Rix turned to look at me as we all sat at the table. All three of them were covered in dried blood. Most of it, not their own. Even though I’d “rested” against Rix in the rowboat, I was still exhausted and struggled to keep my eyelids open. Rix’s head bobbed as he continued to nod off. Jorik, too.

“I’ll take first watch,” Zane said with a grunt as he stood up and put one foot on the ladder rung that would take him up top to the deck. “You three sleep.”

“I can take first watch,” Rix offered, though there was zero enthusiasm in his voice. He stretched his long, muscular arms above his head, and for some strange reason, I found my eyes drawn to that strip of skin between the top of his pants and the bottom of his shirt. It was toned, tanned, and a small patch of dark brown hair ran vertically down below his pants from his navel.

I licked my lips.

Zane simply snorted and continued to climb, showing us the broad expanse of his back, which tapered to a narrow waist and thick thighs in his cargo pants.

I swallowed hard. Why was my mouth dry?

“Bed?” Rix asked with a yawn.

“Bed,” Jorik confirmed, matching Rix’s yawn as he nodded.

They got up from the table and ambled to the bow, where there appeared to be a big bed that stretched all the way across from one side to the other.

They climbed onto the bed, each of them rolling to a side, showing the other person their back, and within seconds I heard snoring.

I was still standing there.

“Comin’, Wildcat?” Rix called a few moments later. Either he hadn’t actually fallen asleep or he woke up seconds later and realized I wasn’t there yet.

I nodded, because I really was dead on my feet. I’d trained all day yesterday and into the night, only to incapacitate the two guards I had on me in the training room, climb through the ventilation system and then hike twenty-five miles. Granted, I hadn’t killed a bunch of men in hand-to-hand combat, but I was still exhausted.

With my hand trailing along the wall of the cabin for stability, I stepped over the threshold and into the bedroom.

The bed didn’t look nearly as big now with their two enormous bodies on either side of it. The space between them wasn’t much. Jorik’s arms alone needed their own beds they were so big.

But it was something. It was a safe place to rest my head and close my eyes.

Jorik must have picked up on my hesitation and he shifted over to the edge of the bed a bit more, offering me a small smile that seemed almost shy. He tucked those enormous arms behind his blond head, exposing blond hair in his armpits. “I can sleep with one ass cheek off the edge if need-be,” he said, tilting his head to the middle. “Or I can move into the middle and you can have the edge.”

I shook my head, my heart growing tight at his thoughtfulness. “The middle is fine. But, thank you.” Then I ditched my shoes and climbed onto the bed, crawling between their warm frames and turning to face Rix’s back as I curled up in the fetal position and closed my eyes. I was asleep in minutes.

I wasn’t sure how long I slept, but when I opened my eyes, the right side of the bed was empty. I rolled over to check the other side only to see a new back. It wasn’t Jorik’s. It was Zane’s.