“He bloody deserved it,” Mari added, with a surprising amount of venom for a pacifist ogre. Then she tilted her head. “Did I use bloody right?”
“Bloody right.” Matt grinned.
She smiled back at him as we lined up behind Sebastian. As much as I tried to be stoic, after what the Bellati and I had shared while rescuing the twins, it was difficult to have him go back to the cold, indifferent instructor.
Fifteen minutes later, I was wondering if I could keep up with him. Sebastian set a blistering pace, and the entire group was struggling before they’d made it one-third of the way around.
But I was as determined as the Aussie Dire to match pace with the Bellati. I didn’t hurry my strides, but focused on increasing each one, and Matt stayed with me.
My new awareness was distracting as hell. I could sense the energies coming from the Dires behind us. A lot of it was still concentrated on me, but it lacked the predatory motivation of before. It seemed as long as I was with the Bellati, I was no longer prey.
I also sensed something else from them—a renewed assessment of Matt’s standing with me. Or perhaps, me with him. Their gazes rested on him as often as they did me. As though they acknowledged our changing relationship.
I didn’t miss being the prey, but I yearned for the sense of belonging that I’d experienced with our first run. With not only Matt, but Sebastian too.
But this time the energy from the Bellati was restrained, like he had a stranglehold on it. And he didn’t even glance once my way as he ran.
I didn’t want to confess that Talakai’s absence was like an open wound. Thoughts of the Dragon, and all the uncertainty and worry wrapped around him, were like spears thrust into my heart.
Matt loomed closer. “We’ll find him, Angel,” he panted.
I glanced sharply at him. How had he known my thoughts?
He grinned. “Your face—”
“Yeah, yeah. Open book, I get it.”
I caught Sebastian glancing over his shoulder at us. Only for a second, then he focused ahead again.
Like it killed him to even look at me.
It rankled more than it should. Had what we shared during that river crossing only been my imagination? And what about on the rooftop, when I could swear he’d spoken in my mind?
Matt looked from me to Sebastian’s leanly muscled back, and his brows dropped. I instantly felt like crap. What the big Dire and I had was the real thing, and precious. Why was I having all these thoughts about Sebastian?
And Talakai. Where the hell did the Dragon fit in? Yet Matt seemed to sense a connection to him as well. At least, he committed to help look for him.
Sebastian just seemed to want to run away. Literally, in this case.
His pace never wavered. By the time he crossed the finish line, Matt and I were staggering about twenty feet back. And the rest of the group also struggled. We shed our packs and bent over, panting hard. I fought to keep breakfast down. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d run myself almost sick.
“We’re doing obstacles now?” I gasped. “I can’t climb another anthill.”
“I get to shift for it,” Matt said. “If I have the mojo left after that bloody run.”
I dug one hand into the stitch in my side and walked in a circle as I tried to shake the cramps out of my legs. Unfortunately, I shook something else loose.
They fell to the grass, almost at Matt’s feet. He stared down at the lacy fabric strewn with flowers, and before I could react...
OMG.I died a thousand deaths, leaping forward to grab them from him, but he held them aloft.
“Aren’t these—”
“Yes.” I blushed bright red.
“Lace and flowers. Great combo.”
“They were on sale,” I stammered.
