Chapter 12

“Alright, little one, what’s got you flopping around like a fish out of water?” Frode groaned as rolled over to face me and propped his head up on his hand.

“I don’t know.” I mumbled, staring at the ceiling?

“Well, then just speak what’s on your mind.” Sten said, mimicking Frode’s position on the other side of me.

I glanced down bother of their lengths. Their powerful, strong torsos bared, their arms and chests were littered with tattoos. some were pretty and I’m sure had a story or meaning behind them, but others seemed to be old symbols, runes of some sort.

I followed their waists as they narrowed to their hips, which were covered by the sheets. I eyed where the sheet started, and their skin stopped. Without realizing it my hand had started to drift to that seam Sten. His warm hand grabbed mine in the air and he smiled as he brought it to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss to my palm.

“If you touch, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop. The need to touch you, to make you mine is almost overwhelming sometimes.” He said, his eyes never leaving mine.

My face heated and I went back to staring at the ceiling.

“What’s on your mind, princess.” Sten said, his brows pressed together in concern.

“I guess I’m just anxious about the clearing. We got here before it happened, but what if it’s happening tonight, or now? We have the chance to stop it, the chance to save someone, but what if we can’t? What’s the point of having this gift, this magic, if I can’t use it?” I rambled.

“And what if it never rains again?” Sten asked, pulling me over so I faced him.

I scowled at him. I understood the point he was trying to make, but it didn’t ease the fluttering in my stomach. I opened my mouth to reply, but Frode slid in behind me, so he was pressed against my back.

“He’s right, you haven’t mastered control, let alone your magic. We’re here, and as soon as it’s a reasonable hour we’ll get breakfast and see what we can find. I promise we won’t leave until it’s over.” Frode said, kissing my shoulder.

Until it’s over. Frode didn’t promise that we’d stay until we stopped it, he promised we’d stay until it’s over. The first thing they taught us in medical school is to never promise we’d make the patient better, or that we’d fix something. We couldn’t guarantee that. They taught us to choose our words wisely, like Frode just had.

“Stop thinking, princess. Lay back down and try to get some rest. It’s only four, we’ll go get breakfast at six if we’re still up. Please, at least try. It’ll be a long day if we aren’t rested.” Sten said, kissing me gently before rolling onto his back.

Frode laid down, keeping his same position with an arm over my waist. I snuggled back into him and laid down. Maybe his warmth would help sleep come.
It didn’t I’d laid there listening to Sten softly snore as an hour went by. I wanted to turn and move, but I didn’t want to disturb my sleeping mates. It wasn’t their fault I couldn’t shut my mind off.

It was an hour later that I felt Frode’s hand drift lower down my stomach, flat against my abdominals. I froze, not even daring to breathe. Was he awake? Was he sleep touching me?

“You haven’t fallen asleep, have you?” He asked, his voice thick with sleep in my ear.

“No.” I said softly, leaning against him.

His hand moved to the side of my thigh, his touch firm and with purpose. I waited to see what he was going to do. The warmth of his hand moved to the front of my thigh, and then his fingers were between my legs. My breath caught in my throat as my core clenched at his closeness to it.

“I wish we were back at the cabin and not here at some bed and breakfast with paper thin walls.” He said as his hand cupped me over my panties.

His fingers pressed against me, moving forward and back. The thin barrier did nothing to hide my want or reaction to him. I arched my back slightly, pressing into his hand. He kissed my shoulder, moving his lips up my collar bone to my neck. He scraped the edge of his teeth over the skin on my neck. I bit back a moan my eyes landing on Sten’s open ones.

“A man could get used to waking up like this.” He purred as his lips claimed mine.

Frode’s hand slip up, so the back of his palm was on my front, his fingers found their home between my folds, rubbing me through my panties. I flex my hips into his touching, wanting more. Craving his skin against mine. Sten pulled back from his kiss.

“We’re about to have company.” He growled, causing Frode to remove his hand.

“Guess it’s time to get dress and get food. We’ll have to continue this later.” Frode groaned, running his nose up my neck to my ear. “And later will be today, I want to taste you and watch you as you take your pleasure from my tongue.” He growled in my ear before nipping at my ear lobe.

I groaned and collapsed on the bed as he stood up getting to the door just there was a knock. This was the second time I’d been teased and left hanging. Although, I’d come to realize that I was somewhat aroused just being around these men.

Frode swung the door open, and Rune and Erik’s faces appeared as they looked around the door and their brother, their gazes settling on me.

“We’re…hungry.” Erik said with a grin. “We thought we smelled food.” He said, his gaze never leaving me.

My face heated as I realized what he meant. Me. They’d scented me. Then guilt washed over me. We’d started things without them.

“We won’t always be together to take you.” Sten said, his finger touched my chin and moved my face to look at him. “Don’t feel guilty. We’re just more on edge because we haven’t mated yet. But we won’t be mating here.”

I nodded and sat up against the headboard. Rune and Erik stepped in, practically pushing Frode out of the way. Rune set a bag on the bed, and I smiled as I saw my clothes in it. I pulled out a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt and moved to the bathroom to get ready. When I came out the men were dressed and sitting around waiting for me.

We found a small dinner not far from the bed and breakfast and ate there. My mates wasted no time in clearing their plates but made comfortable conversation as I finished mine. I was just finishing my coffee when a familiar scent filled my nose.

I couldn’t place the smell, or name who it belonged to. I wasn’t even sure why I recognized it. Then my eyes flicked to Rune who was sitting across from me in the booth. He was still carrying on the conversation like normal, but his eyes were trying to place who the scent belonged to.

Suddenly, his gaze locked on someone. He elbowed Frode who was seated next to him when it finally clicked. The scent was the base smell that was present during my vision. It was the scent that was hidden under the gore and blood, which is what made it so hard to place.

I causally looked in the same direction he looked in. A small blonde woman was seated at the counter and talking with the waitress behind it. She smiled and turned to us, freezing when she scented what we were.

“She’s a rogue. I’m sure she assumes we are here for her.” Sten said so softly I barely heard him.

“Well, she’s not wrong.” Erik said into his coffee cup.

Frode’s gaze shot to him with a sharp glare. Erik shrugged unapologetically, but he wasn’t wrong. We were here for her, just not for the reason she assumed. I turned and tried to push Erik from his seat that blocked me in.

“Nope.” He grunted and elbowed me.

“Move.” I hissed at him, not moving back to my spot.

“What are you going to do, kitten?” He asked, looking down at me.

“I’m going to talk to her.” I said.

“And what? Tell her you saw her death, her body so mangled we couldn’t recognize it? She already thinks we are here to handle her like we do most rogues.” Erik growled.

“If we don’t talk to her, what do we do? We can’t save her without communicating with her.” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Erik’s right. Here isn’t the place, we’ll intervene, but we’ll wait her out.” Frode said, shooting me a look that said the decision was made and not to argue.

“Um, guys?” Rune said softly.

“What?” Erik and I said together.

“She’s leaving.” He said, giving Frode a gentle nudge.

I looked over my shoulder and sure enough her stool was empty, and the door was closing. She’d left, snuck out while we were arguing over what we’d do. We all scrambled to the parking lot, only to find her completely gone.