The conversation was leaving me with the distinct feeling that I had entered territory a little too existential for my own peace of mind. At least right now. I touched his hand lightly, smiling.
“Thanks, Venus. I guess I’m just nervous.”
“There are ways to take care of that nervousness.”
Venus entwined his fingers through mine. The wily old werepuma winked at me, holding my hand as he rubbed his thumb against my palm. I suddenly realized just why Nerissa had found him so enticing. He might be a bit grizzled and scarred, but Venus put out a scorching hot energy and right now, it was tickling me in ways I knew that I shouldn’t be thinking about. Especially with Smoky around. Trillian would probably just laugh it off, but Smoky? Not a good idea.
I gave his hand a firm squeeze, then jumped up as quickly as my inner thighs would let me. They were protesting the ride in a most vehement manner, and I worried that I’d be too sore to move the next morning.
“Well, I need to turn in. I’m beat and I think I’d better stretch before bed or I’m going to be terribly sore tomorrow.” I couldn’t believe that I was stumbling over my words, and I was grateful that it was dark so he couldn’t see me blushing.
He let out a soft laugh, low and throaty, and waved me off.
I hurried over to my sleeping bag, motioning for Delilah to join me. The men were gathered around the fire talking.
“What is it?” she asked as I dragged her over to my sleeping bag, where I gently lowered myself to the ground, spread my legs, and started stretching, leaning over to grasp my foot and hold the stretch.
“Venus. Did he ever come on to you?” I lowered my voice, making certain no one could hear me.
Delilah stared at me for a moment, then adopted the same pose and began to stretch out as well. “No,” she said, glancing around at the fire. “They’re talking so loud I don’t think they can hear us. Why, did Venus just…?”
“Yes, he did. I managed to backtrack without being rude but holy hell, I can tell why Nerissa trained under him. Literally. All her talk about him teaching her how to transfer pain to passion? I believe her. I mean, it wasn’t that I didn’t believe her but I really do believe her now. I didn’t know what to say.” I groaned as I hit a point where my inner thighs decided to rebel. “I hope to hell I can walk tomorrow morning. It never occurred to me that we were going via horse. I thought I was in shape but apparently I was wrong.”
“I’d say give them a good rub, but somebody might get the wrong idea if he saw you.” Delilah stifled a snicker.
I smacked her lightly on the arm. “Smart ass. Honestly, if I were single, it would have been hard to resist. He’s got some heady fire, I tell you that.”
We finished stretching and Delilah had me turn around. “Take off your corset. You have a shirt under it. We need to check on your ribs.”
Trillian meandered over. “What are you doing?”
“Checking Camille’s ribs and her back.” Delilah handed the flashlight to Trillian. “If you could hold this while I check under her shirt. I should put a good layer of the salve on, too.”
Between the two of them, they slathered me up with salve and Trillian reinforced the padding on my sleeping bag with an extra blanket. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping on the ground, but there was no help for that. As I slid into my sleeping bag, Delilah returned to hers. Trillian settled down beside me, leaning over to kiss me good night.
“I know that old scoundrel put the make on you, but he’ll respect your space if you say no. Don’t tell Smoky about it or the lizard’s likely to use Venus as an ass-wipe.”
I coughed. “I thought nobody else noticed.”
Trillian stroked my face, his hand soft against my cheek. “If you think I don’t keep an eye on you, you’re very much mistaken. I watch out for my wife. I’m your alpha…you’re my love. I consider it my job to know what’s going on.”
Smoky joined us and we fell silent about Venus. “Shade will be taking first watch. He’ll wake Trillian and Bran in a few hours, and you will in turn wake me shortly before dawn. That way we’ll have a full night’s rest.”
As they both slid into their sleeping bags and the camp fell silent except for the hiss and crackle of the bonfire, I realized once again that I couldn’t ask for better protectors. I fell into a deep sleep, interrupted only by the occasional rustle of brush as some animal wandered past.
THE NEXT MORNING, I was almost as sore as I had feared I would be. Smoky carefully helped me up, but then took the unusual stance of making me stretch out, helping with his hair as he gently pushed and pulled my limbs in a variety of ways they didn’t want to go. He was careful to avoid my ribs, and he made sure nobody saw anything they shouldn’t, but by the time we were done, I’d privately labeled him as bad of a drillmaster as the one we’d had in training when we first went to work for the Y’Elestrial Intelligence Agency. The first year had been spent divided between classes and physical training. I’d graduated from Basic Core near the top of my class on the intellectual side of things, but barely scraped by on the physical side. After that, I’d given up any semblance of gym and confined my athletics to walking and the occasional sprint.