“We should probably get going,” he finally said. He helped me to my feet and we brushed dirt off ourselves, but then he paused. “There was another reason I was rude to you.”
“What was it?”
He glanced over at the other guys, who looked like they were trying to watch us without being too obvious about it. “Falon.”
“Falon only sees me as a friend.”
“We both know that’s not true of anyone in this group.” He shook his head. “Like I said last night, you should talk to him about that.”
With those words he grabbed his pack and walked away, leaving me with only my thoughts. I grabbed my things and hurried after him.
For the next few hours we traveled through the empty wilds, the volcano looming large in front of us. As I kicked up dirt, I went through my memories of Derel and saw everything he’d done—all the pranks, the teasing, the arguments—in a new light. It made me wonder what else I’d been wrong about all my life.
I slowed my pace to fall in line with Falon, who walked at the rear of the group. Last time I’d tried to talk to Falon about us it hadn’t gone as planned, but his being here had to be a sign he cared for me as more than a friend…didn’t it?
“I see you and Derel have worked out your issues finally,” he said with a teasing voice.
“We did.” While Derel had long driven me mad, Falon had a way of calming me. I always relaxed in his presence. “He told me to talk to you.”
He ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Me? Why?”
“He said one of the reasons he pushed me away all these years was because of you.” I glanced over at Falon quickly to gauge his reaction, but couldn’t meet his eyes.
He blew out a long breath. “What a pair we are. He wouldn’t do anything because of me, and I wouldn’t do anything because of him.”
“What do you mean?”
He stopped and turned toward me, allowing me to gaze into his clear blue eyes. “Gods, after so many years this is difficult to finally admit. I have feelings for you, Kira. I always have.”
Warmth spread throughout my chest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’ve been promised to Derel for our entire lives—how was I supposed to get in the way of that?”
“You knew that was what our parents wanted, not us.”
“Trust me, Derel wanted it too. He pretended he didn’t because he knew how I felt about you and he didn’t want to get in the way. Which naturally was the same reason I never acted on my feelings. Maybe one of us might have told you the truth eventually, but then you became involved with Roth and it looked like you would marry him, so we decided to keep our feelings to ourselves.”
“Yes, but my relationship with Roth didn’t last long.”
“True, but then you started seeing Blane…”
I shook my head. “That wasn’t serious.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Is that what you think? Because I’m pretty sure it’s serious to him.”
I bit my lip and looked over at Blane. I’d have to talk to him later to see if Falon was right. I turned back to Falon and sighed. “I wish I’d known the truth all this time. I thought you only saw me as a friend.”
“I didn’t know if you felt that way for me either. Not until last night.” He took my hands in his and gave me a warm smile. “I was terrified if I told you I had feelings for you that you wouldn’t return them and it would ruin our friendship. I couldn’t stand the thought of that. I tried to tell myself your friendship was enough, and that I’d be happy if you married one of the other guys, but the truth was, I was miserable seeing you with them. I wanted it to be me.”
“Are you going to be okay with this arrangement?”
“I think so. It’s the perfect solution.” He glanced over at the other three guys, who were still trudging along ahead of us. “The five of us were all so close when we were younger. We’ve each loved you for years. But we knew if we acted on it, it could tear our group apart.”
“Roth and Blane acted on it,” I pointed out.
“Roth was a selfish jerk before the attack,” Falon said with a wink. “But we would have gladly let you marry him if he made you happy. Blane too, for that matter. But you probably noticed that once you became involved with them, the group stopped spending as much time together.”
I nodded. “I know, and I realize that was partly my fault. I just hope this situation brings us closer together instead of tearing us further apart.”
“It will. We may be hesitant at first to share you, but we’d rather share you than not have you at all.” He took my face in his hands. “And now I’m going to kiss you, because I’m the only one who never has.”
“Finally,” I said.
He bent his head and touched his mouth to mine slowly, then gave me soft, teasing kisses, as though he was learning the shape of my lips. I slid my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, wanting more, but he was infuriatingly patient. I suppose he had to be, if he’d waited this long to kiss me. But then his tongue swiped across my lower lip and I opened for him with a gasp. As his tongue slid sensually against mine, he clutched me in his arms and made me feel cherished and adored, like he wanted to take his time kissing me and never let me go.
He pressed his forehead against mine. “Even better than I imagined it would be.”
“Good, now you’ve kissed all of us,” Blane called out. “We can finally move on to the fun stuff.”
I laughed. “What makes you think that will happen?”
“A man can hope.”
“That seems rather presumptuous,” I said, as I hefted my bag onto my other shoulder and continued walking alongside Falon. Gods, why had I packed so many things? With each step the bag became heavier and heavier.
“Isn’t that why we’re here?” Blane asked with a wicked grin. “To serve you?”
“You’re coming with me to serve the Fire God.” A small smile played across my lips. “And to keep me company, I suppose.”
“I think Blane has a specific way he wants to pass the time,” Derel said.
Blane chuckled. “As if you aren’t hoping for the same thing.”
Chapter Nine
I thought about Blane’s comment as we found a spot to make camp for the night. I had kissed all of them now, although I hadn’t kissed Roth in years. Not since the night of the attack, when our lives changed forever. I wanted to kiss him again, but would he let me?
I’d tried to be supportive after his injury. I’d told him I didn’t care what he looked like, that I loved him no matter what and still wanted to be with him—but he couldn’t even listen to the words without going into a rage. He was in so much pain, both inside and out, and he said that seeing me only made it worse. He asked me to leave him alone, telling me he didn’t want me anymore, and I foolishly listened, hoping he would change his mind once he healed. Now I wished I could go back and force myself to stay, no matter what harmful things he’d said to me.
It was warm enough that we didn’t need a fire, but I drifted away from the group and began practicing my new magic on some weeds growing up from some rocks. The fire came easier now, though it still surprised me every time.
“I thought only the Dragons had magic,” Roth said, his gravelly voice behind me.
“Me too. It seems the Gods can make exceptions.” I tried to snuff out the flames, but when my magic didn’t work, I stomped on the weeds with my boots. “I’m sorry. Does the fire bring back bad memories?”
“It’s fine. We should get back to the camp though.”
I nodded and began to follow him, but then stopped. I was tired of this distance between us. “Roth, wait.”
He stopped and turned toward me, the moonlight highlighting both halves of his face. It made my chest tighten with emotion, and I found myself crossing the distance to him. When he didn’t move away, I gripped his shirt in my hand and lifted on my toes to press my mouth against his. At first he didn’t respond and I worried I’d made a fool of myself, but then he let out a groan and his arms went around me, hauling me against his muscular body. His mouth devoured mine like he was making up for the last two years.
My back pressed against the boulder behind me as Roth’s lips trailed down my neck. Desire swept through me, hot and needy, and I fumbled for his trousers, wanting him inside me again. Gods, it had been way too long, and I’d never stopped aching for him since that night.
He tore his mouth from mine as my fingers rubbed against his hard bulge. “Calla… We shouldn’t.”
“Why not? We’ve slept together before.”
“Yes, but not since this.” He gestured at the burn marring his otherwise perfect face.
“I don’t care about that. I loved you before your scars and I love you now too. If they took over your entire body I would still love you.” He didn’t say anything as I took his face in my hands. “Besides, this side of you is so pretty you need something to balance it out. Otherwise you’d make the other guys jealous.”
That finally got one corner of his mouth to twitch up. “I was always the best looking one in our group.”