Page 80 of Conquered Betrayal
I wasn’t sure what to say to comfort her. Marley and Alina loved their new jobs, but they sometimes did dangerous things. After everything Sabrina and Walker had been through, I didn’t blame her for not liking it.
“They’re whispering,” Brooke said under her breath.
“What do you mean?” It wasn’t like we could hear them from this far off. But with their shifter ears, they could all probably hear a normal-volume conversation.
“Kane purposefully turned his back so we wouldn’t see what he’s signing,” Brooke explained.
I squinted at them. If they were whispering, it meant they were up to no good. Those three friends together were nothing but trouble. They didn’t connect in person all that often. With Kane and Brooke spending half their time here, Landon and I in Vancouver, and Walker and Sabrina in Michigan, the trio had to coordinate to make time for each other.
“That looks like quite the addition,” I said, noting how far they’d laid out the wood.
“Yeah, it’s kind of ambitious, but this way we can have visitors in the winter too. And there will be a real bathroom with a real shower.” She sighed, adjusting her position in her chair. “The hot water heater gets delivered next week.”
The only way to describe her expression was “pure joy.”
Chewing the last of my olives, I set my martini glass aside and inhaled a deep breath. I could see why she liked it up here.
We lay in companionable silence until the world around us became way too quiet. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I lifted my head and blinked. “Uh, guys? Where did our men go?”
The sisters sat up in a flash, their bodies tense as they scanned the area. “Shit,” Sabrina breathed, standing. “Get off the dock.”
Before I could spring to my feet, a blur of movement caught me off guard. Three fast-as-lightning shifters jumped off the rocks beside us and barreled along the dock with huge grins on their faces. Landon’s strong arms came around me. Then I was flying.
Splash.We all hit the water at the same time. They weren’t lying about the cold. It took my breath away. How the water could be so freezing when the sun was so hot was beyond my comprehension.
Gasping, I surfaced, only to find two bears and a cougar running away, soaked, into the forest.
“Cowards!” Sabrina sputtered, slapping the water in agitation, but she was grinning all the same. “Come,” she said to me, and tilted her head to the ladder on the dock.
We swam to the edge and climbed out, all soaked and shivering. Exuberance rolled off both women as much as the water dripping from their bodies. They wanted to give chase.
“Go on,” I said with a smile, brushing my soggy hair out of my eyes. “Don’t let me hold you back.”
With a hoot, the sisters ran, tearing off their bikinis as they shifted mid-leap. I might not be a hundred-percent comfortable with spontaneous nudity, but I was getting used to it. And witnessing a shifter transform never failed to make me breathless.
Then I was alone. With a sigh, I lounged in my chair, content to dry in the sun.
A crack of branches alerted me to someone’s presence. I turned to find an immense grizzly with auburn and black fur breaking through the tree line, his eyes focused on me.
“Well, hello there,” I said, turning away from him and closing my eyes. “Come to apologize?”
Clomp clomp clomp.There was nothing stealthy about his approach. If he intended to throw me in again, he was going to be sleeping under the stars.
The world around me quieted. I opened my eyes, expecting to see a bear, but Landon stood before me wearing nothing but a mischievous expression. “I’ve been bad.”
I returned his wicked smile.
* * *
