Page 137 of Commanding Flame and Shield
Our grins must have mirrored each other, as the others were causing one hell of a ruckus. She lunged for me, throwing her body around my own, and flipping her legs up. That girl was going toBlack Widowme.
I snatched her out of midair, and she shouted before righting herself. Legs wrapped around my waist like a boa constrictor, she threw her slender arms around my throat. I wedged my fingers between her arms, and she trembled to keep her lock on me. Stars popped into my vision, and she squeezed her legs tighter still. My knees gave out, and instantly she released me, planting her feet to steady us.
She raised her brows in silent question. I nodded, panting for breath. She wrapped her arms around me, and I huffed a laugh.
The Commander’s voice carried to us as Alec passed him a wad of cash. “I willalwaysbet on my little shadow.”
“Damn, Ally,” my words whooshed out in a breath.
“She’s second for a reason,” Ansel drawled from the sidelines, shaking his head in silent awe. Lana rose from Fae’s side across the yard, her motions lithe. She narrowed her eyes on her mate as she slowly leaned over the old general with the swagger of a courtesan, making a show of plucking a twenty-dollar bill from between her breasts before dropping it in his lap. Ansel's throat bobbed before he cleared it, and he sketched a bow to Ally as we passed. She grinned, inclining her head to accept the show of respect.
“Need a cigarette after that handoff?" Fae teased as Lana resumed her place beside her. The wave of our laughter echoed off the courtyard walls. Aren also dipped his head, proud smile on his face. Their thoughts were sincere when I pried forward. Nobody had pulled punches. She was who she was, with or without her magic.
A human with her capabilities would have been one hell of an assassin.
* * *
Shiningsnow came up to my thighs, pressing against the suit I’d found lying across Alvara’s bed when I made it upstairs. Her and Alec’s little tradition, it seemed, had infected the entire coven over the years. So here we stood, balls deep in fluffy frozen water.
It was worth it though, watching her climb into her sled, beanie pulled tight over her brow, and scarf up to her nose. Nearly as pale as the snow around us, a small strip of skin and Ally’s eyes were all that were visible. Alec was already propped in his own sled beside her. Aren on the other side. Fae stood, ready to count them down, bouncing in her boots to try to warm herself.
All that stands between humanity and hell…are three warriors on sleds.The irony drew a chuckle through me, and Aren echoed it in his own rumbling laugh.
Just you wait, Rookie.
I shook my head.
“On your mark! Get set! Go!” Fae waved her outstretched red scarf, and the three of them took off.
The two males began to lead, and I heard that wind chime voice cry out, “No powers!” Aren boomed a laugh, but slowed, and Alec zoomed away in a defiant flash down the mountain. “Cheater, cheater!” She hollered after him.
My own cheeks hurt from laughing.
“They usually use wind to win,” Fae explained as she appeared by my side, tossing her platinum braid over her shoulder. “And to cheat.” She winked. “It usually turns into a full-blown snowball fight.”
“I can imagine.” I laughed as Ally pegged a now returning Alec square in the jaw. She cackled, and made a break for it, but only made it a few feet before he tackled her into the snow. They came up, scarfs fallen, faces Rudolf red with cold, but laughing so hard they shook, and I couldn’t help but do the same.
The three of them hauled the sleds back up the hill and offered them to those of us standing. I accepted Aren’s, and sat down, patting the snow beside me. Ally grinned, holding the sled out towards Fae and Lana, now glued hip to hip for warmth. They exchanged a knowing smile and nodded towards me. She didn't hesitate, and we didn’t wait for a third to take their place but shifted in unison. As we soared across the snow, Ally threw her head back and laughed to the sky just beginning to glimmer with stars. Laughed to the pines above us. I couldn’t help but join her.
Her joy was…an unexpected treasure. Her rosy face cracked in that mile-wide smile, something I hadn’t realized I needed until this moment. My heart ached for her. For this happiness. But a bitter voice in my mind reminded me this bliss was on borrowed time. The brand on her wrist ticking down until reality would collide like a freight train. My face must have betrayed the trepidation as we skidded to a halt, because she shook her head as if to say,Don’t ruin it. Just let it be.I nodded.
And then waylaid her with a snowball.
She fell off her sled, squawked indignantly, then pulled herself to her knees. She kept her face hidden as she packed the snow between her hands. I dove for her, and together, we went tumbling into the snowbank. I shielded her head with my arm as we collided with the bank against the tree. The impact against the towering pine sent a blanket of white down upon us. It buried us entirely and took all my focus not to panic as we clawed our way back to the top.
I had never been so frozen in my life, as I was when we cleared that fallen drift. But she was smiling, still so light. Free.
She hit me with another snowball, and I growled, lunging. She shrieked as I tackled her, smacking my back with her mittened hands as she roared and screeched with manic giggles. And then we were frozen. Bodies pressed together in the snow, heavy exhales mingling between us, our eyes burned over every inch of each other. I kissed each of her frozen cheeks, and then her cherry red nose, which she wrinkled in response. Perhaps that smile was indeed frozen on her fair face.
I buried myself in her neck, kissing, and nipping at the sensitive flesh. “Let me get something straight,” I growled into her. Ally made a breathy little sound in her throat and pressed into my touch, her body pinned beneath my hips. Leaning in to nip at her ear I asked, “The guy who had you tied up last night washot?” I reared back for a view of her face right as her eyes rounded, earning a dark chuckle that rumbled in my chest. “Yeaaaah, baby, we’ll be discussing that later.”
Hands outstretched, I seized her arms to hoist her upright. But we were pelted by snowballs, and both went dashing for cover, as the others descended the hill. They hollered the entire way. We both bent to pack snow, but they just snatched our sleds, and sprinted for the top. I flashed her a wide-eyed grin, and she mirrored it before we both lunged out from behind the tree. Battle cries freed from us as we ran after them, both slinging snowball after snowball. The grizzly laughed until I thought he’d lose his voice, and then dove, belly first, onto the sled like a seal.
It could have been hours out there by Aren’s safe house. Hours of sled races, and hot cocoa. Of endless whitewash and snowball fights. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. But my cheeks and belly ached with the hysterics. We all noted the numbness in our bodies when we entered the cabin to thaw out. We clomped our boots on the front porch, freeing them of snow, and then filed into the cozy little space to get warm. We stripped our soaked clothes, and left them in front of the fire, and then the party wordlessly split into two. Another tradition, I assumed, by the routine way they did it.
Aren, Alec, and Ansel waved me over to his bar cabinet, but my eyes stayed locked on the girls as they crossed into the tight kitchen. Aren furrowed his brow as he inspected his stash, then hoisted up an antique looking bottle of bourbon, and grinned. He spun it in his hands and handed it off to Alec to open. He pinched a half dozen glasses in between his fingers, and walked them to the kitchen, where the girls were still pulling bowls and ingredients out of the cabinets.
Glasses were lined up and filled, and the beginning of cookie dough seemed to be forming in the glass bowl as Alvara beat butter and sugar in. Already, I could feel the heat from the oven as it warmed.
