“Wait… I thought he could just fix it,” I say at the same time East mutters, “Oh.”
The atmosphere grows quiet except for the lull of the summer-scented breeze kissing the air around us and scattering leaves across the ground.
“We need to hurry, though,” Porter adds, glancing at Easton with his brows furrowed. “Hunter’s been talking to Camille, this faerie who can read creatures and energies really well, and she’s informed him that the longer the link remains altered, the harder it’s going to be to fix it.”
East bobs his head up and down, staring off into empty space as he traces the palm of his hand with his thumb. “We should probably hurry then.”
Porter stares at his brother curiously. “Foster was pretty persistent that I stress the hurry part when I volunteered to come find you two.”
East blinks, snapping out of his daze. “He’s probably right. We definitely need to hurry.” Without a glance in our direction, he stomps off into the trees.
Porter watches him a second before turning to me with a grin. “You ready to get this link fixed and stop feeling all of our emotional baggage?”
Well, when he puts it that way…
I nod and we start through the trees, trailing after East, who doesn’t so much as even glance back at us. Clearly he’s upset, but about what? The link getting fixed? Why, though, when he’s already made it pretty clear he’s not too thrilled about me being able to sense what he’s feeling.
“He’s worried you won’t want to be around him as much once the link is fixed,” Porter unexpectedly mutters under his breath.
My forehead furrows as I glance at him. “East?” I ask and he nods. “Oh.” I stare at the back of East. “Well, that won’t happen. I like spending time with him.” As a series of worries whisk through me, not all of them belonging to me, I look at Porter again and add, “In a completely platonic way.”
He’s all sorts of wicked amusement. “Is that so?”
“Yes.” My voice lacks a bit of confidence, though.
He examines me with a s
parkle in his eyes. “So you’re saying that you’ve never felt anything toward East besides your standard feelings of friendship?”
“Yes,” I repeat, but a hint of doubt laces my voice.
He slows down his pace, his gaze welded with mine. “So you don’t crave even a taste of his power? Not even a drop?”
“Um…” Now that he’s mentioned it, my mouth begins to water with the idea of pressing my lips against East’s neck and devouring him. In fact, I can practically smell the scent of rain pulsating from East. “What are you doing?” I whisper to Porter.
He wets his lips with his tongue. “Testing the soul tethering to make sure it hasn’t weakened from that little blood promise East made with you.”
“How did you know about that?” I ask, confused.
Without removing his gaze from mine, he sketches his fingertips along the icy patch marking the palm of my hand. “Because of this.”
“Oh yeah.” I swallow an uneven breath. “I didn’t realize a blood promise could weaken a soul tethering.”
“There’s a small chance it could. East didn’t know that, though.” He assesses me with his head slanted to the side. “But since you’re hungry for him, I’m guessing the soul tethering is fine.”
“I’m not hungry for him,” I lie, my throat feeling very dry at the moment.
“You are,” he states. “And while that might be a bit frightening, it’s a good thing.”
“I…” I smash my lips together, my gaze drifting to East again. When I find that he’s looking at me, the hunger inside my chest amplifies.
East’s lips sink downward. Then he starts backtracking toward us. “What’s wrong?”
Shaking my head, I step back. “Nothing.”
He freezes, throwing a questioning look at Porter. “You wanna explain why she’s suddenly freaking out?”
Porter shrugs, a move that contradicts the intensity in his eyes. “I was just checking to see if that blood promise you did with her interfered with the soul tethering.”