The Three (44 page)

Anna looked down at their enjoined hands with a sheepish smile. “I already told him I was taken.”

Elin gave her a humorless snort. “Well, if he didn’t know it before, he does now. Kael and I have been frantic over you.”

“I’m sure I must have looked horrible.” Anna gazed down at Kael again, unnerved by her sound sleep.

“Kael’s okay, though, right?”

Elin joined in her study of their lover. “He’s okay. He’s exhausted. I finally got him to agree to have some of Kate’s tea just this morning, and that’s the only reason he’s out like he is. I convinced him that it was for his own good. He…hasn’t been sleeping much since you were shot.”

“When was that?”

“Three nights ago.”

Anna blinked in surprise. I’ve been out for over forty-eight hours? She said the first thing that came to mind.

“The camp. Did all the women make it?”

“Every one. Next to you, the worst injury was a sprained ankle.”

“What about all the bodies?”

“Kael, Jen, and Matt cleaned everything up. Even if they send more men to search for the ones that were killed, they’ll never find anything.”

Chances are they won’t realize anything’s wrong for some time. It could take months for anyone to come looking for them. Another thought occurred to Anna. Except… “The second contingent, did they—”

“We took care of them. Well, Kael took care of most of them. Matt helped, and Jen, and two of the women you helped rescue, Leah and Heidi.”

“How?”

“It’s a lot easier to fight outnumbered when you have the luxury of setting up an ambush. We were waiting for them. There were only twelve men in that group, and Kael didn’t have much of a problem handling most from a distance. We even managed to rescue the girl they had with them. Seventeen years old, poor thing.”

“Nobody was hurt?”

“Kael has a new bruise or two, and Jen took an elbow to the face, but everybody is fine.” Elin traced her fingers over the side of Anna’s face. “I’m very relieved, Anna.”

Tears stung Anna’s eyes. She touched Elin’s cheek, returning the tender caress. “So am I. I missed you, baby. We both did, so much.”

“I know. You can’t even imagine how I missed you two. I knew you would come for me, but after how they left Kael…I tried not to lose faith, but—”

Anna let her fingers linger over the curve of Elin’s jaw. “I won’t lie. Kael was in pretty bad shape. But he was determined. He’s so strong.”

The corner of Elin’s mouth curled. “I know he is.” She lifted her eyes to Anna’s face. “God, Anna, I’ve never seen him so upset as he was carrying you back here to the house. He managed to hold it in until after we dealt with the rest of the Procreationists the next day, but afterwards…with you still unconscious…he fell apart. I’ve never seen him like that before.”

Anna stared at Elin in wonder. “I imagine it was a lot like he reacted when you were taken.”

“I imagine it was.”

Anna exhaled slowly and tried to get more comfortable. Her whole body ached. “My head is pounding. Are you sure I didn’t get shot there?”

“Kate said that you hit your head on the ground when you went down. She said a headache would be perfectly normal with that kind of injury.”

Anna cracked a smile. “Well, as long as I’m normal.”

Snorting, Elin murmured, “Hardly.”

“But you love me, anyway.”

“Forever.” Elin closed the distance between their faces. “Think you feel well enough for a kiss, baby? I’m having a hard time holding back here.”

“I always feel well enough for a kiss.”

Elin pressed her lips to Anna’s and gave her the gentlest, most tender of kisses.

“It’s gonna take a lot more of that to get me well again,” Anna mumbled, her nose in Elin’s hair.

Elin shook with quiet laugher. “Same here.”

Kael released a low snore, drawing their attention down to her slack face.

“We should wake him up,” Anna said.

“I think he’d never forgive me if I didn’t.” Elin stroked the back of her hand over Kael’s cheek. “It might not be that easy, though. He’s really out.”

Anna shifted closer to her sleeping lover and rested her cheek against the pillow, watching Elin’s knuckles caress Kael’s pale skin. “Kiss him,” she suggested in a quiet voice and grinned. “That’d make everyone feel better, too.”

Elin chuckled and leaned over Anna, careful not to put any weight on her body. She brought her face close to Kael’s and gave Anna a brief sidelong glance. “If you insist.”

“I do.” Anna settled back and watched with satisfied eyes as Elin let her lips just barely touch Kael’s. She increased the contact so slowly that Anna held her breath in anticipation, exhaling only when her sore body required it. As she gazed at her lovers, Kael murmured sleepily and returned the kiss, caressing Elin’s lips with a lazy tongue.

“You’re right, Anna. I think that worked,” Elin murmured.

Kael’s eyes flew open. When she turned her head to find Anna smiling back at her, her jaw dropped, and momentarily, she was speechless.

“Hi,” Anna said.

“Hi.” Kael’s lower lip trembled, and she moved to bury her face in Anna’s neck, against her uninjured shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I will be.”

Kael wrapped a careful arm around Anna’s middle and hugged her as though she were almost too delicate to touch. She said nothing, but Anna felt every word.

“I told you we missed you,” Elin said, joining their embrace.

Careful not to jostle Anna’s wound, she wrapped an arm around Kael’s shoulders. Though she appreciated the caution with which her lovers handled her, Anna was beyond caring. She closed her eyes and savored their touch.

She felt completed.

A quiet knock distracted them from their reunion, and Anna and Kael wiped at their damp eyes with the backs of their hands. Elin turned toward the bedroom door with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Look who’s awake,” she said, gesturing for Matt to come in.

He managed a shy grin as he approached the bed. “Hey, Anna.”

Inexplicably, Anna blushed. “Hey. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Matt grinned even harder. “I’m very okay.”

Anna ran her eyes over the boy’s face and body, taking note of the bruise below his eye, the cut above his lip, the stiffness with which he held himself. He looked battered, but alive. “I’ve been having some really bad dreams the last couple of days,” she said. “I admit, at times I wasn’t sure you made it.”

“I almost didn’t. If you hadn’t come along at just the right moment—”

“Kael saved your life. Not me.”

“Don’t even,” Kael protested. “You were a goddamn action hero out there. Not many people would have been brave enough to step up in that situation, but you did. For your friend.”

Anna met Matt’s eyes, humbled by the deep love she saw in them. “I’m just glad it worked out.”

Matt leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on Anna’s mouth. “Anyway…thanks. I’ll never be able to tell you…I don’t know how to say—”

“I love you, too,” Anna said. “I’m proud to call you friend. And besides, it was the least I could do to repay you for all your help.”

Blushing, Matt cast his gaze down to the ground.

“Yeah, man,” Kael piped up. “Thank you.”

Elin stood and wrapped her arms around Matt in a warm hug. “Thank you.”

Matt shrugged, but returned Elin’s hug. “It wasn’t a big deal.” He looked at Kael, eyebrow upraised. “Is this a good time for the surprise?”

Anna’s heart warmed at the way Kael’s face was suddenly aglow with the same excitement as Matt’s. “Oh, yeah,” Kael said. “Definitely, yes. Get the surprise.” She sat up and gave Anna an eager grin.

Matt jogged over to the bedroom door and poked his head into the hallway. “Hey, Isabella. Come on in.”

When a pretty teenage girl with short blonde hair walked into the room with a squirming golden puppy in her arms, Anna beamed.

“Oh my…Is that a puppy? A golden retriever?” Elin stepped forward as the girl placed the puppy down on the bed.

Anna grinned so hard her cheeks hurt. A golden retriever, huh? Elin and her books. She turned to Kael to find glittering indigo eyes staring back at her. “You didn’t show her yet?”

Kael shook her head. “I wanted to wait for you.”

Anna bit her lip in an effort not to start crying then and there. “I love you, Kael.”

Kael leaned close and gave her a sweet, lingering kiss. “I love you, too.”

“He’s so tiny.” Elin patted his bottom with her hand, smiling after him as he bounded across the comforter to cover Anna’s face with wet kisses.

“What are you talking about, tiny?” Anna asked through Zep’s frantic tongue bath. “He’s huge! I swear he’s gained at least two pounds since I last saw him.”

Elin laughed in delight as the puppy stopped licking Anna’s face to roll over onto his back so she could scratch his belly. “He likes you, Anna.”

“He should. She found the little mutt.” Kael’s voice was full of gruff affection. “She insisted we keep him so we could give him to you.”

Elin’s mouth dropped open, making her look very much like an excited child. “He’s ours?” Elin squeaked.

Anna’s heart swelled at the sight of Elin’s joy. “Kael named him already. We tried to think of something you’d like. Zep. Short for Led Zeppelin.”

Elin looked from Anna to Kael with tear-filled hazel eyes. “He’s perfect.”

She settled down on the bed next to Anna, who welcomed her lover’s gentle weight pressed against her other side. Between Kael and Elin, she felt happy and protected. Her whole body felt warm at the love that surrounded her. “Yes, ma’am, he is.”

Matt cleared his throat and, with an awkward glance at Isabella, said, “Um, I wanted to talk to you guys about something.”

“What’s up, Matt?” Elin asked.

“I, uh…” Matt looked again at Isabella, who gave him a subtle nod. “I was wondering if…well, Jen told me that she and Caroline are going to travel with you guys when you leave. And Heidi also said something about maybe traveling with you now that her husband is gone. Do you think—”

Anna felt her eyes growing wider during Matt’s rambling speech. Kael knows that all these people want to travel with us? She tried to reconcile the idea of the stoic loner traveling with a makeshift community.

Kael’s lip twitched with amusement. “Safety in numbers.” Giving Matt a friendly nod, she added, “We’d be happy to have you for as long as we’re going the same way, my friend.”

Matt relaxed into a crooked smile. “And Isabella?”

“Is more than welcome, too.” Elin gave both young people a warm smile. “I’ve never belonged to a tribe before.”

“I thought you belonged to our tribe,” Anna said, gesturing between Kael and herself. “What, we weren’t good enough to be a tribe?”

“A civilized tribe, I meant.” Elin stuck her tongue out at them, eyes sparkling.

“I’m civilized.” Kael pinched Elin’s tongue between her fingertips. “Anyway, I thought you girls liked me wild.

All the time.”

The quiet click of the bedroom door alerted Anna to Matt and Isabella’s departure. Probably best. When we’re on a roll, it’s hard to stop us. Turning to Elin, she affected a thoughtful look. “He’s got you there, sweet girl.”

And they were on a roll.

Anna wrapped her arms around her knees and stared out at blue-gray water sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight. Two days on the coast, and she still couldn’t get over it. Who knew the ocean would be so big?

Twenty yards down the beach, Jen and Caroline knelt in the sand collecting seashells. She and Jen had scoured the beach nonstop over the past couple of days, taking breaks only to steal away and make love.

While the new couple hadn’t yet made an official announcement about their status, Anna was well aware that their intimate friendship, formed in a small red tent in the Procreationist camp, had grown into something more. Anna was happy for them, especially because she knew that Caroline had been taken from a loveless relationship with a man who offered her modest protection and nothing more. Jen treated her like a queen, and it warmed Anna’s heart to see them so happy.

They weren’t the only ones. Anna glanced over her shoulder at the sound of playful laughter and found Matt tossing a Frisbee to Isabella, the blonde girl they’d rescued from the second contingent. As she watched, the couple exchanged a look of pure devotion. The two of them are becoming fast friends, aren’t they?

Heidi played with them. She laughed as she caught a wild toss from Matt, then executed a perfect throw to Isabella. She, too, had become a friend, and though Anna sometimes felt bad that Heidi had no one to love in a romantic way—her husband having been killed only weeks before she was captured by the Procreationists—she knew that their makeshift family was a genuine source of joy for her.

As it is for me. She took a deep breath and dropped her hands to rest on the warm sand. I’m beginning to think that having people to love, as scary as it is, makes all the difference in the world. Distractedly, she dug into the sand with her fingers then lifted up, allowing the soft grains to sift through them. After the ocean, sand was the most amazing.

“Hey, Anna!” Matt jogged over to plop down on the sand beside her. “So where are Kael and Elin?”

“Walking Zep,” Anna said. “Or rather, I think he’s walking them.” The puppy was growing by leaps and bounds and was a ball of unbridled energy, always eager to run and play. The beaches of South Carolina had sent him straight over the edge.

Matt laughed. “That sounds about right.”

“Well, I hope you don’t mind us crashing your party.” Heidi joined them and wrapped a slim arm around Anna’s shoulders.

“Not at all.” Anna looked back at the ocean. “I was just admiring the view.”

“Funny,” a deep voice said from behind them. “So was I.”

Breaking into a grin, Anna tilted her head to gaze up at Kael. Elin stood beside her, wearing a green bikini and a green and blue sarong, which Anna found breathtaking. Kael’s indigo eyes were shaded by dark sunglasses, and she wore a gray T-shirt and faded cut-off shorts.