She pushed him. Right in the ribs.
He looked down at her. “What?”
“Enough, Sam. I want to know everything. Why are we accidentally creating fires when we’re apart from each other, or when we’re too close to each other, what does enhancement mean, why are we on a ride with a bunch of bears, and are you going to try to force me to mate?” She put her hands on her hips.
Then that very green gaze slammed into her. His full attention. “Is that all?”
Her legs wobbled. “No. I want to know just how long you think you’re going to be able to hold this all together and still keep up that calm facade? While you’re shielded and I can’t tap into your brain, I’m not clueless. I can feel the effort all of this is costing you, and at some point, you’re going to explode. You know it, too.”
Chapter Fourteen
Only years of training kept Sam on his feet looking mildly interested. The woman had just rocked his brain. What the hell? Nobody peered beneath his surface. Not a soul saw what he didn’t want them to see. Except her.
He didn’t want to be seen. It made his job—his jobs—too difficult. Right now, he was barely holding it all together with both hands.
She frowned. “Enough. This is my life, and I deserve some answers.”
The woman wasn’t wrong. He motioned for one of the prospects to bring his stuff over, and the young bear, a kid named Lake, hustled to do it, placing everything by the tent. “What do we have?” Sam asked quietly.
Lake stretched his thick neck. “Looks like ten different clubs, all just out for some fun. Eight human, one lion, and us. No rivalries or anything big going on, and the lions don’t want to interact. They’re from Nevada and are just here for a ride and a goodbye to autumn—so they’re pretending we’re not here, which works for us. We’re settled farther east than the other camps, and forest land extends beyond us. Scouting showed nothing near, so we’re secure.”
Sam nodded. “Bear?”
“In a decent mood right now but it’s only Thursday night. He should be pissed off and tired of being around people by noon tomorrow.” The kid flashed a smile. “Nessa will keep him calm through tomorrow and probably we’ll have a good party tomorrow night, but we’ll be headed out Saturday like usual.” He cut a look toward Garrett’s rocking tent and sighed.
“Thanks,” Sam said, ignoring the movement of Garrett’s tent.
“You bet.” Lake spotted a couple of human females lounging near a picnic table. “Now. It’s time to be a good ambassador for our people.” He chuckled and took off at a slow stroll toward them.
Sam fetched the blanket from under the tall pine, set it near the tent against the rocks, and dug out a rare bottle of Midleton Pearl whiskey and two glasses before gesturing to the blanket. “I hope you appreciate good Irish whiskey.”
“Let’s find out.” She moved gracefully to sit on the blanket.
“Yes, let’s.” Sam sat and opened the bottle, quickly pouring. “Our mom mated a witch enforcer, Daire, who sends me the good stuff once in a while.” He held out the glass. “Sláinte.”
“Cheers,” she returned, sniffing the glass and then sipping. Her moan was one of pleasure that shot right to his cock.
He tipped back his drink, letting it steal his breath for a second. He refilled his glass and topped hers off. “Okay. To answer your questions. Enhancement means that as a human female, you’re special. You might be a slightly different species from human, or you might be cousins to the witches, but nobody really knows. What it means is that you have extra gifts and can mate an immortal, which would then increase your chromosomal pairs, ultimately giving you immortality but not changing you in any other way.”
She blinked. Once and again, her pretty brown eyes wide. Then she tipped back the rest of the whiskey and coughed several times. “Is immortality real immortality?”
“We can be killed by beheading and possibly with fire,” he said. When she remained quiet, he continued. “We’re riding with a bunch of bears because Garrett is plagued by nightmares in which his mate is torn off his bike, and he loses it. Now he’s obsessed—he has to ride all the time, and I’m covering his back while Bear’s doing the same. Bear goes on these rides because he’s learned that human MC clubs don’t try to infringe on his territory after they see what a badass he is. Then he doesn’t have to kill anybody, and that makes him happy. So while he growls about it, there’s a benefit to him in attending these parties.”
“He does like to growl,” Honor said, holding out her glass.
Sam refilled it to the top. “Okay. So next question, and I can’t answer all of it. Here’s what I can say. There’s a ritual coming up with Seven immortals, including Garrett and my younger brother Logan, in order to kill our worst enemy, an immortal we’ll call the Big Bad for you. You don’t need to know more than that. The Seven are pretty much prophesized to die during the ritual, as is my young niece Hope, and I agreed to be something that is unfortunately called the Keeper. It’s a fucking stupid name.”
“The Keeper?” She barely kept the skepticism out of her tone.
“Yeah.” He finished his whiskey and poured more. “As far as we can tell, I’m supposed to create a place between dimensions for this ritual to take place.”
“Well, of course you are.” She wobbled a little on the blanket but sipped more of the rich whiskey. “If one is going to be a Keeper and create a circle for a ritual, then one should absolutely do it between dimensions. What good would a ritual be in one dimension?”
Amusement took him along with desire. God, she was cute. “Exactly,” he said, enjoying the banter. “Why do you assume it’s a circle?”
“What else would it be?”
He chuckled. “That’s a good point.” It was nice to talk about all of this with somebody. With her. “So, I agreed to be the Keeper, which involved being dragged through a bunch of dimensions and nearly dying a few times, resulting in the very sexy marking on my back. At least, I’ve been told it’s sexy.” He couldn’t help but tease her.
She set her hand on his thigh, nearly blowing his head off. “It is sexy, Sam.” Her voice slurred a little, and she lifted the glass to finish the drink. “I like Irish whiskey.”
“Who doesn’t?” He followed suit and refilled their glasses. “A few years back, a whole boatload of crap rained down, and the immortals’ ability to teleport was destroyed.” God, he missed teleporting. It still felt like he’d lost a limb. At her raised eyebrows, he continued speaking. “Yeah. Many demons could move from one place to another in a blink. It was exceedingly convenient, but now the paths have been shut. Somehow.”