Shea opened her mouth to protest; a warm palm covered her lips before she could.
“Not in skill. There you were better than any man in the clans. But there is more to being a scout, and I’d wager a pathfinder, than skill. From what I heard from both Eamon and others, you flirted with the edge of insubordination more than once. That if you hadn’t been so damned talented, they would have had you strung up and whipped as punishment.”
Damn Eamon and his big mouth. She knew exactly what incident had been at the forefront of his mind when he’d told Fallon that.
Her sigh was angry. There was little argument she could present. What Fallon said was true.
“I loathe stupidity,” Shea finally muttered.
Fallon’s chest moved under her as he chuckled. “I am well aware, as is anybody you worked with during your time as a scout.” He settled under her. “I’m not just doing this because I want you safe. It’s a big part, but not the only part. You’re too good and too smart to be a follower, and at the end of the day that’s all a scout is. They follow orders about where to go and sometimes how to get there. You’re meant for more. I don’t want a pretty trinket; I want a strong and powerful partner capable of ruling by my side.”
“Shouldn’t this be my decision?”
“No, not in this. I am the Warlord, and if I say you won’t be a scout, you won’t be a scout.”
She sat up. This, this was what drove her crazy. They were having a reasonable conversation and now he was back to being an autocratic ass.
“I hate when you pull that card.”
His arms came up to yank her back down. “I know. Why do you think I do it?”
She pushed against him, his strength no longer as amusing as it was earlier. “That’s not how this works. You don’t get to say something and then have it your way.”
His sigh was heavy and frustrated. He rolled over, pinning her wriggling body under his. “We haven’t seen each other in months. Do you really want to fight? Whatever our thoughts, this issue will not be solved tonight.”
He pressed a few kisses along her jaw and one on her nose.
“Fine. For now. We’ll pick this up at a later time.”
He pressed another kiss against her neck and collar bone. She shivered.
“And in the meantime, can you at least try to find something meaningful that takes advantage of your unique skills here?”
Her silence was stony.
“Shea?” He kissed lower, using his chin to drag her shirt down until he was kissing the tops of her breasts.
She wriggled again, testing his grip but getting nowhere. “Fine, I’ll look, but I make no promises.”
She felt rather than saw his smile against her skin. “That’s all I ask.”
He resumed kissing her, sliding until he nuzzled the valley between her breasts.
“Really, again?”
A hand sliding under her shirt was her only response.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“WARLORD.”
The hushed whisper woke Shea from where she’d nestled into Fallon, her body seeking his warmth in the cold of the night. Her back was pressed against his side and her head was pillowed on his bicep while both hands clasped his wrist.
Shea came to the realization that she was naked, never having put her clothes on after the last time she and Fallon coupled. She lay unmoving, playing possum and praying that the interloper would go away without noticing her.
“What is it, Caden?”
“There is a situation in camp that requires your attention.”
There was a heavy sigh that held a hint of a growl. “Understood. We’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
“Yes, Warlord.”
Shea didn’t even hear the man leave, his stealthy movements would have made any assassin proud.
Fallon moved beside her, briefly spooning her from behind. He kissed her hair and then said into her ear, “I know you’re awake.”
Shea grunted, not quite past the mortification of being naked in front of Caden, a man she was pretty sure only tolerated her presence under duress.
“Dress, it’s time to face the world again.”
Shea sighed and rolled over to face him. Over Fallon’s shoulder she saw Caden and two other men with their backs to them.
“How did they find us?” Shea wasn’t sure how she felt about being awoken to three of Fallon’s Anateri keeping watch.
“They’ve been with us the whole time.”
Shea froze, her eyes meeting his as her shocked expression gave way to a glare. “Last night?”
He nodded, his expression guarded.
“So, while we were in the water? After?”
His nod would have been called cautious on another man—a word not often applied to Fallon, a man who liked to use brute force and evidently had about as much sensitivity as a rock.
She rolled away from him, snatching the underwear that was lying beside them. She had to walk a few more steps for the breast band and pants. She donned each item with angry motions, mortification and outrage making her nudity a concern of the past.
Shea hunted for her shirt, turning in a circle to find it. With each passing moment that she couldn’t, her anger grew.
“Shea.”
She turned in a sharp motion to see Fallon dressed and holding her shirt out to her. She looked at it for a split second, wanting more than anything to throw it in his face—a face she had spent considerable time kissing last night where every man in his command could watch and comment—but not being able to, because his men were standing right there and she was wearing nothing but a thin scrap of cloth across her breasts and a pair of pants.
She grabbed it from him and yanked it over her head—her blue eyes spitting chips of ice at him as they appeared above the collar.
She turned and stalked off, her strides eating up the distance. Fallon finished dressing and was a silent presence at her back as they made their way along the soul tree’s thick branch. Caden took point while the other two positioned themselves at Fallon and Shea’s back.
“Why are you so upset?” Fallon asked.
Shea’s lip lifted on one side in a semi-snarl. She wished she was some great beast with the ability to breathe fire. It would perfectly punctuate what a stupid question that was.
“Not now.”
“Shea.”
Shea ignored him, continuing without sparing him a glance. She didn’t know what made her more upset, the fact that Fallon’s guards had been shadowing them the entire time when she thought they’d successfully left them behind, the fact that they’d probably overheard them last night when Shea had made no attempt to muffle her cries—something she at least tried to do in camp where the walls were canvas-thin. Or perhaps it was the fact that Fallon didn’t even know why that would upset her.
He took hold of her arm in a firm grip, drawing her up short. “Shea, don’t ignore me. Answer my question—why are you upset?”
She twisted her arm out of his grip in a move leftover from her training as a pathfinder. “I do not wish to discuss this now.” Her eyes went to the guards at their back.