166: Ada's POV

166: Ada's POV

Heath’s lips were hot on mine. At first, I found myself leaning into the kiss. Nothing about it felt wrong in any way. His lips were soft, supple, and working in tandem with mine. I didn’t even mind when his tongue flicked my lip or started dueling with mine as I opened my mouth. Heat was starting to form in my body, my arms starting to reach up and wrap around Heath’s neck.

Then Dagger’s voice infiltrated my mind and ripped me back to reality. That’s your fae right now, rearing its head.

I tore my lips from Heath’s, shoving my palms against his chest hard. He staggered back, holding his hands up. His grin was wide as he bawked at me, “Chicken.”

Phoenix stepped around Heath and walked over to me, gently caressing my cheek. I looked up at him, feeling unexpected tears. It was Dagger that spoke, though, voice gruff, “You shouldn’t feel guilty. Even if you were in touch with your wolf, your fae instinct would have overruled the wolf one.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Phoenix snapped, spinning to look at Dagger.

Dagger sighed, resting against the edge of the ship’s deck. “Fae don’t like to be challenged, for starters. Beyond that, we’re just a generally horny bunch. And before you go getting angry at me, I’m the one that stopped her from doing something she’d regret.”

The corner of his mouth was twitching, like he was fighting off a grin. Phoenix looked to me for confirmation, and I gave a curt nod. My mate returned his attention to me, lowering his head and resting his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes, taking slow, deep breaths.

Heath’s voice was casual, “I guess we’ll have to find something else to do, then.”

Before Phoenix or I could say anything, Dagger offered, “Phoenix should probably go and help Ada find some relief.” he waggled his eyebrows, “Once a fae starts on that path, they won’t be able to focus on anything else until they find release— either fucking or fighting, typically.”

My eyes shot open, and I looked to Dagger. “Are you serious?”

“Unfortunately,” he sent me a sympathetic look, “It’s just kind of our nature.”

“Does that mean that you—?” I trailed off, my expression pointed.

He laughed and nodded slowly, “Also unfortunately. Don’t worry about me, though. I have millennia of practicing working through it.”

The wink he sent me was chaste. Heath cocked his head to the side. “Maybe we could just watch? From what the crew tells me, you two seem to have quite the romp sessions,” he smirked as both Phoenix and I gaped at him. “Can’t hold it against me for trying.”

“Curiosity kills, Heath,” Phoenix’s voice was flat. “Remember that.”

Just as he opened his mouth to respond, a few crew members began yelling. I ran to the edge of the boat and looked to the horizon. The longboats were returning, and all appeared to be nearly overflowing with food, salt, and other gear. Blade stood out like a sore thumb on the boat with the other Lennox brothers. He was almost an entire foot taller than everyone else in the boat, and his armor was substantially nicer than anything any of the others had on.

I reached out down our link. Can you hear me?

Yes, Blade seemed to find me on the ship’s edge. What do you need?

I figured you’d give me updates while you were on shore. I kept my voice soft.

I tried, he growled. Couldn’t seem to get through to you or Dagger.

The look I snuck at Dagger told me he was just as unhappy about that circumstance. Slowly, the longboats began being heaved up into ships and contents unloaded. Paul immediately jumped into taking inventory of what was brought onto our ship, with Felix meandering over to us with Blade at his side.

Blade arched an eyebrow at me, What’s this I hear about a threatened foursome and you making out with our new Captain?

I didn’t grace him with a response. Instead, I tuned in to what Heath, Felix, and Phoenix were now discussing, “—do you mean?”

“They already had pallets of materials ready, as if they were expecting us,” Felix’s voice had an edge. “The usual guards weren’t at the port, and the Prince didn’t come to greet us. Something about this isn’t right, Heath.”

“We needed the provisions, Felix,” Heath countered, glancing over his brother's shoulder at the stacks of food. After a moment, he cocked his head to the side. “There was no bartering? Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

All of us stopped and watched as the crew continued to unload barrels, stacks, and boxes of materials. They worked in fluid motions, sweat dripping from their foreheads. Paul wasn’t just taking stock of the new inventory— he was opening each crate, every barrel, and checking the items inside. When he’d gone through a few dozen, he looked up at us and shrugged.

Dagger and Blade had returned to their spots behind me. Phoenix was beside me, watching this all unfold with an uneasy expression. We stood there until the very last thing was taken out of the longboat and looked at by Paul. Once there was nothing more to be done, Heath turned to the crew:

“Inventory passed inspection. We leave immediately and head the far way around the continent to the backside of the Kingdom. To your positions.”