Chapter 31

“I considered it for the sake of this mission and for the sake of finding a cure in time,” He walked up to her, offering her some water.

“I see,” She clicked her tongue.

“We can reject each other once we have won the war,” Roman added, shruggingly, neither of them wanted this… Or so he thought.

“Okay,” She nodded.

“Okay, what?” He raised a brow at her.

“Let’s do it,” She made up her mind, and straightened her pose.

“Are you sure?” He asked, putting away the water bottle.

“Yes, Roman,” She answered him, slightly nervous.

Roman nodded and walked up to her, he hooked a finger under her chin, tilting her head up a little. His eyes met with her amber ones; his eyes fell down to her lips for a moment, but this was supposed to be just marking. He picked Tallulah up, wrapping her legs around his waist, their height difference suddenly changed, they were now eye to eye. The tip of his nose slid against her soft skin, her cherry blossom scent filling his nose. He buried his face in her neck and sucked at her skin first, electing a moan from her, her dainty hands in his hair. He bit into her skin, his mark burning onto her skin as she whimpered. When he was finished he pulled away and watched as his mark on her skin dimmed down until it was blended in with her skin. He tipped his head to the side for Tallulah to do the same thing. A growl escaped his lips as she left her own mark on his skin, their wolves reunited and beyond happy. Their touches sparkled through their body like a wave of pleasure.

A sudden wave of fog clouded where they were and Roman let Tallulah down and slowly began to feel lightheaded again. The last thing he saw was Tallulah laying down then he passed out once again.

~~~

This time Tallulah was the one who was shaken to wake up, she fluttered her eyes, looking up at Roman. Why did he seem so eager? Wasn’t his head hurting too?

“Tali—your highness, come on,” Roman got a little too excited, her old nickname almost slipping out by accident. He reached eagerly for her hand to help her up.

“We passed out a second time? What happened?” Tallulah groaned, removing her hand from Roman’s slowly.

“I have no idea,” Roman shrugged and walked along, a huge grin on his face that started to annoy Tallulah.

“Any reason you’re so cheerful?” She finally asked, kicking the pebble out of her path.

“I remember this path, we’re on the right track, queen,” Roman informed her, making a right through one of the tunnels. There was light at the end of it, it sure gave Tallulah a lot of hope.

“Are you serious?” She asked eagerly, walking by his side to the light.

“We spent more than three days here already, you think I’d joke about this?” Roman turned around to face her, raising a brow at her.

Tallulah wondered why there was a jungle in the middle of this cave, but then again nothing here made sense. She pushed past the ferns when she saw this tropical dome. There were tons of plants and trees around and right in the middle was a huge river with cascading waterfall allowing more water to fall in.

“Roman, look!” She pointed to the waterfall; it was all freshwater.

“You collect as much water as you can and I’ll get the plant,” The blonde instructed her. Tallulah didn’t need to be told twice what to do, she was already excited to head out of here and go home.

Roman went to the purple plants and kneeled down. He pulled out the case and opened it up then took his tools from the bag. He carefully began to cut down a few of the plants according to how it should be done and ensure they will grow once again. He cut open the last of what he took and planted those seeds too. When he was finished he sprinkled some water over the dirt where he just planted the seeds and began to pack up again.

Tallulah looked at him with a smile. Finally, they could leave this hell hole and go home only to prepare for yet another battle. She waited patiently for Roman to finish up.

“We can take a bath under the stream, goddess knows we need one,” Roman pointed out, putting his bag down on the ground carefully.

“Are you sure?” Tallulah frowned, looking over at the water. It did seem quite relaxing, and she truly wanted a bath.

“Yes, it will all the little scratches on our skin too,” The blonde added, walking closer to the water stream.

“Okay sure, we only have one pair of clean clothes though,” Tallulah looked down at what she wore, the only outfit of hers she had left.

“And we’re wearing it… I can turn around and let you go first,” He mumbled then turned around.

“It’s fine, the sooner the better,” She figured they could both head in, it’s not like they’d both be naked.

Tallulah took off all her accessories along with the weapons then kicked off her boats and unbuckled her belt. She removed the khaki pants then took off the burgundy shirt. She was left in just the sports bra and black panties; she folded her clothes neatly then entered the water. The coolness makes her sigh out of pleasure. Tallulah looked over at Roman and saw him doing the exact same thing. When he pulled the black shirt over his body, her amber eyes traveled down his body, she couldn’t help but admire his chiseled chest and the muscle on his skin. She cleared her throat and turned to the water, collecting some in the palm of her hands and washing her face with it.

Roman entered the water, the coolness calming him down immediately. He almost forgot about the situation, the reason they were here in the first place. He ran his fingers through his blonde strands, moving them out of the way. He looked over at Tallulah and saw her standing right under the stream. Her red curls now sat flat due to the water flowing down from her head down her body. It was just then he noticed this was the least clothing they had ever seen each other with.

Roman swam over to Tallulah, joining her under the flowing stream he looked over at her. His eyes fell down to the mark on her neck, it was glowing. He couldn’t help but reach over and touch it, Tallulah watched him carefully, tilting her head to the side. She knew she shouldn’t get too attached right now but she couldn’t help it, his touch was soothing it gave her some hope during these hard times.

“We should get going now I think,” Roman mentioned, clearing his throat and pulling his hand away from her.

“Yeah, the others must be waiting on us,” Tallulah said, climbing onto the rock and out of the water. She checked her bag and found a towel as did Roman. The two were facing each other. Tallulah realized she’d have to change. “Uh, can you turn around?” She asked.

“Last time you didn’t mind—” Roman was about to say. “Last time I didn’t have to take off my underwear,” She cut him off and motioned for him to turn around.

“Oh, okay,” he mumbled and turned around after all.

Roman and Tallulah were now back-to-back. They both got rid of their wet clothes and began to put on their dry clothes. Tallulah ran her hand over the side of her thigh where she once had a scar, the water had really helped. She checked the palm of her hand but that one wasn’t healed yet.

Tallulah finished putting on her clothes and turned around. She began putting her weapons back in their places. Roman turned around and handed her her boots that were on his side and began to put on his own shoes. He watched as she tried styling her hair, but it was too wet and unruly to do that right now.

“We can swap bags if you want, mine is a lot lighter,” Roman suggested, straightening his shirt.

“Sure,” Tallulah put down her bag and reached for his, it sure was a lot lighter.

“Come on, let’s head home,” He patted her shoulder and started leading the way out of the tunnel, cheerfully.

~~~