Wings of the Walker - CoraLee June Page 0,305

already disappeared there to be alone. I found it curious that he didn’t want to be with his people, but also understood not being able to look them in the eye. Despite killing Cavil, the enemy, it was still hard to come home to a destroyed Dormas.

“I thought we could come back and just be like it was before,” I began while staring at the glowing embers in the fire. “Dormas isn’t the same. I am not the same,” I replied before standing up. “Good night!” I called out to Bowden and Thurst. I couldn’t sit here any longer. I couldn’t look at them and not think of everything we’d lost. Our reunion was bittersweet, and it didn’t escape me how Tallis was equally thrilled and disappointed to see what was left of his people. It was hard to watch. Lately, everything was hard to do.

After I brushed dust off my skirt, I waved timidly at the rest of my men before heading towards the tent Kemper put up for me. I couldn’t just sit there while thinking about all the sad things in my life. I had not allowed myself to wallow too much since Cavil’s death. I didn’t see the use. But knowing Hope was gone sent me spiraling. All I could think about were all the people I loved and all the terrible things that could happen to them. Naturally, Huxley didn’t let me off the hook that easily. He stood and raced after me, threading his fingers through mine while walking me back to our tent. “What’s on your mind, Ash?”

It was a question they all had been asking me daily, like figuring out the way my brain worked would somehow heal whatever we were going through. Huxley and I stopped outside my tent, and instead of answering him, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his body close to mine.

“I’m thinking that I need you.” I needed all of them and the distraction they offered. The only time I wasn’t thinking about all the danger we faced was when I was with them.

Huxley gently lifted me up, cradling me in his arms before carrying me inside our makeshift shelter, stumbling a bit when he had to get through the door. There was a pallet on the floor, and he gently laid me down. The interior of the tent was large enough for all of us, and the moment that thought entered my mind, the door opened, revealing the rest of my men.

I watched as each of them slipped out of their shoes and removed their shirts. Huxley started meticulously unlacing my leather boots before sliding them off of my feet. “Leave it to Kemper to build the best damn tent there is,” Patrick joked before removing his pants and settling beside me. He reached across my chest and started unbuttoning my top, letting it slide off of my shoulders before discarding the dust-covered material.

“Got to take care of my woman,” Kemper replied with a shrug. I broke through the haze of my depression to look at his muscular frame, dragging my eyes down his abs then back up to his crystal blue eyes. His blond hair was much longer now.

Kemper lifted my foot into his lap and started massaging it as Cyler dipped lower so as not to hit his head on the ceiling while entering the tent. His long hair was still wet from the bath we took earlier. Thurst took us to a bathhouse he constructed with running water. “We having a sleepover?” I asked him, feeling the hint of joy kissing my soul at the normalcy of it all.

“Something like that,” Cy replied before positioning himself at my back and running fingers through my hair. My lips parted, and I moaned as the edge of his nails scraped along my scalp, causing me to melt in his lap. Jacob entered the tent next, and his mindspeak broke the spell.

“Oh fuck, those noises are killing me.”

I smiled as he crawled over to Huxley, lying down and resting his head on my stomach. I ran my fingers along the scar on his face, bending lower to kiss his cheek. “I love you,” I whispered.

Maverick was last to enter the tent. He looked around at us with a timid smile, his dark eyes taking in every detail, every perfect imperfection. I knew he was thinking the same things I was: We have to save our family; this was too perfect to give up.

He