of awful pain, almost a scream, but her friend pulled up on her trembling arms, managed the fourth before she dropped to the ground in a panting heap.
“Good job,” Doyle told her. “Sloppy form, but gutsy. Shoot for five tomorrow.”
“Shoot for five, my butt. I might shoot you tomorrow.”
“That’s the spirit.” Reaching down, he hauled her to her feet and out of the way. “You’re up, Gwin.”
Riley set, did a smooth dozen in the time it had taken Sasha to strain out four.
“I might shoot you, too,” Sasha said darkly. “I might just be in the mood for a double homicide.”
“You did four,” Annika reminded her. “The first time, you couldn’t do even one, but today, you did four.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Then Sasha blew out a long breath. “Yeah,” she said in a stronger tone. “And tomorrow I’ll shoot for five.”
They had breakfast, and did the morning chores Sasha had listed on the new chart. Then it was time to hike to the marina.
Annika wanted to run. She could barely wait to dive into the sea. But she liked watching how Bran and Sasha held hands, or how Doyle and Riley argued over who would drive the boat.
The air smelled beautiful, with the breeze bringing scents of sea and flowers, of the lemons, of the grass. The walk provided gardens to admire, the flight of birds. And time with Sawyer.
“Will you take pictures in the water?”
“Yeah, I’m set for it.”
“If you taught me how to use the camera, I could take pictures of you. When you take them, you aren’t in the picture.”
“I got a couple selfies.” He demonstrated by holding his arm out, pretended to click a camera.
“Oh! That’s clever.”
“But I can teach you. Never hurts to have a backup for documenting.”
“Then I can help you take pictures in the water, and out of the water. I hope we can walk in the hills.” She gestured toward the mountains. “I know we might find her there, have to fight her there, and the quest is the most important. But the walk would be exciting and new. All the things to see we haven’t seen before.”
He gave her a shoulder bump she knew was a sign of affection. “Gotta have the bright side.”
“The bright side helps us face the dark.”
“Can’t argue.”
“In the last battle, I was afraid. I believe we’ll win, we’ll do what we’re meant to do, but I was afraid.”
In a gesture she knew was affection and comfort, he brushed her arm with his hand. It made her want to sigh.
“We’re all afraid, Anni.”
Surprised, she looked up at him. “No one seemed afraid but me.”
“Every last one of us,” he corrected. “If we weren’t afraid, we’d be crazy. You know what courage is.” He said it, didn’t ask it, but she nodded.
“It’s bravery. It’s facing the dark.”
“That’s right. It’s facing the dark, even when you’re afraid. That’s every one of us, too.”
She tipped her head toward his shoulder, knowing since he thought her brave, she could be braver still.
“Why don’t you have a mate?”
“A . . . Well, um, I’ve had to move around a lot. Getting to this point, it’s taken some doing.”
“But there was sex?”
He took off his hat, swiped his fingers through the thick, streaky blond hair she wanted to swipe hers through. After he settled the hat again, he pushed his hands into his pockets.
“You know, if you want to know about that kind of thing, you should talk to Riley or Sasha.”
“Oh, I know about sex. It’s not so different in my world. We can have sex as we like. It’s a bright side.”
He had to laugh. “Definitely qualifies.”
“But when we find our mate, when we pledge, there’s no other after. Like Bran and Sasha, there is only one.”
“That’s nice. It’s what most people hope for.”
“So there has been sex for you, but no mate.”
“There you go.”
The way went narrow, with buildings closing in. He distracted her from talk of sex by pointing to a shop window.
“Oh, we can come back to shop! I have the itch.”
“Tell me. You’ve always got a shopping itch.”
“No, no, the payment. The . . . scratch!”
Though he grinned, he draped an arm over her shoulders to steer her away from a shop window. “Right.”
“Look at the pretty food.”
Pastries and little cakes, pretty as jewels, tempted behind the glass.
“We should definitely grab some pastries to take home. And down there? Gelato.”
“What is it?”
“Outstanding.”
“Outstanding,” she repeated as they navigated the steep, narrow street.