Caged Kitten (All the Queen's Men #2) - Rhea Watson Page 0,40
and from the heaviness around my eyes, the effort it took just to shuffle around the cellblock, Rafe’s suggestion sounded like heaven. But nope. Not happening. Not when there was something exciting going on here for once—and I was finally no longer the new kid on the block. “Uh, no. I’m fine.”
We ambled back to our usual table closer to Elijah’s cell—and now this new fae—all the while ignoring the smug looks tossed our way by Deimos’s posse. Seriously. Their table was just a table. Constance flicked her brows up at me when I accidentally caught her gaze, and I rolled my eyes—hard. Not that my blasé reactions mattered. They didn’t care that we didn’t care. It was the same crap, different day with these supers.
Only it wasn’t the same day. Not anymore.
Even as Elijah joined us at the small round table, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the fae’s door. Something about him… Maybe it was just the thrill of seeing a primordial supernatural creature, one I’d never thought to meet. Seattle wasn’t exactly crawling with fae—
“What is it?” Elijah growled, hands planted on the table, leaning over it and so utterly fixated on me that fire exploded through my veins. I pushed my hair over one shoulder to cool the back of my neck, skin suddenly scorching.
“It’s nothing.”
The dragon glanced toward our new cellmate’s doorway with a frown, then back to me, that frown deepening, brows knit with confusion. Rafe dropped onto his usual stool with a pointed sigh.
“She thinks he’s attractive,” the vampire mused, gathering the abandoned card deck between his graceful fingers and shuffling it how he saw fit. My cheeks burned brighter when Elijah looked to me for confirmation, but I glared squarely at Rafe, pissed.
“Rafe.” The vampire’s bright gaze innocently darted to mine, his hands still expertly working the deck. I bit the insides of my cheeks, allowing him a moment to realize how he’d screwed up, but when he said nothing and Elijah continued to burn a hole in the side of my head, I crossed my arms tightly and bit out, “It’s rude to listen to my heartbeat.”
He scoffed. “Well, it’s rather loud.”
Slowly, Elijah eased onto his stool, and when I finally risked a look, I found him watching Rafe shuffle, his jaw clenched, the muscles rippling. Damn. It shouldn’t upset me that the news bothered him, but it did—the stupid connection between us meant I actually cared what this gorgeous, possessive dragon shifter thought. How he felt. Why he felt it.
From the expression on Rafe’s face, he was either playing dumb or he genuinely didn’t realize he’d poked the wasp’s nest with a sharp stick. A quick glance between us slowed his skilled fingers, and he tapped the card deck on the table, rolling his eyes again at my What the hell, man? scowl.
“I mean, he is rather handsome,” the vampire added as he set the perfectly uniform deck in the center of the table. “Did you see those cheekbones? They could cut glass.”
Okay, now he was just being a dick. Rafe smirked at me, daring me to argue or deny, and I responded with a swift and solid punch to the arm.
Which, unfortunately, was like punching marble. Pain bloomed on impact, unfurling from my knuckles up my forearm, and I reared back with a hiss.
“Oww,” I whined, knowing full well that I deserved it. “Shit.”
Despite the grit of his jaw, Elijah still reached out for me—as if on instinct, driven to comfort, to soothe away the pain. He did it all the time, reacting without realizing, but like always, he stopped just shy of touching me. Scowling, the dragon withdrew his hand and stuck both under the table in a sullen silence.
“Serves you right,” Rafe told me. “Honestly, beating on a defenseless vampire…”
This time, Elijah kicked him under the table, both of them wincing at the thwack. Seconds later, they were both grinning, and I finally settled on my stool, shaking my head and smiling. While I still didn’t understand my relationship with these two, neither individually nor as a trio, I found comfort in their company and their friendship, and despite the weird tension between Elijah and me, the confusion over what Rafe and I even were on the relationship scale, sitting down with them at this table, at the one in the cafeteria, in my cell beside Rafe each night and at the workstation in the bakery with Elijah each day felt good.