in you.” His hand cupped the back of her head before stroking down her back in a long, smooth sweep.
She looked up at him. “That’s sweet, but they did change me.”
He didn’t know exactly what she meant. The only thing he could think of was the physical way they changed her. He wasn’t bringing up the scars if she didn’t do it. Those marks had been a source of pain and insecurity for her from the first. “How?”
“You and Colm should be experts on some of the ways they’ve changed me. I can’t trust and now I’m even more afraid to take risks.” She closed her eyes. “It’s as if they took part of me when they attacked me.”
“You’re cautious now. That’s to be expected. If we don’t learn from our experiences, we could repeat them. That doesn’t mean that it’s all bad. Although I wouldn’t mind if you were able to trust us completely. Even if you came to us open and accepting, I doubt that it would be that simple anyway. As you’ve seen, any way it happened, bringing a new woman here was bound to cause some disturbance.” Linc shrugged. “If you’re really tired, I’ll take you to another room and you can sleep there, but I’ll stay in the room with you. You’re not going to be alone until the building has been searched and secured.”
“I’m sure that it’s safe now.” She sighed.
“I’m staying with you until I receive word. Are you tired?”
“Yes.” She sighed and glared at him briefly before nodding. “This is totally unnecessary and a waste of time.”
“Well, I don’t mind since I get to be with you.” He smiled and gestured to the bed. “Let’s go, but grab one of those blankets. The bed won’t be made. You’ll need something to cover yourself with.”
Cami grabbed one of the blankets from the bed and followed him out of the room. The fact that he had his sword seemed a little overdramatic to her, but she didn’t remark on it. He’d only point out that they couldn’t be certain that there were only two men. She knew there were only two men. They wouldn’t take that as fact, though. She had a feeling that Colm and Linc wouldn’t be satisfied until the entire Thent was searched at least once.
He led them to the room next door to the one he and Linc shared, opened the door and then looked over at her. “Is this room good? Do you have any objections to this bed?”
She looked at him for a moment before answering. Not even bothering to glance into the bedroom, she shrugged. “No, I don’t have any objections to this room. But why not just go to my room?”
“Because if you invite me in there, I want it to be your choice and at a time we can both enjoy it. I don’t want you to be forced in any way to do that.” Linc checked the room as he spoke. He opened the large wardrobe and even looked under the bed.
She knew he didn’t understand her problem with the bed in their room. That wasn’t something she was going to explain. Too many revelations in that simple, short explanation. They might be beginning to suspect exactly what she’d seen, but she didn’t want to confirm it. It was hard enough to keep them at a distance, even when they were being deliberately arrogant.
“Good.” He stayed as he was as she walked past him and then followed her into the room and shut the door. “Why don’t you go ahead and get some sleep? I’ll sit in the chair and wait for word of the search.”
She looked at the bed and then at him. She took a deep breath and tried to think rationally. Not too long ago, she’d been ready to kick and hit him. Dragging him into that bed was a bad idea. He already believed she was his mate. She needed to keep her distance.
Thinking of that didn’t help her much. The pull to be with him was strong and being in the same room with him when she was so tired wasn’t helping. Even though she was drowsy, her body tingled with awareness. Desire flared to a low burn simply from his presence. She wanted to sleep, but she didn’t want him all the way across the room watching her. She wanted him beside her. The attraction and draw to him surged through her. So strong, it was almost a