Sam's Secret (Icehome)

"A cougar," Flor announces, linking her arm through mine, "is your mate. It's an older woman that seduces a hot younger man and dirties him up. I approve of this, for the record." She leans in toward me. "Just as I approve of making the man carry your bags."

Oh lord. I laugh, blushing just as hard as Sessah is. "If it makes you feel any better, I offered to carry my own bag and he refused to let me."

"You are carrying my kit and I am strong," Sessah says, as if this is the answer to everything. "I think it is even."

"Speaking of carrying," Flor says dramatically as we approach the beach. "Guess who else resonated?"

I gasp, surprised she didn't lead with this. "You? And who? R'jaal?" The two of them have a weird sexual tension I can't quite figure out. "Really?"

Flor flinches, a sour look crossing her normally happy face. "Ugh, no. Fuck that guy. You know how it goes with him. He can wallow in his misery."

I wince, because I remember now. Flor hit on R'jaal a little over a year ago, offering a friends-with-benefits scenario since they were both single and nothing was changing. He turned her down flat and said he was waiting for resonance, and it hurt her feelings. I suspect it was more than just friends on her behalf, and that's why she's so offended. "I forgot. You're right, he doesn't know what he's missing out on."

"Exactly," she tells me, a smile curving her lips. "I'm hot shit and I would have rocked his world. Now he can just jerk off for all time."

I look over at Sessah, and my mate is blushing even harder. I suspect his cheeks are going to be permanently dark blue before this day is out, and it might be the cutest thing I've ever seen. "So who resonated?"

"Lauren and K'thar all over again," Flor says. "Round two for yet another couple, zero for the home team."

The celebration for our return—and mating—has a strange vibe to it. New resonances are always celebrated with a big feast and a party, and there are two to celebrate: ours and Lauren and K'thar's second. It's clear from the vibe at camp that no one really wants to celebrate this, though. Veronica is exhausted from healing Daisy, the kits are upset, and the mood is off for everyone. Even so, we pull out the stores of fruit we've brought, and everyone helps themselves to a few pieces.

I end up with both Devi's N'rav and Z'hren sitting on my legs as I segment a piece of fruit for them. Sessah is equally busy with Shade and Lolo climbing all over him while Pak and Rukhar toss one of the large melon fruit like it's a football. Things are quiet, but grow tense when Daisy comes out to join the group. She moves right toward the group, wearing one of her garishly dyed fur cloaks around her shoulders like a queen, but the queenly attitude is no longer there. Her shoulders are hunched and the body language she wears is almost timid. The hood is down, and I can see all the damage the fire has done to her. Her gorgeous red-gold hair has been shorn down to the scalp and melted away on one side. Blistered, bright-red skin covers one side of her face with ugly, intense scarring.

Poor Daisy. Words of sympathy rise in my throat and lodge there, because I'm not sure if she even wants it acknowledged.

O'jek moves to Daisy's side and then passes her. He moves to stand in front of me, glancing at the fruit in baskets at our feet. "Any more red fruit?" he asks, then lowers his voice. "She likes those best."

I nod, taking one out of the bag I have behind me for storage. They're my favorite too, but I just had my fill of them, so she's welcome to it. I hold it out and O'jek takes it from me with a nod, then moves back to Daisy's side. She ignores him, her expression listless, her gaze on the children as they delight in the tart fruit. There's such sadness in her eyes that it makes me ache. I watch silently as O'jek moves to her side and offers her the fruit. She shakes her head and continues to watch the children, an utterly lost air to her.

God. I can only imagine how bad the burns were if this is as much as Veronica was able to fix. It's a horrifying sight. It's even more horrifying because I know how Daisy prized her looks. We've all teased her about being obsessed with her appearance, so this has to be doubly hard.

"You don't look happy," chides a familiar voice as someone sits down next to me.

Steph gives me a curious look as she sits down with Jethani in her lap. Her mate, Juth, moves to sit next to her and plucks a piece of fruit from one of the baskets, sniffing it. She immediately hands the baby to him. "Be a love and share with her, will you? I bet she'd like the fruit."