Skars walked over to Lucas and removed the restraining device, his eyes daring him to strike out at him. Lucas pursed his lips at the unspoken challenge.
“You are the only hope of getting my brother back. I’m staying.” Lucas turned to look at the rest of the women, including the one behind his back, before turning his head back to him.
“We’re all staying.”
Chapter 17
Raine
“The color makes your skin glow.”
Startled at Skars’ silent entrance, Raine spun around in the peach outfit that she could no longer resist trying on to see if it fit.
“I was just getting ready to come look for you.” Flushing at the compliment, she gave him a shy glance. “I didn’t want to go wandering through your ship without any clothes on.” She unconsciously rubbed her hand on the opposite sleeve, appreciating the sensuous feeling of the slinky material.
Seeing him for the first time since the intimate moment when he had given her ecstasy that she had never experience before, Raine timidly watched as he walked across the room toward her. She had never been so nervous in her whole life. How was she was supposed to act? Being that it was her first time to be in this awkward position, she wanted to play it cool and not embarrass herself, but on the other side of the coin, she didn’t want to come across as blasé. Or should she? Was he going to pretend it never happened?
Skars solved the problem for her.
Taking her by her upper arms, he pulled her into an embrace. “Good morning, wife.”
The sense of rightness at being called his wife calmed her mounting anxiety like nothing else could have.
“Good morning.” She was lost in the surge of happiness at being close to Skars and the tender way he had greeted her; it then registered in her mind what he had just told her. “Morning?” Frowning, she jerked out of his arms. “How long was I asleep?”
Frowning, Skars pulled her back. “Two of your days.”
Raine started futilely wiggling away. “Lucas and the others will be worried sick. You have to take me back to Earth. How could I have slept so long? I’m a terrible person.”
“Wife, there is no need to upset yourself. All is well.”
“How can all be well? Lucas has to be frantic about his si—brother! I hav—”
Two fingers were placed over her lips. “Shh … I will explain if you give me the chance. While you were sleeping, I sent my clan to find your friends. They were brought aboard, fed, and rested. I will take you to them once you have eaten.”
Raine put her hand on his wrist to pull his fingers away from her mouth. “How did you find them? They must think I told you where they were! They probably hate me now even though I didn’t.”
“I told them that areas close to where I found you were searched. It didn’t take much time before Bjorn found them.”
“So, they know I didn’t give up our hiding place?” she asked to make sure.
“Já.”
“Whew, that’s a huge relief. I didn’t want them to think I told you their location before they could decide they wanted me to. We make decisions that affect our group together. I don’t want them to think I went behind their backs.”
The discerning look Skars was giving her made her wonder what he was thinking.
“You’re very concerned about all their feelings and welfare, yet only one in your group expressed the same concern for you.”
She didn’t need to ask which one. Lucas took all their safety seriously, despite no longer having a bank to manage.
“That’s probably because they’re scared to death,” Raine rushed to make excuses for them. “Did you tell them they wouldn’t be raped or eaten?”
Skars’ brows lifted to his hairline. “No … I didn’t think it needed to be said.”
“Of course, it needed to be said,” she argued heatedly, trying to draw his focus away from the lack of caring for her that they had probably showed. “They’ve been worried sick about it …”
His cheekbones started to turn crimson. Raine didn’t think it was a reaction to becoming embarrassed. She was accidentally making him angry. For some reason, people around her tended to become irritated without any good reason that she could ever figure out.
“That’s what they spent time being frightened about?”
Raine thought about telling him scowling wasn’t a good look for him. In fact, it was a bit frightening. She would wait until the crimson color on his cheeks wasn’t signaling her to shut up.
“None of your friends seem frightened that they would get eaten or raped. One did seem frightened you may be married to a vampire.”
“That would be Milly. She has a few irrational fears.” Raine ignored the pointed glare he was giving her to go on with her explanation. “She loves to read horror and science fiction during her lunch breaks. I told her she should switch to romance novels; she would be a much happier person,” she confided to him.