Emotion got the better of me.
Sensing it, Rubi fell quiet and watched Lili ride too. I couldn’t say how much time had passed when Alexei popped up beside me. “This is the new horse?”
I hummed an answer, still caught in my feelings.
Rubi leaned around me. “What’s with you and Vicky on tour? Jealous of Cam’s new bestie?”
Alexei paused long enough to make Rubi squirm. Then he inclined his head beyond us to where Viktor had positioned himself by a paddock that contained half a dozen more donkeys than the last time I’d thought to look. “Vitya has been missing his home. I thought he might like it here, and it annoyed me enough to find out.”
“It annoys you to want nice things for Viktor?”
“Maybe.” Alexei shrugged as his presence tempted Saint away from his tree and his lover stepped into the space beside him. “But I did not remember his bike was found here when he was missing, so I’m wondering if I made a mistake.”
“Only if it smells the same.”
Alexei squinted at me. “If what smells the same.”
“The air. The dirt. I know I was only took for a few days, but I mostly forget about it unless I catch a fucking whiff of dead grass and rotting wood.”
“Then how do you feel?”
“A lot less smiley than Viktor and those mules.”
“Donkeys,” Saint corrected.
“Thank you, enforcer,” Alexei said. “I will keep that in mind next time Viktor’s sad face becomes so irritating.”
“Fucking-A.” Rubi clutched his chest. “Give him a kiss, Chattypants. Before I do.”
Saint absolutely did not kiss Alexei on command. He skated a subtle palm over his hip instead, guiding him close enough that Alexei glanced over his shoulder with the kind of smile that made me forget he was the most dangerous human I’d ever shared oxygen with.
One of them, anyway.
I tore my gaze from Viktor as a voice too young to be Liliana’s called my name. Behind me, the front door to the main house had opened and Clementina Carter skipped across the yard, hand in hand with a tall neon-haired woman I assumed to be her bio mum—the surrogate Joe and Harry had used a few years ago.
Me and Clemi got on great. I broke away from my brothers to scoop her from the ground and swing her in a careful circle before I settled her on my hip. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
That earned me a giggle and a sticky hand in my face.
Her mum laughed too. “Sorry. She saw you through the window and wouldn’t stay inside.”
“I don’t mind.” I took a proper look at the woman, taking in her electric-orange hair, full red lips, and scorching tats on every inch of her milky white skin. “We’re mates.”
“Aren’t we all?” The woman fired her attention—her smirk—over my shoulder to where I’d left the others. “Isn’t that right, old friend?”
Frowning, I spun around to find Saint smirking right back, leaning against a fence post, casual as you fucking like. “Lena, don’t play. Not here.”
A subtle warning laced Saint’s rare uninhibited words, but the amusement I’d seen in him earlier remained, and it was enough to light Alexei’s flinty gaze with dangerous curiosity while Rubi turned red all over again, mouth clamped shut as if he had any hope of containing the bullshit fighting its way out.
Lena stood with us a while until Clemi got bored of my ugly mug and they went on their way.
I waited for Rubi to burst with whatever it was I’d clearly missed, but Alexei broke first, waiting only a heartbeat longer than it took for Lena to be out of earshot. “This is the woman you used to fuck together?”
Saint cleared his throat. “Yeah.”
“I see.” Alexei’s expression was unreadable. “But she was only the beginning, no?”
He walked away without waiting for an answer.