She’d returned him home from those brief days in the Pampas, fetched him for this party and they sure as hell weren’t going back. Then she walked the kids into the masses to drop them off and let them play, meet some new kids their own ages. In the meantime, he went about his own tasks, circling the gathering and scouting the area, calculating each attendee with a casual glance for possible threats as he was trained to.
This was where he’d brought his families to remain safe, after all, and he would ensure that they would be.
His gaze lingered on Zoe with her sister, his eldest daughter in this land. Those damn galaxies in her eyes were stunning, hiding him away in her eyes like a secret. It was fitting for his secret daughter. He followed up with a sweeping observation over her twin sister, who was so wary or afraid of him that he caught her eye. She looked away immediately and after another heart beat, he did too, returning to his brief patrol.
Each member of his branching family was examined from a distance; Dizzy, Zoryn, Defy. Luster, Dustov, Dark. Heartfire, Brazen, Dagen. And Briella. They very well could be half the island, he thought with a smirk, perhaps even larger than the lavender family now since they seemed to stop having children after that youngest one born in Ischia.
They were all safe, though, and he circled back to where he’d seen Heartfire tuck herself away. Like him, she was always watching, always analyzing. They made a good team together.
He walked straight to her, his pace casual and at-ease during these festivities, and brushed his lips over her cheek and along her neck. She smelled good, like cool shadows and crisp winter, warm and earthy undertones.
”You should be… out there.”
He followed her spine to her hips then turned around to stand at her shoulder, placing a lingering kiss beside her jaw. “Why should I be out there when you are right here?” he murmured, leaving a stinging little nip on her skin. He took a deep breath and let it out slow, lifting his head to gaze outward and watch the children play. “They are safe and I can see them from here.”
we're slaves to any semblance of touch
Lord, we should quit but we love it too much
