Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Thirty-Four

The stool was missing, and I couldn't move.

I was grasping hair. My left hand held damp, thick hair. The right held dry curls that hummed statically between my fingers. I lifted my head, and I could see the hair, ash and black, pressing from either side. There were two sets of arms wrapped around my waist, gentle, controlled strength suspending me off the floor.

"You're not going to go through this alone. I won't let you," Micah said. "Remember, I promised last night?" His hugging arms tightened above Alex's. "I'll promise over and over again until you believe me."

"I-I know," my voice came out broken, words shaky, and I collected my fractured life from the floor.

"Nothing's going to happen with the hydro plant." Alex's lyrical voice stirred from the left. "I run a secure valley. No one will break in and harm you. This is something I can promise you."

His reassurance was a cool comfort in my hair, while Micah exhaled warmth. The mixing of temperatures left me with an odd sensation in my middle. It made me even more off balance.

"No one who harbors any ill will toward you will pass through the gates of this valley." Micah echoed Alex's vow, and I believed him. I believed in them.

"Okay." I nodded.

My fingers uncurled and slipped from their hair, their combined hold loosening to lower me to the floor. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity to have them both close, I drew in a breath of the storm and the stream, intrigued when I discovered that their combined essence left my core tingling, almost vibrating with the resonance of a gently tapped bell. Alex jerked back to stare at me. His head cocked to one side as if he were listening to the bell. Could he possibly hear my humming core?

Hoping a sigh might prolong the moment, I turned my head sideways on their touching shoulders and closed my eyes, focusing inward to analyze the strange feeling they evoked in me: a twin stirring of awareness and—and a stretching of wings. Like two doves were nestled together, huddled in my middle, asleep. Two pairs of imagined eyes blinking drowsily, as if they could only be awakened whenever Micah and Alex's combined presence gave them the wherewithal to do so.

Micah shifted against me, and a rumble of annoyance rose in his throat, warning Alex off as if he was just now realizing how close the water devvi was. I made a sound of protest.

"Wait a minute," I said. I breathed them in again, my lashes fluttering open in realization. Their collective closeness is stirring awareness into my souls! Do souls even have wings? Eyes that could open? Maybe my two did.

My boys. I stole one more breath of their closeness before Alex slipped away, the mounting tension becoming too much. My boys will make everything right. I had to believe in them.

Sadly, Micah's dislike of the other was still there. I couldn't even say to a lesser degree. I observed this as he took me for himself and Alex submissively stepped away under the lightning's livid, back- the-fuck-up stare. And yet there was also something else now. Something that had changed in Micah, making him more willing to tolerate the male water's prolonged presence around me.

I sat on the stool again.

Micah reached behind me and came back with my water bottle in hand.

"I can't drink that." He froze as I went on to say, "It's got something in it. I was saving it so you could analyze the contents. It might be that stuff you guys were discussing, the suppressant."

His expression went sour, and Alex took the bottle from him. "It's a powder Indy mixes in water," I was still explaining as Alex wiped off the little bit he poured into his hand onto his coat.

"Ambrosia," he announced. His gaze met Micah's and a look of pure disgust pinged between them, Micah's aversion of Alex pushed aside again in their shared purpose: my protection. "Ambrosia, with enough ichor content to take down five humans."

"Wait it's—it's what?"

"It is a recreational drug used by devvis to induce hallucination," Micah told me with a worried set to his jaw. "With humans it acts as a suppressant, slowing the heart until a person goes into cardiac arrest."

"Just an aspirin's worth can take down a full-grown man," Alex said to Micah, frowning. "Your Alpha was using this to suppress Aurora's ability to function at full capacity?"

"Don't call her my Alpha!" Micah snapped with a show of teeth. "I outrank that bitch. I refuse to bend over and take it from her anymore."

"Can I have the milk you bought me instead?" I almost begged. I wasn't thirsty, but I hoped my request would calm him down.

"Milk?" he echoed, making it a one-word question, and I stiffened with realization. He didn't know what I was talking about.

Oh cheddar! My hand went to my stomach, and I began to feel sick. "There was popcorn on the nightstand when I got out of the shower. You put peach topping on it again," I almost accused. "And sitting next to it was a glass full of—"

Alex was already at the refrigerator pulling out a half-gallon carton when Micah rushed in, carrying me because, heaven knew, I couldn't get in there fast enough on my own two feet.

"It's whole milk," Alex announced in a flat tone. "An eight- ounce glass's worth is missing. She's highly intolerant, right?"

"But I'm fine," I insisted, looking at the clock. "It's been forty minutes since I drank it." I would have been heaving over the toilet the last half hour if I weren't.

"She knew I promised to get you the milk." Micah's voice shook as he eased me to the floor. He stared at the backdoor.

"Indy?" I'd seen her backing down the driveway earlier.

I started when Alex seemed to materialize in front of me, pinning me against the counter just as the backdoor swung open with a hard bang. Micah's elder cousin stepped through with a breeze about her ankles and arms loaded with binders. My hands clamped down on Alex's shirt. Indy had tricked me into drinking whole milk.

Micah let out a terrible growl and leapt at her.

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See y'all next Friday for the big fight :D