Rivers of blood and sand

His burning gaze flicked over my shoulder. The anger holding him captive turned into pure rage as he set me down and shoved me behind him. Waves of anger and heat rolled off his body as I felt his dragon more prominently.

Peering around his shoulder, I saw Ander leaning against the closed front door, his arms crossed over his chest. While the move was casual, the too-still way he stood and the careful way he watched Koa said differently.

What in the hell was going on? They’ve been getting along for the past couple of months, I saw it for myself. This didn’t make any sense. Why was Koa looking at Ander like he wanted to murder him? Why was Ander not surprised by this and looked like he was waiting for him to attack first?

Behind me, I vaguely heard several sets of footsteps, but I paid them no mind, choosing to watch my brother and Ander’s stare off. A pair of hands gripped my shoulders, turning me around to face Jade’s worried expression, her gaze darting over to the guys and back.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” Ari murmured, keeping her voice at a low and soothing tone, placing her hand on my upper back. She and Jade urged me forward and toward the hallway. Their pace was faster than a casual walk.

When I glanced back at the standoff, I briefly met Ander’s unreadable gaze that was aimed solely on me, before Jade gave my arm an impatient tug, pulling my attention to her. “There’s nothing you can do right now to help. In fact, your presence here will only make it worse.”

I wanted to argue as she and Ari pulled me down the hallway. My surprise allowed them to pull me along as I tried to process what was happening. All I knew was my brother was moments away from attacking Ander, and I had no fucking clue why. Ander apparently did, as did the sisters. Why was Jade so focused on me? Shouldn’t she be trying to stop her mate and best friend from fighting?

A loud crash came from the living room, followed by growls, and low thuds sounding like fists hitting flesh. When I made to turn around again, Ari’s grip tightened. “Oh no you don’t; you’re not going back in there, not with the way you smell.”

Her words stopped me in my tracks. I blamed the stress from the past couple of days, my worry over them fighting, and the thought they might seriously hurt each other—something Ander shouldn’t be doing, considering he almost died earlier—that had me so slow to grasp her meaning. All I could do was stare at her in confusion.

Jade made a show of leaning down and smelling my neck, her blue-green eyes meeting mine, while a small smile played on her lips, at odds with the worry shadowing her eyes. “Your scent reeks of Ander, and not in a I’ve been hanging out with him, kind of way.”

My entire body locked up, and a choking sound filled the hallway until I realized it was coming from me. How did I not consider this? Of course, they would be able to smell Ander on me and know the reason why his scent was intertwined with mine. I’d been so wrapped up in everything, so used to the bubble Ander and I had been in for the past day, that I hadn’t considered this possibility. I hadn’t thought ahead about how Koa would react. I had assumed this thing between us would be over before I saw my brother again, and I’d have a chance to shower.

“How about a nice, warm bath,” Ari suggested, rubbing my shoulder in a comforting gesture and leading me to the guest bedroom.

Sounds of running water greeted us as we entered the open door. Strong citrusy scents assaulted my nose as soon as we stepped into the bedroom. Not too strong where it was overpowering but stronger than I would’ve liked. We tended not to have scented soaps with our enhanced sense of smell, and if we did, it was light. This was stronger than light, but nowhere near as intense as the stuff humans used. That shit was way too much.

Before entering the bathroom, I knew Harmony and Alora were in there from their soft voices. Both of them sat on the edge of the oversized tub. Each of them poured bath oils into the water, strengthening the already strong scent.

“I think that should be enough,” Alora murmured, stirring the water with her hand.

“You’d better add a bath bomb,” Ari suggested after smelling my hair.

A frown creased Harmony’s forehead as she pushed off the tub and came over to take her turn smelling me. Self-consciousness took over, making me want to shy away from them. As if this whole thing wasn’t embarrassing enough, Harmony sighed in exasperation and turned to the cabinet across from the toilet. “Ander’s never been one to half-ass anything.” She pulled out and unwrapped a yellow and orange bath bomb as she continued muttering under her breath.

While she dropped the sphere in the tub and it fizzled, I pulled my hair down from its bun and tried subtly smelling it, only stopping at Jade’s laugh. “Don’t think for one second that we’re letting this go without any details.

There was no suppressing my groan as I covered my face with my hands, wondering how I had gotten myself into this mess in the first place. I’d only come to the Convergence point to follow a ridiculous lead. It wasn’t supposed to lead to a mirrored dimension that nearly killed us or a fated mate bond that I still had no clue how to handle.

“Not to be rude, but I thought he hated her.” Alora’s soft voice held notes of confusion.

“Who knows what goes through that man’s head,” Harmony grumbled, turning off the faucet and splashing the water around, her bright green eyes lifted to meet mine. “All I know is that you don’t get overlapping like that from just one time.”

I pulled my hands away from my face and found Alora standing next to me, holding a strand of my hair as she smelled it. Her eyebrows were pulled together as she let my hair slide from between her fingers. “It almost smells—”

“Let’s just focus on getting rid of it,” Jade interrupted, pushing me toward the bathtub. “Get your ass in there.”

I didn’t bother telling them it might be useless. With how far the bond had progressed in such a short amount of time, I couldn’t be too sure whether or not his scent would linger. We were in one of those weird in-between phases where nothing made sense. Even so, I was more than ready to take a bath. From all the shit I’d been through in the past day, I more than deserved a nice, hot bath. I felt so fucking gross, even if I was no longer covered in blood.

None of them looked like they were leaving the bathroom anytime soon. Alora was polite enough to take her time putting away the oils and soaps, giving me the appearance of privacy. The others did no such thing. Jade sat on the closed toilet seat, propping her feet up on the lip of the bathtub. While Ari hopped onto the counter next to the sink. Harmony was checking the water’s temperature, asking if I preferred it hot as hell, or just plain hot.

With a resigned sigh, I stripped out of my clothes and climbed into the steaming bath. A sigh escaped as the heat enveloped my body, easing all the tension and aches from my muscles. While I would’ve preferred a more floral scent, I enjoyed the citrus.

Alora held out a white bar of soap, giving off the same scent as everything else. If anything had the possibility of stripping Ander’s scent from mine, it would be this. The unscented soaps we normally favored, usually did the trick of hiding the evidence of a casual hookup. But the more times you had sex, the more the scents overlapped, making it harder to remove. Jade had no hope of ever removing Koa’s scent from hers or vice versa, but that was also due to their mating. As their bond grew, the more their scents began intertwining with each other’s. It was a way to let all others know they were taken.

Despite the strong possibility that it was already too late to get rid of his scent—I did still have his blood pumping through my veins—I scrubbed at my body with the bar of soap. As I did so, I tried and failed to keep from thinking about Ander, and what might be going on between him and Koa. I no longer heard any fighting, but I doubted that was a good thing.

“Are you sure it’s safe to leave those two alone right now?” I asked, trying to keep the worry from my voice.

“Rowan’s there,” Jade reassured, dipping her toe into the water and splashing me in the face. Her eyes took on a far-off look for a few moments, listening to something Rowan was telling her before she nodded to herself.

Even with Jade’s reassurances, I couldn’t get myself to relax and I wasn’t the only one. Jade tried to keep her position casual, but I could see how she fought and sometimes failed, to keep her body still. I felt it in the way she wasn’t instantly asking questions about Ander and me.

“Why aren’t you trying to stop them from fighting?” I finally asked, unable to keep it in any longer. I’d finished scrubbing every inch of my body multiple times and placed the bar of soap on the side of the tub.

Jade’s leg bounced impatiently, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as she toyed with her hair scrunchie. “Believe me, I’d like nothing more than to go out there and rip into them for fighting, again, but it wouldn’t help. I’ve learned the hard way that those stubborn motherfuckers need to sort their shit out on their own. Even if they sort it out like dumbasses.” Her sigh told me how much she hated sitting around, letting those two fight, as much as I did.

“May I?” Harmony asked, inclining her head at me, holding up bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

Nodding, I shifted in the tub so my back was to her. She worked the shampoo and conditioner into my hair, her movements gentle, but efficient. Not once did she tug on my scalp as she detangled my hair with her fingers. After rinsing out the product, she sniffed at my hair before starting another round. Ander had a thing for touching my hair, and no doubt it reeked of him.

“Reed’s back,” Jade murmured and I released a quiet sigh of relief. As helpful as Rowan was, I was comforted to hear Reed was also there to keep them from killing each other. If anyone could diffuse the tension, it would be him.

My relief was short-lived when Jade started shifting around and glancing at the door like she’d rather be anywhere but here. My pulse sped up at the thought of what could have her so agitated. After nearly a minute of this, Jade shot off the toilet and rushed out of the room.

I couldn’t remain in the bathtub any longer. Since all my worry was on the men, I no longer was shy about them seeing me naked. Nor did I care that there wasn’t a towel nearby. As I stepped out of the bath, Harmony tapped my arm and all the water evaporated off my body, like it wasn’t ever there in the first place. “Thank you.”

I was in such a rush, I didn’t bother pulling on undergarments or shoes, just the tank top and shorts.

“Are you sure going out there is the best idea?” Ari asked, grabbing a hold of my wrist, her typical carefree expression was nowhere to be found. “Ander’s scent is still tightly wrapped around yours, and I fear your presence may only make things worse.”

I didn’t respond to her valid concerns, I just pulled my arm from her hold and followed Jade’s fresh scent. It didn’t lead to the living room as I thought it would, but down the hallway to the backyard. As I neared the back door, I was able to make out bits of their argument.

“My sister? You could fuck any woman you want and you had to choose my fucking sister?” Koa’s tone and words were the furthest thing from calm and I knew this whole situation was far from being over.