I turned back to Aaden and Rowan, who were now staring at me.I turned back to Aaden and Rowan, who were now staring at me. "Well," I said, a little uncomfortably, "Do you two want to be alone?" Aaden turned to Rowan and said, "I wouldn't mind if he stayed." "He better stay," Rowan returned. "On the count of three. One." What the? "Two." "Okay, what are you two thinking?" I asked suspiciously. "Three!" Rowan said, leaping from her chair. Aaden and she simultaneously grabbed me by the shoulders and tipped my chair back, easing me down to the floor as fast as safely possible before they descended on me, tickling me mercilessly. "Aaden! Stop!" "Oh, no," he said, smiling. "I like watching you squirm in helpless giggles." He dug his fingers under my arm to make the point, pulling my shirt up in the process. I did indeed dissolve, helplessly, laughing out loud and squirming against their assaulting paws. "Dammit!" I screamed. "Stop!" And they did. I sat up and swept a lock of hair out from my eyes, glaring at them both. Aaden leaned over and kissed my cheek softly. "Just getting your attention, lover," he said gently. "Well, you've got it," I said angrily. But as I look into his face the anger melted, and I touched his throat gently with the back of my hand, stroking his fur. "I love you," I said. "I know. That's why we're here. All of us." I smiled, turned to Rowan and said, "Come here." She leaned in slowly and I kissed her on the nose. "And I love you too. I'm glad you decided to stay with us." "Me too," she said, sighing. She opened her mouth to speak, closed it again, then said, "You know, Ken, that when I came out of that tank the second time, I hated you." I nodded, not at all surprised at her statement. "All that I was, was gone. Everything I had been, all the power and the speed that had been Rowan Masters was gone, like it had never been." "And then you came to visit me, and I saw you, through these eyes, and then you touched me, like Ember touched me the first time, and the sensation, the thought, was so. |