Kitten and Allure

weren’t here.”
“You have a true MateBond with Pax, it can’t be comfortable to be so far away from him.”
“It’s not that,” I try, but the words dry up. Feelings are so hard to express, and I swallow before trying a different angle. “I’m worried about them. I’m worried about you too, but at least I can see you’re still alive.”
Alive and close. These guys all have a different presence, a different beat they bring to a room, and somehow I’ve grown so used to the tune when they’re all with me that one note on its own doesn’t feel right. And, to be honest, if I had to pick a single Elorsin to suddenly appear with us it would be Seth – Roarke needs some Seth right now.
“Alive? I don’t doubt they will return.”
“They went to investigate a prison – prisons aren’t friendly places.”
“They’ve seen worse, Kitten. They’ll be fine,” he says, moving ahead of me.
My horse nudges me with his damp nose, and I click my tongue softly to catch up, and the two of us walk side by side around to the back of the cottage, where a roughly-made square pen has been left to rot. Clearly, Eydis had no use for a horse – or if she did, the horse had no use for this pen.
There’s a glow beyond the boulders, the arrows still alight.
“Won’t they catch fire to something?” I ask.
“They’ll burn out soon; they’re coated in a fine oil that burns bright, hurts like you wouldn’t believe, but isn’t very hot.”
The glow, even obstructed by boulders, does make not tripping over my feet – or the horses – a little easier.
“You like that horse?” Roarke asks.
“Yeah, he’s pretty, and he’s mine.”
He lifts the pole that doubles as a section of fence and an entrance.
“What did you name him? You’ve had him for four days now, and I’ve only ever heard you call him him or thing.”
That makes me mentally pause. Not physically. Physically, I lead the horse to one side and loop his reins around the fence as I do the math. Bralls, has it really only been a few days since we were blown from the inn in Rengurra?
“Um, no. No name yet,” I finally say.
Roarke begins to unsaddle his horse, and I mirror his actions as best I can. My cloak is still here, which is a bonus given I just tossed it haphazardly over the saddle when I was searching for Killian’s blades. I’m not much of a fighter and the cloak definitely would have slowed me down.
“Well, the horse is yours now. You really should name him.”
“What’s yours called?” I ask, buying time because no names are coming to mind. “You guys don’t really call your horses by name when you’re getting your horses or grooming them or anything, one of you just does it.”
“My boy’s name is Pyt,” he says, offering his horse a friendly pat. “Pax’s is Ghost. Seth picked one of those stupid stud names, Spawn of Mayhem. He won a bet with Killian and named Killian’s horse Jingle Bells.”
I crack up, taking a second to catch my breath.
“Jingle Bells? What was the bet?”
“It had something to do with a two day endurance horse race,” he says, running a brush quickly over Pyt’s coat.
“How did you pick Pyt for a name?”
“It means ‘Pretty Young Thing’,” he says, which takes me by surprise because it’s said like Pete. “And a friend actually suggested it.”
I manage to wrestle the saddle from my boy and wait patiently to use the brush. The arrows are starting to extinguish, the only light steadily dimming.
“And what’s the deal with the mark on Pyt’s ass?”
Roarke stops and looks over his horse’s chestnut coat like he’s never noticed a mark, then chuckles at me like I’m an idiot.
“What?” I demand.
“Brand. It’s the Elorsin brand. Or at least it has been since we were kids. Four arrows, one behind the other, for the four of us.”
“Oh, and the thicker arrow signifies you?”
He nods.
“Hah! See, you guys do have an order. You’re number three and you always have been.”
“The arrow order was chosen to match when we became a part of the family. The only official system between us is that physically, Pax goes first, and Seth stays behind Pax.”
“And you’re number three.”
“I’m not sure what Pax’s plan is, when or how he plans our return to the castle,” he says.
Which is a very effective subject changer.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because we’ll brand your horse there, but what with?” he says, passing me the brush and moving on to lift each of his horse’s hooves for inspection.
“Number five,” I say, because that’s obvious. “And all of you will need a fifth arrow.”
He shakes his head hard and begins to inspect my horse’s hooves. Which means the brush is free, and I can care for my boy.
“He’ll never put you at the back of the line, no matter what the original order was intended to reflect.”
I smile a little too broadly at that.
“Then put me at the front.”
“The Alpha let someone else lead? That’s not going to happen.”
I shrug, since this really is a problem for later. “We have to make it back to the castle first, so I’ve got plenty of time to decide where I want to be in your order.”
He chuffs but doesn’t argue as he picks his saddle back up and begins to resaddle his horse.
“Are we leaving again?”
“Might be, just in case the horses need to be ready to run.”
I make an ‘oh’ sound, and look dismally at my own saddle on the fence.
“I’ll do it,” he says, and a few minutes later, he has the job underway, and then efficiently completed. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
I sling the saddle bags over my arms and grab the packs, one in each hand, before stepping underneath the railing and leading Kitten back to the cottage. She tries to match my pace, still too much like a shadow, so I slow to let