Mason ran most of the way to the great tree before doubling back to guide the others. They’d proceeded with what he considered a snail’s pace, and when he found them they were too far to reach the tree before nightfall.

The sun was falling below the horizon, the forest growing darker and darker with very little moonlight. They’d set up camp and lit a fire.

“That’s not wise,” Mason announced on arrival. “You never know who might be watching.”

“Yes we do,” Blake stirred something in a pot above the fire. He wasn’t wearing his customary smile, and though most people wouldn’t have been able to tell, to Mason he seemed downright grumpy. “We have our mighty ranger watching. We’re perfectly safe.”

Mason glanced at Rebecca, who gave him another of those tight smiles he already hated, but at least gestured at the log beside her. Streak beat Mason to the punch, trotting over to lay beside the girl and accept his ear scratches with a satisfied yawn.

“It’s seven o clock,” Blake announced as if that meant something meaningful. When no one reacted he sighed and looked at Mason. “Seul-ki and I have…urgent, private, business to attend to for Nassau. Perhaps you could take Becky and…patrol the woods. For a good fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty.”

Mason desperately fought the grin attacking his face, then nodded as if this made perfect sense. “Let’s go, Becky,” he stood and extended his hand. “Wouldn’t want to interfere with town business.” She looked rather confused and a little bit shy, but she took his hand and followed.

“They’re…fooling around,” he explained some minutes later. Rebecca almost choked on her water flask.

“So are we, um, camping here? Er, there?” Becky went a little pink in the moonlight, and with Mason’s mysteriously enhanced senses he could see her perfectly even in the gloom.

“I guess so. We started late and our pace has been bad, but not much use in traveling at night. We’re like to break someone’s ankle.”

“And it’s safe?” Rebecca was searching the dark, and Mason could see her hand reaching instinctively for the plastic looking disc on her wide hip.

“Safe enough.” Mason took a step towards her and took her arms before she walked into a tree. He slid his grip down until he was holding her hand, but he was tired of walking and not knowing so he stopped and put his hands on her hips and stood close enough she could see his face.

“Sorry I missed our date. I was a little busy.”

“I heard.” He could see Rebecca grinning a little and took hope in that. “Thanks for bringing me to the dungeon,” she added. “It’s a pretty big deal, getting the chance to get some kind of boost. Haley and Blake said it was your idea.”

Of course they did, Mason thought with a little warmth. He had some pretty damn good wingmen. Wingpeople?

“You’re a good addition,” he said, then cleared his throat. “Haley said you guys, uh, talked?”

Rebecca tucked some hair behind an ear and looked away. “Yeah. She told me about that place you found her, what you went through.”

Memories of blood and terror swirled into Mason’s mind, but he pushed them away.

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“My tutorial was…a bit rough,” he said, then took a deep breath. “I was alone. Well. No one else survived.”

Rebecca met his eyes again. “Then you crossed all that way, found your brother, and took the settlement?”

“I guess that’s about the whole of it.”

The girl’s green eyes went back and forth between his. “You’re really amazing, you know that?”

Mason wasn’t terribly comfortable with compliments, though impressing Rebecca sure as hell felt good. “Hey, you saved a whole boat load of people, literally,” he smiled.

“Phuong did most of it,” she shrugged. “I just helped.”

They were silent a moment, then Mason moved a little closer, until their faces were only a few inches apart.

“We’re getting off topic.”

“Um,” Rebecca swallowed and he could feel her warm breath. “We are?”

“I want you in my life. And uh, my bed. But I don’t know what you want.”

“Oh.” Rebecca kind of bit her lip, and by God she looked cute when she was torn. “What about Haley?”

Well there it was, he thought, no more avoiding it.

He knew what his decision was already, he supposed, but it crystallized in that moment.

“She’s part of the package,” he said. “If you want me, she comes along.”

Rebecca winced slightly but didn’t turn away. “So, um, how does that work? Do we…share you?”

Mason would have been lying if just hearing that out loud didn’t turn him on.

“I have no idea. I really don’t. All I know is that she has nothing to do with how I feel about you. And if you’re with me, you’re with me, understand? I’m not going to let you feel unwanted, not for a second.”

“OK,” she said, going slightly pink again.

“OK what?” Mason prompted, his lips hovering over hers.

“OK you’re doing something to my brain, because I really want to just say yes.”

“Then say it.”

“I just need…a little more time. Is that OK? Can I decide…after we get back to Nassau?”

Mason practically groaned in agony at the thought, but forced his dick to obey his brain.

“Of course. I told you, I’ll wait. You’re worth it.”

She smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips, and he practically sunk into her arms as he deepened it and slid his tongue to hers. When they finally parted she was panting.

“You make it very hard,” she said between breaths with closed eyes.

“Right back at you,” Mason grinned, and Rebecca opened her eyes enough to give him a tilted glare.

“Do you, um, think they’re…finished over there?” she giggled, and Mason answered with fake concern.

“I dunno. But we’d best be sure. Kill a little more time.”

He kissed her again, soon sliding his hands up and down her sides, wrapping them around to grip her ass as he explored her mouth.

The desire to rip off her clothes right there was an almost animal urge, but instead he lifted her up and held her against the tree as they made out.

She made a sound like ‘oh’ as she wrapped her long legs around him, and he just held her there easily, kissing with slow, intimate precision. When he finally let her down, she was licking her lips, her lids lowered with lust.

“OK,” he said. “I’ll be good. We can head back.”

The look she gave him was definitely not gratitude, and he grinned in the darkness as he led her back to camp.

Blake and Seul-ki were already cuddled by the fire. Blake in particular seemed content and sleepy, and was petting Streak like they were old friends.

“We took the liberty of setting out your settlement-ordered sleeping bag,” he said, gesturing fairly distant from the fire.

“Bag?” Rebecca said with clear concern. “As in one?”

“Yes,” Blake pretended to be confused. “It gets rather cold at night here, as you can tell, and the sleeping bags aren’t that great. You’ll need the shared body heat.”

He shrugged, as if the whole thing had just occurred to him. Which it certainly had not. “If it’s a problem, I suppose you and Seul-ki could share. Though I’m definitely not suggesting it.”

“No, it’s OK,” Rebecca flushed and curled more hair behind her ear. “I’ll just change,” she said to Mason, then went hunting for clothes in her pack.

Mason stripped down to his boxers as usual, fighting the urge to go kiss his beautiful brother.

“We leave at first light,” he called as he found a comfortable spot on the ground.

“Yes sir. Good night sir,” Blake called back.

Becky finally came to the sleeping bag in a classy looking blue silk pajama shift. She looked so shy and adorable and sexy and fuckable all at the same time, Mason didn’t know what to do with himself.

She dropped down to her knees and crawled to the open flap of the bag, sending Mason’s heart beating faster already. Then she tucked herself in beside him in the confined space, and lay down.