Annalise felt like she’d been walking for days —and she had: first to get Nathan’s family blood and now to run away from the hunters that were surely after their trail— and she felt minutes away from succumbing to the bone deep exhaustion that had settled in after Wolfhagen. She didn’t ask if there was a lot of terrain to cover because Gabriel had been narky the last few hours and hadn’t given any explanation for the mood swing.
“It’s not far from here,” Gabriel said, not even bothering to turn, but his tone was a lot gentler than it had been earlier.
Annalise shot a glance at Nathan who hadn’t said much since they left the clearing. Occasionally, blue sparks would fly from his fingers or frost followed him around as his new powers settled under his skin. Annalise tried to forget it was thanks to the heart he ate the previous day. His father’s heart. The same father who gave her her family’s blood not too long ago. The same father who was ready to kill her and her boys without hesitation if she didn’t do it first. It hurt like nothing she’d ever experienced thus far. Maybe it would never stop hurting, there was no way to know except wait.
“What are you thinking about?” Nathan asked.
Truth be told, there was less thinking and more feeling on her part. She said as much to Nathan. “I don’t know. I just feel a lot of everything right now.”
Nathan reached to grab her hand, but seemed to think better of it at the last minute. She didn’t let him move away though, grabbing his arm and walking arm in arm with him until a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. That was better. She didn’t want her boys doubting their place in her life. As far as she knew, they were the only family she had left, the only ones who would not hunt her for her powers or take advantage of them for their own ends.
Gabriel turned to an almost invisible path and they followed him all the way down to a fairly big cabin that looked very lived in, but empty from the looks of it.
“We can’t stay long, but we can eat and take a bath. Figure out where to go next,” Gabriel said.
Once they reached the door, Gabriel used some of his colorful powders to mark the door. Their break-in was silent after that.
Inside the cabin, there was a big open living space with a chimney that looked like it hadn’t been used in a while. Annalise immediately made her way to the bathroom while Nathan kneeled by the side of the hearth and turned to Gabriel, “should I?”
“Sorry, love. If someone sees the smoke we’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
She didn’t hear Nathan’s response because she got too distracted by the beautiful claw-footed bathtub and the prospect of a proper bath. “Oh my god, there’s a bath!” she called —not shrieked, no matter what the guys said later.
“Is there even running water?” asked Nathan, coming into the bathroom.
Annalise immediately opened the tap to check, and while there was some sediment when it started, the water ran clear after a minute. She checked the temperature and was surprised to find the water came out lukewarm, so she put the stopper in and started to strip.
Gabriel came in then and rolled his eyes. “Are you going to take a cold bath?”
“It’s not cold and I deserve this,” she claimed.
Gabriel raised his hands in defeat. “Do your thing. I'll try to get started on some food.”
“Or you could stay here and take a bath with me?” suggested Annalise, taking off the last of her blood stained clothes.
“We’re not all gonna fit,” said Nathan.
“Not with that attitude,” added Gabriel, the first smile of the day clear on his face.
He stripped off his clothes easily with no shame at all and waited for Annalise to get into the tub before climbing in as well. Annalise closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath before dipping her head into the water, letting the feeling of it on her skin relax her. When she opened her eyes again, Gabriel had a bottle of shampoo in his hand and offered it to Annalise. Instead of applying it herself, she got closer to Gabriel, close enough that their legs intertwined in the tub, closer than they’d ever been before, and she let her wet hair hang in front of him. He took the cue and applied the shampoo, rubbing circles in her scalp that relaxed her even more.
She opened one eye to look at Nathan who looked hypnotized by the scene in front of him, as if he wasn’t sure he was supposed to be there. Gabriel, realizing this at the same time as her, extended his hand in invitation. Annalise did the same.
Nathan stripped off his clothes and stood there, hesitating for only a moment before climbing in the bathtub behind Annalise. For her part, Annalise leaned back until her back touched Nathan’s chest and stayed like that until Nathan said, “your shampoo is getting in my eye.”
She laughed. It was the first time she did since— since the incident, and immediately felt guilt wash over her for enjoying the moment.
“Nuh, huh. None of that,” said Gabriel. “This is to take your mind off things. No thinking, only bathing.”
It was easier said than done. With the three of them in the bathtub, it was more like soaking in tepid water, with Nathan massaging her back and Gabriel running his hands over her legs until she started to get cold. Time passed differently in there, it could’ve been a few minutes or an hour, but eventually, she felt sleep closing in on her and decided to get out.
She dried herself off with a soft towel that was hanging behind the door and put on her knickers and t-shirt, turning to the boys who were still in the bathtub.
“I’ll go see what we can eat. Don’t take too long,” she said, and went to the small kitchen, going through the pantry until she found some canned soup. She was heating it over the stove when the boys came out of the bathroom, Gabriel only in his boxers, an image that immediately took her back to the night they met.
Gabriel came up behind her, putting his hands on her waist. “I didn’t know you were a chef,” he teased.
“Neither did I.”
When the pot threatened to boil over, she turned off the heat and turned around in Gabriel’s arms, enjoying the feel of their bodies together. Feeling daring, she leaned up and kissed him softly, almost expecting him to pull away, but he kissed her back with intent, softly, then demanding until both were panting for breath.
Annalise felt heat pool in her belly, thoughts of more than kissing in her mind, when Nathan cleared his throat behind them, a playful smile on his face.
“You two couldn’t stand each other not that long ago,” he said.
“Who says we stand each other now?” asked Annalise.
“Yeah, Nathan. Bold of you to assume this isn’t out of spite.”
Nathan came up to them and gave each of them a quick kiss on the cheek. “Whatever you say, guys. Let’s eat.”
Night quickly crept in after they ate and they decided to risk spending the night in the cabin since they didn’t have anywhere else to go. The bedroom was small and the bed not larger than the one at the Ozanne’s, but they made it work with Annalise squeezed in the middle this time. She grabbed one of Nathan’s hands and one of Gabriel’s and held on tightly, secure in the knowledge that together there was nothing they couldn’t survive.