Hunted by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #3)(33)

“Yeah, I noticed.” Annia moved to cleaning the steel countertop in the center of the kitchen, and I had to move my cast iron off it to get out of her way. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, though. We’re the only women around, and those men probably haven’t seen a pretty face in months. I’ll bet a few of them are going to wander back here. And besides, the guy who’s on babysitting duty can’t stop staring at my ass.”

I flicked my gaze toward the soldier standing about twenty feet away in the mess hall next to the entrance nearest us. He was the classic tall, dark, and handsome human, with a day’s growth of beard on his strong jaw, and his pale blue eyes seemed to follow Annia around the room. I met his eyes, and watched with amusement as his high cheekbones colored before he jerked his gaze away, scanning the rest of the mess hall. Right now there were three other soldiers policing the mess hall, mostly there to make sure the other soldiers played nice and didn’t end up in a food fight or something worse, but he’d been here before lunch. I had a feeling he was stationed here at the captain’s orders to make sure we didn’t pull anything fishy.

“Well between the two of us, I’m pretty sure you’ve got the best shot at seducing info out of these guys,” I admitted as I finished wiping out the cast iron pan. I hung it up on its hook by the stove, then grabbed a rag and started wiping down the cooking dishes that were hanging in the drying rack. “They don’t seem to like me as much.”

Annia shrugged. “If you were a human, they’d be just as into your ass as they are mine, especially since you’ve got more of it than I do.” Annia grinned at me, and I stuck out my tongue – I was in good shape but I didn’t have Annia’s willowy figure. “You could probably get one of those shifter boys to tell you something, though.”

“I think I’ll leave the seducing up to you.” There was only one male I wanted to get my hands on, a mage with violet eyes and dark hair the color of glossy cherrywood. Seduction wasn’t really my strong suit – I just didn’t have the patience for it, and besides, it was almost impossible to lie to a shifter about finding them attractive.

As the men finished eating, they brought their trenchers up one by one and thanked us for the meal. Annia stationed herself by the counter and took her time chatting each one up, giving them smiles and winks while I busied myself washing dishes. There wasn’t really time for her to get any info out of the men, but we both knew they’d be thinking about her, and hopefully one of them would come back.

Fenris was one of the last to come up, and as he handed Annia a trencher, I heard him whisper “Good luck,” to her under his breath. A smile curved my lips – he knew what she was doing just as well as I did. To me, he added, “I’ve been put on maintenance crew, so I’ll have more mobility around the camp than you. I’ll tell you if I learn anything interesting, and let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“Will do,” I told him, and then he left.

Soon, the hall was empty except for Tall, Dark, and Handsome, who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed as he watched us work – or rather Annia. I nearly rolled my eyes – his own were glued so firmly to her ass that I doubted he’d even noticed my expression.

“Showtime,” Annia muttered as she grabbed a bucket and a rag. Now that lunch was over, it was time for us to clean up after the men. I took up a broom and started sweeping the kitchen, but kept one eye on Annia as she approached the table nearest to the mess hall and set her bucket of water down. She dunked her rag into the water, then leaned across the table and wiped it down, giving the soldier a great view of her cleavage. The guy’s throat bobbed, and as his eyes brightened with lust I was sure there were things bobbing beneath his clothing too.

Annia chose that moment to straighten up and “accidentally” knock over the bucket of water. “Oh no!” she cried as liquid spilled all over the long-sleeved white shirt she wore. The wet fabric stuck to her like a second skin, becoming translucent. I had to choke back a laugh when the soldier’s eyes nearly bugged out at the sight of Annia’s nipples poking through the fabric. Men were so easy.

“A-are you alright?” the soldier asked, springing forward as his brain finally kicked into gear. “You’re not hurt or anything, are you?”

“N-no.” Annia shivered, pulling at her shirt. “I’m just cold and wet and oh, I hate this!” she wailed, actual tears gathering in her dark eyes. “I need to change my clothes now, but if I don’t get this done in time, Captain Milios said he was going to have me thrown in the dungeon!”

“There, there, now.” The soldier patted her arm, adopting the soothing and slightly patronizing tone men tended to use around hysterical women. “Captain Milios isn’t going to throw you into the dungeon just for spilling water on yourself.”

“That’s what one of the soldiers told me,” Annia sniffled. “And they’ve been here longer than I have.”

“Yeah, well some of the guys here can be asses.” The soldier shrugged off his khaki shirt and handed it to her, revealing an undershirt that clung to his muscular torso. I’d always assumed the Resistance was just a ragtag bunch, but the men I’d seen here were all in good fighting shape and uniformed. They weren’t perfect, but they were far more disciplined than I’d anticipated. “Here, wear this.”