Seraphina's Revenge: A Rebirth In The Apocalypse Novel

Chapter 566: The First Night

They didn’t build a camp so much as claim a space and got to work.

Ashkar chose the place instinctively, a rise of ground just far enough from the water to stay dry, close enough that the air stayed cooler.

The jungle didn’t bother to fight back when he cleared space. It bent, parted, and settled again as if it wanted them to be there long term and knew what it meant.

And Sera watched it happen without comment.

Even though the sun was starting to set, the jungle was just as alive as it had been for the past few hours. It was clear that the jungle didn’t need to sleep anymore than they did.

It breathed, hummed, chirred, and pulsed with life so dense it felt like the world was leaning in close, curious about them. The air clung to skin and fabric alike, heavy with heat and the sweet rot of growth that had never learned restraint.

Sera loved it immediately and didn’t bother to hold back her sigh of contentment.

She stood in the clearing with her arms loose at her sides, her head tilted back just enough to let the damp air brush her throat. Her body felt steady, whole, and very much alive, and for the first time in longer than she cared to count, nothing hurt.

"You’re smiling," Psycho observed, circling her like a predator with too much personality. "That’s usually my cue to misbehave."

She glanced at him. "You need a cue?"

He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? Apparently, Ashkar has rubbed off on me. I like structure now."

Ashkar snorted softly behind her and stepped in close, heat brushing along her back as if he’d always belonged there. His hand settled at her hip, not holding, just there, grounding and familiar in a way that made her shoulders drop a fraction.

"You are enjoying this," he murmured, placing a soft kiss against her neck.

She leaned back into him without looking. "Very much. Is that a problem?"

That earned her a low sound from his chest, pleased and approving, and she felt the fire inside him shift—not flaring, not demanding, just warm and present like a hearth meant to be shared.

Aerenyx approached next, his gaze calm and assessing, though the way his eyes lingered on the line of her neck suggested he was paying attention to far more than threats. He reached out and brushed his fingers over her wrist, pulse checking out of habit, touch lingering because he wanted it to.

"Your pulse is stable," he said, his voice flat. "You are not stressed."

"Why do you sound so disappointed?" she teased.

His mouth curved faintly. "Hardly."

Caerwyn watched them all with quiet amusement, his arms crossed loosely as if this wasn’t already inevitable. When Sera caught his eye, he inclined his head slightly, acknowledging her attention without trying to take it.

It made her want him more.

Psycho noticed. "Oh, absolutely not," he said, stepping directly into her space and blocking her view of Caerwyn with deliberate rudeness. "Eyes on me. I got here first."

"You were born annoying," Sera replied.

"

And yet," he said, leaning down until their noses almost brushed, "you keep me."

She smiled. "Purely for entertainment purposes."

He laughed, bright and sharp, and reached out to tuck a damp curl of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered there, cool against her warm skin, and he didn’t pull away right away.

"Careful," he murmured. "You keep looking at me like that and I’ll forget we’re supposed to be behaving."

"Who said anything about behaving?" she asked, looking around the clearing. "I don’t see any reason to behave."

Ashkar’s hand tightened at her hip just enough to remind Psycho that she wasn’t unclaimed territory. It wasn’t aggressive. It was simply true.

Psycho glanced at it, then up at Ashkar, grin widening. "Relax, Seelie. I share."

Ashkar smiled faintly. "So do I."

Sera laughed before she could stop herself, the sound loose and unguarded, and it did something to all of them. She felt it immediately—the subtle shift in posture, the way attention sharpened, the way each of them leaned in without realizing they were doing it.

Good.

She turned in Ashkar’s arms and faced them fully, resting her hands lightly against his chest before stepping just far enough away to reclaim her space. The heat of him followed her anyway, like it had learned her shape.

"I’m not tired," she said calmly. "And I’m not fragile."

"No one said you were," Caerwyn replied, stepping closer now, his voice even and steady. "But if you fall, we’ll catch you."

Psycho tilted his head. "Repeatedly. Especially if you want to fall into my arms because of my boyish good looks."

Aerenyx’s hand settled at the small of her back, not pushing, not guiding, just resting there like an option. "You don’t need rest," he agreed. "But you seem to be enjoying the closeness."

She met his gaze. "I am."

Ashkar moved behind her again, slower this time, his presence wrapping around her without trapping her. His mouth brushed her hair, breath warm against her ear.

"Then let us give you more of it," he said quietly.

The jungle roared somewhere far off, something massive shifting through the undergrowth, but none of them reacted. Whatever lived out there knew better then to pick a fight with the five of them.

Psycho reached for her hand and tugged her gently forward, spinning her just enough to face him again. He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, quick and playful, like he was daring someone to object.

No one did.

"See?" he said smugly. "No apocalypse. No one trying to experiment on us. I can kiss you all I want and nothing will happen."

She chased him when he pulled back, catching his collar and dragging him in for a deeper kiss, just long enough to steal his breath. He froze for half a second, then laughed into her mouth, delighted.

"Oh," he said. "That’s unfair."

Caerwyn stepped in next, hand warm against her jaw as he kissed her slowly, deliberately, like he had nowhere else to be. It was grounding in a different way, steady and certain, and she melted into it before she even noticed she was doing so.

When he pulled back, Aerenyx replaced him seamlessly, pressing a kiss to her throat that made her shiver. His hands were careful, precise, mapping rather than claiming, and she let him.

Ashkar waited until last.

When he kissed her, it was heat and patience and promise all at once, fire curling inward instead of out, his hands firm and protective at her waist. She felt him everywhere without him overwhelming her, and something inside her settled deep and satisfied.

The jungle hummed.

Psycho wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sighed dramatically. "Well. That escalated nicely."

Sera laughed again and leaned back against Ashkar, letting his arms wrap around her fully this time. "You started it."

"And I will finish it," Psycho said brightly. "Eventually."

Aerenyx raised an eyebrow. "You assume you’ll get the chance."

"I thrive on competition."

Caerwyn shook his head, amused. "She enjoys watching you all try."

Sera didn’t bother to deny it.

She shifted her weight, settling more comfortably into the circle they’d formed without thinking, surrounded on all sides by warmth, attention, and very different kinds of affection. The jungle pressed in close, but it wasn’t oppressive.

It felt like privacy.

"This," she said softly, "is exactly where I wanted to end up, only, I didn’t know how to get here."

Ashkar kissed her temple. "Then we are home. Now, let the rest of us finish building you a camp and eventually a cabin. I have good memories of you and cabins."

She smiled, eyes half-lidded, surrounded by heat, storm, ice, and disease, and utterly content.

The night stretched on, alive and unhurried, and none of them felt any need to rush what came next.

There was time.

And plenty of it.