"I would lead you," I clarified. "Just us. Humans in groups attract attention. Two travelers might slip through."
"Through Shadowclaw territory?" She frowned. "Why would you risk that for children who aren't your kind?"
The question caught me off guard. Why indeed? "They're innocent. And..." I met her gaze. "They matter to you."
Night fell, and the settlement grew quiet except for the occasional moan from the sick children. Kalyndi and I sat in the small garden behind the healing quarters, a map spread between us on a stone bench. The moonlight silvered her dark skin, catching on the curve of her cheek, the fullness of her lips. I forced my attention back to the map.
"Here," I pointed to a narrow passage between two hills. "The Shadowclaws rarely patrol this route. It adds half a day to the journey but decreases our chances of encounter."
She leaned closer, her scent filling my senses. "And once we reach the marshes?"
"The gentian grows on the eastern banks, where the water is shallowest." My claw traced the path. "We could be there and back within four days if we travel fast."
"Four days," she repeated, calculating. "The children can hold on that long with supportive care."
Our heads bent together over the map, planning, strategizing. For the first time since her arrival in my territory, we collaborated instead of competing. The realization was both strange and exhilarating.
"We should leave at first light," she decided. "I'll prepare traveling medicine pouches tonight."
I nodded, watching her efficient movements as she made notes on the map's edge. "You'll need to sleep."
"So will you." She glanced up, meeting my eyes directly. "Thank you for this, Redmon."
"For what?" I asked, genuinely confused.
"For helping my people. For not...being what they think you are."
I didn't know how to respond to that. What was I, if not the monster they feared? And yet, with Kalyndi looking at me like I was something more, I wanted to be worthy of that look.
"We should rest," I finally said, rolling up the map. "Tomorrow will test us both."
As we prepared to return to our separate sleeping quarters, Kalyndi paused. "The Shadowclaws are they really as dangerous as the stories say?"
I thought of the rival tribe's cruelty, their love of slow deaths. "Yes," I answered honestly. "But they've never encountered me protecting something that matters."
It was the closest I'd come to admitting that she had become important to me not just as a claimed mate, but as herself.
Five
Kalyndi
I woke to a soft rumble outside my hut. Dawn hadn't fully broken, just a pale glow softening the eastern sky. Wrapping my shawl around my shoulders, I stepped out to find Redmon already waiting, a large pack slung over his massive shoulder.
"You're early," I said, still rubbing sleep from my eyes.
"Journey's long. Need daylight." His deep voice still startled me sometimes How it could be so gentle coming from such an intimidating frame?
I stared at the organized packs, the water skins, the carefully wrapped provisions. "You did all this?"
Redmon's single eye, his other hidden beneath the thick fold of skin that marked his kind, seemed almost amused. "Expected me to be useless?"
"I just thought… " What had I thought? That a nine-foot-tall mapinguari warrior wouldn't know how to pack for a journey? "Nothing. I'm impressed."
"Your herbs." He nodded toward a small leather pouch. "Packed those special. Like you showed."
My chest tightened at his thoughtfulness. Three weeks since our rushed mating ceremony, and he still felt like a stranger, a massive, terrifying stranger who now watched me with an intensity that made my skin warm.
"Thank you." I took the pouch, checking its contents quickly. Everything was there, exactly as I'd organized it the night before. "I figured I'd have to remind you about these."
