A deeper laugh, one that reminded me of mountains under moonlight, reverberated through my body. “Good to know where I stand.”
I felt all kinds of disoriented. My attempt to swallow was as dry as a mouthful of sand.
This man would kill me the first chance he got. I schooled my features, letting that flutter of amusement and playfulness fall to the wayside.
Information, Ro. You need more information.
“How many outposts are there?” My tone dropped to a stone cold warning.
“A few. Nearly half a dozen.” He seemed unfazed at my gruff switch up.
“And how many of you are there?”
Gravel shuffled under his heavy steps. He compensated with his good leg, allowing his injured leg only a few moments of pressure with each step. The sound ate into the silence of the otherwise quiet forest. Was he ignoring me? He’d responded abruptly all the other times. Had he not heard me? Was I finally asking a question he hesitated to answer?
“Where?” he clarified after a moment.
“What do you mean, where?” I couldn’t hold back the bite in my question. Humidity pressed down on me, and I took in a deep breath to cool myself.
“How many of us are there, where? At the outpost? At all the outposts? At base camp? In total?”
A lot of options to consider, but for now only my next steps mattered. “At the outpost.”
“How many did you see with your friend?”
“I’m not answering that.” Asshole, trying to make me reveal what I knew.
He sighed. “At most, there would be five of us. But if you only saw two, then three, including myself.”
Interesting. “Why don’t you know?”
“Because two hunting parties were sent to retrieve wild game. I was part of the second party, sent because the first hadn’t returned within their allotted time frame. If they still haven’t, there’s a chance we’ll catch them at one of the outposts.”
So far, he hadn’t presented any conflicting information. He’d stated twice that his purpose for being out here was hunting. He’d confirmed that the outpost shouldn’t have more occupants than he’d previously said. If anything, he’d just overshared. Something completely unacceptable under Radhak. Despite this man’s physique, maybe he was nothing more than a hunter in his camp. It would explain his loose lips.
“Why are these forests so…creepy?”
“Because animals are smart and have good survival instincts.”
“Clearly you don’t, then,” I jabbed lightly.
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“RO!”
A faint echo in my mind seized my heart. I spun around, spotting a small blue dot racing toward me.
“Brax!” I couldn’t help but exclaim out loud. I ran to meet him. He barreled into my chest, and I cupped him with my free hand. I managed to produce a few tears that streamed down my cheeks. “I was so worried for you. I thought they killed you.”
“No, I woke up and you weren’t at the cabin, so I went looking. I spotted those bad people and tried to warn Alba, but she didn’t understand. When they burst through the door, I ducked out the window and started searching for you.”
“Why didn’t you go back home? You should have gone back home.” I choked on my sobs, equally mad at him for not keeping himself safe and gloriously happy he was alright and here with me.
“I would never leave you in danger.”His little snout nuzzled into my chest.
I savored the feel of his little reptilian scales under my fingers, stroking his back that became slick with each fallen tear. Realizing I no longer heard the thud of compensating steps, I shoved Braxius onto my shoulder, lifted my bow and whirled to poise the arrow at Mr. Sun God.
His stare snagged on Braxius, and I waited, wide-eyed, to gauge his reaction. If he so much as considered a violent thought toward Brax, I wouldn’t hesitate to let this arrow fly.
