Valrek released Ariella reluctantly, but his hand lingered at the small of her back as he turned to face his daughter. “Alright, little one. But this time, you have to actually try to smell me. Not just guess.”
They played the game for what felt like hours—he hid while she tried to help Lilani learn to quiet her mind and open her senses. It wasn’t easy. Lilani was distractible and impatient, racing off after every butterfly and interesting rock. But by the time the sun reached its zenith, she’d managed to find her father twice without help, her small face glowing with triumph.
“I did it! Did you see that? I smelled him!”
“I saw.” She caught the child in a hug, lifting her and spinning her in a circle. “You were amazing. A natural tracker.”
“Papa says I’m going to be the best hunter ever. Even better than the warriors in his old pack.”
“I said you had potential,” he corrected, but his voice was warm. “Now come. Let’s eat. I didn’t carry all that food up here for nothing.”
They settled back on the blanket, and he unpacked the provisions he’d brought—strips of dried fish, fat purple berries, and chunks of dense bread that he’d somehow baked in his sea cave. Simple food, but more delicious than anything she had eaten at her father’s lab.
“You made this bread yourself?” she asked, tearing off a piece and savoring the rich, nutty flavor.
“I had to learn.”
“Where did you get the flour? No one in the village has ever mentioned trading with a Vultor.”
“That’s because I never go there. But there is a family of fishermen who live just to the north of here. I helped them when they were troubled by bandits and they were… grateful.”
“I like Miss Martha,” Lilani interrupted. “She makes the best pancakes.”
He must have seen the surprise on her face because he shrugged. “She has watched Lilani a few times when I had to be away. They also procure the supplies I cannot produce. Lilani can’t survive on fish alone, no matter what my beast thinks.”
“Your beast wants her to eat only fish?”
“My beast wants everyone to eat only meat.” He tore into a strip of dried fish with his teeth, and the savage ease of the movement made something flutter low in her belly. “It’s difficult sometimes. Balancing what the beast wants with what’s practical.”
“What else does your beast want?”
The question slipped out before she could stop it, and molten heat flooded his gaze as his eyes met hers.
CHAPTER 11
“Iwant many things,” Valrek said, his voice low and hungry, and Ariella’s cheeks heated, her bioluminescent patches flickering with telltale color.
Lilani, oblivious, was busy arranging berries in a pattern on her corner of the blanket. “I’m making a flower!”
The afternoon drifted by in a haze of warmth and laughter. Lilani told rambling stories about the sea creatures she’d seen, the games she played in the tide pools, and the imaginary kingdom she’d built in her head where she was a princess and the Star Lady was her best friend. She listened, enchanted, while he watched them both with an expression she couldn’t quite read.
He kept finding excuses to touch her.
A brush of his fingers against her shoulder when he passed her the water skin. His knee pressing against hers as they sat side by side. His hand settling on the small of her back, warm and heavy, when she leaned forward to help Lilani with one of her berry arrangements.
And then, as the sun began its descent towards the horizon, he moved behind her, his massive body curving around hers like a shield. His nose dipped to the curve of her neck, inhaling deeply, and a low rumble vibrated through his chest.
“Papa’s sniffing you,” Lilani observed with a giggle. “Does that mean he’s going to hunt you?”
She laughed, but the sound came out breathless. His lips were brushing the sensitive skin beneath her ear, and every nerve in her body was lighting up like a signal flare.
“What does she smell like, Papa?”
His answer was a rumble against her neck. “Like the sea. Like honey. Like home.”
Home.She’d never had one—not really. All she’d ever had was a laboratory with Merrick’s looming shadow waiting to close around her.
But here, in this hidden meadow with this strange little family, she felt like she was home.
