I watch her face as the whisperer translates and a smile dances over her lips. She releases my arm. I move quickly andcarefully over the rocks. The closer to the waterfall, the more slippery they become. I glance back at her once, then I climb behind the waterfall. I’m almost to the other side and have all but given up on finding something when I notice a split in the rocks and feel the breeze on my wet skin. The crack is wide enough that I can slide through, and after a few shuffling steps, it widens out into a small cavern that’s not quite tall enough for me to stand in. Toward the back, light spills on the floor from a hole in the roof. There is an indent in the floor that rain must’ve made over the years, and from the indent there is a small path that flows to the crack where I just entered. As long as we keep the blankets to the high side in any rainstorms, we will be fine. And this is only a temporary shelter. I slide out through the crack and edge back along the rocks to where Chloe is anxiously waiting.
“I have found a place we can hide.” I doubt any of her people will come searching for us there, and their flying weapons will not find us either.
“Everyone will have been told about you by now. The information has been released.”
That same flutter of nerves that filled my chest and stomach on the day I was to be formally banished has returned. My throat tightens and for a moment I cannot breathe. It was safe being in the cage, being a secret, even though it was easy for the humans to kill me. Now they all know about me there are more than four soldiers to worry about. What if every human wants to kill me?
I didn’t want to be a secret, and now I don’t want to be known.
Do I know what I want?
Chloe is watching me with her lips pressed together. Her tension flows into me. Her charge and scent are not what I am used to, and it is unsettling. I promised I would look after her and show her what kind of mate I would be and will keep my word.
I also need to learn what kind of mate I can be.
“Then I will wait until tonight to hunt.” I take her hand. “We will be okay.”
And even if we are not, we cannot take back what has been done.
22
CHLOE
The cave is smaller than I expected. There's barely room to make a bed away from the water channel, though at the moment, the channel is dry. I’m glad Patrick included a thermal blanket along with some nutrition bars and a metal bottle for water.
Not that water is going to be a problem, as I can literally stick my arm out the crack in the rock face and fill the water bottle. He also included some purification tablets.
I sit on the blanket that Tiril took from the cell and lean against the rocks. This is going to be home for the next few days. I hope it's only for a few days and not a lifetime. I'm not brave enough to leave the colony with a banished alien warrior and start over.
Sabine didn’t make a cowardly choice. She was brave and fearless. And I hope she is well and that I can see her soon.
I need to know what’s going on in the colony, and what Mandy broadcast. But I don’t dare turn on my tablet, in case it all went wrong, and there are now soldiers searching for us. I hug my knees to my chest and wait for Tiril to return from swimming in the river. I don’t know how to swim, and he said this was notthe place to learn because the current is too strong. He didn’t seem worried about jumping in himself, and I can understand why after a month of being locked up, he wanted to bathe.
This is a taste of the boredom he must have felt. The temptation to turn on my tablet is overwhelming.
I hear a wet footstep and my eyes snap open.
“Are you cold?” Tiril kneels in front of me, water dripping off the ends of his hair and leaving damp patches on his shirt.
“No, just thinking.” I'm glad he's back because I don’t want to be left alone in here. I'm not sure I could make the climb back to shore on my own. I'd end up slipping and cracking open my head. “Do you want to hunt?”
He sits next to me. “I can hunt at night. While it’s light out, we should remain in the cave.”
“Will you cook the meat out of the cave or in the cave?” I feel awkward sitting next to him, like I don’t know what I'm supposed to do. Do we discuss survival, or should I kiss him and hope he takes it further? What are the rules for hiding in a cave with your alien not-yet-a-mate?
“In the cave, I think we will need the fire to keep warm.”
“I’ve never slept outside.” And I know nothing about surviving away from the colony. I did the lessons the same as everyone else. But they were things like don’t leave the colony alone, make sure people know where you have gone, and take supplies. Most of which didn’t matter, because we weren’t allowed to leave the colony without permission. And I’m not alone, and I have supplies.
“We are not outside. We have shelter,” Tiril says as though the cave, which is small enough that he needs to duck his head, is an acceptable home.
I smile. “That is true. So, what are we going to do until it is safe?” Assuming it will ever be safe. I can think of a few things to do with him, but I don’t want to be the one to suggest it. I don’twant him to feel obligated, even though he has said he wants me as a mate. It’s not just sex for him. He will change physically and be bound to me forever—which could end horribly depending on what happens at the colony.
He pulls the markers I gave him out of the bag. I didn’t even realize that he'd taken them. “I'm not sure if they will write on the rock. But they do mark skin.”
I imagine returning to the colony covered in black ink.
“I know a few simple games that we can play with the pens, though we should draw on the blankets and our clothes before each other.”
