So, it was no surprise her body was making its needs known now.
Cruxan pulled up short, glancing back at her. She’d been trailing him for the last couple hours, right on his heels. She’d spent most of the time trying not to admire his back…or his ass for that matter. But it had been difficult.
He broke the silence between them when he said, “Give me the dagger, female.”
She blinked before looking down at it, still clenched in her hand. She’d been carrying it for so long that she’d, frankly, forgotten about it.
“Why?” she asked, even as she hesitantly handed it over.
“To find you food,” he said.
“Oh,” she mumbled, biting her lip. “It’s okay. I can wait until we make camp somewhere.”
Cruxan tilted his head back to the canopy of trees, looking up past the edged cliffs of the mountain overhead, to the sky. The color of which hadn’t changed since that morning, which she thought was odd.
“There may be a storm tonight,” he said, looking back at her. “I can scent it forming in the air. It would be smart to make camp early and replenish our bodies for tomorrow.”
Had he noticed how physically drained she was? she wondered.
“A storm?” she asked, looking up at the sky, though she didn’t sense what he did.
“Do not worry, female,” he murmured. “I will keep you safe.”
Crystal’s gaze cut to the ground, her heart speeding up at those words. “I can handle a storm,” was all she thought to say.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his lips quirk.
“But can you handle me,luxiva?” he asked, his voice like a purr.
Her eyes went wide.
Before she could reply, she saw his eyes focus on something behind her. Suddenly, the dagger went flying out of his hand, stirring the air next to her. She gasped, but heard the dagger make contact withsomething, a few yards away from them.
Gaping in disbelief, she watched him walk over to where he’d thrown the dagger and to her astonished amazement, she saw a small, black creature, with feathery antennas and long spindly legs, impaled cleanly on its sharp end.
Cruxan jerked his blade from the poor creature, murmuring something over its still body, before lumbering back to her.
Crystal blinked up at him, her gaze going from him to the animal and back. She still couldn’t believe how quickly he’d done that, how efficiently. She hadn’t even realized therewerecreatures like that in the forest. She’d never heard or even seen one.
But Cruxan had. Of course he had.
He told her, “Now, let us find a suitable camp so I can feed my female.”
It was stilllight outside when they found a camp. Well, when Cruxan found a camp. Crystal was not exactly the outdoorsy type, so she wouldn’t know what to look for. But Cruxan did.
He selected a place closer to the mountain range, wedged right up next to it. There a small spot with a rocky overhang that might shield them from rain. Cruxan had inspected the area for long moments before he nodded and said, “Here for the night.”
Then he set to work. Crystal watched him with a strange fascination as he started work on a fire with the materials he’d been gathering along the way. In no time at all, just like the previous night, it roared to life. Next, he took the dagger over to the wall of the mountain and chiseled out a small slab, which he laid close to the flames.
Then he turned to look at her. “I will need to find water gourds. I will return shortly.”
“Let me help,” Crystal said, already rising to her aching feet. She was thankful that the forest floor was so soft with moss, considering she was still barefoot.
“Nix,” he murmured. “Rest. Tend the fire. I will not be gone long.”
He left before she could protest.
Tend the fire. The fire was roaring, in no danger of going out. Even still, a little while later, she threw one of the strips ofpillervabark he’d gathered onto the flames, just to feel like she was doingsomething. She watched it blacken and curl and crisp.
