Frisk snickered again. Kendra laughed so hard she wheezed a blast of icy air.
“Go find Mauro!” I barked at them. I just wanted my friendsawayfrom here. At least until I could get some clothes on. And put a healthy distance between myself and the hunter.
“He’s here.” Kendra tilted her wing to the left. “He didn’t want to get too close.”
“Well, at leastoneof you has some decency,” I grumbled, shoving my way out of the warm crevice… and then immediately regretting it. The wintry air encircled my bare skin, making my flesh pebble and a shiver ripple over me.
Holy hell, it wascold. Teeth chattering, I fumbled for thefirst recognizable piece of clothing I could find. My arms were shaking. My whole body was numb with cold.
It took several minutes for me to dress, thanks to my numb fingers. It only made me feel a fraction of relief to know that Theron was also struggling. His cheeks and nose were red, and his hands shook even worse than mine.
Once I was clothed, I turned and found Kendra and Frisk grinning. All relief fled from me, and I scowled at them. “Hope you enjoyed the show.”
“We did, thank you,” Frisk said, unabashed.
“We just wanted to make sure you were still alive in there,” Kendra said softly, half hiding her face under her wing.
I rubbed the back of my neck, face still hot as I recalled howintertwinedmy body had been with Theron’s. Swallowing hard, I glanced at my friends. Kendra’s eyes shone with genuine worry.
I sighed, my anger ebbing slightly. “I understand. Thanks for being concerned. Did you two make it through the storm all right?”
“Oh, yes,” Frisk said. “Andwe didn’t have to cuddle to do it.”
“Shut it,” I snapped, my stomach fluttering.
“I mean, wewererather close in that burrow,” Kendra said slyly.
I chuckled, glad the dragon was on my side. “And Mauro?”
“I was able to bed down in a thicket,” came Mauro’s deep voice from a few feet away.
A wad of fabric hit my face. With a yelp, I reached up to remove it, realizing it was my cloak.
Theron had thrown it at me. His brow was furrowed, andthe usual frown was on his face. He wouldn’t look me in the eye.
I couldn’t necessarily blame him.
“I’ll find us some breakfast,” he said gruffly.
“Already done.” Frisk tilted his head back. I followed his gaze and found two dead hares. One of them was frozen, frost coating its entire hide.
At my perplexed expression, Kendra said shyly, “I helped.”
I gaped at her, then pointed to the frozen hare. “Youdid that? Damn, Kendra! That’s a powerful blast.”
She giggled, then buried her face behind her wing again.
“Fine,” Theron said tersely, turning away from us. “I’ll go look for firewood.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Mauro mumbled.
“He’s annoyed by how attractive he finds me,” I said loudly, enjoying the way Theron’s shoulders tensed at my words. It helped to use humor to deflect my own embarrassment about the whole situation.
Frisk and Kendra laughed again.
The hunter stomped away from us, and I was all too eager to watch him leave. I couldn’t keep my eyes from drifting to his backside.
No, Eira, stop it!I chided myself. Last night was a mistake that would not be repeated. And I wasn’t allowed to look at him that way.
