“Nope,” Beatrice added with a shy smile.
“That’s the best part,” Fatima continued. “There were no predators.”
"What made him shift then?”
Axon was well known for being able to detect predators from the farthest distance away. His milky eyes made his vision blurry in the day, but at night, he could see everything. He was also super sensitive to sounds, which also made it easy for him to hear anything that was approaching.
“Ashley did,” Beatrice whispered.
“Neither of them would say what happened,” Fatima added. “But she started apologizing, and he kept saying it wasn’t her fault. When the guys realized there was no threat, they shifted back, and Ashley walked back inside the mountain with everyone watching wondering what the hell had happened.”
“Poor thing. It was like a walk of shame, but it seemed like whatever happened had been an accident.” Beatrice looked forlorn as she retold that part of the story.
“Axon was left standing there, watching her go. He looked like he wanted to run after her, but he ran into the forest instead.” Fatima said as she glanced over at Axon.
“Then we all went back to planting our bulbs until dinner time,” Beatrice sighed.
“The gossip here is better than a Bravo reality TV show,” I laughed.
“Did anyone talk to her afterward? Did she seem okay?”
“I saw her and Anusha talking outside on the ridge that evening. She seemed to be doing better by then,” Fatima added.
“Did I miss anything else while I was gone?”
“Sarah started wearing pants,” Beatrice added.
“Oh my god, how did I not notice that?” I looked over to where she was sitting with Talia, Jax, and Sozu and sure enough, she was wearing pants instead of a skirt.
“Did she say why?”
“Nope, she just came to breakfast wearing pants one day and went on like nothing had happened,” Fatima clarified.
“We all got the vibe that she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so no one said anything,” Beatrice explained before taking a bite of her oatmeal.
“Except for Jax who wore that big ass smile on his face when he saw her,” Fatima laughed. “She turned three shades of red when she caught him looking at her.”
“They’re so cute,” I added.
“Right?!” Fatima agreed.
I looked over at Brexl again and wondered if we made a cute couple too. I didn’t think anyone could be as cute as Sarah and Jax, but Brexl was cute in that shy guy kind of way.
He turned his head in my direction and our eyes locked for the briefest of moments. That familiar pang of longing worked its way through my soul, but I pushed it away as best I could. I couldn’t miss a man that was sitting twenty feet away from me. I couldn’t, and I wouldn’t, and that was that.
Chapter 15
Brexl
“What happened when you got to the beach?”
Tarak drew my attention back to the conversation. I had been staring at Taylor as she laughed with her friends. I loved her laugh. Could I make her laugh like that? Every time I’d made her laugh so far, had been entirely on accident. Which I didn’t mind, but I also wish I understood what it was that was humorous about what I’d said or done.
“They’d taken her to the caves along the shoreline in hopes that I wouldn’t be able to track her scent after it got lost in the water. But I spotted Taylor’s necklace on the ground, which led me in the right direction.”
I wondered if there would come a day when she would wear the necklace I’d given her instead of keeping it in her pocket. My heart warmed at the thought, but I quickly pushed it aside. I had Taylor’s friendship. That was good enough for me.
“I caught up with them, and injured Scaron.”I should have killed Scaron.I thought with an inward growl. If I knew killing him wouldn’t cause an all out war between our two groups, I would have.
