Shit. Shit. Shit.
He’d gotten up at the ass crack of dawn to teach me how to survive and here I was being a bitch to him.
“Wait, Rab. I’m sorry.” I ran to catch up with him. “You’re right. I need to learn all of this in case I am there longer than the few days I have planned. I’m just … I’m scared, okay? But I am strong, I am ready for this.Pleaseteach me.”
He stopped, looking back at me behind a mess of brown hair.
With a sigh, he turned and pointed to a familiar white root sticking out of the ground. “That’s Ch—”
“Cholka root. Pain reliever,” I told him.
He appraised me with pride. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet, city girl.”
Over the next two hours he showed me which plants and roots and berries were edible and which ones I could rub on the tip of my dart for poison. He went over basic wound care, such as using sunlight to help heal, always using clean water to wash the wound, and he taught me how to make a paste that involved an antibacterial moss and cholka root.
He told me about how to make homemade sunscreen out of clay, and in the end he even showed me how to skin and gut a rabbit.
I only cried three times and threw up once.
I longed for my iPhone, Range Rover, and Instagram then, but knew those days were long behind me.
At the end of the lesson, with only fifteen minutes left, he taught me how to make fire. I’d been rolling the damn stick between my fingers for what seemed like forever. I leaned forward holding the other stick and kindling with my feet, and did some crazy yoga type pose so that I could also blow softly on the sparks that were coming from the sticks rubbing together.
My palms had heated up more than the sticks at this point. “Ughhh, this is too hard. I’ll figure it out later.” I stopped rubbing my hands and looked up at Rab, my not-so-patient teacher.
He consulted his watch. “You have three more minutes, and giving up isn’t an option. Keep going. Fire is one of the most important things you can learn to make. Water, fire, food, shelter,” he said, repeating his little lesson.
With a growl, I started rubbing my hands together, faster this time, vampire fast.
“Come on, you little shits!” I screamed at the wood as sparks flew into the kindling and I huffed slowly. A small tendril of smoke started to wind up the stick and excitement thrummed through me.
Yes! Come on, baby!
I blew harder, and then orange flames flared to life below my palms, causing a yelp of pride to rip from my throat. I looked up at Rab with a giant grin to find him scowling at me with crossed arms.
He shrugged. “Well, I’ve done all I can. Hopefully, you make it back.”
Grumpy ass.
The grin fell from my face and I was about to retort when a loud drum beat from the center of town.
Rab sighed, exhaling deeply before opening his palms to me. “The alpha trial has begun.”
I swallowed hard, standing, and we both walked toward the church building to the sound of beating drums.
Whether it was a good time or not, I needed to check in with Sawyer.
‘Sawyer? I’m going to be heading out in a few minutes. Hopefully we can still talk while I’m there, but … just in case … how are things there?’
I felt his anxiety through our bond. ‘Hey, love. Sorry I had to have them take you away like that. Being in the Paladin lands right now is best for you. It’s getting bad here.’
I understood why he had to do what he did even if I didn’t like it. From my short amount of time kidnapped by the vampires, I could see their dark plans for me, and I had no intention of allowing them to do that. Like Sawyer said, we’d be dealing with an entirely different beast altogether.
‘How bad is it there?’
He paused. I could feel him wanting to hide whatever this was from me.‘Sawyer, how bad?’
‘We’re losing, Demi. At some point, I need to choose between letting all of my men die just to say I tried to fight until the very end, or make the call to get everyone in the bunker and give up. It’s still secret and safe. The witches have shielded it from roaming eyes. Only wolves can see the entrance.’
