“So if you left a week after I did … is the war?” Please give me good news. I just needed good news about the outside world.
Sage swallowed hard, looking down at my belly again like she maybe didn’t want to tell me something that might upset me.
“Sage. Is Sawyer okay?”
She nodded. “He’s fine, but we lost the war. Everyone, including nearly all of the Paladins, went underground and are safe in hiding as far as I know.”
I sagged in relief. Sucked to learn we’d lost the war, but good to know our people were alive. I could deal with that. “So Sawyer is in the bunker?” That was good. It meant he was with my parents.
Sage chewed her lip.
“Sage!”
She sighed. “Sawyer commanded that Walsh get everyone into the bunker and stay there to look after your parents and his mom. Astra stayed in Paladin Village to beat that stupid drum every hour.”
My throat closed with emotion at that. Sweet Astra. I hoped she was okay.
“And Sawyer?”
Sage frowned. “He and Eugene said they would wait to go into the bunker until you got back.”
My eyes widened. “So he just stayed out in the open in the middle of a war!”
Sage winced. “He hid obviously, but I don’t know how well … he could have been captured.”
Captured!I burst to my feet and started to pace the small room, made even smaller with Sage and her mat on the floor.
“Or not … I don’t really know. Maybe he went into the bunker…”
I stopped my pacing and settled. Yeah, maybe … except I knew Sawyer, and he wasn’t the type to hide and wait to be saved.
Frick.
A long stretch of silence passed between us. I didn’t know what to say, and clearly neither did she.
“Did you make this place?” She looked around at the cabin and I was grateful for the topic change.
I shook my head. “Past alphas did, but I improved on it. It’s got a shower. Want one? I can start boiling the water.” No sense in worrying about Sawyer and my family until I was out and able to do something about it.
Her eyes widened. “YES I want a shower, are you insane? What kind of question is that? Do you have soap?”
I chuckled. “No, but I have an exfoliating clay scrub with lavender.”
She grinned. “That sounds like heaven.”
I boiled the water and then helped her stand. She had a limp on her right side, the leg that had been bent at an odd angle when I’d found her. With a little help, I was able to get her into the shower and fill the clay pot overhead with warm water.
“Ohmygod, this is heaven!” she screamed as I stood outside the small shower hut and peered into the woods with paranoia. Would that bear come back? Would an elk? What she’d said was so weird, I wasn’t sure how to process it.
Were the Dark Woods trying to kill Sage? If so, she might be safer here in the pasture with the cabin. It was free of large trees, and if we could erect some kind of fence, it might deter the animals…
“Are you seriously here?” Sage called through the thatched siding.
I grinned. It was weird how easily we were falling back into our normal banter.
“I know, I can’t believe it,” I told her.
“So, I can start helping you look for the cave now and we can be out of here in a few weeks I’ll bet!” she said excitedly.
