Page 24 of Hunting for her Heart
I wonder what he did with the bodies from last night but decide not to push it too far. Instead, I ask about where they’re from.
“If you’re from an island, does that mean you took a ship to get here?”
“No,” Bo says, shaking his head. “We flew.”
“Flew?” I ask in surprise. “There are planes here?”
Bo frowns, shaking his head. “I’m not sure what a plane is. We took the skyreachers.”
“What do they look like?” I ask, wondering if it’s a different word for airplane.
“Large birds, with a wingspan of over fifteen feet.”
My eyes widen in shock. “You rodebirdsto get here?”
“Yep,” Bo says with a nod before looking back out into the forest. “You’ll get to ride on one too, when we leave here in six days.”
Right. Because I’m their prize for winning the Mating Hunt. I’m still not sure what that means, and before I can gather the courage to ask, Bo lifts his sword and changes to a defensive stance as Hawk’s arms tighten around me.
After a minute, when Bo lowers his sword and relaxes, the tension leaves me too, knowing it must be Ronan. And a moment later, he steps inside carrying a dead carcass of some sort that he’s already skinned and prepared.
As I watch the blood drip slowly from the bottom, I come to the realization that they’re planning to eat it raw. That’s probably where the cannibal rumor came from. Even if I could somehow manage to eat it uncooked, there’s a decent chance I’ll get sick from it. There’s a reason meat has to be properly cooked to a certain temperature at home.
He places it gently on the ground near the cave entrance, then takes Bo’s position as Bo steps out of the cave. Although I want to know what they’re doing, I decide to hold my tongue. If they wanted me to know, they’d tell me. I’m just glad they’re not slicing up that raw meat yet. Even though I’m hungry enough to eat pretty much anything.
On queue, my stomach lets out a loud rumble, and Hawk moves his hand to gently rub over it, trying to soothe the small pang of hunger. “Apologies, my angel. It won’t take long to get a fire going and cook our meal.”
Relief fills me, knowing they don’t eat their meat raw. Hawk starts to move around a little behind me. “Here, I forgot I had this,” he says, handing me a familiar-looking bundle of leaves.
I glance back at him in surprise. “You left me the food and water.” He nods, reaching around to help me untie the bundle.
“Yes, you need nourishment.” He picks up a berry from the pile and surprises me again by lifting it to my lips. “Open,” he commands, and my jaw parts on instinct, letting him push the berry inside. I close my mouth and chew it, my eyes glued to his.
Something warm blooms inside my chest as we stare at one another. Silently, he lifts another berry, and I open my mouth, letting him continue to feed me. He does it twice more before I start opening my mouth before he’s even picked up the next piece.
I have no idea why I seem to be enjoying being fed. I would have thought it strange before, but as he presses piece after piece into my mouth, his eyes darting between my lips and my eyes, I find myself lost as a strange warmth flowsthrough my body.
I feel a drop of juice on my lip and use my tongue to lick it clean. He watches the action as his own large tongue darts out to mirror the motion on his own lips, and that warmth inside me starts to spread between my thighs.
Even through his beard, I can see his lips, and I get a strange urge to know what they’d feel like pressed against mine. Looking back up at his eyes, I see them darken with something that doesn’t scare me, but does make me nervous.
A loud thump has me jolting as my attention snaps to Bo. He’s tossed a bundle of wood on the cave floor, and now he’s kneeling beside it as he starts to lay a fire.
“We can build it in here since there’s a hole in the ceiling to vent the smoke,” he tells me when he sees me watching him.
“Can I help?” I ask, feeling like I need to do something.
“No,” all three of them say at once, making me lean back against Hawk. Even though I’m not looking at him anymore, he continues to feed me the rest of the berries and nuts until the leaf is empty.
“Thank you,” I whisper. He doesn’t say anything, so I continue talking. “Not just for that snack, but for the other ones, and the water, and protecting me. And the flowers,” I add quickly, remembering how I’d accidentally smooshed them inside my dress.
“It’s my pleasure,” he says before gently wrapping his arms back around me. The position is strangely comforting. Not just because he makes a way better chair than the hard cave floor, but because it feels protective, strong, and yet gentle. I’ve never felt anything like it before.
Sure, my sister tried to protect me, but there was only so much she could do at the compound. This protection feels impenetrable, as if no one can pass him to get to me, andeven though I’m wrapped in his arms, I’ve never felt more free.
We watch Bo set the wood out and light the fire, then as if in a pre-planned synchronized movement, Hawk stands with me in his arms as Bo comes over, and I’m passed to him. Hawk moves to the entrance to stand guard, and Ronan moves to the meat and starts slicing pieces and placing them on wooden skewers he’d been making as he stood guard. Bo takes a seat, with me in his lap, the way I’d just been wrapped up in Hawk.
“Huh. That’s strange,” Bo says, making the rest of us look at him in question. He moves his hand to a small spot of grass beside us, barely bigger than his palm.
