Page 82 of Hunting for her Heart
I gasp, but he stands before I can even respond. They attached the second knife around my waist so I can easily grab it.
Hawk puts the flink rock in a safe pouch attached to his waist, and we decide to leave the blankets, as we won’t need them anymore. This way, we can travel lighter.
We eat most of our food, only saving a little for the journey back as it will take a few hours. Bo makes new sandals from leaves for me, so I’m not walking around barefoot and then we silently leave our magical cave.
In many ways, I’m sad to leave. It’s been our hidden hideaway and provided us with everything we needed. Notonly that, but it’s the place where we came together for the first time and became mates.
As we start walking through the forest, Hawk holds my hand with Ronan in the front and Bo behind. Was our bonding this world’s version of a marriage? What if we weren’t fated mates? Would it be different?
“Hawk?” I ask quietly as we make our way through the trees. He looks down at me with an eyebrow raised in question so I continue. “Are we married now?” he looks surprised so I quickly explain, “If we weren’t fated mates, would having sex mean we’re married? In my world, there would be a wedding.”
He smiles at me, and my heart leaps in my chest. His smiles are so rare that every time he offers me one, my heart soars like I’ve been given a gift.
“Being fated mates is a much stronger bond than marriage, although both are permanent. But I would love to marry you. I’ll tie myself to you in every way I can.”
Warmth fills my chest as I smile up at him. “My mom will be absolutely thrilled if we have a wedding,” Bo says from behind.
“It’s settled then,” Ronan says with a nod. “When we’re back on Redmere, we will get married.”
I smile as we march through the forest. The fated mate stuff is still very new to me, but a wedding and a marriage? That’s something I understand. Although at the compound, married women were made to serve their husbands.
“Will anything change between us?” I ask nervously. “When we get married?”
“Like what?” Hawk asks.
I shrug, feeling uneasy. “Would I have to, like, obey you?”
They all stop walking and Ronan turns around to face us,taking a step closer then bending down to one knee, so he’s much closer to my eye level.
He studies me for a moment then reaches out and holds my free hand. “Where you were raised, is that what happened? Did husbands control their wives? Tell them what to do?”
I nod. I should have known they would see straight through my question, and his words instantly set me at ease. “My tiny treasure, you are our mate. It is our job to take care of you. We may tell you to do something for your safety, but we will not assume to control you.”
“We like you with free will,” Bo adds as he squeezes my shoulder from behind. “You’re perfect as you are. We’d never stifle that.”
“But,” Ronan says as he stands back up, “If we tell you to wait somewhere or run, because of a threat, we expect you to trust us enough to know it's for your best interest and do as we say.”
I nod. “I understand.”
“Good girl.” He bends down and gives me a quick kiss before we start walking again.
I start to imagine what their home must be like. They’ve told me little about their actual dwellings. The canvas tent I arrived in is the only thing I’ve seen. Do they even have buildings in this world? Are they made of wood or stone?
As I watch the muscles in Ronan’s back move as he walks in front of us, I smile, knowing it doesn’t matter. We’ve been sleeping on a single blanket in a cave all week and I’ve never felt so happy.
I open my mouth to ask, but Ronan suddenly stops, pulling his ax from his back to hold in front of him. Hawk tenses as we stop and listen.
“It’s too quiet,” Bo whispers from behind. I frown as I strain my ears, and it takes me a second to understand what he means. All the sounds of the forest have ceased. No birds singing, no bugs chirping, just the sound of a gentle breeze moving through the trees.
After a minute of waiting, Ronan starts to slowly move forward again. We continue silently for a few minutes until a strange sound in front starts to grow louder.
Ronan takes a step backward right before a line of fire suddenly shoots up in front of us, several feet high.
“Shit!” Bo hisses as we all back away from it. The line of fire is slightly curved, extended out of sight in both directions.
“This isn’t natural,” Ronan says as he studies it, the flames now reaching over five feet high. “Someone set this fire.”
“A trap,” Hawk says as he turns and holds his spear out behind us, in the direction where there are no flames. Bo has both swords in hand now as he watches, but nobody’s there.
