Page 30 of Hunting for her Heart
“Are you alright, little one?” I ask, reaching out to grasp her hands.
“W-what were those things?” She shudders, turning her head in the direction they disappeared.
“Trolls.” Her eyes widen as she looks back at me. “You don’t have them in your world?”
“They’re like a myth. Made up for children’s stories.”
“Well, they are no myth here. Luckily, we don’t have any trolls or ogres on Redmere.”
“Ogres are real too?” she asks in surprise. I nod as I get to my feet, keeping one of her tiny hands grasped in mine.
“I’ll go check for the cave,” Hawk says as he removes his sandals and a few of his weapons. I hope there’s actually a cave there after all of this. We’re running out of options before the sun sets. Even now, the woods are starting to darken, the trees casting long shadows along the forest floor.
Hawk wades into the water until it’s too deep to stand, then he swims right up the waterfall and disappears behind it. Willow squeezes my hand a little tighter for the ten seconds he’s out of sight. As soon as his head reappears, hergrip loosens, and I see her shoulders visibly drop, the tension leaving her.
She was worried about him. A smile tugs at my lips. I did wonder if not being from this world meant she doesn’t feel the mate bond the way we do. I’ve noticed she never reaches out to touch us; it’s always us reaching for her. But I think that has more to do with her sheltered upbringing and shy nature, and less to do with how she actually feels.
If there is anything I’m better at than my clansmen, it’s getting people to relax. So I’m going to make it my mission to make her feel more comfortable around us.
Of course, we still haven’t revealed to her the fact that we were lonelings, and I hope that doesn’t make her reject us outright, that she’ll still give us the chance to prove ourselves to her.
As Hawk steps out of the pond, Willow’s eyes track the water running down his chest. He notices it too, based on the way he stands a little taller. “The cave is big enough for us all to fit comfortably. We can even have a fire in there as there’s a small gap in the ceiling for ventilation.
“Perfect,” Ronan says with a nod. “I’ll get the food. Hawk, you get the wood and figure out how to get it there without getting wet. And Bo, you get Willow in there safely. Remember, she can’t swim.”
We both nod at him, and he moves back into the trees as I turn to Willow. I realize her dress is going to get soaked if she keeps it on. But she’s not wearing anything underneath.
“Shit,” I whisper as I start to look through my bag.
“What’s wrong?” she asks worriedly.
“I don’t have any bandages left.”
“Are you hurt?” she asks in alarm.
“No, it’s for you, to cover yourself. If you wear your dress in the pond, it’ll be too wet to sleep in.”
“Oh.”
“I have a dilemma too,” Hawk says as he dumps a few logs by our feet. “I don’t know how to get these through the waterfall without getting wet.” Both our eyes turn to Willow’s blue dress. It’s the only piece of material we have that could work. The coverings we wear around our hips are too small to cover even a single log.
“We need to use my dress to protect the logs,” Willow says in realization. Her cheeks turn the cutest shade of pink as she stares down at herself.
“We could cut off a couple of strips from the bottom,” Hawk says as he pulls out his knife. “You can use those to cover yourself.” I realize he’s right. There’s plenty of length on it; shortening it may make it unsuitable for most mainlander women, but we are out of options here, and I have a feeling Willow won’t care about something like that.
“Will it bother you?” I ask as Hawk kneels down and grips the end of her dress. “If your lower legs are exposed when you're in your dress?”
“That’s actually pretty normal in my world. Well, not for me, but on my way to the book shop, I saw lots of women in short skirts and shorts.”
“But how doyoufeel about it?” I ask, wanting to know her thoughts.
“It’s for a good cause,” she says, evading the question again.
“Yes, but does it bother you? To have us see your legs?”
A hint of a smile tugs at her lips. “You already saw me practically naked when you put that cream on me, and I’m about to do it again,” she says, reminding me of her cuts andscrapes. I remind myself to check how they are healing when she’s free of the dress.
“You’ve reminded me I still need yarrow,” I tell her as I glance around the edge of the water. “Ah ha!” I say, pleased when I easily spot the green tops of the root. I smile as I step over to them and dig out a small bundle, adding it to the rest in my bag.
