Page 40 of Moon Chosen

“Me? Why?”

“Because your puppy chase made us late.”

“We found sign of him!” Nik tried to keep his tone reasonable, but he was just so damn sick of explaining the obvious.

“Sign, but no pup. What we did find was a hunting pack of wolf spiders, a grown male Scratcher who needed killing before he killed us, and a female who won’t shut up.” Thaddeus went to the crying female, cut the rope that connected her to the Scratcher in front of her, and with a rough jerk pulled her forward, handing the tether to Nik. “Like I said, you’re responsible for her.”

The female stumbled and Nik had to grab her arm to keep her from falling to the ground. She gave a little sobbing shriek and scrambled as far away from him as the rope would allow, then stood there, crying and looking at Nik through large, liquid eyes.

“I think you should try talking to her,” O’Bryan said.

“Talk to her?”

“You know, like you would a scared pup.”

Nik snorted sardonically. “A scared pup has more sense than a Scratcher.”

“Oh, come on. You know that they can understand us just fine, even though they don’t talk much—or at least during the day they can.”

“All right! Let’s move out!” Thaddeus called from the front of the group, and they began to shuffle forward.

The Scratcher girl’s crying increased and she kept backing away, pulling Nik with her, as if she thought she could drag him into the forest.

Nik sighed and wrapped the rope around his fist, planting his feet. “Come on now,” Nik said, as gently as he could while he pulled on the rope, trying to coax the female forward. “You don’t want to go back there. It’s dangerous.”

“Nik, you gotta get her moving. Thaddeus is already pissed. He’s going to skin you if she holds us up anymore,” O’Bryan said.

“Go on! We’ll catch you.” Nik shooed away his cousin and then faced the female. She was just so pitiful and ugly! Like all the Scratcher females, she was small. Actually, this one was even smaller than usual. Her dark hair was full of ivy and leaves, and her flat-featured face was smeared with dirt and snot, tears and blood.

“You don’t have to be afraid. You’ll be safe on the island.” Nik gestured toward the bridge and the group that was moving away from them and onto it. “Everything will be okay once you get there.”

The Scratcher met his gaze, and spoke. “Nothing will be okay again. You shot my daddy.”

Her voice was small, and choked with emotion, but her words were completely clear—perfectly understandable. Nik had a sudden flashback to when she hurled herself at the dead Scratcher’s body, clutching it and keening. Thaddeus had had to drag her away from the corpse. Her emotional response had been strange—there was no doubt about that. And now she was speaking to him? At night?She really had been connected to that Scratcher male.

“What is your name?” Nik surprised himself by asking.

“Jenna.”

“I’m Nik. Jenna, would you let me help you across the bridge to your new home?”

Jenna hesitated, wiping her face with the back of her hand. She looked from the bridge to him, her face suddenly alight—bright and burning. “Would you let me go? Please?”

Nik felt as if she had just gut-punched him. “Jenna, I can’t!” he blurted. “And even if I could, you can’t go into that forest alone at night. You’d be killed.”

“You don’t know everything, Nik.” Tears began to leak down her face again.

“Okay, sure, you’re right. I don’t know everything, but I do know that if you don’t go over that bridge with me, Thaddeus will drag you over it.”

“Is he dead?”

“Thaddeus? No, he’s right up there and he’s going to—” Nik began, purposely misunderstanding, but the innocence in the girl’s big eyes stopped his words. He drew a deep breath, ran a hand through his hair, and began again. “Yes. Your father is dead. I—I’m sorry,” he added, feeling as if he was trying to balance on shifting sand.

Jenna’s slender shoulders drooped. “Why?”

“He attacked us. We had to kill him.”

“Not that. Why are you sorry?”