Page 19 of Heart of the Hunted
CHAPTER SIX
Natalia
"Why have you brought us this way?" Bella demanded. "You shouldn't have worried about the monsters killing us." She used her fingers to make air quotes when she said ‘monsters’, which Natalia decided to ignore. "No, you're going to make us freeze to death instead."
"Don't be so melodramatic, Bella. None of us are going to freeze to death," Donovan told her.
"Not all of us, no, because I for one am not going in there." She folded her arms in front of her chest.
Natalia had known that Bella was going to cause problems when she decided to take this route. That's one of the reasons why she hadn't said anything before they arrived at the beginning of the mountain pass. She would have kept it secret for even longer if she could have, but unfortunately, she couldn't hide it when it was right in front of them.
"I'm telling you, she's going to get us all killed," Bella said.
Finally reaching the end of her patience, Natalia turned to face Bella.
"I tell you what, you want to go your own way, then by all means... go. If not, then shut the fuck up. I've had enough of listening to you now." Looking around at everyone else in the group, she added: "And that goes for the rest of you as well. If you don't want to be here, then fuck off, because no one is forcing you to stay. Either way, I don't care, I'm taking this route north. If you want to come with me, then you best be ready to go because I'm leaving now."
Without saying another word... or even looking at any of them... Natalia started walking. She didn't care one way or another if they joined her because she was more than happy to make the journey on her own.
"I'm with you, always," Amberly said, coming up alongside her.
"Me too," Donovan said as he joined them.
Smiling, Natalia said "I thought you two might."
"You best believe it, because you're not getting rid of us that easily," Donovan said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"We couldn't lose you if we tried," Amberly said.
"And it's not like we haven't tried," Natalia said playfully.
"Now you see, I know you're only kidding," he said smugly. "You two would be lost without me."
"Hah, I think you've got that the wrong way around," Natalia told him.
"I'm with Natalia, it's definitely you who needs us," Amberly agreed. "Half the time you don't know which way is north, even when we're heading in that direction."
"If you're talking about yesterday, that was just a joke," he said. "I knew that was east, I was just testing that you two knew it."
Natalia and Amberly shared a look, before bursting out laughing.
"I'm telling you the truth," he said.
"Yeah, whatever you need to tell yourself," Natalia said.
"Looks like everyone except Bella is coming with us." Amberly looked back at the group. "Do you think one of us should go back for her?"
"My answer would be no, let her fend for herself," Donovan said.
"We can't do that," Amberly said.
"Why the hell not?" he asked. "It'll be a lot quieter without her."
"Yeah, that may be, but she wouldn't last two minutes out there on her own, and you know it," Amberly told him.
As much as Natalia hated to admit it, Amberly was right. It wasn't safe for any of them to be alone, especially someone like Bella. She could barely cook a meal and that was only if somebody else started a fire for her, because she couldn't start one on her own. So, there was no way she would last very long on her own.
"Amberly's right, someone has to go back for her," Natalia said.
