Page 43 of Hunting for her Heart
The men slow down to a walk once we’re back under the cover of trees, and the pulsing in my core tells me I can’t stay in this position anymore.
“Hawk,” I say, pulling my face back to look at him. “I need to walk for a bit.”
“No,” he says, not stopping his pace. “You have no shoes, and your feet are injured from earlier.” I hadn’t even realizedthey’d noticed the condition of my feet, covered in scrapes. Running for your life will tend to do that to you.
“Please,” I ask again, feeling like if I don’t shut my legs soon, something will happen.
“What’s going on?” Ronan asks, stopping to turn to see what’s happening.
“She wants to walk.”
I unhook my legs and take us stopping as an opportunity to pull away. Thankfully, he lets me, gently placing me down on my own feet.
“We need to get you some shoes,” Ronan says with a frown. “We should have taken some from the dead men.” I frown, unsure what I think about that, although they were likely all way too big for me.
“Is it safe to stop here?” Bo asks. “I can make her something. They won’t be anything great, but they will stop her from injury if she wants to walk.” I smile at him in thanks as Ronan looks around.
“This is as good a place as any. I’d like to find something more defensible before nightfall, though.”
Bo directs me to sit on a fallen tree trunk, then collects a few supplies and kneels down in front of me. He wraps my feet in some of the large green leaves I used to make their loincloths, then pulls out a long, thin strip of leather and starts to wrap it around my foot and ankle, just the way it looks on his own legs.
“Where did you get that?” I ask in surprise. The loincloths would have been much easier to make with those leather strips.
“It was in the supply crate.”
“What else did you find?” Hawk asks, his back turned to us as he watches theforest for threats.
I notice both Ronan and Bo are carrying large bags that they didn’t have before as Bo starts listing off supplies. “Some blankets, a small pile of cloths, a small box of healing supplies, a flint, and some food and water, but we left those.”
“You left the food and water?” I ask in confusion. Wouldn’t they be the most important things to take?
He nods as he starts on my right foot. “We can provide those for you from the forest, and we didn’t have the space to take it all. The comfort items are far more important.”
They preferred a blanket over food. I take a second to look over his barely dressed form as something dawns on me. “You must get really cold at night.”
His eyes lift to meet mine in confusion.
“Because you barely have any clothes on,” I explain.
“We tend to run very warm,” he says as he continues with my new footwear.
“So why take the blankets?” I ask in confusion.
A smirk pulls at his lips. “For you, of course.” He finishes my new sandals as I just stare at him in surprise. They told me they would take care of me, and that I’m their mate, but I’m still processing what all that means.
The fact that they turned down food and water so they could provide items of comfort for me makes my heart swell. I can’t even put a name to what I’m feeling for them right now, but I know I like it.
“Alright, Willow. Why don’t you try standing and see how they feel?” he tells me before taking my hand and helping me to my feet. I take a few tentative steps.
They aren’t exactly comfortable, but they don’t feel like they are going to hurt, either. Having something on my feet makes me feel safer about walking through this jungle. “They’re good! Thank you, Bo,” I say, smiling up at him.
He smiles, bending low so his face is right in front of mine. His blue eyes darken, then he turns his head and points to his cheek. “Does that deserve a kiss of thanks?” I smile shyly before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss there, lingering a little longer than necessary.
When he stands back up and looks at me in satisfaction, I feel my cheeks grow warm. Ronan steps forward to take my hand as he instructs, “Bo, you’re in the lead. Look for somewhere to spend the night, preferably near a water source.”
We walk for an hour before Ronan insists on carrying me again. Since I’m not used to the exercise yet, I agree. Besides, my body has cooled down since my run with Hawk.
It’s another ninety minutes before Bo slows near a large rock formation. “Hopefully, there’s a cave in here somewhere,” he says as Ronan sets me back on my feet and takes my hand. We move slowly along the large wall of rock, keeping our eyes open for some sort of entrance.
