Page 44 of Not Like The Other Girls

Or has he somehow turned into an advertisement from The Truman Show?

Lily blinks yet again, coming out of her headspace. “’Kay. How’d you do that, though? Turn into a dragon and breathe fire out of your nose?”

“Nah. When I turn, I turn into a Chinese dragon—and those can’t exactly spit fire.”

“Well, if that ain’t a little disappointing.” Lily speaks as she blinks for the three hundredth time since she was introduced, but that’s just what romance book heroines tend to do. “Bro, we don’t even have wood to make a fire brand, let alone a whole bonfire that may or may not smoke us alive.”

It ain’t a nice vision, and Lily sure doesn't want to end up as an oversized piece of smoked salmon for Evera the ice queen to find, if something ever goes wrong. And with how her and her man’s luck seem to be running these days, it would definitely go wrong. And Lily would never go back to see the face of either her ranch or her momma again, not that either would miss her presence much.

Not ideal.

No. Less than ideal.

“Lily, how smart you are. Then I’d guess we’ll just have to sleep in the cold.”

“But aren't you supposed to have some secret stash of survival stuff hidden away? Love interests usually can fix everything.”

Well, almost everything.

So they end up crawling into a nook somewhere between the rocks—everywhere’s a rock inside a cave—and huddle together, sharing their body heat. It would be quite a romantic scene if Lily and her boyfriend aren’t freezing their toes into icy icicles at the moment, because the presumed heat generator of the cave can only do so much.

“Goodnight,” Every says from the side of the dark nook that might or might not have space insects creeping and crawling.

He kisses his precious girl’s forehead chastely, his plush lips pressing her brow. “Lily, you are finger lickin’ good.”

“Even better than chicken nuggets?”

“Even better than that and an overpriced ‘budget’ burger combined. Why are you thinking of that, though?”

“I kinda miss them too, you know. The pleasures of life I’ve always overlooked.” Lily sighs with a level of wholesomeness high enough to reach the Himalayas.

He side-smirks, a singular dimple showing in the shadows. “You’re so poetic today, darling. Then I’ll be sure to bring you for some drive-through food and unhealthy calories when we’re no longer hunted, and the world is healing, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

CHAPTER 15: DYSFUNCTIONAL HONEYMOON VACATION

“You know, babe, this can be like a honeymoon for us,” Every says with a small yawn just as Lily rises and shines from her slumber.

She wonders for a moment what time it is, and guesses it to be at least twelve hours since she last opened her eyes—so probably morning. Because Lily Lilith Lithala never sleeps less than twelve hours. And her sleeping cycle is perfectly rigid and precise, her body clock never failing her even once. Hence why she never reached school in time for homeroom during her high school years. And why she knows the time now.

“What?” she asks her man curtly after contemplating the time.

“I was thinking this could be like a dysfunctional honeymoon vacation for us,” he repeats, pulling her in for a friendly bear hug. “It might not be ideal, but it’ll totally work out. You see, there are just the two of us in who know how wide this desolation stretches, living together. Ain’t that sweet?”

Sweet and unsafe, yes.

“Sounds kinda tiring for me, dude. Ya know, even back at the ranch, we might have been quite broke, but we still had Walmart and Tesco and Costco and the dollar store. And whatever. But here, my man, we’re in a recreation of fucking Stone Age—but make it sci-fi.”

Every smiles through her rant and rambles, radiating an aura of positivity.

“Chill girl,” he says in a sassy tone, “we can always hunt for our meals. You’ve watched enough Rambo reruns these past days to know what to do.”

Lily just sighs heavily, imitating the body language of most broody CEO alpha wolves out there, in contrast to her delicate Y/N role. “No offense to your genius, dude, but do we at least have guns or knives? Or a stove to cook our prey over?”

“No, but we do have these.” Every stands up, then flexes his muscles like a competing bodybuilder.

Drumrolls sound, and his theme song starts.