Hannah's Hero - Ruby Dixon Page 0,37

speaks up. “The cave is just ahead. We will need to check it to ensure nothing has taken shelter inside.”

The world tilts again, and then J’shel is putting my feet down to the ground once more. I wobble, trying to get my balance, and he carefully touches my face, holding me until he’s sure I won’t fall over, and then moves to join Taushen.

Brooke bends over in the snow, retching and coughing. She finishes as I go to stand near her and makes a face. “That’s the worst. Well, no, staying out without shelter overnight is the worst. That’s just unpleasant.” She takes a swig from her waterskin and rinses her mouth out. “You okay?”

“I’ll live.” My stomach’s a little upset, but it isn’t the worst time I’ve ever had. I eye the cave mouth that J’shel is disappearing into, spear in hand, while Taushen waits at the entrance. “So this is one of the supply caves, right?”

“Hunter caves, yeah,” Brooke says, taking another sip of water. “We’ll be good for the night. Then tomorrow, fruit sweet fruit.” She sighs and rubs her belly. “I have had such a craving, you have no idea. This little one is gonna have a sweet tooth from hell.”

I smile awkwardly, reminded that even though Brooke’s belly is completely flat, she’s definitely pregnant because of resonance. That means that if I get together with J’shel, it’s not just a hookup, it’s a baby. I have to remind myself of that every time he starts to look sexy and attractive, or when he touches my face so tenderly.

It means a baby.

It means giving up on going home, ever.

It means everything changes.

There’s nothing that I’ve ever wanted more than my book career. I’ve dreamed of it ever since I was a little girl, writing my first stories in a pink notebook. I’ve worked so hard to get here, writing and rewriting my book a dozen times before sending out dozens of query letters. Getting an agent. The book going to auction and then a flurry of foreign and movie rights selling as the project picked up steam.

All my dreams were coming true, and I was ripped away from them just before I got to experience them. It’s the cruelest joke ever, and I’d give anything, anything to go back.

But then J’shel emerges from the cave, and his gaze immediately searches me out. A smile crosses his broad, handsome features and he looks so delighted to see me—as if I wouldn’t be standing here—that I feel…strange.

And I wonder if book tours and movies and success are worth more than being someone’s everything.

I don’t know the answer to any of this. I just know I’m confused.

9

HANNAH

A fire is built and the cave is made cozy for four people. It’s a tiny cave, barely more than the size of my bedroom back home, but the ceiling is low enough that both Taushen and J’shel have to crouch so their horns don’t scrape the top. There are baskets of dried food in the back, all securely lidded, and rolls of furs, and just seeing all that carefully stashed away makes me feel better about the supply situation overall. Of course no one worries. They have caves full of supplies. They’ve lived through hundreds and hundreds of these winters as a people. Of course they know how to survive.

It’s just my inexperience with all of it that makes me such a pain in the ass.

The dead animal from the cache is spitted and cooked, and we eat. The rest of the meat is smoked for travel tomorrow, and Taushen scrapes the hide and talks of past hunts with J’shel while Brooke yawns and I drowse near the fire. We’re both too tired to be chatty, far more tired than either of the guys are. I don’t mind. Sometimes it’s nice to just be alone with your thoughts. So I stare into the fire and wonder what this fruit cave will be like.

My eyelids are heavy and I’m half asleep while sitting upright when Taushen moves and helps Brooke to her feet. “Come to the furs, my mate. You are tired.”

“I’m cold,” she says, yawning. “Can I put my feet on your leg?”

He chuckles. “You will anyhow.”

“True.” She yawns again and I watch as she stumbles into bed, her eyes closed, and Taushen removes her boots for her, then piles the furs atop her and crawls in next to her.

I glance over at J’shel and notice that he’s busy making a bed