To Love a Dragon - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,1

to wipe his eyes and nose, not relenting as he tried to bat her hand away and turn his face aside.

Once she’d wrapped the new cloth around his bottom, she plucked up the soiled diaper cloth, plunged it into the water, and scrubbed it using the sand and rocks on the streambed.

Serek crawled to Leyloni, grabbing a fistful of her hair and pinching her arm in his struggle to climb on top of her. Leyloni hurriedly wrung out the wet diaper cloth, shoved it into her bag, and pulled the baby into her lap. His tortured, teary eyes met hers.

Leyloni’s heart lurched. His big, dark brown eyes were so like his mother’s. Atalla had been utterly devoted to her son—and she’d been Leyloni’s dearest friend since childhood.

Leyloni brushed Serek’s tears away with her thumbs. The gesture was enough to quiet him, and his cries finally gave way to soft hiccups. “Everything will be okay, Serek. I…I know I am not your mother, but I will take care of you. I promise.” She cupped her hand, dipped it into the stream, and raised it to his lips, helping him drink. “And when we reach the Snow Tree tribe, they will spoil you because you are male, and that makes you special. You are our hope. Our future.”

Somewhere close—much too close—the undergrowth shook, and several branches snapped. The sounds came in quick succession and stopped abruptly. They seemed somehow apart from those created by the wind.

Heartbeat quickening, Leyloni set Serek behind her, drew her knife, and fixed her gaze on the direction from which the sounds had come.

The forest ahead was much the same as everywhere else—a mess of huge trees, dangling moss and vines, undergrowth so tangled, thick, and tall in some places that it seemed impenetrable, exposed roots and chunks of dark rock. Years of hunting had taught her to spot even the smallest hints of movement amidst the forest vegetation, but the wind had everything swaying wildly now, making it impossible to pick out any specific motion.

Forcing her breaths to come slow and measured, she watched and listened. As though the attack on her village, her panicked flight through the woods with a baby in her arms, and the imminent storm weren’t enough, was fate about to place some ravenous beast in her path?

Serek remained blessedly quiet, but Leyloni’s pounding heart filled in for his silence. Her skin crawled, the hairs on the back of her neck rose, and scalding heat built in her chest. She knew this sensation—there were eyes upon her from somewhere in the undergrowth. Predatory eyes.

She waited, remaining vigilant and counting her heartbeats. When nothing had moved by the time she’d reached two hundred, she released a slow, shaky breath. There had likely been some small, curious creature watching her—and it had likely been even more frightened than Leyloni.

Glancing at Serek to ensure he was still with her, she sheathed her knife and shifted her satchel to hang at her back. She kept her eyes scanning the forest as she leaned down to drink from the river and wash her face. It was only as she was refilling her waterskin that her tension eased.

Weariness swept through her on the heels of her fading alarm. She wanted nothing more than to stop here, to sit back against a tree and sleep, but she could not do so. She had to keep moving.

Leyloni snatched up the blanket and pushed herself onto her feet. Serek was in the process of crawling away again. She bent down, snatched him up, and wrapped the blanket around his lower body. He held a stick in his little fist. Staring at her wide-eyed, he raised the stick to his mouth and bit down on it.

With a sigh, Leyloni carefully extracted the stick from his grasp and tossed it away. He immediately started crying. Tears flowed down his pinkened cheeks as he reached forward to grab at her top, tugging at the garment in an attempt to reach her breasts just as he had several times before.

“I know. I am hungry, too.” Cupping the back of his head with one hand, she settled him down against her shoulder and walked along the streambank.

She lost all sense of time as she trudged onward, using all her willpower to keeping her exhausted, aching body in motion while keeping watch for suitable shelter and something to eat.

A splash of bright color flitted through her vision, but it took her mind a few moments to catch up