once reminiscent of what he’d always felt from his spark and wholly different from it, raced through his body again.
Moving as quietly as he could, he pushed himself up and crept closer to her. He eased down on the opposite side of the fire, curling his body to create a safe harbor for her and Serek not unlike the seaside bays he’d sometimes seen in his younger years. The firelight only enhanced the softness of her features.
He breathed in her scent through his nostrils as he ran his eyes over her again, enjoying the increased detail gained by his closeness. Her hair was drying into a mass of curls that shone with gold and copper highlights, contrasting her darker brows and lashes. Those tiny brown spots on her skin were more defined and concentrated across her cheeks and nose.
Arysteon’s spark flared with the sudden urge to touch the tips of his tongue to her skin. Was there a difference in feel, a difference in taste, between the pale parts of her flesh and those speckles?
She was so different from him, so small, so delicate.
So beautiful.
If she were to touch him, if he were to become like her…would it be a bad thing? He would have a mate, he would have a whelping, he would have a clan. He would have a purpose.
He would no longer be alone.
4
Leyloni woke with a start to a cry from Serek. Instinctively, she pulled him into the protection of her body as she raised her head and reached for the knife at her waist—but her knife was not there. She was naked. She paused for a few moments, fighting back her grogginess and disorientation, forcing herself to full awareness.
The fire was low but healthy. Its weak light didn’t reach the walls and ceiling of the cavern, but it cast ghostly glows on the roots, vines, and debris that were all around. More distinct was the strange stone pillar nearby. She’d never seen its like—it was as tall and wide as a tree trunk but stood unnaturally straight.
Her eyes shifted to her clothing, which was laid out on the floor on the other side of the fire, exactly where she’d left it.
The light coming in through the cavern opening was even weaker than the fire’s, but its quality had taken on a particular shade of gray suggesting it was morning—quite early morning, perhaps, but morning, nonetheless.
Serek wriggled against her with another displeased cry. Leyloni released her hold on him, and he immediately rolled over and pushed himself into a sitting position. He babbled to himself, patting his palms atop the blanket as though he hadn’t been upset a moment earlier.
Leyloni eased back down to watch Serek. He talked in a language all his own, his babbling broken by occasional discontented cries that stopped abruptly whenever he found something interesting to grab. A leaf that had made its way onto the blanket, a loose thread, Leyloni’s wild hair—they all provided bursts of entertainment for the curious baby.
After tucking her hair out of his reach, she brushed her fingers over his head.
The wind was still howling outside, and by the sound of the rain, the downpour had not let up. But Leyloni and Serek were safe and dry within this shelter.
Her hand stilled. But what of Arysteon? Had he been real or a figment of her imagination, brought to life in her dreams by old stories?
He must be real. Who else would have kept the fire burning as I slept?
As loath as Leyloni was to rise, she drew the blanket back and forced herself to her feet. She rounded the firepit and gathered her clothes. Serek crawled after her.
“Did you see where the dragon went?” Leyloni asked as she drew on her skirt and tied the lacings. The hem barely reached her mid-thigh after she’d had to cut it to make diaper cloths for Serek.
Serek grabbed her leg, bracing against it as he hauled himself up onto his chubby little legs. He looked up at her and whined.
“What terrible hunters we are,” she teased, smiling down at him. She slipped her arms through the short sleeves of her top, pulled the sides together, and laced it closed. The fabric was still damp, its touch cool against her skin.
Crouching, she lifted Serek off the floor. He wrapped his arms around her neck as she stood.
“The storm has not yet passed,” she said. “Do you think he will allow us to stay?”
Though the change was subtle, Leyloni noticed immediately when