tent-sharing plan, “and you need to stop thinking you’re the boss just because I let you kiss me. It was one time, and it was a mistake.”
The crew got busy studying their boots.
“Lana…” Malin didn’t sound so tough now.
“No. It’s not happening again. Accept it.”
Grif would have wished himself anywhere else. He almost felt sorry for the scowling male, but he knew this was useful for Nayla to witness.
Especially since Malin plopped his bitter ass back down and started mumbling to himself.
Even from over the crowd, Grif read the surprise in Nayla’s gaze.
“We’re taking her to our tent where she’ll feel safe to talk.” Lana leveled a warning glare in his direction before wrapping her arm around Nayla’s tiny shoulder. The female wasn’t too tall herself, but she looked like a giant next to his pixie. “She’s one of us now.”
He’d never forget the expression on Nayla’s face. The surprise and pleasure, the hungry need and flaring hope, the flash of joy—all of it would be branded in his mind forever.
He wanted her wearing that look for all time. He didn’t care what he had to do to make it happen.
“Don’t try and follow us.” Sweeping Nayla forward, Lana and the other females surged away.
“Hold up.”
Everyone froze. His tone brooked no other response.
He had no problem with folks speaking their mind, but, in the end, he made the final call. That reality wasn’t up for discussion.
Civilians, though, sometimes didn’t quite get the pecking order until they were reminded.
Lana swung back around, fear and fire in her gaze. He liked her a hundred times better for it. His girl needed all the protectors she could get, even those who were frightened themselves.
He held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “You’ll get no objection from me…as long as Nayla is okay with the plan.”
He didn’t want his wild thing pushed into anything, and he wasn’t unaware of the nerves beneath her astonishment. She was as scared as she was excited by the other female’s support.
“You always have the right to say what you want,” he told her. “To me, to them, and especially to Malin.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Lana and Cam startle, as if neither had expected him to give Nayla a choice, but he was too focused on the shy smile blooming right in front of him to care much about anything else.
“Yes.” His wild thing blew out a slow breath and nodded. “I okay with this.”
It all had to be so strange, but she was as brave as ever. Grif would have cheered, but his throat was too tight.
She chewed on her lip. “You watch Sharluff?”
He hid a groan. “Of course.” Good thing the creature’s leash was tied fast to a sturdy rock, anchored by knots Grif had triple-checked could not come undone. “Have fun.”
A few clicks and hand gestures in Sharluff’s direction, another small smile for him, and Nayla was on her way, her smaller form soon swallowed up by the others as they clustered around her and led her toward the females’ tent.
His chest went tight.
Every nerve inside him shrieked in protest. Help me. He hadn’t been vigilant enough when he was young and look where that had gotten him. But he wanted Nayla to have what she wanted, too.
Behind him, he heard Sharluff’s pitiful growls and some chuffing that sounded a lot like get back here and pet me. He knew the feeling. Who would have known he and the feathery beast would have something in common?
He’d envisioned that protecting Nayla would mean having her by his side twenty-four seven, at least at the start. Now, he was beginning to see it meant letting her go way sooner than expected.
It was harder than he thought it would be.
32
“Are you thirsty?”
Nayla shook her head.
The other females had led her to a tent made up of a patchwork of coverings sewn together. She had no trouble standing in the center, but the tallest female’s head skimmed the ceiling. Clothing and blankets had been pushed to the side to give them a small area in which to stand.
Talg would have beaten them for speaking to him as they had to Grif and the other males. These bold females had not only avoided punishment but gotten their way. She stood in awe of their courage and strength.
“Hungry?”
“No.”
The females exchanged a look, their lips pressed tight, creating the same kind of lines she had on the bridge of her nose. She wondered what she was doing