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“And you don’t sleep in a tent either,” I pointed out, looking up at him with a raised brow.

Fennec ignored me and reached for Sitka’s head, scratching it. “Hope she’ll get better. What day do you want us to come down to head to town?” he asked.

“Nineteenth is good. Be here by ten.”

We nodded, and after leaning down to kiss Sitka’s head, I smiled at Jason and waved. “See you then. Tell Mama I said hi if you happen to see her in town.”

“Will do,” he replied, and when I turned to walk toward the trail leading back to the forest, Fennec stayed there to talk to Jason.

I waited by the end of the driveway, looking at them and moving my toes so they wouldn’t freeze.

I had enough layers over my body to not get cold, but my toes always froze.

No matter how many socks or how warm my boots were.

“All right. See you then,” Fennec said after they were done talking, and when he reached me, I smiled at him in the hopes his emotionless mimic would turn into something more positive.

“Ready?” he asked, nodding toward the white forest.

“Yes. Maybe we’ll come across some animals. You brought your gun, right?”

“Yeah, I did. But I’m not sure I’m in the mood to hunt right now. Killing that fox made me feel bad for breaking the promise I made to you.”

Well…that’s surprising.

“You feel bad about it?”

“Of course I do, Vespyr. I promised you years ago that I wouldn’t hunt and kill any foxes, and Papa promised too. You think I’d ever break my promises?”

We started walking, but my eyes were still on him.

I pressed my lips into a tight line and swallowed the lump that had formed so quickly in my throat.

“I’m sorry you’re feeling that way. I’m happy and proud you never broke our promise, and I understand why you had to kill that fox. It was already in pain.”

“Yeah, it was. I just knew I couldn’t have hidden it from you and I hate knowing I hurt you.”

Reaching for his hand, I laced my fingers through his and squeezed gently. “I’m okay. You had an acceptable reason to do what you did.”

He nodded and smiled at me as we continued to walk, but I could tell he still wasn’t over it, thinking I was still hurting.

I stopped as we reached a deeper part of the forest, and by pulling at his hand, he stopped too and turned to look at me.

“What?”

“I had another dream about you,” I told him, wanting to show him how important he was to me.

“You were there. And I love dreaming about you. It lets me know that I’m not alone and never will be.”

He studied me and tilted his head to the side. “Again? How vivid was that dream this time?” he asked.

As much as I remembered every little detail, he didn’t. That was proof enough that I had only imagined him bringing me to my first ever orgasm.

He continued to study me closely, letting his eyes wander from my face down to our hands still holding on to each other tightly.

“I think about you a lot, you know? When I’m out hunting, before we go to sleep…and even when you sit next to me by the fire. You’re always on my mind, Vespyr, and you’ve always been.”

His words made me smile. “You too.” And he even managed to take over my dreams.

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