Page 8 of The Hunt

“We’re going to have to make do here.”

“Camping outside,” she said.

It had been a long time since they had slept outside, staring up at the stars.They used to do it all the time.

The ground was firm.They had no blanket.He took the bag off his shoulder and pushed the food to one side.With the other part of the bag, he made a makeshift pillow and placed it on the ground.

Lying down, he reached for her.“Come on.”

“What do you want me to do?”she asked.

“Sleep?There is nothing else we can do.There is no camp, no sleeping bags.It’s going to get cold, and you’re going to freeze, and I’m warm.You know this.Stop being a pain in the ass, just lie down and snuggle with me.It’s not that hard.We used to do it as kids.”

He was pretty sure she rolled her eyes.Jaxson had good vision, but that didn’t mean he could see every nook and cranny.

Calliope didn’t argue with him and collapsed onto the ground, moving close to him.

“I can’t believe we actually have to do this to survive.Don’t you think it’s crazy?”she asked.

“Yeah, it is totally crazy.”

She laughed.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I don’t know.You saying the wordcrazy, it is kind of funny.”

He couldn’t help but smile himself.It was good to hear her laugh.It had been too long since he last heard it.

“So, an ogre on our first day.That is pretty impressive, huh?”she asked.

“Please tell me you’re not thinking of turning this into one of the scariest adventures the pack has ever heard of.”

“As fun as that sounds, and attempting to put your theory to the test, I don’t have a death wish.We have no way of defending ourselves.All we’ve got is you being able to turn into a wolf.”She placed a hand on his chest.“Not that there is anything wrong with that.It is perfectly fine, but that’s the point.You can turn into a wolf, and I won’t do anything to risk your life.I’m not going to think of something we can’t ...get free of.It’s just not going to happen.We’ve got to make it out of here alive.”

He wanted to point out the way to do that was to mate.Neither of them said a word, but he had a feeling she already knew that.They were not at that point yet, to just sink into each other and give in to mating.

Calliope sighed.“It has been years since I’ve camped outside.I mean, it is freaky there are no stars.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“But this is kind of fun.Do you still do it?”

“Not since you and I used to do it.”

There was a brief silence.

“That seems like such a long time ago now,” she said.

“It was,” Jaxson said.“We’d spend hours outside.”

“Climbing trees, finding our own sense of adventure.I know you were teased a lot because you spent all your time with me, and never with anyone from the pack.”

“You were pack.”

“I’m part of the human segment.”

“Doesn’t matter.You were still pack, and those days of adventure and camping, and climbing anything that was tall ...they were awesome, and no one is going to take that from us.”

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