Page 14 of Hadley's Heroes
“He’s missing, missing?” My stomach dropped and Luna came in and hugged me.
“It’s okay, they’ll find him. He might have been caught up somewhere chatting. Adee talks a lot, you know.” I nodded at her words, but she knew as well as me, he wasn’t chatting for two whole days.
I felt all the girls now hugging me, and it felt nice to have all their support. I was so lucky to be with them all, which reminded me of the girls now in the six different clans. How were they doing without something like this? If I didn’t have Elle for all that time, man… I wouldn’t have survived, that was for sure. I needed this friendship.
“Did you still want to practice? Or we could sit down by the fire and just talk, eat, make things that are not useable,” Quinn offered. She made me laugh and I shook my head.
“No, you make useable things.” She had tried to make a loom… it looked cool. I didn’t really know what it was at first until she explained that it could knit our blankets for us a lot faster. But it didn’t pan out like she hoped, it just wouldn’t work the way it should. Like for one, it didn’t knit anything.
Her mate Ryven—Apak’s brother who has only one eye—was working on it with her now. He was an odd guy, and he barely slept in her hut. He was always in the trees. But it was close to being finished. There was just something missing, and I was certain, if anyone could work this out it would be Quinn. She was the idea lady, she had lots of ideas. We had now built a shelter and under it was a huge table and bench seats because of one of her ideas. I loved it there, it was nice to keep the suns off you for a few hours in the day.
“Maybe both?” I could smell meat cooking; I was excited to get some in my belly. I was craving meat nonstop lately.
“Singing and talking it is.” She clapped her hands and spun, walking with an extra bounce in her step.
It had been hours. Okay, I thought it felt like hours, but I didn’t have a watch. I wasn’t allowed to bring one here, even if I did try. You would have thought the translators might be more equipped, maybe a watch and compass would have been handy. But nope, human girls get only the basics, and even then we didn’t get basics. We got fuck all when we were dumped here.
“Do you think the M’Mori have him?” I asked. I just couldn’t stop running different scenarios through my mind. Where was Adee? And Aalee had left before the search party, so now I had two of them to worry about.
“No, don’t say that. They wouldn’t have him. They wouldn’t come out here.” Luna patted my thigh, but the look on Jessica’s face was the opposite. She was thinking the same thing. It made sense, all those slaves of theirs had disappeared.
I know that K’Tem had taken the tracking devices off all the males here at Clan Freedom, and someone had gone and thrown them away, somewhere far from here. What if the M’Mori saw them on their tracking systems and went after them? Saw they had been removed, and now were out looking for the Aashi and Zalli who once wore them?
I wrapped my hands around my stomach and I felt someone rub my back. There was a commotion. I turned to see a bunch of purple guys coming through the main part of the clan. They were carrying someone on a stretcher and I knew straightaway it was Adee.
“Adee,” I shouted as I rose to my feet.
Chapter Twelve
Vetok
Adee was breathing, but only just. He had an injury to his head, a large rock covered in his blood laid beside him. He must have been climbing up the cliff and the rock came loose, hitting him as it fell. He had been laying out here in the heat without water for two nights.
“Adee,” my Hadley cried out. This male she had wanted as her mate, and now he was injured. I wasn’t sure if he would make it. Axoh and Jaim had given each other looks when we found him that told me they were thinking the same. But I didn’t want to tell Hadley that, she was worried enough about the littermate, Aalee, and it wasn’t good for the kits. So now I had to do something I didn’t wish to. I wasn’t honest with her.
“He’ll be okay, it was only a bump to the head. We need to get him back to the hut and heal him. He will be back to his happy self in a few days, my heart.” I watched as her shoulders sagged in relief. Jaim gave me a look, one of disapproval, and I shook my head. If he knew what was good for him he would follow my story.
“Oh, Adee. My poor Aashi.” She stroked his face. He was pale and clammy. “We will take good care of you.” Jaim gave her a sad smile and I growled at him, but Jaka understood. He took Hadley’s hand.
“You know what, we need to gather some medicine. We will need more to help Adee get better.” She hesitated as a few of us carried Adee into the hut and placed him on her nest. She was beside him, stroking his hair, her hands hovering over him, not sure what to do.
“Can someone go get it?” She looked around the room as she stood, worrying her hands and pacing. She kept glancing back to Adee and making sad sounds as Jaim spoke up.
“You should go get some. He’ll be okay now that he is here. Help Jaka pick the purple flowers.” I blinked a few times. Purple flowers? He gave me a look that he wasn’t happy with himself for lying but I nodded my thanks. She didn’t need to worry herself. I knew she was strong, but if we gave her something to focus on she would not worry so much.
“Okay, purple flowers. We’ll get a heap of them.” She turned and left with Jaka. Jaim and Axoh got to work, cleaning the wound on Adee’s head. It was on the back of his head and it was really bad that he wasn’t healing.
Jaim did all he could before he sat down beside him. He used a cloth and water to wash his face. I watched the way he cared for Adee. I knew he would make a great mate for Hadley.
“I am not proud of myself for the words I told Hadley. I did it only because I understood what you both were doing. She is going to be so upset with me when she returns.” I shook my head. She wouldn’t be upset, well, maybe. But she didn’t have to know.
“Jaka would tell her that there were none here and get her to pick something else. Just take it and act like it will help. One day she will find out, but then it would be okay. Adee will be healed and her mate, as will you.”
I could see he didn’t believe me, but I knew Hadley. She told me that she had worked out a way to choose Jaim and Adee and keep Aalee close and cared for. My mate had a huge heart, too big, and I worried so much that she was taking on too much. She needed to relax and not worry.
Hours had passed and Adee’s condition didn’t change. If anything, he looked paler. Jaim had spoken to a few of the other takxe and they had stopped by to help, but they didn’t know what else they could do other than wait. Jaim had tried to get Adee to wake so we could give him some water. We were worried he hadn’t had any and that was stopping the healing process. But he had also lost a lot of blood. The door to the hut opened slowly.
“We’re back. We couldn’t find the purple ones, they must be hard to find with everything being purple. But Jaka climbed high and we got green ones. I held them while he went up the trees. He said they work just as good.” She handed a bunch of green flowers to Jaim as he glanced to me and nodded.
