Page 38 of Fated to the Hunter
“But what if I find something new? What if it’s right there and I just—”
“You’re exhausted,” I said, tucking her under my arm. “The books do not have legs. They will be there in the morning. But you? You need sleep. Even the brightest fire needs fuel.”
She hesitated, stubborn as ever, so I did the only logical thing. I scooped her up into my arms and started down the stairs toward the room we’d claimed as our temporary den.
“I can walk, you know.”
“I know,” I said. “But this way I get to carry you and win the argument.”
“But—”
“No buts,” I growled, pressing a kiss to her temple. “The only butt I care about is yours, and it’s going to bed. With me. Now.”
She huffed, but her arms curled around my neck anyway. “Bossy.”
“So I am. And highly motivated by the idea of you horizontal and moaning my name.”
“Ugh! I’ve created a monster.” She settled against my body, the cloud that had been hanging over her head dissipating. “But you know what?”
“What?”
“I think I like it.”
Chapter 21: Kiera
I blinked awake, cocooned in heat and muscle, Bael’k’s arms wrapped around me like a fortress. For a heartbeat, I forgot we were alone inside a Dead Zone surrounded by more scourge than I could count. All I knew was that I was in the arms of my protector. His woodsy scent, his warmth, the steady thrum of his heartbeat under my cheek all felt so natural, like I belonged here. Safe. Wanted.
It was my fourth time waking in Bael’k’s arms in this bed. We napped when the sun was at its highest in the sky. And then again at night. It was morning again.
I burrowed deeper into his chest, the steady rise and fall of his breathing anchoring me like gravity, and reminding me that despite everything I’d been through these past few years, I was still alive. I hadn’t wanted this. Not really. For years, I’d tried to avoid the messy tangle of emotions and true connection, terrified I might get attached only to have them cruelly torn away again. I’d told myself I was fine on my own, that I didn’t need anyone.
I’d been on the run with Travis for a few months. We were still arguing, but unable to leave each other because we were all wehad left, when we had a stroke of good luck. We found my family, hiding out down the road from my brother’s old place.
But that had been a curse, rather than good luck. Hunger and sickness picked us off one by one, and the scourge finished the job when spring finally came. I didn’t know how I made it to New Franklin. But when I did, I was lost, angry, and heartbroken. I avoided intimacy like the plague. Losing people was tough, and I’d barely survived it the first time.
I’d avoided friendships too, but people like Dottie and Connie eventually wormed their way in.
And now, here I was, wrapped in Bael’k like he was the only thing keeping me tethered to this terrifying new world. And the wildest part? I didn’t want to leave.
Somewhere between the excitement of being on an honest-to-goodness quest and the quiet moments where he just listened, and I mean really listened, as I worked through things in my head out loud, I’d stopped resisting. And now, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to the way things were before. I wasn’t sure I could.
Because that terrifying new world? It wasn’t so terrifying anymore, not when I was with him. Instead, all I saw now was all the potential to grow. Just a few short days ago, my goal had been to help rebuild things, to make things the way they had been before the bugs and the chaos, but that didn’t seem enough anymore. I wanted it to be better. I didn’t want to restore what we had, but to build something new. Something better.
Could I do that with Bael’k by my side? As what, exactly? My alien boyfriend? That didn’t sound right. Boyfriend sounded wrong for someone like Bael’k.
I leaned back, putting enough space between us so I could drink him in. Those majestic horns, that chiseled jawline, the firm lips that kissed me like I was the only thing that mattered in the universe. And then there was the rest of him. He had shoulders built like he bench-pressed meteors, a chest so broad that it could moonlight as a mattress, and arms that even now wrapped around me with a gentleness that defied their strength.
Alien boyfriend didn’t even come close. But if not that, then what? A mate?
That was so… permanent. Was that really what I wanted?
Bael’k’s arms tightened around me with a sleepy groan. “You’re squirming,” he mumbled, voice thick with sleep. “Stay still. We still have time to rest.”
I smirked, not bothering to hide it. “Clingy much.” He’d insisted on holding me every time we napped, claiming that it was for my safety. I wasn’t complaining.
He cracked one eye open, the gold of it still hazy. “You enjoy it.”
I did. Too much. But I wasn’t about to admit that while his bedhead was making my heart do gymnastics. Horns and messy hair were a hell of a combo. I reached up to finger-comb through strands that had fallen out of the leather thong tying them back.
