She guided her pet a safe distance away, lashing his lead to the rock so he could not break free.
She and Grif stared at each other.
“You stay hand and let Sharluff live.” She couldn’t get over it.
“He’s important to you.”
She blinked hard. Not a single soul had ever been concerned with what mattered to her.
He took a step closer. “I’m not perfect, Nayla. You know that better than anyone.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I won’t always be able to go against my nature and back down, but I’m also not a mindless destroyer. I can control myself. For you.”
Her breathing came faster.
“I want to be a good leader for my people. I’ve made no secret of that. But I’m learning from you, wild thing. I’m learning I won’t get there making demands or adhering to rigid lines. You push me—and that’s good.” He took another step in her direction. “Let’s work together as a team to get the females back and prevent a war.”
“Team.” She let the word twist around her tongue, the concept more exotic than the Other himself. She had never been made such an offer before. To be a part of something beyond herself. To be on the inside. She had wanted that for so long.
A safe place to land? Maybe she truly had found that, after all.
“I won’t lie to you, Nayla. Not ever.” He allowed her no quarter. “My people are nervous about your pack’s intentions. Your kind wants mine dead. We’ve got a ways to go until we can solve this situation without bloodshed. But look at us.” He lowered his voice. “We aren’t where we started out at all.”
“Th-that is truth.”
“I’ve always been a fighter and a protector. It’s who I am. It’s also what I think you need.” He stalked toward her, his glittering predatory eyes as intent as ever. “Give me a chance.”
It was a risk. She did not know how to be a part of a team. She did not even know how Others worked or if she could trust Grif to keep his word about the lack of bloodshed.
But there was also the chance that it was all possible.
Actions, not words. Grif was right. It was time to take a risk.
She was done being afraid to go for what she wanted, and what she craved was to be a part of something worthy and to have someone by her side who saw her as such.
Grif might not realize it yet, but she was a fighter and a protector, too. For the first time, she saw what she truly desired. Standing right in front of her.
If there was a chance she could gain acceptance and save her pack, she had to take the chance. If she could find the connection with Grif she’d always longed for, she had to try.
Hadn’t she told herself that from here on out she went for what she coveted?
Tipping up her chin, she cleared her throat and met his stare head-on. “I come with you. We work as team.”
His smile crinkled all the way to his eyes this time. It brought on that same strange fluttering in her chest.
“It’s going to be good. We’re going to fix this.” As usual, he spoke as if there was no other possibility. “I see only one potential problem.”
She stiffened. “What?”
His gaze shifted over her shoulder. “Him.”
Sharluff brayed in agreement.
31
“If no one’s going to eat them, can someone pass the leftovers?”
Grif chucked the last bars toward Zale, grateful to the guy for being such a damn pig, and for breaking the silence.
Hand snaking out at a near blur, his teammate caught the food so fast the tiny black braids at his forehead and beard barely moved.
“Thanks.” Zale shoved the bars into his mouth and then returned to staring at the flames.
Grif sighed.
Dinner around the fire was usually a lively affair. Not tonight. Tension left a sharp tang in the air, adding to the smoke and crackle of flames.
Bain was doing a lot of thoughtful contemplation of the dirt, his potion bottles clanking as he shifted on the rock he was using as a seat.
Jagger and Nash kept elbowing each other in the ribs, trying to get the other to talk first. Quil, comatose as usual, darted glances at the cluster of noncrew sitting on the other side of the fire.
It was hard to determine who he was staring at. Cam and Lana were both there, but so was Britta, a tall, strapping redhead with a soft demeanor who’d been a Resistance soldier before she was sent to Dragath25.
“When is Maddox returning?” Bain broke the silence.
“As soon as he’d relayed the latest news to the commander and gotten any additional orders.”
The silence stretched once more.
This had all seemed a lot easier when it had just been him, Nayla, and a sharp-beaked beast that wanted to eat him.
“Here.” Malin tossed Zale his bar as well. “You can have mine, too. I’m not hungry.” He leveled an accusatory glare Grif’s way.
The other male was still adjusting.
Grif and Nayla had slept for as short a time as possible while still allowing them to function. Then they started back the way they’d come. They’d met up with the hunting party not too far from where she’d made camp. There’d been shouts, some back slapping, Maddox had even given him a hug. All of which had left Nayla wide-eyed, skittish, and a heartbeat from making a break for it. He’d held fast to her hand the whole walk back to where the others had erected their tents, just in case.
He understood. Encountering so many Others would have been strange under any circumstances: new traditions, new behaviors, new faces, but it was made doubly challenging by the fact that his crew had been out looking for him, certain he was in trouble, maybe even dead.
Suspicion and resentment still simmered in the air.
Added to that, there was a giant beaked creature looming outside the circle, making strange yips and growls as it gnawed on fresh meat it was unwilling to share.
But the crew would learn to deal with Sharluff, just like they would the tiny pixie staring so intently at everything and everyone, he wasn’t sure she’d blinked once.
“You okay, wild thing?” He’d leaned in close so he could keep their conversation as private as possible.
“Yes.” She shivered as his lips brushed her ear, but didn’t face him. He hid a chuckle. Talk about concentration.
“So, Nayla,” Bain brushed a crumb from his chin, his voice inquisitive as he tried to break the silence.
Grif was beyond grateful.
“I hear you can hold your breath longer than we can?”
Grif’s gratitude evaporated. Dumbass. She didn’t need to feel different right now. Sitting up straight, he opened his mouth to rip Bain a new one.
“Yes.” Nayla got there first. She sounded so proud, he snapped his mouth shut. “It very helpful in tunnels, but not necessary. Sharluff also very useful. I show you tomorrow.”
His irritation disappeared as fast as it had come. Pride rushed through him. Nayla was doing fine.
He needed to relax.
He let the conversation wash over him.
Bain’s question had opened the floodgates for more stupid, nosy questions, and the males on his team had a lot. About her skin, her size, her lung capacity. Still, Nayla didn’t seem to mind and Grif was pleased every time she spoke up, so he kept his mouth shut.