“Amazing.” Shadows thickened Cam’s voice. “That kind of loyalty is rare.”
Again, Nayla wondered about the pain beneath the other female’s words.
“What are you doing out here?” The barked question made Nayla jump.
Cam’s spine snapped straight, her hands leaving Sharluff to fist at her sides. The animal growled and chuffed.
Nayla didn’t have to turn around to recognize the speaker. The suspicion shading the voice was indicator enough. Her heart beat fast.
“We are petting Sharluff.” Keeping a hand on her pet to hold him in check, she turned to bring Malin into her sights.
Ever since the incident with Sharluff, he’d been even more hostile.
Before Grif, such a harsh tone from a male would have sent her cowering to her knees, terrified of punishment. No longer. Of course, the instinct was still there, but she fought it, Grif’s words of praise and strength ringing in her ears.
“What are you doing here?” she challenged instead.
There was a long pause as if Malin debated whether to even answer. Finally, he did. “Patrolling. You can’t be too careful these rotations.” Contempt blazed bright in his gaze.
“Smart.”
“Yes, it is smart.” His stare shifted to Cam. “As is reconsidering the company you keep.”
Insult delivered, he stormed away.
Sharluff brayed as if pleased and then, threat gone, went back to butting against Nayla, trying to get her to pet him again.
The silence stretched.
Surprisingly, it was Cam who broke it. “Look out for Malin. He watches you too closely.”
Nayla nodded. “He does not trust me.”
“He is a rash, undisciplined child masquerading as a male. He reveals his emotions too easily.” Nayla was surprised at the bite to Cam’s words. She hadn’t realized such a quiet spirit could sound so hard.
“I will talk to Grif about him,” continued the other female. “The team is tense enough and Malin keeps suggesting you let Sharluff off his leash on purpose. It’s not good for morale.”
Ancients help her, apparently Grif was not the only one who thought she needed to be rescued. She was so tired of being seen as less than everyone else.
“No need.” She infused a bit of Grif’s steel into her tone. “I not worried.”
There was a small pause. The female’s gaze met hers, her dark eyes full of pain and something else Nayla couldn’t decipher. “You should be.”
With a final pat to Sharluff, she departed.
Nayla pressed closer to her pet and stared at the seething currents, a perfect match to her emotions. As an outsider looking in, the connections between others had looked so simple and so wonderful. Now, she was learning the situation was nothing like she had thought it would be.
She had no idea how to prove to the others that they could trust her without Grif scaring them into it.
A shimmer in the water caught her eye.
Leaving Sharluff, she moved to the edge of the shore.
Peering into the depths, she saw what had caught her attention. A sparkling danashe crystal, imbedded in the rock river wall several lengths beneath the surface. Its size and shape far better than any of the ones Grif and Bain had been using on her spear.
It could be the key to their success.
Untying her covering, she let it drop to the ground. Then, she dove.
40
Grif reached Sharluff and surveyed the area.
Where in the hells was she? Zale had said he’d passed Nayla en route to visit her pet. Yet here was the animal chewing his meal contentedly and Nayla was nowhere in sight.
A flutter of cloth at the shore’s edge caught his eye.
With a roar, he bounded forward. Nayla’s covering. Fear clawed at his throat.
The surface churned as the current swept by, but beneath…beneath he saw tawny stripes of gold and brown undulating in the depths.
He dove, the pressure on his chest and head a tightening vise as he propelled himself downward, the bubbles from his strokes making it hard to see.
Then, suddenly, right in front of his nose was Nayla’s beautiful face. Her look of surprise obvious, even to his blurry gaze.
He grabbed her shoulders and torqueing his body, kicked hard.
They broke through the surface together.
“Grif? What you doing? I got perfect danashe crystal.” She held up her palm, the amber gem shimmering within. “But that too dangerous for you.” Unlike him, her lungs were clearly working just fine. But her words were heavily accented proving she was upset.
He doubted it came close to his reaction.
Chest heaving, his hand clamped tight around her elbow, he pulled her toward the shore. He hauled his body and hers until they were fully on the bank, the scrape of sand against his chest and thighs never more welcome.
“Grif—”
“Do not speak.” He rolled, planking his body so that he was looming over her, his palms on either side of her head, his face inches from hers. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Wariness flickered in her gaze. She was smart to be concerned.
“You promised me no unnecessary risks.”
“That was not—”
“You promised.” His words emerged as a low growl.
Her ears twitched. “That was not risk for me.” She had the nerve to look hurt. “I told you. I know how take care of myself. Just because you save me from Talg, doesn’t mean you need save me from everything.”
He was too busy wrestling his rage under control to say anything.
She foolishly took his silence as an invitation to continue. “Bain will be pleased. Maybe Malin, too.” She held the crystal between them. “It is right for spear. I am certain.”
He barely resisted hurling it into the river. “Do you think I give a damn what they think?” He pressed his forehead against hers. “There’s only one male you need to be concerned with.”
Her anger sparked, as fierce as his own. “That is exactly why I get crystal. I want you be proud.”
“I don’t need you to take risks for me. I’ve said it before. I don’t want to have to say it again.”
“I don’t care how many times you say. We a team.” Her fangs flashed as she snarled up at him. “That is not just you protecting me. That is us working together.”
“Damn it, Nayla. I can’t be worried about you all the time. I need to stay focused.”
“Then do. I stronger than you think.” Rising upward, she slammed her mouth on his.
His control snapped, the seething darkness inside igniting into white-hot lust.
He rolled in the sand, putting her on top: a gorgeous, wild pixie covered in sand and clay, her gaze heavy with lust.
He could not lose her.
She sank a fang into his lip. Dropped the crystal. Ran her hands across his skin while his fingers tangled in her hair and he pressed kisses to every inch of her precious flesh. Licking. Sucking. Nipping. All the tension from the past few rotations, all the worry over him and the crew morphing into primal need.
Until she shoved her hands against his chest so she was sitting upright as she straddled him. Her chest heaved, her wild tangle of hair splashing water onto his skins, as cool as she was hot.
Their gazes locked.