Chapter 11 Bo #2
“We could cut off a couple of strips from the bottom,” Hawk says as he pulls out his knife.
“You can use those to cover yourself.” I realize he’s right.
There’s plenty of length on it; shortening it may make it unsuitable for most mainlander women, but we are out of options here, and I have a feeling Willow won’t care about something like that.
“Will it bother you?” I ask as Hawk kneels down and grips the end of her dress. “If your lower legs are exposed when you're in your dress?”
“That’s actually pretty normal in my world. Well, not for me, but on my way to the book shop, I saw lots of women in short skirts and shorts.”
“But how do you feel about it?” I ask, wanting to know her thoughts.
“It’s for a good cause,” she says, evading the question again.
“Yes, but does it bother you? To have us see your legs?”
A hint of a smile tugs at her lips. “You already saw me practically naked when you put that cream on me, and I’m about to do it again,” she says, reminding me of her cuts and scrapes. I remind myself to check how they are healing when she’s free of the dress.
“You’ve reminded me I still need yarrow,” I tell her as I glance around the edge of the water. “Ah ha!” I say, pleased when I easily spot the green tops of the root. I smile as I step over to them and dig out a small bundle, adding it to the rest in my bag.
“Alright, these should work,” Hawk says, holding up two strips of fabric in front of her. She takes them from him with a small smile, and he immediately gives her his back.
“Change quickly, tell us when you’re done,” I tell her as I turn, facing the opposite direction as I watch for danger.
I can’t wait to have her secured in that cave for the night. I hate being out here and her being vulnerable. She’s just so tiny and delicate, I fear it won’t take much for her to get injured.
“I’m ready,” she says, and when I turn around, I take a quick step toward her before remembering I need to take things slow.
My fingers itch to touch her, to stroke her, but instead, I focus on her bruises, reminding myself she’s in no condition to be worshipped today, anyway.
But hopefully my poultice will change that.
The fabric barely covers her, especially the lower piece.
Hawk must be getting a pretty decent view of her ass right about now.
She turns and passes the dress to him, and his eyes quickly bounce up from where he’d clearly been staring at her rear.
His jaw clenches and he nods, taking the dress before saying something about getting more wood and dropping the dress on the ground.
“You ready to go for a swim?” I ask her, trying to lighten the tension.
She looks at the water and nods, but I see the trepidation there.
“Do many people in your world know how to swim?” I ask her as I take her hand and guide her to the edge of the pond.
“I’m not sure,” she says, her beautiful hazel eyes looking up into mine. “We didn’t have water deep enough to swim in on the compound, and I’d never left it before… yesterday.” She frowns, her eyes darting off to the side as if lost in thought. “Was it really only yesterday?” she asks.
“Feels like I’ve known you forever,” I say, giving her a wink when she looks at me. Her cheeks heat, and I take that as my moment to lift her up, holding her across my arms as I step over the rocks and into the water.
“You didn’t take your sandals off!” she exclaims.
“I can’t leave them out here,” I tell her as I wade through the shallow part of the pond. “They should dry by the morning inside the cave.”
“The fire will help,” she tells me as she wraps her arms around my neck.
“Are you scared?” I ask, and when she lifts her brows in question, I add. “Of the water?”
“A little. I’ve never been in any water that wasn’t a bath before today.”
“I’ll teach you to swim one day,” I tell her as we move deeper. “Our home, Redmere, is an island. We do a lot of swimming and fishing around the entire coast.”
“That sounds like a nice place to live.”
“It is. It’s safe and peaceful, although a little lonely at times, without a mate.” I wink at her and keep talking before she feels uncomfortable. “But the bigger problem is that the land has started to die. Nobody knows the cause, but we’ve lost ten percent of our forests in the past year alone.”
“That’s awful. And you don’t know the cause?” she asks, sounding genuinely worried.
“No. We think it’s some sort of rot. We tried to burn the dead trees, but it’s still spreading.” The water suddenly gets deeper, and I stop walking, realizing I can’t swim carrying her like this.
“Do you want to get on my back?” I ask her.
“Then I can swim us through the waterfall.” She nods, and I let go of her feet, waiting to release my other arm from her back until she’s standing securely.
I lower myself and turn, and she quickly climbs on, her arms wrapping around my neck as her legs cling to my waist. “Good girl,” I tell her, patting her hand. “Now, hold on tight.”
I push off and start swimming toward the falls. There’s only about fifteen feet to cross before I’m telling her, “Take a deep breath and hold it until we’re on the other side.”
I hear her inhale, and then I hold my own breath as I swim through the falls, the water pounding down over our heads for a few seconds before we’re in the clear on the other side, and I exhale, telling her she can breathe again.
Glancing around, I see a high ridge on this side and to my right. It looks like a slope I can walk up. I swim over to it until my feet find purchase, and after a couple of wobbly steps, I’m able to stand, lifting us both out of the water as I move to the flat area on the left.
I bend down so Willow can slip off my back, and when I spin around, I see her trying to adjust her tiny coverings.
“I’m sorry we don’t have more for you,” I tell her, feeling ashamed of how little we’ve been able to provide for her.
“The rules of the Mating Hunt only let us take a small bag each.” I gesture to the bag at my side.
“That’s okay. I’m just glad not to be on my own out here anymore.” She rubs her arms and starts to shiver.
“Shit, you’re cold,” I say, immediately stepping forward to wrap her in my arms. “Hawk will be here soon, then we can start the fire, okay? We’ll have you warm in no time.”
The temperature had started dropping a few hours ago as night started to creep closer, but with her warm body plastered to my back, I hadn’t really noticed.
“You feel warm,” she whispers against my chest, and I smile, knowing this is the perfect excuse to keep her close. Not that I hadn’t already carried her and had her sit in my lap, but what I was picturing would put her sweet little body even closer to mine.