Chapter 14 Willow
Chapter Fourteen
Willow
We walk for hours. Well, the guys do, taking turns to carry me.
At first, I kept trying to tell them I could walk on my own because I thought I must be a burden to carry.
But then, when I realized their arguments over who would carry me next were because they all wanted to do it, I stopped resisting.
Being carried by these giant Vikings isn’t exactly a hardship on my part. In fact, it’s helping me get used to being so close to them. I’d never even hugged a man before I came here. They make me feel things I’ve never felt before: protected, safe, cared for, and special.
Every so often, I’m hand-fed berries and nuts as we continue through the forest. This place must be huge, and considering I found the edge of it so quickly, the other direction must go on for miles and miles.
I’m currently wrapped around Bo’s front, so when he stops, I have to turn my head to see why. Ronan has stopped in front of us at the edge of the tree line. I unhook my legs from Bo, and he gently sets me on my feet and grabs my hand as Hawk joins us, and we move up to Ronan’s side.
In front of us is a giant clearing, hundreds of feet separating us from the tree line at the other side. And in the very middle is a brown wooden box.
“It’s one of the crates!” Bo says excitedly.
“We’ll be vulnerable stepping out into such an open area,” Ronan says as he scans the rest of the treeline.
“Hawk, you stay here with Willow and keep her out of sight. Bo and I will go check it out, and if it’s safe, I’ll signal you.
I want you to run across with her to the other side.
I don’t want to risk her being out there too long. ”
“Understood,” Hawk says before scooping me up in his arms and taking a few steps to our left, and then setting me down behind a large tree. I turn so I can peek out and watch as they make their way across the field, their weapons out and at the ready.
Hawk presses up to my back, mirroring my position, but instead of placing his hands on the tree, he wraps one around my middle, and the other around the front of my shoulders, holding me firmly against him.
“I notice you guys like to touch me a lot,” I whisper in a moment of boldness.
He hugs me a little tighter, and I feel him nod, his chin moving against the side of my head. “It’s hard not to be touching you all the time.”
That surprises me a little. “Really?”
“Yes,” he whispers close to my ear, making my body start to tingle with awareness. “Being close to you is all I think about.”
I bite my lip as I try to hide my smile, his words lighting me up from the inside. I watch as Ronan and Bo reach the crate and easily pry it open.
It’s hard to see from here, but it looks like they pull out a blanket or some sort of large piece of fabric. After two minutes, Ronan signals to us.
“I’m gonna move quickly, so hold on,” Hawk warns as he turns me to face him and lifts me up, my body wrapped around his front.
I notice they’ve been carrying me this way all day, unlike yesterday when I was on their backs. I’m not sure why the change, but I like it more.
Hawk steps into the clearing and then runs. I bounce against him and have to squeeze my legs a little tighter around his waist to keep us anchored together. When we reach the other two, Hawk doesn’t slow, and Ronan and Bo start to run with us, across to the other side of the clearing.
This position has my core rubbing up and down Hawk’s hard abs, and desire starts to bloom deep inside, stronger than it ever has before. I’m unsure what to make of it or what to do about it. I try to pull my hips away from him, but he pulls me closer, afraid I’ll fall.
By the time we reach the other side, I’m practically throbbing between my legs. I glance over his shoulder at the field now behind us and see a trail of beautiful pink flowers opening up toward the sun, making me smile.
The men slow down to a walk once we’re back under the cover of trees, and the pulsing in my core tells me I can’t stay in this position anymore.
“Hawk,” I say, pulling my face back to look at him. “I need to walk for a bit.”
“No,” he says, not stopping his pace. “You have no shoes, and your feet are injured from earlier.” I hadn’t even realized they’d noticed the condition of my feet, covered in scrapes. Running for your life will tend to do that to you.
“Please,” I ask again, feeling like if I don’t shut my legs soon, something will happen.
“What’s going on?” Ronan asks, stopping to turn to see what’s happening.
“She wants to walk.”
I unhook my legs and take us stopping as an opportunity to pull away. Thankfully, he lets me, gently placing me down on my own feet.
“We need to get you some shoes,” Ronan says with a frown. “We should have taken some from the dead men.” I frown, unsure what I think about that, although they were likely all way too big for me.
“Is it safe to stop here?” Bo asks. “I can make her something. They won’t be anything great, but they will stop her from injury if she wants to walk.” I smile at him in thanks as Ronan looks around.
“This is as good a place as any. I’d like to find something more defensible before nightfall, though.”
Bo directs me to sit on a fallen tree trunk, then collects a few supplies and kneels down in front of me.
He wraps my feet in some of the large green leaves I used to make their loincloths, then pulls out a long, thin strip of leather and starts to wrap it around my foot and ankle, just the way it looks on his own legs.
“Where did you get that?” I ask in surprise. The loincloths would have been much easier to make with those leather strips.
“It was in the supply crate.”
“What else did you find?” Hawk asks, his back turned to us as he watches the forest for threats.
I notice both Ronan and Bo are carrying large bags that they didn’t have before as Bo starts listing off supplies. “Some blankets, a small pile of cloths, a small box of healing supplies, a flint, and some food and water, but we left those.”
“You left the food and water?” I ask in confusion. Wouldn’t they be the most important things to take?
He nods as he starts on my right foot. “We can provide those for you from the forest, and we didn’t have the space to take it all. The comfort items are far more important.”
They preferred a blanket over food. I take a second to look over his barely dressed form as something dawns on me. “You must get really cold at night.”
His eyes lift to meet mine in confusion.
“Because you barely have any clothes on,” I explain.
“We tend to run very warm,” he says as he continues with my new footwear.
“So why take the blankets?” I ask in confusion.
A smirk pulls at his lips. “For you, of course.” He finishes my new sandals as I just stare at him in surprise. They told me they would take care of me, and that I’m their mate, but I’m still processing what all that means.
The fact that they turned down food and water so they could provide items of comfort for me makes my heart swell. I can’t even put a name to what I’m feeling for them right now, but I know I like it.
“Alright, Willow. Why don’t you try standing and see how they feel?” he tells me before taking my hand and helping me to my feet. I take a few tentative steps.
They aren’t exactly comfortable, but they don’t feel like they are going to hurt, either. Having something on my feet makes me feel safer about walking through this jungle. “They’re good! Thank you, Bo,” I say, smiling up at him.
He smiles, bending low so his face is right in front of mine. His blue eyes darken, then he turns his head and points to his cheek. “Does that deserve a kiss of thanks?” I smile shyly before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss there, lingering a little longer than necessary.
When he stands back up and looks at me in satisfaction, I feel my cheeks grow warm. Ronan steps forward to take my hand as he instructs, “Bo, you’re in the lead. Look for somewhere to spend the night, preferably near a water source.”
We walk for an hour before Ronan insists on carrying me again. Since I’m not used to the exercise yet, I agree. Besides, my body has cooled down since my run with Hawk.
It’s another ninety minutes before Bo slows near a large rock formation. “Hopefully, there’s a cave in here somewhere,” he says as Ronan sets me back on my feet and takes my hand. We move slowly along the large wall of rock, keeping our eyes open for some sort of entrance.
I tilt my head back, trying to guess how tall it is. At least thirty or forty feet, I think. A small black rock catches my attention, and I stop walking. It looks different from the others, not just in color, but there’s something off about it.
Ronan stops with me as he asks, “What is it?”
I point up to the rock, which is about nine feet off the ground. “Is that a black rock?” They all turn their eyes to where I’m pointing and are quiet for a moment before Bo steps closer to it, tilting his head.
“That’s not a rock. I think it’s an opening.” He sheathes the sword he’d been holding on his back with the other one and starts to climb. I watch the muscles in his arms and back bulge as he pulls himself up like it’s the easiest thing in the world.
When he gets up to the opening, he pulls one of his swords back out and slowly steps inside. We wait below as nerves start to fill me. I know he can fight, and he’s armed, but there could be a family of those beasts living in there.
My racing heart calms when he suddenly appears at the opening, both swords on his back as he beckons us up. “It’s all clear, come on up.”
“Catch,” Hawk says to Bo, before tossing his spear up toward him. He easily catches it, then Hawk turns to me and squats down with his back to me. “Climb on, angel.”
I wrap myself tightly around his back, and he stands up and starts to climb the wall.
“Don’t worry. I’ll catch you if you fall,” Ronan calls from the ground behind me, making me relax a little to know that if my grip falters, I won’t fall to the ground.