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“Lily! That isn’t nice,” she admonished her. Her gaze shifted back to Agrel, and she winced apologetically, though she made some attempt at offering a reassuring smile. “It is not that bad. Honestly, I didn’t even notice it at first until Gehj mentioned it. It’s just a few feathers that are slightly bent at odd angles. It’s hardly noticeable.”

“Just play it off like you do any other miscalculation when you are looking to preserve your pride behind some amusing excuse,” Gehj soothingly advised. “Just say that it is…” he rolled a hand in the air as he sought the right words.

“A new look,” Delilah quickly suggested. “If anyone asks, just say that you were trying a new look playing with manipulating the angles of your feathers.”

His expression softened at their mate’s suggestion. It was clever. Fashion was something that Atlavans embraced with abandon as they tended to take great pride in their appearances. It could work as most of his clan could understand and appreciate such things, even if they found some amusement in failing to pull it off. It was a lot better than having it widely known that he got his feathers all bent up and askew from being tossed around in a travel convenience.

It was undignified and he felt immediately sympathy for the females who were forced to endure it when traveling in private sedans. Who knew how many damaged feathers they sacrificed and singed away to keep themselves looking relaxed and unruffled when they emerged? It did not seem quite fair to participate in hiding the reality of the situation from the other males of the clan.

“Thank you, Delilah, but perhaps it is better if I speak truthfully about them. That I sacrificed a small amount of my pride to make certain the transport was comfortable enough. It is something males do not think of, but clearly, they should.”

Gehj’s gave him a thoughtful look. “I am impressed. That is quite thoughtful, Agrel.”

Agrel’s head bowed in acknowledgment of his ahaku’s praise as they headed back toward the front of the wagon. “It just does not seem right to not own up to an experience that our females so frequently suffer without complaint.”

The other male nodded, and they silently bent, taking their poles back up once again. They resumed pulling, the wagon creaking behind them, but this time he was more conscious of the wheels bouncing over stones and dips in the forest floor and his mind worked as to how he might fix the problem. There was nothing that they could do for the wheels. The ground was not perfectly level, which was what made the wagon sway and bounce every handful of steps. His gaze trailed over to Lily, andhe smiled as he watched the nestling as she engaged in her own little world of fantasy as she played, whirling a long, colorful piece of material around her.

Delilah followed his gaze and smile as she increased her speed slightly so that she walked at his side. “Don’t worry too much about her. Children have far more energy and resiliency than you expect, and she knows what dangers to look for. More importantly, she knows not to wander from our side. That ribbon will keep her amused for hours with her make-believe.”

Agrel did not quite believe it and yet, as the hours passed, he had to admit that he marveled at how tireless she appeared the entire time. It was only when she began to noticeably slow and her ribbon drooped and dragged at the ground that Gehj chuckled quietly and suggested that they stop for a meal.

While Gehj helped Delilah bring out what they needed to make their meal, Agrel ducked into the woods to hunt. They had plenty of provisions with them, but he would hunt while he was able to do so. Fresh meat was always far more nutritious for females and growing nestlings. Fortunately, the forest was heavily populated with the creatures Delilah called rabbits, and he was able to bring a couple of them down swiftly and efficiently. Seeing the pleasure in their mate’s eyes when he returned with them was reward enough. Even more so was seeing the pure happiness on Lily’s face a short time later as she devoured the meat and licked the juices from her hands. Despite how tired she was, she was happy and bubbly throughout the entire meal but afterwards, after everything had been put away, Delilah climbed into the back of the wagon with their nestling to rest.

Gehj watched them and glanced over at him as they made their way back to the front of the wagon. “We will go slower and temper our pace until we are ready to stop for the night. However quickly we need to accomplish our mission, I will notbe the one responsible for them suffering any more than what is necessary.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Agrel murmured, and he picked up his pole.

The wagon groaned and shuddered forward as usual, but it didn’t seem to rock and jerk quite so much with their slower pace. He hoped that it was comfortable enough to rock them to sleep. It was for that reason, when they finally stopped for the night and climbed into the back of the wagon, he was relieved to see both females curled up together in the center of the bed and sleeping soundly.

Good. It had not been too difficult for them.

Yawning, he crawled up the mattress on one side of them while Gehj took the place on the other. Curling up on either side of them, they fanned their wings over their family to keep them safe and warm as they, too, drifted off to sleep. Around the wagon, a perimeter of controlled Atlavan fire would keep predators at bay while they slept without worry throughout the night.

Chapter

Sixteen

Delilah groaned and stretched, careful of her daughter’s head pillowed on her lap. Three days of traveling and she was already stiff as hell when she woke, even with walking most of the day. Although Gehj and Agrel were doing their utmost to keep the bouncing in the wagon to a minimum, it was still a bit hard on her back to be seated on the mattress for any kind of extended amount of time as she discovered over the last few days of traveling. She fell asleep in the wagon as the males didn’t stop moving until long after she was asleep and began again early in the morning.

Blessed Mother, didn’t they need rest?

She shook her head in exasperation. They were truly nothing close to being human. She didn’t know anyone who could go on so relentlessly day after day without seeming to tire. She understood that they were trying to make up lost time. They had made it clear from the beginning that they had urgent matters to attend to—a new homeland to locate for their people—and Goddess knew that having humans slowing them down wasn’t helping matters any, but she didn’t understand this. Nor did she didn’t understand why morning after morning they refused towake her when they rose. Instead, every morning they started out early without a word to her. She didn’t believe that they were already getting tired of her company.

Perhaps it was out of courtesy to her. It just seemed strange that they would make a point to let her sleep late unless her chatter and presence were too distracting when they were already delayed for her sake. She didn’t know, and it put her on uncertain footing that made her second guess herself. She didn’t want to just ride in the wagon for an extended period, but perhaps Agrel’s commentary on the first day had in fact shown her exactly what they wanted: both her and Lily tucked safely out of the way. And she supposed that she couldn’t complain too much about that when they were moderating their pace for their comfort. That alone was incredibly kind and considerate of them.

Of course, Agrel had received firsthand experience of what riding in the wagon at a quick pace was like. Her lips twitched at the memory of three long feathers of his crest that had become twisted so that they stood up above his other feather like a headdress that would be favored by one of the citadel matriarchs. She bit her bottom lip to restrain her laughter. She really did appreciate his efforts after all of that, but she really preferred to walk. If that was going to cause a problem—well, then it was better to just have that conversation out so that she knew exactly what was going on because waking up to the wagon moving relentlessly before she even had a moment to collect herself was starting to get to her.

Not the least of which was the fact that she woke rocking and swaying with a full bladder and a desperate need to pee. As if to remind her of the fact, the wagon lurched unexpectedly, and she winced, her legs tightening even as she clutched her Lily to her to steady her. She debated thumping on the back wall like Agrel had done previously but she didn’t know if she could strikeit hard enough to be heard, not to mention that the idea of them standing and waiting around from her to finish peeing was disconcerting… and as usual there was no waiting.

Whispering a soft curse to herself, Delilah carefully shifted her daughter so that she lay fully on the mattress again, allowing Delilah the space to slide off without waking her. Of course, then she had to evade all of their belongings that were stacked neatly around the thick mattress, which, though they were lashed securely into place, proved far too easy to bump into or fall against while walking in a moving wagon. At least the speed was kept at a slow, steady pace so that she could jump easily from the back and land without incident on her feet.

She turned with a smile and jogged out a few steps. The wagon continued to roll slowly but steadily ahead, but she only gave it the briefest of glances. She never had any problem catching up, and neither male was ever the wiser as to her absence when she suddenly popped up beside. Hurrying into the bushes, she made a quick check for anything immediately dangerous in the immediate area where she planned to squat and quickly did her business. As she cleaned herself up, it occurred to her that her menses would come soon within the next week and half. She hoped that she was no longer traveling when that happened. For now, her brief trips to the bushes were a quick and uncomplicated matter, but she wasn’t looking forward to dealing with body aches and bloody rags while traveling. Unfortunately, the duration of the trip wasn’t something she had any control over.

Smoothing her clothing to the best of her ability, Delilah jogged from the bushes, eager to catch up with the males and chat with them as they walked. The wagon wasn’t far and so she picked up her pace, closing the distance until a low growl rumbled from some place behind her, sending a chill up herspine. What was that? Delilah’s pace fell to a nervous, wary walk still some distance behind the wagon.

She glanced uneasily behind her, her skin prickling. She heard it again, a low rumbling growl as four glowing, golden eyes cut through the darkness, staring directly at her. Delilah’s breath caught in her chest as the muscles clenched tightly in fear. She felt as if she were strangling on her horror as those eyes began to move closer and closer to her. Stalking her.

Four eyes… four eyes, where did she know that from? What had four eyes?