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CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE

Ellery

It was well past nightfall and the storm was still raging when Ryker and I pulled apart. We hunted down our sodden clothes and put them on. With me tucked against his side, he led me to the alcove where he’d left the others.

When we arrived, the small, frightened faces and big eyes of the children greeted me as I settled near the entrance with Ryker.

“Are you two okay?” Tucker asked.

“Yes,” Ryker answered.

He wrapped his arms around me and turned his back to the rain to shelter me as much as possible. It didn’t matter that we were both soaked through.

Nestled securely in his arms and pleasantly sore between my thighs, I still felt his lightning within me. It felt different than mine. It had a sharper edge that made me stronger.

I didn’t have to ask if he could still feel my lightning within him; he could. That knowledge was an instinctual, living thing; it was as intrinsic as when I knew he was close by before I could see him.

I didn’t know what was happening with our abilities, but I welcomed it as it strengthened each of us.

I drifted in and out before waking with a rumbling stomach. Outside, the storm raged, but in here, everyone was hungry.

“We have to hunt,” I said.

It could only be me and Ryker. We were the only ones safe from the lightning still slashing across the sky and pummeling the earth.

Sparks flew in the distance as lightning struck another tree. The wind ripped a branch free; it flew before crashing into another tree.

We’d be safe from the lightning, but the increasing number of projectiles was a different story. However, we didn’t have a choice; the children required food.

My clothes had mostly dried during the night, but they were still damp when we entered the storm. We ascended to the top of the hill to search for buxon dens.

All the animals would have retreated into their caves, dens, or whatever other hiding place they’d found to weather the storm. The buxon lived in small burrows beneath rocks to keep the rain from flooding their homes.

It took a few hours, but I uncovered two of them. Beneath the root balls of two trees that had toppled over to create shelter, Ryker skinned and cooked them.

Unable to keep the rain completely off them, the buxon sizzled on their spears as we carried them back to the others. We placed the still warm creatures near the women and children.

Water dripped from me when I returned to the front of the shelter. Ryker stayed at the back for a minute before handing me a piece of meat.

I waved it away. “It’s for them.”

“You need to eat too.”

“So do you, but you won’t, and neither will Tucker, Ianto, and Callan. Take it back to them.”

Disgruntled was an understatement when it came to the look Ryker gave me, but he returned to the back of the cave. He handed the piece of meat over to a woman who looked from him, to me, and to her son before she gave her child the food.

I ignored the rumbling in my stomach as I focused on the storm. Hopefully, it would end soon, but if not, we could go hunting again tomorrow.

Ryker again enveloped me in his arms and turned me away from the storm. I closed my eyes and nestled closer to him as I tried to shut out the enticing smell of roasted buxon.

The next day the storm was still going, and my empty stomach had twisted into knots. I was exhausted, tired of being wet, and dreading returning to the storm, but I left the alcove and went with Ryker to hunt again.

This time, I only uncovered one buxon; it would be enough to get the children through another day. We battled our way back through the storm, avoiding the debris whipping around us as more of it broke free to join the chaos.

I ducked a branch that would have caved in my skull but didn’t manage to avoid a tangle of briars that whipped through the air and slashed my face. The storm drowned out my cry as my hand flew to my cheek.

Shifting his hold on the roasted buxon, Ryker pulled me against his side and held me protectively against his chest as we forged onward. When we returned to the alcove, Ryker took the buxon to the women and children while I settled near the front again.

Tucker tore off a piece of his shirt and wiped away the blood sliding down my cheek. “It’s already healing,” he assured me. “Keep my shirt against it until the bleeding stops.”

I did as he said while, nearly on his hands and knees, Ryker returned to the front. He pulled me into his arms and, once again, turned me away from the storm.

This time, it was a lot harder to ignore the enticing scent of the buxon as my cramped stomach begged for something to fill it. My mouth watered to the point where I feared I’d start drooling.

Closing my eyes, I willed myself to go to sleep and eventually did. When I woke again, it was to silence.

I opened my eyes, but the darkness enshrouding me made it impossible to see. Twisting in Ryker’s arms, I turned away from the back of the cave and looked out at the night.

No stars or moons speckled the sky, meaning clouds still obscured it, but wind no longer lashed the land, and lightning had ceased streaking the sky.

“It’s over,” I whispered.

Ryker squeezed me. “We’ll go home in the morning.”

I burrowed closer to him. “I’m already home.”

He kissed the top of my head before I fell back asleep.