Page 14

Juk

Day 12

T he wind quiets sometime during the deep of night. The clouds migrate, and the bright light from the moons embraces the entrance of the cave. I watch as the shadows move, and slowly, the sky grows light as the sun breaks the horizon.

There was no sleep for me this night. Not while Leesa lay cuddled tight against me. Not with her scent putting my hearts into a frenzy, with the soft sound of her odd heartbeat keeping time with mine. She is so small and fragile next to me, like a newborn cub that I worry the slightest of my movements may hurt her.

Not that there is any room for me to move. We are nearly piled on one another in this small shelter. Hazen is pushed up against the back of the cave, covering the draft from the narrow tunnel hidden there. Kay-tee is barely seen buried beneath his tails.

We are next to them. My tails cover the front space between them and Leesa. At my back, I feel the press of a rock wall, and some of another warm body. My alpha, by the scent.

For most of the night, while the storm raged, Kalpa and Baz huddled together at the entrance. One would be outside, the other just inside the lip of the cave, and they would switch when the one outside was too cold. A restless night for them too.

With the storm past and dawn breaking, Kalpa and Baz leave the cave to hunt for food. Fresh meat is best for us in this form, and given that we had to abandon our journey so early yesterday...

My stomach rumbles at the thought, and I still, worrying it will wake Leesa. She stirs momentarily, but stays asleep. The hoo-mans are exhausted, the cold wearing them down quickly. I wonder what we can do to help keep them warmer.

Axyll grunts something behind me. A suggestion to wake and stretch our legs. Perhaps now we can get a small fire started for the females that will stay lit.

Someone near the front grunts in response. Baz, by the sound of the deep growl. He must have returned already with food. Soon I hear the snapping of bones, and I tense, hoping the sound does not wake Leesa. Next time we have a private moment together, I will ask her why the sound disturbs her so.

Moments later, the soft crackle of a fire sounds just outside the cave. The alpha moves behind me, and I hear Ee-vee murmur something to him, and he chuckles slightly, as much as one can in their celestial form.

Cold rushes into the spot where my back met up against the alpha as he leaves, but it gives me space to stretch a bit. A crick in my neck cracks, bringing relief to a tense spot I did not know was there.

The movement disturbs Leesa and she wakes. She stirs abruptly, her body stiff against mine. The sudden change causes my fur to stand on end. Fear leaks into her scent, and it strikes me in the hearts. My Seeker shines brightly all around the cave. It blinds me, and a growl loosens from my lips, beyond my control. Something is wrong.

Leesa relaxes. Whatever fear she felt dilutes, the ever-present anxiety the only thing there. She sits up, lightly pushing my tails aside, and they swish out of her way.

“Morning,” she murmurs, her eyes briefly meeting mine, and a warmth spreads through me. I can’t recall receiving a simple greeting from her before. It’s private, only for me, and it makes my hearts sing.

Before I can stop myself, before I even think, my head leans forward and I lick her lightly across the cheek. The gesture is more natural than breathing air, and yet she stiffens at it. I freeze in realizing what I have done. My Seeker is still blinded by something, perhaps my own fear this time, my own embarrassment. Warning me of this misguided step, perhaps.

Leesa abruptly stands. She shakes off the melted snow from her suit, and glances behind her to where Hazen and Kay-tee have not moved.

I glance behind me. Hazen’s eyes meet me, his Seeker closed. He blinks at me, and I snuff in response. Kay-tee is still asleep. Best to let her rest a little longer.

As Leesa moves to the front of the cave and the fire that awaits, I stretch out my legs as much as the small space allows me. My hearts still beat rapidly, my fur on end, and my Seeker blinding. The fear off Leesa is gone, and my own stupidity, my own forwardness should not cause such a response.

And yet, because of my actions, I do not feel it until it is too late. My intuition is momentarily clouded by my feelings for Leesa, for the move I have made that may have just jeopardized everything, as small as it may be.

It is only when the ground begins to tremor that I realize the heightened sense of danger is my intuition. My Seeker is blinded by the cave because of what is coming.

Everything begins to shake. I let out a roar, a warning growl that comes too late. Leesa whips behind me, her face wrought in confusion as I leap towards her. The rock ceiling begins to crumble, and cascades down on us as I tackle her out of the cave.

Outside, Ee-vee lets out a scream as she clings to Axyll’s large form, while he lets out a loud howl. Another sharp whine pierces through the air, and it is not until the earth stops shaking that I realize it comes from me.

LISA

One minute, Juk is licking my cheek. It’s affectionate, intimate, and my heart warms. That warmth spreads through my body, warmer than anything huddling next to his body gave me last night. This is a warmth from the soul , and yet I refuse to think more on it. He is here. My place is on Gragon 6. End of story.

But in the next moment, he lets out a growl. It shocks me, and for a disturbed moment, I think it’s some territorial wolf-bullshit. Like he thinks I’m rebuffing his affection, when really I’d love nothing more than to give into these feelings, to find a bit of peace and happiness like Evie has found in this shitstorm of a situation—but I can’t. Not when half of my crew is still missing, not when two deaths are still fresh in my conscience.

Soon my whole body is shaking in rage at the idea, but no. It’s not my body shaking, but the cave . And then I realize the growl is meant for me, yes, but it is a warning. I can hear the crumbling of the rocks above me, shaking like bones, and my eyes go wide.

White fur flies at me, and I am thrown out of the cave. Juk’s weight against me is like a rock thrown against a leaf, and I soar out into the snow. I knock into Evie, and we tumble into the snow next to Axyll. He lets out a loud, haunting howl as the cave entrance behind us collapses, and Juk lets out a piercing whine.

Next to me, Evie is shocked. She does not move as she stares at the rubble of rock. A blue blur rushes past me, and I run to their side.

One of Juk’s tails is stuck beneath the rocks. The other one lashes wildly, desperate for its twin to be freed. Juke tries to twist his body to dig at the rocks, but he can’t. It’s a sight to behold, such a large, fearsome creature, held in place. Helpless and vulnerable. Just like we were when the Skulchers took us .

Baz starts to pull and throw rocks off the tail. I do the same. My arms ache with the effort of the first one, but I move on to the next. And then the next. Some of them are the size of my head.

Juk pulls his tail free. The fur is dirty and there is a kink at the end that was not there before. It hangs limp next to the other one. His eyes meet mine, his Seeker moving the fastest I have ever seen any of their third eyes move. It searches me for injuries, I realize.

My arm moves of its free will as I reach out to him, about to stroke his muzzle. It could have been so much worse. We could have been trapped or crushed.

Our eyes meet and then—we both realize. Dread plummets into my stomach, as I turn towards the rubble and start to scream.

“KATIE!”

Baz is still digging furiously at the rocks. Juk nudges him out of the way and tries to move them with his mouth. Paws. Anything. But it soon proves better in human form, and he starts to shift beside me.

I don’t even hear the bones snapping. The white noise of my blood rushing in my ears is all I can hear. I don’t need to hear them shift to picture Chunhua’s snapped neck. Delphine’s bloody back. It’s all I can see as I blindly reach for rocks and throw them to one side, only for more and more to appear. The rough texture rips at my gloves.

Katie is all I have left. I never wanted to admit it. Never wanted to give into that pit of despair waiting to swallow me up if we can’t find the others. Katie would be that light in that pit. We would grieve together. We would survive together. We would figure out our next steps together.

But now...

Juk is next to me, panting from his shift. Naked and stark teal against the white of the snow and grey rocks, he hauls the rocks aside with ease. Axyll is next to him now, also naked, and the three of them move the rocks as though they weigh nothing.

There are too many of them. We know it, but we don’t stop. I don’t know what Evie is doing. I don’t care if she is still there, frozen still in shock. The rocks are endless, and the pit of grief threatens to swallow me whole.

Axyll suddenly lifts his hand and the Celetans immediately stop. I hesitate, a rock in my hand. The three of them tilt their heads to the rubble in unison, and then slowly, delayed, I hear it. Muffled voices.

“Katie!” I shout into the rocks. I can’t discern the voice. I can’t hear what they are saying.

I scramble up the rocks, trying to find a better place to hear them. I press my ear against the frozen stone, but it does not help.

A warm hand lands on my shoulder. Tears are frozen to my eyes, my chest frozen with hope. I dare not breathe as I look up at Juk. His eyes meet mine, his chest still heaving from his efforts. The gem in his forehead sparkles, shining just for me.

I step aside as Juk takes my place. He presses his ear where mine once was, and shouts into the rocks.

“Hazen!” he says. The rest is lost to his native tongue. I hear a muffled response, barely a whisper through the rocks, but Juk nods his head.

Axyll joins us, gently moving Juk to the side. He presses his ear to the spot, and nods his head as well, before yelling back in their Celetan language.

“What is happening?” I ask. My stomach is in knots, and my mouth feels dry. “Is... is Katie ok?”

Juk lifts a finger to my lips, silencing me. He tilts his head towards the rock, where the muffled shouting continues. Can he hear them from here? Is his hearing that much better?

Axyll nods and yells something back once more before standing. He turns to me with an unreadable expression, and glances towards Juk before speaking. Evie and the other Celetans stand at the bottom of the rock pile, waiting.

The alpha clears his throat, and I hold my breath.

“They are alive,” he says with a breath of relief. The air whooshes out of me, and tears I didn’t know I was holding in start to spill down my cheeks. I wipe them away before they can freeze, and Juk squeezes my shoulder.

“Oh, thank God,” Evie says.

“There are too many large boulders to move from this spot. They have tried on their end, but it is too tight,” Axyll continues. He pauses for a moment, glancing at me, before looking back over everyone else. I brace myself. I know that look. He is about to tell me something I do not want to hear. “We are to continue on our mission to find the others—”

He was right to pause. Immediately I open my mouth to argue, but Axyll talks over me, my anger ignored.

“Hazen and Kay-tee will make their way through the narrow back entrance, and head through the caves,” he says over me.

“Why don’t we wait for them on the other side?” I ask. “I’m not leaving Katie behind.”

Juk gently squeezes my shoulder again. “It is a two-day walk to the other side,” he says softly. I wrench my shoulder out from under his large, warm palm, and turn my angry stare up to him. “We will lose time reaching the others if we try to catch up to Hazen and Kay-tee. It is a maze of caves for them to navigate to the exit—but it is safe. Hazen knows his way through the caves, and once they are out, they will make their way back to the den.”

My gut twists. My heart wrenches. My blood boils. I do not like any of this. The idea of leaving behind one of my crew makes my stomach sick. Katie is soft and quiet, nervous enough from being separated from her twin. But to be separated from everyone completely? To be stuck in the company of a stranger?

I turn away from Juk and realize that everyone is looking at me. Waiting for me to argue, to explode, to fight back against their Alpha’s command. My fists curl at my sides, and I look back at the mountain of rock. At the boulders beneath my feet, at the pile we’ve already moved aside that made barely a dent in the heap of rubble.

My knees slam down onto the rocks as I face them once more. “Katie!” I shout.

I hear a muffle, female sound from within the rocks. I can’t hear what she’s saying, and more tears run down my cheeks. I feel like I can barely catch a breath as I push on to say the words that make me want to throw up.

“W-We’re moving on. To find the others,” I shout. It turns into a sob. “We’ll meet back at the den. When I see you again, I’ll have the others. I promise. I won’t let you down.”

Katie’s response is lost on me, buried behind the rubble, and drowned out by the sound of my sobs. Juk reaches out again, but I jerk out of reach. I avoid Evie’s reach of comfort too, and trudge my way through the deep snow and back to the sleds.

“Come on then,” I say, my words wobbling. “If there’s nothing else we can do here, then let’s go.”