Chapter 5

Taylor

“It is.”

Brexl cut our conversation off there and laid down on his uninjured side. He’d run a long way to catch up to us and had lost a lot of blood. His eyes closed as soon as he laid his head on his arm, and shortly thereafter his breathing turned to slow, deep breaths.

I leaned against the opposite wall of the cave and took stock of our packs. We had enough food to last us for about two days, but that was it. I doubt Brexl would be well enough to travel for at least that long, and then it would take about three days to get back to the mountain.

I leaned my head back against the wall and sighed. I didn’t mind being on this planet, but I was getting real sick of constantly struggling to have enough food.

I looked over at Brexl and his sleeping form. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. The few times we’d had to share a sleeping space, he’d woken me up by talking in his sleep. His face always looked pained, like he was having a nightmare. Hopefully, this time will be different.

Always, he’d said. He’d always protect me, and deep down, I knew that to be true. We were bound for life through luminescence. I wish I were better in relationships. If I could choose to be with anyone, it’d be him. It helped that he’d given me no indication that he’d want to be in a relationship, either. Other than the necklace in my hand, I had no evidence that he liked me romantically at all.

This arrangement was best for both of us. We’d be lifelong friends, and although something about that thought pained me, I pushed it aside.

I got up and walked to the edge of the cave and saw that the tide had already started to rise. A group of hard-shelled crustaceans, that I’d never seen before, were crawling up the rock wall away from the rising water. They looked like small stingrays, if a stingray had a hard shell and could live outside of the water.

I wonder if I could cook them like I would a crab. My mouth watered at the thought, and then I remembered that we didn’t have anything to make a fire with in the cave.

What were we going to do for food? I didn’t want to eat all our rations while Brexl recovered. We would need some for the journey back home.

I gazed along the shoreline until I spotted a set of caves on the beach. That could work. It would at least give me the freedom to go foraging while he recovered.

With a plan in mind, I decided to make my way back into the cave where Brexl was.

I found him sitting up with a panicked expression on his face. The moment he saw me, his expression changed to relief. Had he been worried about me? We were relatively safe now.

“Are you hungry?” I handed him a fruit bar and he took it.

I bit into a fruit bar myself, and we sat there silently eating our sparse dinner.

“I saw some caves running along the back of the beach. I think we should try to head over there tomorrow. It’d be nice to make a fire to cook some fish or those crab things I saw climbing the cliff.” I pointed in the direction of the entrance.

Brexl furrowed his brows, then nodded his head.

“The day after tomorrow, we will head home.”

“Well, sure, if you’re up to it by then.”

“I will be ready. The sooner you are back inside the safety of the mountain the better.”

“Yeah, but I’m not going to risk your health just to get back one day sooner,” I pushed back.

Brexl furrowed his brows again. “Your safety is the priority, not my health.”

“Well, your health is my priority.” I crossed my arms over my chest to emphasize my point.

“I will be ready to travel in two days.” Brexl leveled me with a stare of his own. I was sure that stare had caused other people to cower, but I knew Brexl well enough to not be afraid of him. He was a soft-hearted male with a monster shifter form, not the other way around.

“We’ll see.” I took another bite of my bar without looking away.

Brexl grunted and turned his gaze elsewhere. I’d won this stand-off. Hopefully he truly did feel better in two days, or else I was going to have another battle on my hands.

After dinner, we were both tired. The events of the day had worn on us and even though it was still light out, we decided now was as good a time as any to go to sleep.

We only had one fur blanket between the two of us since I had been snatched out of bed and Brexl took off after me with only his pack on his back.

“Since you’re injured, you should take the blanket. I can use my extra shirt as a small blanket.”

Fall was in full swing now, and the mornings were getting chilly. So I had started to layer my gray shirt under the knitted sweater Neelu had given me.

“And I’ll sleep closer to the entrance to block the wind.”

Brexl’s color had returned, but his movements were still sluggish. I wanted him to get a good night’s sleep and he couldn’t do that if he was cold.

I ran pretty hot as far as humans go and I’m a Minnesota girl, so I can handle a little chill in the air.

Once I was satisfied that he was comfortable and well on his way to falling asleep, I laid down on the smoothest part of the floor and laid my sweater over my top half like a blanket, and used my own arm as a pillow. It wasn’t a comfortable sleeping situation, but it would do. Brexl nodded his head, laid down, and covered himself with our one blanket.

Brexl

I fought to stay awake long enough to hear Taylor’s breaths turn to the sweet snoring sound she made when she slept. Using the wall to steady me, I slowly stood up, walked up to Taylor, and gently laid the fur on top of her.

I had learned that arguing with Taylor was much like arguing with the wind. So instead of telling her that I wished for her to have the blanket and that I would be sleeping closest to the entrance in case any predators came our way, I stayed silent.

Now that she was sound asleep and had the fur to keep her warm, I laid down between Taylor and the entrance. I may be cold, but at least now I could fall asleep knowing that if anything tried to attack us, they’d have to get through me first.