Page 8 of Crew

“You okay?” Avi asked as she took the last cot and tucked her bag underneath.

“Sure, why?”

“You’re rubbing your heart.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, resisting the urge to rub her chest again. “I feel like…I’m not sure.”

She looked at the others who were speaking in a small group without her.

“You don’t have an easy time of things, I take it?” he asked with a low tone.

“You’d remember,” she said. “Females are for having kids and caretaking. The only reason Colton is glad I’m still alive is because none of those guys can take care of themselves.”

“I’m sorry. Maybe…” Avi’s voice trailed off and something like hope sparked in her chest.

“Maybe what?”

“Maybe New Jersey is just the change of pace you need.” Avi smiled brightly. “Crew’s going to come talk to everyone in a little while, and we’ll do a dinner tonight for a meet and greet between the herds. It’ll be outside since the weather is so nice.”

She had the idea to go forage, to see if she could find something that she could bring to the dinner. “Can I walk around? Is there anywhere off limits?”

“Help yourself,” he said. “There are ribbons tied around the perimeter of our territory, and signs too.”

“Thanks, Avi.”

Without mentioning it to her herd, she reached into her duffle and lifted a pair of clippers and a small cloth bag, tucking both into her pocket. And then she walked out of the barn.

The barn, and the other buildings, were in a cleared space bordered by trees. She could see the fields where she was sure the herd ran in their shifts, and a pang of longing filled her. Ignoring the feeling, she turned to head into the woods to see what she could find.

It took her almost no time to locate wild blackberries. She was so excited to see them. Taking out the cloth bag, she carefully began to harvest the dark berries, managing to get the bag halfway filled up before she scratched herself on one of the thorns.

“Ouch, damn it,” she said.

“Are you okay?” a feminine voice asked.

Zara turned abruptly and promptly scratched her hand again. “Crap.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!”

Zara chuckled at the pretty female. “It’s my fault, I was in the harvesting zone and not paying attention to my surroundings. I’m Zara.”

“Oh, hi! I’m Tris. My mate is Khyle, he’s part of the Little River Herd. I heard you were part of the Valley Herd, but my mate said he didn’t see you at the meeting.”

“Well, Colton likes females to stay where they belong, you know, out of the way unless he has need of them.”

“Ew.” Tris wrinkled her nose. “I hate that. My old alpha was like that. Very traditional, a real stick in the mud. Our guys aren’t, though. My Khyle is a sweetheart and so are the rest of the guys. But don’t tell Khyle I said that.” She winked.

Zara smiled. “Promise.”

“You found blackberries? I thought the birds got to them. I was scouting for flowers to put on the dinner table.”

“I saw some wildflowers on my way here. There’s not enough berries for anything major, but there’s enough for a pitcher of blackberry lemonade if you have the ingredients.”

“Absolutely, the guys love lemonade. Are you…what was your job in your herd?”

“I guess the term now is that I’m the herd caretaker, but before that, I was the main forager. I study local plants and love to find them and use them.”

“That’s so cool, I’m the herd caretaker too, but I’ve never been much of a forager. Nancy—she’s mated to our elder Dexter—is the one who told me I could look for blackberries. We have a couple apple trees and a big garden, and I take care of them too.”

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