Page 107 of Enthrall Shadows
“Any warm-blooded creature.” He turned his wrist to show me his high-tech watch. “I’ll get a notification.”
This man really did have the best gadgets.
I hid behind a tree to clean myself, staying alert for anything that crawled, crept, or attacked. I used refreshing wet wipes to wash off. Henry did the same but he wasn’t as bashful.
Before the last drop of light faded, we settled down to eat. Henry handed me a ready-to-eat meal, demonstrating how to pop the packet’s sides. The food within heated up. Peeling it open, the inviting scent made my mouth water.
I couldn’t remember being this hungry.
Tucking in with a fork, I found the contents tasted like a delicious homemade stew. Afterwards, I handed the degradable package back to Henry.
Exhausted from all the walking, I gladly ducked down to enter the tent. He followed me in and made himself comfortable in a corner.
Henry unrolled the sleeping bag. “There’s room for two.”
“I’m fine.”
“Get in,” he ordered. “I’m going to read.”
He wasn’t crashing like me.
“You’re trained to go without sleep?” I asked.
“I only get a few hours usually.”
“Really?”
“My sleep pattern never returned to normal.” He started to elaborate but then thought better of it.
He was talking about the time he’d been captured. His torturers no doubt kept him awake for days.
I shared a moment of empathy with him, and from his expression I knew he felt grateful that I didn’t pry, that I respected what he’d gone through.
I pulled off my shoes, relieved to be free of them.
“Get some sleep.” He quirked a brow. “That’s an order.”
The things he did to me with just his voice would become the stuff of legends.
Gratefully, I slid inside the sleeping bag. I tried to fight sleep, to stay awake to make sure Henry would get some sleep, too.
He peeled back a small square in the roof, revealing the night sky and all those stars. Then he clipped a mosquito repellent to the side of the open flap, making sure we weren’t meals for insects as we slept.
“Lotte,” he said. “A shooting star.”
I caught it just in time. It made me happy, since I had only seen one once before back in L.A., years ago.
I fell asleep to the view of the galaxy.
If I dreamed, I don’t remember it.
I stirred awake as dawn was breaking, and saw that Henry was still reading from his phone.
Wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I sat up. “Please tell me you didn’t stay awake on my account?”
My heart stuttered with the realization that no one had ever done something this remarkable for me.
Leisurely, he stretched.
