Page 28 of Wild Life

His eyes darted to the fire that he’d started with all the items he had packed in the basket, the flames crackling voraciously.

“You did this? For me? To help me get home?”

He nodded.

Tears pooled, but this time, they were happy ones. I was nothing to him except an inconvenience. He could have let me rot away with starvation when I had shown up here. Despite his grumpy exterior, he was always finding ways to help me. To care for me.

This fire was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me.

I launched into his arms and he caught me under my thighs. I wrapped my legs around his waist, gluing myself to him with my arms around his neck. I buried my face into him, inhaling his distinct, rain scent. “Thank you,” I whispered against him over and over again, my lips grazing his neck with those two little words.

He held me tight, his arms wrapped around my body in a bond that only our lost souls could understand. His nose buried into my hair, and his chest rose as he breathed in—breathedmein—almost like he was committing my scent to memory.

The time we had known each other had been short, but he would always remain a part of my life, even if I never saw him again. I could never forget my savior who had given me the most important gift—the chance to not only to be found, but to find myself.

And from his embrace, I knew this man would never forget me, too.

Chapter 15

Home is Where the Heart Is

Aleki

Screech Owl was gone, and silence had found me again. Except, I couldn’t relax.

I lay in bed, but again, nothing was right. It was too quiet. My head was too busy. I wastoo alone.

If I had known that I would feel the opposite of her joy when she’d seen the beach, I would have reasoned harder before taking her there. She was so desperate to get home. I remembered what that was like when I was a child…the hope of being rescued soon. That the whole world had stopped and set out to search for me. Except each day that had passed without anyone coming had slowly strangled that hope until there was none left, I had no choice but to accept that this was my home until I died.

I had left her on the beach earlier, but since night had fallen, I wondered how she was. Had luck finally struck this hellscape and rescue had come for her? Or had my reality become hers and she was still sitting on the shore waiting for help that would never come?

Every inch of me itched to jump out of bed and watch from the shadows to see which fate she had met.

What would I do if she wasn’t there? Perhaps I fought my impulses to leave the hut in the middle of the night because I didn’t want proof that she was gone. My heart rested heavily in my chest. I’d never see her again. No one in their right mind would ever return here once they were free—at least not someone like her who so clearly belonged to the other world.

It was better for her to leave. Survival was difficult here. A person like her required social interaction that I wasn’t able to provide. Hell, she didn’t even know I could speak. Spending the rest of her life with a man who she assumed couldn’t talk depressed even me. I could give up the charade and reveal the truth, but she would hate me for fooling her for this long.

I missed her mindless chatter. I was now suddenly aware of how much silence existed between me and Poaka. He couldn’t regale me with random facts about bats or about how he couldn’t eat pineapples because the enzyme,broma-something, burned his tongue. Her stories added variety to my day and provoked new fantasies—many of which involved me wondering what made her tongue work as quickly as it did.

Maris talked too much, but her words had filled a space I hadn’t known needed filling…until it was empty again.

The night was still, except for the heavy snores of Poaka on the floor next to me. He was out and there would be no waking him up until morning when his bladder was full and needed to be emptied.

I covered my eyes with the crook of my arm and exhaled as many worries as I could force out of my mind.

The front door clicked open, and my heart stopped beating. I had imagined it. I was sure of it. No one was here, and I refused to move to feed my overactive imagination.

Feet padded softly on the wooden floor, bringing my heart back to life, its beats mimicking the steps. As they grew louder, approaching me, my heart thudded harder—wilder. That memorable scent of spicy-sweet hesitation grew stronger, permeating my senses.

Relief washed over me.

She had never left.

I lifted my arm from my head and my sharp vision registered her expression, despite the darkness. It was fallen and sad.Hopeless.Reminding me of the little boy who had given up so many years before her.

“No one came,” she murmured, her voice hanging like the broken wings of a bird.

She wanted the one thing I couldn’t provide for myself—to be saved.

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