Page 48 of Wild Life

He pulled me to my feet, tugging me along behind him. “I’m going to get your head tochill.”

“Cosmo, again?”

“Yeah, I read some article called ‘Getting your Cort-isol to Chill Out’.”

I rolled my eyes as I stumbled behind him. His hand engulfed mine, a protective glove, as we traveled through the trees, passing the waterfall. It was still bright out, but darkness would arrive soon, and we were still walking.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“You’ll see.”

We stopped when we made it to the pond, and I let go of his hand. Insects swarmed the area, sticking to my skin. I slapped them off and stared at their guts on my hand.Gross.I’d have killed for some hand sanitizer.

“Did you bring me here to feed me to your pet mosquitoes? How romantic.”

His thick hand clasped around my neck savagely, and he jerked my chin roughly to the side with his thumb. The maneuver was veryhim: dominating.

“Oh my God! The net!” I jumped out of his grasp and ran under it. There, between two trees beyond the edge of the pond, was my net. I had forgotten about it whenvoice-gatehad happened and dropped everything, including my supplies.

He’d hung my net for me. The height was perfect, high enough to only catch bats and not the other walking wildlife passing by, but still low enough for me to reach it. He had even pulled the netting taut enough to create a wide catch surface.

I approached him. “When did you do this?”

“Earlier today. I f-figured you could use some help getting that up.”

“It’s perfect. Thank you,” I said, clasping my hands to my chest. “The sun will set soon. You should go back to the hut. I’ll wait here to see if any bats show up.” I took a seat on the ground, unable to look away from the net.

Instead of leaving, Aleki sat next to me and folded his long legs into a pretzel shape, like mine. “No. I’m staying here.”

“I’ll be okay. I promise.”

“That’s not why I’m staying. I want to s-see them, too.”

“You do?” I asked in surprise.

He bumped my shoulder with his. “Only if you want me to.”

I wanted him to stay. I loved that he was into this as much as I was. I nodded.

We waited for some time, engaging in random conversation about his old life in New Zealand and mine in Washington, as the sky darkened.

Suddenly, a mass of black covered the sky, tiny bodies gliding choppily through the air over the pond.

I leaned over to him. “They’re awake!” I whispered excitedly, my lips brushing his skin.

We watched in awe as nearly fifty fluttered chaotically before half of the brood swooped lower.

Aleki covered his head.

I grabbed his arm. “They won’t come for us. They want the water before they go hunting.” We were sitting under cover of a canopy of trees and out of their way.

I clutched his arm to my body as we watched them take sips of refreshment without stopping before swooping back into the sky. They flew over the net.

“Oh, no,” I said, pouting. The net was probably too low to catch them. “Damn, tonight was a bust. I was hoping we’d at least catch one.”

“It’s okay, I can raise the net.” He moved to get up.

I could still make out his handsome face in the early evening darkness. “No, really, it’s okay. We can adjust it next time.”

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