Page 42 of All's Fair in Lion and War
Naomi paused, looked at the floor, and then back at Ava. “We are very vulnerable right now because of the children.”
True.
“Penny says she’s having a specialist come out next summer to design a safe house out where the cabins are, but underground, similar to this bunker so that we are closer to home. We also have limited numbers. If we are fighting a group, we have a small tribe. Only so many warriors. And yes, all of us women are capable, though some more than others, but still. We are small.”
“The dragons didn’t even bring everyone and twenty-seven showed up.” Her words were matter-of-fact. “It’s hard to feel like we keep having to hide.”
“I know it feels that way to you right now, but eventually it won’t,” Naomi said, her brown eyes sparkling with gold.
Ava snorted out a laugh. “Maybe, but not right now.”
“When you have a child of your own. It won’t feel the same. I promise you.”
15
Saul
His lion moved stealthily through the snow. Tor was a few paces to his right and Kann a few paces to his left. Everyone else remained in human form and had been offered a gun from Penny’s collection.
Col and Owen and Ryder each had a rifle and several of the dragons who’d had experience with a rifle had taken one as well.
Saul moved purposefully, his every step taken to minimize noise. The men walking behind him were also amazingly silent with their movements.
Nearly thirty men shouldn’t be able to move through a frozen forest with merely a breath between them, but that’s exactly what they were doing. Slow and methodical and sure of each step, they moved forward like a living breathing predatory blanket covering the land.
The light had faded. The sun had fully set and darkness had enveloped every inch of the wilderness. A true blackness only softened by the moonlight and ethereal colors swimming overhead like an ocean of life in the sky.
Daylight spans were shorter in the winter. He remembered it vaguely from last year. The changing spans and length of day and night were part of his world now. He found himself wondering what Lorelei thought of this place he called home?
Would she be willing to stay here with him?
Would she try to leave?
Would he have to leave with her?
A knot in his chest cinched. He forced his lion to pause and take a deep breath. No matter what she decided, he would stay with her. His destiny was tied to hers now.
Col would understand.
Saul took another slow breath and pushed through the pain. His ribs were constricting around his heart, squeezing until there was no breath left.
Something was wrong.
He should never have left her with the others.
Something was very wrong.
He took another step. Then another.
Snap.
He froze. The sound hadn’t come from his foot.
He scanned the forest. Every single male had stopped moving. Every one of them was crouched to the snow-covered ground.
Tor was a few paces ahead of him and to the right. His tiger was halfway buried in a snow drift. The tiger male turned his head slowly and his big golden eyes split by vertical black pupils stared back at him.
Saul let a slow rumble start in his chest.
