“I’ll stay,” Brovish said.
“One of us needs to get help.” I started packing my supplies. “A cart to transfer her in, more blankets, and someone to clear a path.”
“We have an off-road vehicle we can use.”
“You know the trails better than I do,” I said. “You can bring back the others faster.”
He looked torn, his eyes moving between Abagail and me. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“I’m not alone. I have Abagail and the babies. And Sofia if she chooses to stay. We’ll be fine until you get back.”
He hesitated but finally nodded. I gave him instructions on what to bring back, and he listened, committing everything to memory.
Before he left, he knelt beside the new family again.
“You asked if I regretted our kiss,” he said quietly, not looking my way. “I don’t. I regret that it ended.”
His tusks caught the orange glow when he turned toward me, and I wondered how something that fierce could feel gentle against my skin.
Sofia flew to his shoulder. She stared at me, then flew out of the cave, taking her glow along with her.
“Sofia,” he said. “You should stay with Laina.”
She peeped but didn’t return to the cave.
“She wants to go with you,” I said. “I’ll be fine here with Abagail.”
“You’re sure?”
“I am. Be careful. I’ll see you when you get here.”
The air between us felt different than it had a short time ago.
He pulled me close, his lips finding mine. This wasn’t a surprised kiss stolen in a moment of discovery. This was a choice made with full awareness.
His hands cradled my face, and I leaned into him, tasting rain on his lips.
When we parted, he gazed into my eyes.
“I’ll be back as quickly as possible,” he said.
He slipped into the night, and I settled beside Abagail and her babies.
My mind drifted to my kitchen table and the papers I’d finally signed. Those papers belonged to a different Laina, one who’d thought taking over her father’s business was the best way to define a life. She’d lived inside the walls her father had built but now she was spreading her wings.
Abagail had chosen this cave as her safe place to bring new life into the world. And while helping her bring new life into the world, I’d found mine too, a world where Sofia chirped when she saw me. Steven and his friends decorated my hair. And Brovish stared at me when he thought I wouldn’t notice.
I belonged to something bigger than a building with my name on it.
I belonged here.
I touched my lips where Brovish had kissed me and smiled in the darkness. The rain continued outside, but inside, we were warm and safe.
CHAPTER TWELVE
BROVISH
My chest hurt from running, but I couldn’t slow down. Sofia darted ahead of me, her glow lighting the way. Laina was alone in that cave with newborns, and I’d promised to come back.
