Page 97 of Wind Rider

First watch ended at midnight, and Danita yawned widely as she stumbled sleepily to the pallet she’d made up with Antreas. Last night she’d slept with him and Bast—with Bast stretched out between them like a warm, soft barricade. Danita liked being close to Antreas, especially during the darkest hours of the night, but the thought of sleeping pressed against his big, strong, decidedly male body made her stomach feel funny. Sometimes that was good, and sometimes it was scary. But worrying about Antreas that day had shifted something within her. Not that she was ready to have sex with him—she wasabsolutelynot ready for that—but maybe, just maybe she was ready to try more intimacy.

Danita hadn’t stood watch with Antreas that night. She’d been helping Sora and Isabel sort herbs. Then Isabel had found a whole clump of aloe plants close to the temporary campsite, so they’d been busy making up a new batch of healing salve, as well as carefully harvesting a few intact aloe plants, which joined the other medicinal cuttings and seedlings they carried with them.

Antreas and Bast had gone to check the boat line and serve first watch from the waterside. Wilkes and his big Shepherd, Odin, had joined them, and Danita was amazed at how fast time passed when Antreas was suddenly there, smiling at her and going from awake group to awake group, letting everyone know it was time for a change of watch.

Danita hoped it was time for more to change than just the watch.

She was sitting on her pallet with her legs pulled up to her chest, resting her head on her knees, when Bast appeared, chirping and rubbing against her.

“Hey there! I missed you, too. Oh, ugh! You have fish breath.” She giggled and pushed the big feline’s face away playfully.

“She and Odin decided to go fishing and they shared their catch.” Antreas dropped heavily to the pallet beside her. “Wow!” he said around a yawn. “I’m beat.”

“How’s your thumb?”

Antreas let her take his wounded hand in hers. “You tell me. You’re the Healer.”

“Not really. I’m just a Healer-in-training. But I did make you somealoe salve and some goldenseal wash. I’d like to clean it again and put on a fresh bandage, if you don’t mind.”

“Ifyoudo it I don’t mind,” Antreas said.

She grinned at him. “Good, because I was going to tell Mari on you if you minded.”

“No need to bother either of our Moon Women. I will happily allow you to fix me.”

Danita unwrapped the bandage and carefully dunked his thumb in the mug of goldenseal, swishing it around.

“I like that it’s stopped bleeding. Are you going to be okay to paddle tomorrow?”

“Of course! It’s really not bad—just sore.”

“Here, the aloe will help with the pain. Do you want me to brew you some poppy tea to help you sleep?”

“No, I wouldn’t waste that tea for something so minor. Plus, I’m exhausted and won’t have any problem sleeping.”

Danita finished dressing his thumb and then she lifted it to her lips and kissed it, quickly and gently.

His eyes widened with surprise. “What was that for?”

“Extra healing.”

Bast chirped and curled up at Danita’s feet, purring loudly.

“She says kisses work for healing,” Antreas said. “Maybe we should do more of them.”

Danita’s brows went up. “Bast said we should kiss more?”

“Well, not exactly. But she said it works. I, uh, added the part about doing more kissing.”

Danita studied him, and then she slowly leaned into him until she gently pressed her lips against his. When she sat back, her cheeks were burning.

“That is a very nice start,” Antreas said. “Makes me wish I’d hurt myself here, here, and here.” He pointed to each of his cheeks and then his lips.

“Don’t talk like that!” Danita said, only half kidding. “I don’t even like tothinkabout you or Bast getting hurt.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Dani. Bast and I are practically indestructible—especially now that we have a family to live for.”

“A family?” she asked softly.