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She shook her head. “Not a squirrel.” With a wave of her fingers, she motioned again, and the tree branches rattled and cracked before a white unicorn came crashing to the ground in front of us.
As it pushed up onto wobbly legs and gave its head a dazed shake, Holly whinnied excitedly under me and turned into her white unicorn form as well. The other unicorn turned back into a squirrel, and Holly followed suit, shocking the shit out of me since I’d been sitting on her back when she did this.
It was suddenly my turn to tumble to the dirt, not at all catching myself before I landed hard on my ass. Holly chirped excitedly with her new friend and then chased him up a tree, their bushy brown tails weaving and bobbing as they darted around the bark and then up it.
Melaina blurted out a laugh as she took in my dumbfounded expression as I sat there and gaped at the tree my ride had just disappeared into. Quilla, however, dismounted so she could hold a hand down to help me up.
“You okay?”
I got distracted, gazing into her big brown eyes a moment before clearing my throat and answering, “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Thanks.”
I could get up on my own, no problem, but I took her hand anyway because I wanted to feel her. It was still new and amazing to me that she was no longer so averse to my touch. And when I gained my feet, I kept hold of her fingers and grinned at her, loving that curious, hopeful, innocently sweet and almost-shy way she looked at me.
“I think I just lost my unicorn though,” I added, finally tearing my gaze away from her so I could look up and try to spot Holly in the branches above.
From atop her horse, Melaina snorted. “It wasn’t your unicorn, dumbass. Unicorns don’t have masters or owners. They’re their own person. It was amazing all on its own that she allowed you to even ride her. But she was never yours.”
Whatever. I was still going to miss the strange creature. Lifting my hand, I called, “Goodbye, Holly,” in a loud voice. “Thank you for the ride. Thank you for your friendship. And thanks for saving our lives back there with those men who attacked us. I w
ish you the best of luck with wherever your journey takes you next.”
As I dropped my hand, a squirrel appeared on the high branches. Then it came racing a winding path back down the trunk, where she turned back into a white unicorn. She trotted over, only to pause a few feet before me, where she extended her front right hoof forward and lowered her top half, bowing in a sign of great respect.
I swallowed thickly. “I should be bowing to you,” I told her, so that’s what I did, folding down my top half and nodding my head. But then I was done with the formal shit, I surged forward and threw my arms around her neck, petting her mane while I hugged her.
“I’m going to miss you, friend. I wish I could repay you for everything you did for us.”
“I think you did repay her,” Quilla answered softly. “Her becoming your companion and following you on your journey led her here. To find one of her own. You escorted her home.”
Holly turned into a panda bear then so she could hug me back and rest her nose on my shoulder. Her black and white fur was soft and fluffy, but Jesus, she was heavy as hell. I grappled to keep her in my arms before she finally dropped her feet and eased her grip on my shoulders, letting me know she was done hugging me.
I lowered her to the ground, and she turned back into a squirrel, who darted up the tree.
“And then there were only three,” Melaina murmured dramatically.
“Come on,” Quilla told me in a strangely soft voice. “You can ride double with me until we get you a new horse.”
I looked at her, then nodded and hauled her into my arms where I held on tight. I might be used to losing people in my life and familiar with saying goodbye, but I was growing tired of it. I was ready for someone I could hold on to and keep.
Closing my eyes, I buried my face in her hair and hoped she was that someone.
When she patted my back gently as if she understood, Melaina gasped.
“Son of a bitch,” the redhead cried. “You two fucked, didn’t you? When the hell did you two fuck?”
We pulled away to frown at her together.
“None of your business,” Quilla finally answered, stiff and irritated as she jerked her way back into the saddle of her horse. But I could feel her embarrassment in my mark. She was having trouble dealing with the change in our relationship.
That didn’t stop her from holding a hand down to me and inviting me to ride with her, though.
As I climbed up behind her, her aunt scowled. “I never gave you permission to defile my niece, boy.”
I snorted. “Yes, you did. Multiple times.”
Her eyes narrowed at me as we started riding again. “That was only because I thought she’d never accept you.”
“Well, she did,” I shot back. Wrapping my arms around Quilla’s waist, I scooted in close behind her and whispered into her ear, “And thank God for it, too.”
