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CHAPTER SIX
Haina
Wereturnedbacktothe boat just as the sun was beginning to set in the west. Rix was in front this time, with my booty of fish on my spear over his shoulder, while Jorik kept his hands on my shoulders in order to ground me and help me concentrate on compartmentalizing my mind.
I’d been able to do an okay job of it in the creek but struggled again when we got back out into the woods to return to the boat. Maybe it was because the forest animals were getting ready to hunt and jostling about more, but the buzzing sound in my brain from everything crashing through my senses at once had me swaying, while and spots clouded my vision.
“We’ve got you,” Jorik said, resting his hands on my shoulders and applying just a little pressure. “Focus on my pulse and nothing more. You can do this.”
And I did. With his help, his guidance and his confidence in me, I did.
We dragged the smaller rowboat out from our hiding spot, and with Jorik keeping watch, his gun at the ready, Rix and I rowed out to the sailboat, where Zane was waiting for us with the towline.
“Dinner,” Rix said with a wide grin, stepping up onto the sailboat deck. “Courtesy of Wildcat.”
Zane’s gray eyes widened when he took in the spear with eight trout impaled on it.
I smirked at his shock. “Surprised, Captain Sunshine? Did you not think this kitten could fish?”
A low, surly growl rumbled through him as his wide eyes darkened and a scowl took over his face. “Even kittens have claws.”
“And you’d be wise not to forget that,” I said, taking my Yakku blade from the strap across my chest and running it below his chin just enough that the blade would touch but not break the skin.
Fury simmered in his heated glare, but I merely rolled my eyes and joined Jorik and Rix below deck. In addition to the trout I caught, we also gathered a few different edible plants. Since I’d been kept in a box my entire life, I knew nothing in the way of foraging or which plants were poisonous or not. But Jorik knew, and he taught me and Rix.
In a calmer patch of water, we found many arrowhead plants, and Jorik showed us how to dig up the tubers, which were edible. We had a whole satchel full of them. We also gathered wild mint—which Rix was now happily chewing on—dandelions, groundcones, northern water plantains, bittercress, miner’s lettuce and water lilies. We’d spotted a few mushrooms, but they alerted me before I even touched them that the ones I found were deadly poisonous.
I appreciated having them around because my ignorant butt would have grabbed the mushrooms without even thinking and probably ended up dead on the boat in less than a day.
“We’re going to have a king’s feast,” Rix said proudly as Zane climbed his big, foreboding frame down into the belly of the boat and loomed over us like a gigantic gray-eyed storm cloud. “We taught Wildcat how to forage, and she took to it right away, didn’t you, Cat?”
I beamed as I unraveled my satchel to reveal our bounty of forest produce. I’d cleaned the fish—with the help and instruction of Rix and Jorik—at the creek, so they were ready to be stuffed with herbs and cooked to perfection. No more of that disgusting powdered chicken and rice with vegetables for us.
I could honestly say that I felt like I was floating right now—and not just on a boat. I was happy. I was being a productive, contributing member of this … team? Group? Crew? Either way, I was contributing, and that made me feel good.
“She also shot down a drone,” Jorik added, pride clear in his voice.
Zane had been what I could only describe as sulking, but at the mention of a drone, his whole posture changed and his expression became thunderous. “You what?”
“She grabbed her bow and shot up into the sky, then before we knew it, a drone was crashing toward the ground. It was crazy,” Rix added. “We destroyed the chip and the camera. But I didn’t even hear or see it.”
“Me either,” Jorik said, looking at me with appreciation.
“So you’ve learned how to compartmentalize your senses, then?” Zane asked. So much disbelief dripped off his tone that it was taking a lot of self-control on my part to not add him as the ninth impaled body on my spear.
“I’m learning,” I said, meeting his gaze and not flinching under the dark weight of it. “I’m getting better.”
“Damn straight she is,” Rix said, resting his hand on my shoulder and smiling another smile that left me winded.
Zane only grunted, then returned to the upper deck, pulling anchor and getting us sailing again when darkness settled in. Rix knew his way around a kitchen and taught me how to prepare the roots and herbs we collected as well as cook the trout until the entire cabin was smelling mouthwateringly delicious.
We brought dinner up to the deck, and the four of us sat and ate, gazing up at the stars as the gentle wind slowly pushed us south along the coastline.
A moan of pure bliss echoed in my throat as I popped my finger in my mouth after using it to gather up the last of the juice from my plate. I couldn’t waste a drop of the delicious real food.
I knew we needed to pace ourselves, otherwise too much food on our packet-filled bellies could make us ill, but I was itching to go and catch more fish. It’d only been a few days since I’d had a real meal at the compound, but even then, nothing had ever been so fresh or caught by my own hand. There was something particularly amazing and rewarding about catching and cooking your own food.
Not realizing I’d closed my eyes when I moaned, I opened them only to find all three of the guys staring at me with gaping mouths.
