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“I didn’t say he has an exceptional connection to his element,” Connak clarifies. “Just that he has it.”
“I know. I’m just spit-balling, trying to work out the problems aloud. We need to find him. Knowing where he came from or what kind of power he has will only help us if we’re face-to-face with him. At this rate, he’s going to run us all over the Mongrel territory while he ambles through the village unseen.”
“I understand your frustration,” he tells me. “I feel it, too. I’ve never had a hunt stretch this much time, and it’s given me a headache.”
Connak stays quiet while I look over the campsite and surrounding area one more time. I search the ground so long that the colors of the fallen leaves blur together. Every stick and branch appears just like the last. And my frustration only grows.
“Have you found anything?” he inquires.
I shrug. “Not much that you didn’t see when you were here. It’s just a convenient spot for Cotear to sleep and not be seen.”
“Did you search the trees?”
“Did you see me climb?”
“Too short?” Connak smiles. “You need me to pick you up?”
I give him the same bland expression Ecaeris so often gives me. “Why did you bring me out here?”
“Because I value the way you see the world around us,” he explains. “You have a different view than the natives, and that makes you unpredictable. I can’t guess what will catch your attention or what looks out of place to you.”
“But you don’t want me out here?” I finish for him.
He tips his head. “I would prefer to have more protection. I’m used to hunting on my own, not with company, although you are much less distracting than Ecaeris and Lyell.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not,” I mumble.
“It’s a compliment,” he confirms. “They talked so much I couldn’t focus on my hunt. But you understand the importance of focus.”
“Yet you still want more company with us?” I challenge.
“I know you are capable of fighting and protecting yourself.” He hangs his head for a moment before continuing. “But I’m not confident that I can keep you safe.”
I frown. “You’ve kept me safe in the past, even when you didn’t know—”
“I’ve also failed to keep others safe,” he cuts in, his words soft but serious. “Lost people because I couldn’t protect them. I’m not willing to let anything happen to you again because I can’t hold up my word.”
“That isn’t your fault, Connak. We have to trust each other, and I do trust you. You haven’t let anything happen to me. I know you’ll do everything in your power to keep me safe, but I also know that won’t be necessary. I’m not others. Don’t let your past cloud your judgment to the point where you end up hurting yourself.”
My last statement sounds so much like one I’ve said to Ecaeris that I begin to wonder if each of these Mongrel men needs to hear it. I understand that one’s past can and will follow them, haunt them, but if they fear it, the fear only becomes worse with time.
“You can’t guarantee that nothing will happen to you while we’re out here,” he claims.
I shake my head. “You’re right. I can’t, but I can promise that we’ll get away. This flirty hunter once told me something about knowing when to retreat and when to fight.”
“Which flirty hunter would that be?” Connak prowls closer to me, a smirk on his face as I back away. “We may have to pay him a visit. Someone has to tell him he can’t have you. You’re taken.”
“I tried.” I shrug, moving toward the call of the ocean. “Didn’t really stop him.”
“That’s how they wear you down.” He nods to himself. “Must be a handsome Mongrel for you to still be thinking about him.”
“He is,” I agree, grinning. “Handsome and spontaneous. Attentive and confident.”
Connak raises a single brow at me. “Dashing too?”
“Too charming for his own good.”
“Sounds like we’d make great friends.”
