It’s a long, miserable night. I make it by simply concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. As long as I’m with Aehako, it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. I wish I could hold his hand, but when he doesn’t have the travois poles, I do. So I just tuck my hands into my fur cloak and imagine what life is going to be like when we get back to the caves.
Because I’m moving in with Aehako. He’s mine and I’m not waiting any longer to claim him, khui or not.
Eventually, the sun rises. My feet feel heavy and cold as ice, but when we pause to check on Haeden, I can tell that Aehako’s worried about him. He doesn’t need to say anything; it’s obvious that Haeden might not make it back to the caves. I bind his wound tighter, take off my fur cloak and wrap it around his unconscious body, and then we continue on.
I’m utterly numb with exhaustion when I hear a high pitched cry. It sounds a bit like a bird. I look over at Aehako, and his face lights up with joy. He cups a hand to his mouth and repeats the cry, adding a shrill yi-yi-yi at the end. “Hunters,” he tells me. “Raahosh is near. They will help us.”
“Oh, good,” I breathe. Right now, I’d take a piggyback ride all the way home if it was offered.
“There,” Aehako says, and points over a rise. Two fur-covered bodies are jogging toward us, one wearing snowshoes and a thick fur cloak, the other dressed in simple leathers and a loincloth. One horn twists up from his head where there should be two.
Sure enough, it’s Raahosh and Liz.
“Marco,” Liz calls, laughing as they approach.
I want to laugh at her joke, but I’m too tired. I lean against Aehako’s arm as we wait for them. I could fall asleep on my feet right about now. Actually, I don’t think I’ve slept in a long time.
“Yo, dude, you’re supposed to say ‘Polo,’” Liz says, hopping over to us before flinging her arms around me. Then, she blinks, takes one look at my pale face and the travois, and then at Aehako. “What’s wrong? What the hell happened?”
“We were returning to the caves because we saw the alien ship,” Raahosh says in a grim voice.
“Yeah, but it left again, so I thought everything was cool,” Liz says.
“It didn’t leave,” I tell her. “I smashed it into the side of the mountain.”
“We can tell you on the way back,” Aehako interrupts. “But we must get Haeden to the healer before it is too late.”
Raahosh’s eyes narrow and he moves to the travois, ripping my fur cloak down and uncovering him. A moment later, he gets up, replaces the blanket, and takes the travois poles from Aehako. “I will run it in. Stay with the women.”
Aehako claps him on the shoulder gratefully, and we watch as Raahosh takes off like a dervish, hauling the travois behind him with a speed and energy that makes me exhausted to watch.
“You okay, Kira?” Liz asks. “You look ready to faint.”
“I’m fine,” I assure her, though I weave unsteadily on my feet.
“I’d offer to carry you but my muscles are kinda puny,” she says, flexing an arm. She adjusts her bow, slung across her back. “But I’m happy to give you a shoulder to lean on if you need it.”
“There is no need,” Aehako interrupts, and in the next moment, he picks me up into his arms.
“You’re wounded,” I protest. “You can’t carry me.” I try to slither out of his grip, but Aehako only holds me tighter.
“You guys okay?” Liz asks, worried.
“I am fine. And you weigh nothing, Kira,” he says, and then nuzzles my throat. “It is my honor and pleasure to carry my mate.”
“Oh my God,” Liz cries and claps a hand to her mouth. “You two resonated? Really?”
I shake my head, but Aehako interrupts. “No resonance. We have chosen each other.”
“Aww, that’s romantic, I think,” Liz says, and there’s a wrinkle in her brow as if she’s not quite sure if she should be happy for us or not. I know what she’s thinking – what happens if one of us resonates to someone else?
So I distract her as we start walking, heading down the path that Raahosh has cut through the snow. “You haven’t seen Harlow, have you?” I ask her. “She was part of our group and ran off, and we can’t find her anywhere.”
“Jeez, I feel like I’m missing a big chunk of story here,” Liz says. “Someone wanna fill me in between alien plane crashes, wounds, and a missing person?”
We do, and it takes a bit of telling. By the time the story is finished, we’re striding into the mouth of the cave, me in Aehako’s arms, and worried tribesmates swarm around us. I can practically feel the love and worry in the air, and it’s a good feeling. For the first time, I don’t feel like a lonely outsider.