He looked at her and shook his head. “No, not at all,” he said quietly. “They aren’t after us. They aren’t after anything but peace and quiet for themselves. We don’t bother each other. We’re friendly when we need to be and always cordial, but, beyond that, I don’t have any contact with them.”
She nodded slowly. “And you trust that?”
“I do,” he said with a smile. “And eventually you’ll get there too.”
“Not as long as I’m being hunted,” she said quietly.
“Nope, but that state doesn’t have to continue.”
“Says you.”
He shrugged. “Let’s get the groceries inside.”
She followed him back out to the car. She studied everything, as she moved through the motions of unloading, her gaze constantly searching and looking around.
“See?” he said, when they got back inside. “Nothing to worry about.”
She just gave him an odd look and said, “I’m surprised you would say that.”
“Why?”
She said, “Because danger’s everywhere.”
“Sure, but you can’t just give in to it. You still have to live.”
Her lips quirked. “I tried that, and then one morning I got up, went outside into the sunshine, and stretched, wondering how it could be such a beautiful morning, and I took a bullet in the side.”
Stated so simply, it had more impact, and, although she didn’t mean for it to come across that way, she heard him suck in his breath. Turning to face him, she said, “I didn’t mean to bring that up again. It’s just hard to forget that’s how I got to be here.”
“I get that,” he said quietly, “and obviously you’ll still deal with a lot of memories and issues on a daily basis.”
“It happened just when I thought I was doing so well,” she said. She turned to study the area around her. “I can stay here for a little bit,” she said. “Maybe long enough to heal.”
“On a scale of one to ten, where are you?”
“I’d say five. The stress affects me in an ugly way,” she said, with a nod.
“So you need to make sure your time here is as stress-free as possible.”
“So, how will we do that?” she asked, with a laugh, looking at him.
“Have you ever been fishing?”
She shook her head. “I’m not even sure what it involves,” she murmured, as she looked out at the lake. It called to her in a way she’d never felt before. “Does it mean going out there?”
“It does, indeed. I have a boat down at the dock.” He pointed off to the side at a small rowboat.
“Is that thing safe in the water?” she asked doubtfully.
At that, he burst out laughing. “Absolutely,” he said, with a bright smile. “But we’ll get to that later.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but how do you protect yourself when you’re out there?”
He took a deep breath. “Well, you make sure that you’re not being followed, before you get out there,” he said, trying for a logical answer. “And then you just have to trust.”
She winced at that. “Back to that trust thing again.”
“I know it’s hard for you.”
“Very,” she said, “but, if you think it’s safe, I could consider it. You should have better instincts than I do.”
“Oh, I doubt it,” he said. “Your instincts should be phenomenal, after being hunted all this time. Nothing makes you more in tune to what’s going on around you than that.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but it would be nice to get out for a bit.”
“And we will,” he said, “after we get some dinner and after you get a good night’s rest.”
She nodded slowly. “I won’t let down my guard,” she said, “so don’t ask me to.”
“I would never ask anybody to do that,” he said. “That guard is what kept you alive all these years. Don’t let it down on my say-so.”
She smiled and said, “Okay, good.”
And, with that, he asked, “How do you feel about pasta?”
“I like it if it’s cooked,” she said, “but the raw stuff is hard to get down.” He looked at her sideways, unsure what to say. She shrugged. “I didn’t know how to cook when I first came out,” she explained, with a smile. “It took a bit and watching lots of videos to understand that some stuff you had to cook, and other stuff was ready to eat out of the package.”
He grinned at that. “That’s a hard lesson to learn,” he said, “but I’m sure you learned it fast.”
“Yeah, I got it right the first time after that,” she said, chuckling.
“What else have you learned to cook?”
“Lots,” she said. “I have an affinity for it, I think.”
“Good,” he said. “I’ll cook dinner tonight, since I’m rested up, and maybe you can cook dinner tomorrow.”
“I can do that,” she said, “as long as we have something that I know how to cook.”
“That’s always the caveat, isn’t it?” he said. While she watched, he quickly put together a simple pasta with fresh tomatoes, canned olives, and parmesan.
“That looks good,” she said. “I would never have thought to combine them like that.”
“I like simple meals,” he said, “especially if I don’t have a ton of time. And, right now, getting a meal on the table quickly seemed like the best idea.”
“I won’t argue,” she said. “Seems like a long time since whatever I ate at Stefan’s.”
“And that was nothing but a couple muffins and sandwiches,” he said, “and nowhere near enough for your body to heal.”
“My body heals all the time and from sources that you have no idea of.”
“Should we have bought pet food then?”
At that, she froze and turned slowly to stare at him. “Why would you ask that?”
“Well, you didn’t knock on Stefan’s door,” he said. “You told us that at Stefan’s, and you haven’t explained who did. You also weren’t alone, but the companion energy is very different. I don’t have a ton of experience with animal energy, but,” he said, his gaze studying her, “you’ve also never mentioned anybody else being here. Not to me anyway.”
“So,” she said, “why would you mention it then?”
“Because I sense another energy with us. And I thought one spoke to me at Stefan’s.”
She frowned.
He groaned and said, “You can just tell me if you have a pet, you know.”
“Do you think I would leave a pet behind?” Interesting he could sense but not see Nocturne. She waited until Hunter was focused on setting the table, then turned and winked at her cat. He swished his tail at her but stayed quiet. Was that in case Hunter heard Nocturne again?
Hunter shook his head. “No, I don’t think you would have. The question is whether you managed to get him in the vehicle while I wasn’t watching.”
She just gave him an openmouthed look and shrugged. Then she picked up a spoonful of pasta and ate it. And just as he went to do the same, a huge black cat jumped up on the table in front of him and meowed. She laughed. “Nocturne, your timing is impeccable.”