The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (23 page)

In the common area of the lodge the men caught up with Brece, his son and several of the town’s committee members. As Alek listened to the conversation he noticed Melanite hover near Brece, who turned and conversed with her.

Brece turned to Alek, 'One of the women in your group wishes to take her dog for a run, will you accompany her? We’ve had sightings of tehnears lately, so I wouldn’t want her to risk it by herself' he paused. 'You do still run?'

'I do, I'll go get changed. Elena will have my head if anything happens to any of them.' Alek pushed his chair back and stood, working at the buckles on his arm greaves as he walked to his room.

A soft knock sounded at our door and Melanite poked her head in.

'Hello?'

She had a pair of boots hanging from one arm and some garments in the other.

'Here are the boots and I also brought the clothing and shoes I used to use when I was a messenger. They're clean, of course. The shorts have a drawstring so they should fit, and the laces on the top pull it in so it can fit a variety of sizes.' She walked to the bed and lay a pair of shorts and a short tunic top down.

'Are you a messenger?' She looked at me curiously.

'No. Why do you ask?'

'Well, why would you run otherwise?' she asked in surprise.

The four of us stared at her for a moment then Loi smiled brightly.

'Oh, Cat hasn’t run any messages for ages. She just runs for fun.'

Melanite nodded then pulled out another garment that she’d concealed under her top. It was a long length of cloth with darts placed along it. I stared at it confused, and the others gathered to stare at it.

'What is that?'

She winked, 'It’s to stop you from bouncing.' And gestured at my chest.

'Ohhhh,' we chorused in unison.

I looked at it closer now.

'How do you put it on?'

She quickly explained how to strap it, then excused herself as she needed to sort out the other rooms.

'Alek is going to meet you out the front?' asked Sian.

'That’s what Melanite said.' I replied while Loi and Kassie, each with one end of the ‘bra’, walked around me.

'Not too tight,' I half gasped. 'I need to be able to breathe.'

Five minutes later and I was bandaged up in the bra while Sian quickly braided my hair.

'Do you think it’ll work?' Kassie studied the bra.

'I hope so,' I grunted. Sian was making the braid nice and tight. 'Bouncing isn’t fun.'

Now ready to go, I did some quick stretches, getting a feel for my "new" jogging gear. The boots were nice and soft. A good fit, even if the soles were thinner than I was used to.

Audi whined at me; she knew all the moves. She raced over to the others and then to the door, back to me, and back around again. I laughed and opened the door, waving to the girls and moved out the way as the dog shot past.

Alek waited at the front of the lodge for Catherine. He was about to go in search of her when Audrey appeared at his feet, whining and crying with excitement. He laughed and bent to pat her.

'She’s super excited,' Catherine called out as she walked in.

Alek looked up to greet her then stopped.

She wore shorts that revealed shapely legs and a fitted tunic. He felt a slight blush graze his cheeks as he gaped at her for a moment.

'Ready to run? Err, I mean go for a run?' He flushed as she gave him a funny look.

'Yep, are you feeling alright?' Her green eyes stared up at him in concern.

Shake it off Alek,
he thought to himself. It’s not like you haven’t spent the last two days together.

'I’m fine; it’s just warm in here. What did you do to your hair?' he changed the subject quickly and studied the intricate braid that ran down the back of her head.

I turned to show the plait off, 'Sian did it for me. It’ll keep my hair out of the way.'

'Clever,' he commented and gestured with his head. 'This way.'

We wandered through the village until we reached the north end, meeting a dozen dogs along the way. It made me very relieved that in dog world Audi was submissive, so she only said a brief hello before zooming back to us. Alek had already confirmed with the locals which was the best track and we were stopped several times by people warning us to be careful.

Way to install confidence, I thought and asked, 'What are we to be careful of?'

Alek looked down at Catherine. Her eyes were troubled so he decided to deflect the question a little.

'Do you always go by Catherine? Or is it okay for me to call you Cat?'

She looked surprised.

'Um. Well, my friends and family call me Cat.' Then she grinned at him, 'So you can certainly call me Cat.'

Alek was amused at the bubbly response and explained, 'The reason people told us to be careful is because there have been tehnear sightings.'

Seeing her confusion he continued, 'It’s a large carnivorous animal that can be a threat. I don’t think we’ll have any issues as the arrival of the griffons should scare anything like that off.'

He said it nonchalantly so I wasn't bothered. It was strange to think there were such things in the forest though; the scariest thing in New Zealand bush was the pigs.

If Alek isn’t concerned I guess there's no reason for me to be
. I followed him past the village entrance.

We turned and began to jog along a track. It was wide enough for us to run side by side which was pleasant, and Audrey ducked from my side to his and back again.

All the stress and tension dissolved as we ran along and I began to feel normal again. I hadn’t realized how ‘off’ I’d felt. Going for a run was such a normal and pleasant thing to do.

We began to race each other down the track, darting through the trees. Okay so I raced and he just ran but it was fun. The path was easy and Audi had a great time darting around and smelling things. It was a while before I noticed she had disappeared from sight and I stopped.

Alek halted abruptly.

'What?' He looked around in confusion.

'Audrey must have scented something, she’s disappeared.' I gestured around us, there was no sign of Audrey.

'I want to make sure she catches up.'

I looked around and listened carefully. I couldn’t hear anything yet, but that was no reason to panic. Audrey had a great nose, and was fascinated with creatures so she probably just got distracted a ways back.

Alek looked up and down the track too; a lock of black hair brushing his eyebrow. My stomach did flip-flops at the sight, especially when he turned that blue gaze on me.

'Should we call for her?'

Too busy mentally swooning; I took a moment to register his words.

'What? Oh right.' I turned.

'AUDDRREEYYY!'

Alek winced.

Cat certainly has a good set of lungs,
he thought. The contrast between this attractive woman, and the voice that sounded like a bull roaring was almost comical. He could feel the edges of his lips twitch with laughter and, of course, that was when she looked up. She was obviously aware of how she sounded because she gave him a wide grin.

'I know, I know. Not exactly what you expect from me.'

He laughed.

'I’m learning to expect the unexpected with you.'

I stopped laughing when I heard the snap of twigs behind us and spun around.

'Audrey! Where have you been?' I scolded and peered for her.

I couldn’t quite spot her so I walked a couple of paces into the bush, off the track.

Please don’t let her have caught something.
I wasn’t worried that she would have killed it, but most of the creatures Audi’s caught before die of shock rather quickly, and it always devastated her. I think she had it in mind to mother them. Peering short-sightedly into the woods (okay so there's more than one reason Sian’s a better archer than me) I spotted the light glinting of her eyes and would have stepped forward when Alek seized my arm.

'Cat, Audi’s over there.'

He pointed down the track ahead of us.

Sure enough, there she stood waiting for us. I stared at her for a moment.

'But if Audi’s there, then what’s that?'

Alek looked where Cat pointed, not seeing anything at first. Then he spotted it, its dark brown fur and darker stripes nearly rendering it invisible in the undergrowth.

'Shit.'

Cat’s eyes widened in surprise. Alek backed slowly out, grabbed Cat’s arm and began to walk along the track at a brisk pace.

‘What is it?' She hissed, alarm in her eyes.

'A tehnear. Can you get Audrey to walk behind us?'

I looked up at him, far more alarmed now.

'But,' I began.

Alek interrupted me.

'She’ll be fine. Dogs are quicker than tehnears, normally, and she’ll distract it.'

I could feel the fear coil around my stomach. 'Is it going to attack us?'

He gave me a grim look. 'Almost certainly.'

Alek watched as Cat called Audrey and pointed out the tehnear. 'Will she understand?'

Cat glanced at him. 'Yes. Audrey’s very smart.'

They watched as the dog stalked back down the track, she stiffened when she sighted the tehnear and lowered, crouched and ready.

'C’mon,' he snapped. 'Now we run. Fast.'

Gripping Cat’s hand, he took off.

We sprinted flat out down the track, and this time, I had no problem keeping up with Alek. A roar of fury ripped through the trees followed by Audrey, snarling and barking.

Alek risked a glance back.

'She’s okay,' he gasped out. 'It’s working.'