Amatista

“Kavi, put me down.”

“No.” He was getting ill of speaking the word.

“You’re tired and I can walk. Really I can.”

“You are my mate. I will protect you. I will carry you across.”

“Nobody else is carrying their mates but you!”

“You are human.”

“Precisely. I can do it by myself!”

He kissed her, a hard, dry peck on the lips that only frustrated him because he wanted more. “You are too stubborn. When we settle, I will have to find a way to keep your mouth occupied.”

By the way her eyes lit up with interest, Kavi could see she was pleased by the idea—and he was much more so.

After a thoughtful moment she said, “You’re not planning to gag me, are you?”

“No. I like that little mouth to have its freedom.”

She grinned up at him, her smile robbing him of his breath. “You will be very grateful for that,” she promised, eyes glinting like gems.

But that mischievous look on her face didn’t sit too well with him. He frowned. “I hope you aren’t thinking I will continue to let you use that little mouth on my brothers,” he said solemnly.

A sleek blonde eyebrow shot up, amethyst eyes blinking innocently up at him. “Only occasionally?”

He realized she was teasing by the smile she gave him afterward—a smile which managed to soften every inch of him. Kavi was sure even his bones were liquefying.

“Behave,” he said, biting back a smile of his own.

Chapter Seven

At one point, Liana thought they’d never get there.

She was pretty sure they would die trying. Like martyrs or heroes or something. Something she didn’t want to be. And then because she was the only spoiled one who was being carried most of the way, she would get to bury them all.

And of course then she’d shoot herself.

They hadn’t slept for two days. Liana had taken naps, of course, but Kavi had gone on without food or sleep during that time. All the Fohers had. Liana had pondered explaining to them the concept of quitting.

While most might think contemptuously of the word, Liana was starting to like it. But something happened after they took a path between two of the larger Vilde Mountains.

The mountains loomed above them, towering monsters wrapping the tribe in shadows. The path grew wider then tapered down to a sleek, crooked line around a bend.

When they followed the curve, all Fohers halted so suddenly Liana feared they’d slammed into a wall. The other Fohers, ones who’d been scouting the areas, had only recently joined the rest of the group, bringing news that had made Kavi none too happy. Liana had known by the darkening look on his face the news was about Lyle, surely hot on their trail. Now she prayed to her lucky stars that what everyone was staring at would be that one thing they sought.

Her heart began to pound in her chest. “Kavi, is it…?” she trailed off.

Kavi didn’t answer, instead setting her on her feet before making his way to the front of the line and staring at the sight that had captured all the others.

Liana scooted up beside him, and when she did, she had to blink several times. Her vision blurred, her eyes momentarily struck by a flash of light, and she had to lift her hands to shield her eyes from the warm, heavy brightness.

Then she saw it. Amatista.

Nestled beside the monstrous mountains, spreading far and wide before their eyes, every tone of purple imaginable blinked back at her like a living, breathing treasure. A treasure that stretched at least twenty feet wide from one side to the other and snaking as far as the eye could see, boastings millions and millions of amethysts in all shapes and sizes, glinting beckoningly up to the skies.

It took Liana’s breath away. Her speech. Her motion.