The North Star | COMPLETED ✔️

Chapter 48~ Explore

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Chapter 48

Bard held a finger to his lips and pulled me down to crouch behind the nearest tree. "There," he whispered.

I followed his gaze, and my lips parted on a breath. A massive deer stood less than twenty feet away. It chewed at the grass, then lifted its head to the air as if it could sense us there. My lips curved. I'd never seen anything more exotic than a raccoon, and that had been beside a dumpster.

This was different.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Bard thumb moved across my shoulder. "That's an elk. They're all over out here."

"I thought it was a deer."

"They're bigger, and the antlers are different." Bard's eyes trailed over my face and softened, then shot back over as the elk barreled off into the trees. "C'mon. Let's find something else then." He gently lifted me and lead the way in the opposite direction.

I stared up at the sun filtering through the trees, listened to the chirping birds and picked apart each individual song.

All the while, Bard's eyes stayed sharp and focused on the ground. He dipped down and touched the dirt, then smiled and waved me along behind him.

I hurried to catch up, and inwardly cursed each noise I made. Bard stepped through the forrest with a ghostly silence, but each time my foot hit the earth, a crack or crunch would echo like gunfire. No matter how hard I tried to dull it, to pay attention, I couldn't accomplish what he did so effortlessly. I made a mental note to ask him to teach me.

Bard crouched again and worked his way up a hill. When he reached the top, he slowly stretched out onto his stomach and peeked at something over the other side. He looked back at me, eyes light. "You're good luck, Tequila."

I carefully pulled myself up to lay beside him, then covered my mouth when I saw what he'd found.

A family of foxes. Three grown and four of the cutest little babies spread out across a small opening between the trees.

"That's their burrow." Bard pointed to the large hole just behind them. "In most places, you don't see them during the daytime. They're nocturnal. But sometimes, if they feel safe, they'll start to hunt during the daylight hours."

"This is amazing." I wanted to try and get closer, but his words made me resist the temptation. The last thing I wanted to do was disrupt their peace of mind. "I understand how they feel. I've never felt as safe as I do out here." My smile widened as one of the cubs tumbled into another and knocked them both to the ground.

"I'm glad." He leaned forward and kissed my temple. "C'mon. I've got something else to show you." He helped me slide back down the hill, then pulled me in yet another direction.

His steps were light, and his aura was still that infectious joy that pulled me in and wouldn't let go. That morning by the fire, I'd given up fighting. I'd given in, and despite my eagerness, Bard only kissed me for a moment before he pulled away and suggested we head out.

Somehow, he always knew the exact thing to do to make me feel secure, even if I didn't even know it myself. In that moment, with that choice, he sent a message. He showed me that this wasn't just physical. This was more.

"Here," he said as he changed course and took us deeper into the foliage.

The familiar burble of water across rock greeted me, and as I broke through the trees, I saw it. The water trickled down and pooled into a large circle surrounded by smooth stones and mossy greens.