Dirty Lying Dragons

6. Grocery Shopping

free chapter 6/7

Dani

Ryker picked up a bow from next to the back door, strung it, and threw a bag thing of arrows over his shoulder before we left.

It was cold as hell, but the sweaters helped a lot. The temperature between yesterday and today was like two different seasons, and here I was stuck in winter. My chest was warm, and my face felt like an ice pop. I kept my fingers snugly inside the long sleeves.

As we crunched through the snow outside, I stared at the arrows, bobbing up and down on his back. He had a few old scars, not a lot. He must either be very good at avoiding fights with bears, or good at fighting bears, or just good at not getting scars. The string of his bow dug lightly into his shoulder as we walked.

"You use a bow?" I asked. I had already seen his claws, there was no point in hiding them now.

"Cleaner kill. When I kill something with my bare hands there isn't always a lot of meat left." He shrugged.

I shivered. "Okay, noted."

We walked down a gentle slope to the more open span of what might have been a meadow under all the ice. He was still shirtless, which I couldn't wrap my mind around, as we walked over crisp snow down a narrow path between the rows of tall grass. My breath clouded in front of me and I tried to sink into my layers of sweaters more to cover the lower half of my face.

I seriously considered trying to conjure a small flame to warm my face. No one would know from all the way out here, right? I pulled my fingers from the end of the sweater and stared at them a moment. But I never bothered to learn more than the basics of magic and I hadn't practiced in years. I sighed and pulled my fingers back in the sweater, deciding not to try.

We walked a pretty good distance. I was lost, and saw no sign of life. How Ryker knew there was a bear I had no idea, all I knew was that I was miserably walking through the Russian wilderness in four sweaters and pajama pants.

I didn't notice when Ryker stopped, he was silent and still. I ran into him, smacking my nose against his solid back. It was my own fault for not paying attention, but as I rubbed my nose I realized how warm it was right next to his skin. Warmer than my flame had gotten it. Warm like the loft in the cabin.

"Are you sure you're not some kind of fire demon?" I asked.

"Shh."

He crouched down near the grass and pulled up a tuft of brown fur. He sniffed it for a moment, and released it a few feet off the ground, letting it drift away in the wind. "That's the one we're looking for."

"You're looking for a specific bear?" I asked, skeptically. "Did you name it or something?"

"There is an older male that's been wandering around the area since he woke up from hibernation. He has had more than enough years of contributing to the population, and he is the one we're after. I'm not going to kill a female or younger, healthier male right before mating season."

"Oh," I said. "I don't know anything about bear conservation."

"Lucky for the bears that I do then," Ryker said, and began walking once more.

I sighed, my breath clouding in front of me, and followed. I tried to keep as close as possible to him, trying to steal his warmth.

We went on like that for probably another fifteen minutes before Ryker stopped walking again. The scenery hadn't changed much, but the sun was slightly higher than it had been when we left.