Do not do this. The ground shook.
“I will not do this.” Sariel repeated out loud as the wind died down.
The woman hung her head. “Thank you… for all you’ve done.”
She turned her back.
He didn’t want her to.
He wanted.
Want.
Want.
Want.
“Sariel!” One of his men barked out his name. “We return to the mountain.”
“To watch,” Sariel said, his tone bitter.
Azeel looked stricken. “Brother, of course we watch. It is our purpose.”
And for the first time, Sariel… wanted more.
The earth shifted that day, without his brother’s knowledge, for when he watched, he watched Nephal.
When he watched, he dreamed of her.
And when his brothers were doing their duty.
He was closing his eyes and remembering her hand on his face.
It was years before he would see her again.
And the opportunity arose as the village was yet again attacked. The men, disbursed from the mountain.
They went in all directions.
But Sariel went to Nephal.
Once he reached her hut, he knocked on the door then burst through when she did not answer. “Nephal? Are you hurt?”
“No.” She frowned, rising up from her bed, the fur fell from her naked body. Sariel had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life.
Already he could sense that the battle was nearly over, his brothers, returning back to the mountain.
“I missed you.” Tears filled her eyes. “I do not know who you are… but I miss you. Why do I miss you?”
He didn’t know why.
He just knew he felt the same way.
“Why do you only come when we are in trouble?”
“I cannot answer that.”
“Why do I feel strongly for you? A man? A stranger I do not know?”