For the Taking ✅

15 • Harvest

Seraphina POV

"Here, you'll need this."

A hot cup of hot chocolate was thrust into my hands as Ivy tied a knit scarf around my neck. I coughed when she tied it too tight and narrowed my eyes when she offered an apologetic shrug.

"Cozy?"

"Peachy," I replied looking down at my bundled-up body. I looked like I was preparing to embark on an arctic expedition. There was a puffer coat on top of a jacket and the jacket was on top of a sweater and beneath that was a long sleeve sweatshirt. I defiantly won't die from hyperthermia but I can't say I wouldn't die of a heat stroke.

"Ivy, do I really need all this?" I pulled at the scarf that itched my neck.

"Yes." She didn't look at me as she replied grab various items. "Osiris will hang me if you come back with even a sniffle." She continued to run about.

Confused I watched her, finding her words odd. With a nervous chuckle I questioned her comment. "You mean Desmond."

There was a slight pause in her movements before she shrugged and grabbed a basket. "Both of them care for you."

Her words held a sense of certainty as she pulled the door open, I followed close behind her sipping my hot chocolate.

It wasn't that I thought her words were false. After last night I don't think I could lie to myself and say that Osiris didn't care for me a little. I had to fight him to be where I am today, but I didn't think that the level of concern for me matched nearly the same as Desmond. Nothing would ever match Desmond's level of worry.

Regardless, I didn't push the topic further with Ivy as I followed her to the fields. They were further than I thought it would be my ankles hurt from the high snow was plowed through to get to the harvesting fields.

"Can anything even live through snow?" I asked standing at the edge of what looked like a field. There was a blanket of snow over the crops and only the lumps of what used to be vegetables could be seen.

There were a few other women out further in the middle of the field. They peered over at us but it was only momentary before they ducked their head back down.

"Yea, look-" She bent down brushing snow to the side. She fisted the green stems of a plant tugging the root free from the snowy dirt. "-see? It's a carrot." She tossed it into one of the baskets we had and proceeded to pull out another carrot.

I was stunned. I didn't think it was possible for plants to still thrive under snow. I was even more in shock when Ivy and I were picking for a while and we had filled the large basket that we had. We had only been out in the field for an hour and we had managed to fill on basket and nearly fill the other half way.

"Your pack must be larger than I thought. This is a lot of food." I tossed a turnup into the basket when I looked over at the red head.

"We aren't a huge pack. We actually formed fairly recent." She admitted. My eyes widened a moment but I concealed it before she noticed. "Everyone in this pack were found as rogues. Most were living on their own and had left their pack, casted out, or were left with no pack after being attacked by rival packs." Ivy stood up dusting off her hands against her jeans. "You are the only exception."