Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 50 - SCREW THE MATE BOND

Hello again! For this round of quarantine bonding, I want to know your favourite book of all time. It can be Wattpad or it can be real. You can tell us why, or you can be all mysterious and just drop the title. It's up to you. (the only rule? you cannot say any of my books. I know what some of you are like, you lil cuties ;D)

"Have you seen Eva?"

That question came on a cool evening breeze. Silence came afterwards. I froze in place, not even daring to crouch, because there was nothing to disguise the sounds of me finding cover. The river was low, and its usual gurgling had become a murmur.

It was a pause that dragged on for an odd length of time, and I had a sneaking suspicion that the recipient was taking the time to point in my direction. You pointed, so you wouldn't piss off whoever was looking, and then you claimed ignorance aloud so you wouldn't piss off whoever was being hunted down.

Because of the mind-link, no one had to look for anyone who wanted to be found. It was certainly true now. I'd been blocking Nia for hours - it was inevitable that she'd got tired to poking and decided to find me the old-fashioned way.

"Nah," the raider said. "Ain't seen nobody."

The second he started talking, I edged back from the riverbank, flattening myself into the long grass. I could only breathe easy when there was a tree between me and my cousin. And if some ticks crawled onto me ... well, that seemed like a fair price to pay to avoid the conversation Nia was looking to have.

I could hear her footsteps on the sandy riverbank. She had found Turner. Like me, he was here to wash, but he stood up nice and straight when he saw Nia. River water dripped down his bare back.

"Eva?" Nia asked.

He ran a hand through his hair, which was, of course, soaking wet. "What about her?"

My cousin was not fooled by the delaying tactics. Her mouth became a thin line. "Where is she?"

"Search me."

Turner didn't point. He had to know I could see him from where I was hiding. But maybe there was a turn of the head. A flick of the eyes. The raiders loved Nia a lot more than they feared her, but ... there was a bit of fear.

More footsteps. Coming so close that I could feel them through the ground. I pressed myself lower into the grass. Nia was going past. I could hear the grass rustling as she moved. As long as she didn't look down, I'd be-

A strand of sedge brushed against my nose. I felt my eyes pulling closed and brought my hand up sharply, hoping to scare the sneeze back down, but it was already too late. And it was not a quiet sneeze.

A shadow fell over my face, and a boot nudged my arm. "Oh, get up. You're not in trouble."

"Didn't think I was," I muttered. I rolled onto my back and stared sulkily up at the clouds.

"I said get up, Eva," Nia said. She pulled me up by my jacket when I was still too slow to move, setting me on my feet and steadying me. "We're going for a walk."

I made a disgusted noise in the back of my throat. I hated walking, and I felt that I'd done enough today, and she couldn't make me. Nia's eyes rolled skywards. She caught my arm and pulled me into a grudging march, even as I squirmed and swore at her.

"There's someone who wants to talk to you," she said

She was hoping to wake my curiosity, and damn her, because it worked. I'd thought she was going to hassle me about Liam. For once, it was nice to be proved wrong. Maybe I hadn't needed to spend the entire day blocking her.