Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hey Minghyu, thought you said you wanted me at dusk. How come you didn't have Danielle wake me up before she crashed?
'Cause I didn't need you. I'm still good.
He was already picking up the north half of the circle. Anything?
Nope. Nothing but nothing.
You did some scouting?
He'd caught the edge of one of my side trips. He headed up the new trail.
Yeah—I ran a few spokes. You know, just checking. If the Cullens are going to make a hunting trip...
Good call.
Yeonjun looped back toward the main perimeter.
It was easier to run with him than it was to do the same with Danielle. Though she was trying—trying hard—there was always an edge to her thoughts. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to feel the softening toward the vampires that was going on in my head. She didn't want to deal with Yeonjun's cozy friendship with them, a friendship that was only getting stronger.
Funny, though, I'd've thought her biggest issue would just be me. We'd always gotten on each other's nerves when we were in Jackson's pack. But there was no antagonism toward me now at all, just the Cullens and Kook. I wondered why.
Maybe it was simply gratitude that I wasn't forcing her to leave. Maybe it was because I understood her hostility better now. Whichever, running with Danielle wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected.
Of course, she hadn't eased up that much. The food and clothes Seokjin had sent for her were all taking a trip downriver right now. Even after I'd eaten my share— not because it smelled nearly irresistible away from the vampire burn, but to set a good example of self-sacrificing tolerance for Danielle—she'd refused. The small elk she'd taken down around noon had not totally satisfied her appetite. Did make her mood worse, though. Danielle hated eating raw.
Maybe we should run a sweep east? Yeonjun suggested. Go deep, see if they're out there waiting.
I was thinking about that, I agreed. But let's do it when we're all awake. I don't want to let down our guard. We should do it before the Cullens give it a try, though. Soon.
Right.
That got me thinking.
If the Cullens were able to get out of the immediate area safely, they really ought to keep on going. They probably should have taken off the second we'd come to warn them. They had to be able to afford other digs. And they had friends up north, right? Take Kook and run. It seemed like an obvious answer to their problems.
I probably ought to suggest that, but I was afraid they would listen to me. And I didn't want to have Kook disappear—to never know whether he'd made it or not.
