Mated To An Enemy

By the time the group arrived at the mountains of Moonguard, the sun had already gone. Leaving behind only the golden and purple hues of its descent. Myka and the children worked quickly to set up the tents and arrange a fire. At the same time, Ashleigh walked the perimeter and gathered the firewood.

Stefan had requested to join her, but she quickly told him it would be best for everyone to stay within the campsite as the night was closing in on them.

Once the camp had been properly arranged and the fire held steady, Myka set about cooking their first meal.

"This and breakfast tomorrow will be the only meals we have using just the ingredients we brought from Winter," he said with a bright smile as he set the pot over the fire and prepared the ingredients. "Every meal after, starting with lunch tomorrow, must be foraged or caught from these mountains."

"I want to catch a fish!" one of the boys said.

"I'm going to find berries," said another.

"I want to find a lemon berry," Sadie said softly.

"What's a lemon berry?" asked the only other girl who had come with them.

"It's a special kind of fruit that only grows in these mountains," Sadie replied. "It came from a lemon tree and a blackberry bush being spliced together. It is supposed to grow on a tree and has the rind of a plump, darkened lemon. But when you cut it open, it looks more like a pomegranate with black kernels."

"What does it taste like? A lemon or a blackberry?" Stefan asked.

"Both!" Sadie smiled. "It has a tart sweetness."

"I want to find one too!" said the other girl.

"Well, I'm going to catch a rabbit!" Stefan said proudly. "Sadie, you can get us some fruit, but I'll make sure we get some meat!"

The others immediately added what they would catch, and it quickly became a competition.

"Where did you hear about the lemon berry, Sadie?" Ashleigh asked. She had only been partially listening as the children talked. Most of her attention was on the sounds and movements in the forest around them.

"Well, I—" Sadie began.

"Wait…" Ashleigh interrupted, sitting up straight and looking into the trees. After a moment, she relaxed and then stood up. "Myka, I'm going on patrol."

"Is everything ok?" he asked, glancing back in the direction Ashleigh had been looking.

"Yea, it was just a small animal," she replied. "But it would be safer to make sure there are no larger ones in the area before we go to sleep."

"All right," he nodded.

Ashleigh walked away without another word.

Myka looked up at Sadie. She had not joined the conversation of the other kids, who were now heading toward the tents to play a game while they waited for dinner. Instead, Sadie was just looking into the fire with a disappointed look on her face. Myka smiled to himself. He had seen the look before.

Sadie was an intelligent girl with a strong interest in learning about new things. And whenever she discovered something that she found truly interesting, she wanted to share it. But it wasn't as easy for her to express that interest to the other people around her.

"So, Sayds, where did you learn about the lemon berry?" Myka smiled. "I don't know that I have ever heard of it before."

Sadie grinned and reached down to her backpack. She pulled out the book she had been reading in the car and held it up.

"I read about it in here," she said. "It's a book about all kinds of plants and flowers unique to the werewolf territories."

Myka hadn't paid close attention to it in the car, but as he looked at it now, he saw it wasn't an ordinary book. Instead, it was leather bound with a string and looked more like a journal.

"Can I see that?" he asked, setting down the knife and the carrot he had been chopping up.

Sadie handed him the book. As he looked inside, he saw immediately that he had been right. It was a journal. From the notes he was glancing at and a few other pages he skimmed, it had clearly belonged to a nomad.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, still looking through the pages.

"Peter gave it to me," she said.

Myka looked up.

"Peter?" he asked, looking back at the journal. "When?"

Sadie smiled and nodded.

"Last night," she said. "He came to my room and gave it to me. He said it belonged to his mother and was very special to him. But he thought I might find useful information for our trip."

Myka swallowed and looked at the journal again. This belonged to Peter's mother? Peter never talked about his parents. It was still a painful wound in his heart, but he had given Sadie this treasured memento. Myka smiled and closed the journal. He tied the string carefully before handing it back to Sadie.

"That's a very special gift," he said softly.

"I know," Sadie said, hugging the journal to her chest. "Peter said that he had never shared it with anyone before. But that he thought…."

Sadie paused and looked away as she chewed her lower lip. Myka tilted his head to see her better. The light of the fire was enough to see the soft blush on her cheeks and the ghost of a smile on her lips. He smiled as he read the embarrassment and happiness in her expression.

"He thought… what, Sadie?" he asked gently as he moved to sit down beside her. "What did Peter say?"

After a moment, Sadie took a deep breath.

"Peter said that the journal was special to him. That his mother made notes everywhere they went. Having it all these years let him feel like part of her was still with him," Sadie said softly. "He said that he didn't expect to ever show it to anyone and never thought he would even consider giving it away."

Myka listened with interest and a little jealousy if he was honest with himself. Peter had opened up to Sadie in a way he hadn't done with Myka.

Sadie smiled and turned to look up at Myka. There was a shine of happy tears in her eyes as she whispered to him.

"But he realized his mother would want her granddaughter to have it."