The Rare Pearl (Broken Water Series Book 1) Page 9

  “Yes. Very.”

  Kodiak rose and disappeared into the woods for a few minutes. He returned with dead branches and put them on dying embers. He poked them until the fire popped and crackled. The sound was music to Harmony’s ears.

  “Thank you, Kodi.”

  In the firelight, he dragged his bedroll behind hers. “I don’t have much body heat to offer you, but I’m willing to share my blanket and I’ll block the wind.” He sat, adjusting his wool blanket over their legs. “I know you’re exhausted. Try to get some rest. We leave at first light.” He presented his back and tossed the remaining covers over their shoulders.

  Harmony mumbled another thanks. She may not have drawn heat from him, but his closeness caused warmth to spread within her. She didn’t appreciate her body responding strongly to his nearness, or that his handsome face invaded her daydreams, but it was impossible to deny her growing feelings for him. It was unlike her to be bold, but she rolled over and glued her body to his back. Her arm slid around his ribcage and she sighed against him, “This is better.” She felt secure, and fell asleep.

  Her words blew into his ear, sending a thrill rocketing down his spine. The imp! He regretted his decision to assist her—sort of. Once he relaxed, he enjoyed the sensation of her breasts pressed snugly against him as he felt the rise and fall of her breath. And that breath! It was like warm kisses against his neck every time she exhaled. Listening to the steady sound of her even breathing, he reached for her hand resting comfortably against his chest. It was too dark to see it, but he felt the smooth pearl with his thumb. I can’t wait until this belongs to me.

  13

  The next two days the elks proved efficient, but riding was agony. Even her arm muscles were sore from holding on so tightly to Rio over the endlessly rolling terrain. When they settled in for the night, everyone went silently about their duties making camp and ate accompanied by quiet conversation. Belly full, Binda thumbed through her journal, making notes. Rio played a small flute.

  Harmony tapped along to Rio’s song. “That reminds me of a song from my world,” she remarked when he finished. She hummed a few bars.

  “Do you play an instrument?” Rio asked, hopeful his cousin was a fellow musician.

  “No, but I sing a little.”

  With Rio’s encouragement, Harmony sang a short ballad.

  Binda reprimanded her brother. “You know singing is not allowed. It’s unholy.”

  “Don’t listen to her. You have a beautiful voice. Can you sing another?” Kodiak asked, giving Binda a challenging stare.

  “Maybe another time. I’m kind of tired,” she said, making an effort not to aggravate Binda.

  The following night, still in neutral territory, they stayed at an outpost. The girls shared one room, the boys another. In the morning, while the others loaded gear onto the traded elk, Harmony greeted the animals with vigorous neck rubs. The group laughed at her human affection toward their living transportation.

  On the fourth day they approached the swamp valley before sunset. Binda and Rio agreed to stay with the elk on high ground, above the smell that permeated from the valley, while Kodiak and Harmony braved their way far enough into the swamp to find trees draped with the botanical they sought.

  Dry ground was visible, but trees mostly grew out of the swamp. Loud squawking pierced the air. Monkey-like animals leaped from tree limb to tree limb, seemingly annoyed with their uninvited guests.

  When Harmony’s attempt to shoo them failed, she wondered it her special power could scare them off. She held her hand toward the closest howler. She felt neither a warming sensation nor energy project from her hands. Maybe what happened with the sea serpent was a one-time occurrence? Or maybe it only works with serpents. The creatures were making so much noise that she allowed Kodiak to take her hand and guide her quickly toward their goal.

  “Okay, this one has a low branch. I’ll boost you up. You can scoot down the branch until you reach those mossy things.” Kodiak clasped her waist.

  “Wait,” she protested. “You want me to climb? Why not you?”

  “I’m better in the water. I’m not too good with trees.”

  She pressed her lips together, giving him her best pout, but he only raised his eyebrows.

  “Okay, but what if I fall in?” She surveyed the floating brush and patches of green scum. “How deep do you think that is?” She tried to shake off her fears.

  “It doesn’t matter.” He turned her face, forcing her to look at him. “If you fall I will jump in and save you.” Her fear left her for a fraction of a second, but as it returned, she bit her lip.

  With a nod he lifted her and she clutched the branch. He shoved her up, his large and strong hands on her rump. Swinging her leg over to straddle the tree limb, she found her balance and peered down at him. She blushed, thinking about where his hands had just touched her. Inching along the far-reaching branch, she leaned forward to gather a fistful of stringy moss. She carefully tucked several more handfuls into her satchel. She started to scoot backward but a monkey leaped onto the branch in front of her, startling her. She wobbled, tilted to one side, and lost her balance. She screamed to Kodiak as she fell, landing with a noisy splash in the swamp.

  The moment Harmony hit the water there was movement in the nearby brush—she saw a gator slip into the murky water. Kodiak also jumped in. The water wasn’t as deep as Harmony had thought. She landed feet-first against the mushy bottom before she sprang back up. Immediately the smell and taste of the swamp filled her nose and mouth.

  “Blaah!” She spat, but she found she couldn’t step forward where Kodi stood. “My foot is stuck!” She was tangled in the muck and undergrowth. The bulky alligator swam past, investigating a possible meal. She watched in horror as the gator turned toward them and disappeared below the surface. She thrashed and struggled to free her foot.

  “Hold on!” Kodiak submerged.

  Her foot came loose in seconds.

  He resurfaced and commanded, “Swim!”

  She cleared the reeds and she swam for the minimal land ahead. Dragging her shaking body from the water, she patted her chest for the satchel, but it was gone. She spun to tell Kodiak, but he wasn’t there. He had been right behind her! But now the water only rippled.

  “Kodi! Oh my God, Kodi!” she screamed. Minutes passed. Tears blurred her gaze as she called his name over and over. The monkeys in the trees moved to a safer distance away from the wet, shrieking visitor. When one of them ventured closer Harmony picked up a rock and hurled it, missing him by several inches. “You stupid monkey! It’s your fault!” As she crouched to find another missile Kodiak broke the surface and quickly pulled himself onto land. He stood there holding her satchel.

  “We can’t leave this behind.” Rivers of murky water dripped from his dark hair and he wiped the nasty liquid from his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “Oh, Kodi!” She grasped his saturated shirt in her fist, tugging him farther away from the water’s edge. Once she made sure nothing followed him from the swamp, she rested her head against his chest. “Kodi, I thought he ate you.” She trembled.

  “He almost did. It took me a while to untangle the satchel. It was caught in the branches of a fallen tree. Before I became his dinner something bigger swam by, and he became its dinner.” He looked incredulously over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Harmony checked the contents of the bag before they leaped along the islands of solid ground. Visions of the 1982 Swamp Thing movie passed through her imagination. She looked over her shoulder, still expecting to be chased by a swamp creature. So this is what it feels like to be in a horror movie. Harmony was giddy with relief when it was finally behind them and they had escaped the mysteries of the swamp.

  Binda and Rio jumped to their feet as their friends arrived dripping wet.

  “What happened? I thought you had to get into the trees.” Binda laughed, “What…did you fall in?”

  “It’s no laughing matter, Binda.
We came face to face with a huge alligator.” She wouldn’t say anything else until they were moving forward on the backs of the elks. Harmony mounted behind Kodi this time, since they were both wet and grimy from the swamp. She clung to him more tightly than when she rode behind Rio. A flicker of guilt sparked when she thought of the night she snuggle-tortured him. The look on Kodiak’s face the next morning told her volumes. Relieved he was safe and not being digested in that beast’s stomach almost brought her to tears again. Her eyes drift closed as she clung to her and she reproached her weak heart. I wasn’t going to like him.

  As darkness approached, Kodiak selected an area to make camp, alongside a stream that fed the Hudson River. Rio offered to tend the animals; Binda declared she’d build a fire. Harmony slid off the warm beast, thinking she smelled worse than the animal did.

  Kodiak suggested, “We can wash downstream.”

  She nodded. “Immediately, please.”

  He took soap and towels from the saddlebags. Handing Rio the reins, he led Harmony along the stream’s edge. Finding a suitable spot to enter the water, he handed her the soap and tossed the towels into the grass. He undressed and trudged in, diving under as soon as he could. Harmony kept her undergarments on after removing the rest of her clothing. She rushed in, sank down, and swam around, trying to warm her body. Floated on her back, she watched stars appear in the cloudless sky. The water washed away the day’s anxieties.

  Kodiak broke the surface. She was getting used to the fact he could hold his breath for so long underwater. She offered him the bar of soap. He stood in the waist-deep water and scrubbed his hair, face, neck, and his smooth, muscled chest. She thought she should give him privacy but she was enjoying the show. He slipped under to rinse. She swam careful not to stray too far from the shore. He reappeared by her side. She smiled. Her resolution not to like him had dissolved—completely.

  She floated on her back, absorbing the blanket of stars above. “The night sky in this realm, without light pollution, is breathtaking. Billions of stars are twinkling!” He was silent, so she lifted her head to ask, “Don’t you think?”

  They regarded one another.

  “Sure.” He didn’t look up, but offered, “I’ll wash your hair if you stand up.” He lathered the soap bar in his hands.

  She stood, knowing the white fabric of her bra was completely transparent when wet, but no matter—he’d just gotten an eyeful while she was floating. Kodiak closed the gap between them, the water encircling their waists. He handed her the soap. His eyes appraised her—and she watched him watching her… He orbited her, lifting the curtain of her hair. His fingers gathered it and worked in the lather.

  While Kodiak gently caressed away the grime, Harmony sighed at his skilled touch. She recalled what Binda said about Kodiak being a flirt and wondered if the girl on the island was his girlfriend. “You have a talent. How often do you wash young ladies’ hair?”

  She heard the deep rumble of his chuckle. “You are the first.” His hands rested on the bare skin of her shoulders. He massaged the tension from her neck, and his large hand slid over her collarbone, his fingertips touching the edge of the bra’s fabric. Her breath caught before his hands retreated. She felt the bulk of her soapy hair lift and drape against her chest. Kodiak’s thumbs circled the blades of her shoulders.

  Harmony arched slightly. “Ahh, I’m so sore from riding.” She closed her eyes, lost in the sweet sensation. “I’ve never even been horseback riding. I’m sure it’s similar.”

  “Mmmhmm.” The timber of his voice vibrated close to her ear. His hands splayed across the width of her back, a thumb positioned on either side of her spine, his longest fingers reaching her ribs. Kodiak eased his slick, soapy hands around her torso and slightly upward, lifting the heaviness of her breasts, before he pressed his sturdy hands downward over her hipbones. “I have never seen a woman as curvy as you. The women in this world are thin, a good shape for swimmers.” His voice was husky. “Your body is fascinating.” That’s when his hands dipped into the water and squeezed her behind. He dipped his head to kiss the tender skin behind her ear.

  At that moment the spell was broken. Knowing he might want more from her—well, she couldn’t let it happen! He was a flirt as Binda had said. Maybe that was all this was, but she knew the day would come when she would have to say good-bye. She couldn’t become attached to him…or to anyone. She swam away.

  She rinsed the soap from her hair, wondering what to say to him. He went too far. She couldn’t forget his help came with a price. Losing the ring already caused her enough emotional strife. She didn’t need him claiming a more personal prize.

  He stood in waist deep water, near the shore. As she approached, he said, “Wow, sorry, I got caught up…” He swallowed and ran his fingers through his hair. “You are so…so very…”

  “Human,” she interjected.

  “Right,” he agreed, glancing up at the stars. “You are not from this world and you want to leave this place. It’s best if we don’t complicate things.” He flicked his gaze to rest on her face. “Even if you are exotic, beautiful, and…human.”

  A sound caught in her throat. “If only we were in another time and another place…”

  “If only,” he grunted, and then mumbled before swimming away, “I’ll catch some dinner.”

  Wading to shore, her emotions were torn. She dried her hair first and then circled the towel around her body, clamping it under her arms. She collected her clothes to give them a quick wash. Noticing his clothes strew in the grass, she washed them, too.

  Kodiak strode from the water with a fish held dangling from the two fingers plugged into its gills. The fish flapped its tail against Kodiak’s leg until he tossed it in the grass to finish its final movements.

  Harmony glimpsed him in all his naked glory and sank her teeth against her bottom lip. She forced her gaze to stare at her feet. He didn’t bother to dry off. He reached for a towel and circled it around his waist. He thanked Harmony when she handed him clean, wet clothes.

  Back at camp, she hung her damp clothes on branches to dry overnight and put on dry ones she collected from the saddlebag. Rio and Binda sat by a roaring fire and were pleased to see Kodiak hold up dinner. With a full belly and two missions down, Harmony finally slept soundly with the warmth from the fire—alone on her bedroll.

  The next morning, mounted on the elk, they faced the Hudson River. Harmony sat behind Kodiak. He reassured her again, “These animals are excellent swimmers. We are weighted down, but they will easily keep our chest, head, and shoulders above the water. Just hang on to me.”

  She nodded with her cheek against his shoulder. Rio and Binda’s elk entered the river and the elk move beneath her when Kodiak urged him on. Her feet dipped in and then they sank to their waists. Her arms instinctively tightened around Kodiak. The lighter saddlebags floated a bit, secured to the saddle. She realized their bedding was soaking up the water and it occurred to her the map and Binda’s journals were probably getting wet.

  “Binda, your journals!” She called across the water.

  Halfway across the river, the elks’ powerful legs moving swiftly, Binda replied, “What about them?”

  “They’re probably wet! The map and drawings of the plants will be ruined!”

  “Oh no! All will be lost!” Binda waved her arm dramatically. “Maybe we should turn back and forget this whole charade.”

  “What’s she talking about?” she asked Kodiak. Binda clearly mocked her.

  “Our paper and ink are waterproof. Nothing will be ruined.” Kodiak, frowning at Binda’s teasing, turned and assured Harmony, “She is just joking.”

  “Well, it’s not funny,” she remarked, thinking Binda would never give her a chance.

  By the time Kodiak and Harmony reached the shore, minutes behind Rio and Binda, Harmony fumed. They dismounted, giving the animals time to rest. The boys rechecked the saddlebag’s buckles. Binda took her journal from the saddlebag and laughed aloud.

&n
bsp; Harmony glared at her. “Seriously! What is your problem with me?”

  “My problem with you is that you exist!” She stepped closer, not intimidated by her human cousin. “You had to go and find my grandfather’s herbs in that building. As if he hadn’t caused enough trouble with his irresponsible relationship, now, after all this time, you show up.”

  “It’s not like I want to be here, Binda! I didn’t ask to be put in this situation. And you can’t blame Calder for everything. You need to stop being so childish.”

  “Yeah, well, if it wasn’t for selfish humans, these problems wouldn’t be happening to us. Your realm is full of wars and diseases. It is overpopulated and polluted, and your race will never know true peace,” Binda jeered.

  “Binda!” Rio barked. “This isn’t Harmony’s fault. You are being mean and unfair.”

  Harmony ignored Rio’s intervention. “Well, at least we have passion. We are creative, multicultural, colorful people! We have singing, technology, and amazing inventions… I can get on an airplane and fly through the sky,” she whisked her arm overhead, “and go to any place on the planet. You’re just hippies hiding in the water.” She felt guilty for her last comment, not meaning it. She couldn’t believe Binda goaded her so.

  “Girls!” Kodiak’s harsh whisper got their attention. “You need to be quiet. We have crossed the river. We’re on the lands of the Forest Tribe.”

  “Let’s just get this last mission over with,” Binda snapped.

  “Fine by me.” Harmony crossed her arms.

  Kodiak smirked. “They share the same genes for temper!”

  14

  They rode, practically in silence for the next three days, largely because they were deep in the Forest Tribe’s territory and didn’t want to be discovered. Harmony continued riding with Kodiak.

  In the evenings their campfires were meager, so it pleased him she allowed their bedding to join together, offering warmth. After his advances toward her in the river, he wasn’t’ sure she’d ever come near him again. What possessed him to touch her like that? Now he couldn’t get the feel of her soft curves out of his mind.