Hannah's Hero - Ruby Dixon Page 0,1

is done with him.

“Dude, I’ve said all I wanted to say to you. I’ve said it twice, even. Can you just leave me alone?”

I wince at the annoyance in her tone. Everyone knows about how things have been going between Bridget and A’tam. It’s a small camp and everyone talks…but I still feel a twinge of guilt that I’m overhearing what should be a private conversation. The thick hide walls of the tent I’m in don’t muffle enough of their voices to keep their secrets, and I have a feeling I’m about to hear far more than I should. I pause, wondering if I should speak up so they know I’m here.

“I wish to know why you avoid me, my mate.” A’tam sounds frustrated.

Bridget makes a gargling sound that makes me wince in sympathy. “A’tam, I’m not your freaking mate! It was a hookup! That’s all! How many times do I have to tell you this?”

“I…do not understand.”

“Clearly.”

I bite my lip, trying to concentrate on my counting and give them privacy—at least mentally. Assuming that there was no new meat coming in through hunting in the next two days—

“You took me between your thighs. We mated. That makes you my mate.” Frustration seeps through A’tam’s tone.

“No, it doesn’t. Resonance chooses, remember?” Bridget sounds like she’s gritting her teeth.

“You are my pleasure-mate, then,” he tries again. “Until I must give you up to another for resonance.”

“Well I’m sure glad I have a say in the matter,” Bridget says sarcastically. “Look, A’tam, it was a nice night together, but that’s all it was, okay? I thought you were cute, but clearly I have bad taste in men as this ongoing conversation proves. I’m not looking for a boyfriend or a pleasure-mate or anything. I just want to be left alone.”

There’s a long pause, and I hold my breath, hoping that they’re done. I wait, then bend over my skin, trying to remember where I was math-wise.

“So you tease me and torment me like the others? Like C’lie teases M’tok and H’nah teases J’shel?” There’s anger in his voice as he lashes out. “Do all the human females play cruel games?”

I stiffen, hurt and embarrassment flooding through me. There’s no working now. I chew on the end of my pencil, my ears straining to hear more even though I don’t want to.

Is that what they think I’m doing? Teasing J’shel? Tormenting him as some sort of sick fucking joke?

“Are you fucking serious?” Bridget’s angrier than I’ve ever heard her, and she’s practically shouting. “Get this through your fucking head, A’tam—I’m my own person. Hannah and Callie are, too. If they don’t want to fuck someone, they don’t have to. It’s not teasing, it’s called being independent, so go fuck yourself!”

“That is not even possible and you know it!” A’tam roars back. “I cannot fuck myself, female!”

I would laugh, except my stomach hurts at his words. Do all the human females play cruel games?

“Enough!” Raahosh’s angry, low voice cuts through the argument before it can start again. “You two are waking the kits up with your yelling, and I will not have that. My mate does not get enough sleep as it is.”

“A’tam thinks he owns me just because we hooked up once,” Bridget complains to Raahosh. “Can you tell him to leave me alone already? I keep telling him and he doesn’t get the hint.”

“Because you are not being reasonable—” A’tam begins.

“Enough,” Raahosh says again.

I really, really should point out that I can hear everything, but I’m frozen in place. The wind whistles against the doorway flap of the supply hut and I catch a glimpse of the distant, snowy mountains, and for a moment, I just want to run away and never come back.

“Go back to your clan, A’tam,” Raahosh says. “I will speak with you later. Let me speak with Bree-shit for now.”

“Bridget,” she mutters in a low voice.

Footsteps crunch in the sand again and I wait, hoping they’ve all left. To my dismay, the door flap to the supply hut opens up and Raahosh drags Bridget inside by her sleeve, parking her in front of him in the doorway. My eyes go wide and I stare over the cluster of baskets. Surely they’re going to see me in here?

“He doesn’t own me,” Bridget says defensively, raising her chin. “I don’t have to do what that dickhead wants.”

“I know this,” Raahosh says, his hard, scarred face looking scarily stern in the shadows. “You know this. But everyone is tense right now