Chapter 348 Chapter 348
A shiver moved over his body as he focused to change back to unscaled skin. Even after all these years of shifting from one to the other, he still felt a loss once air moved over his sensitive skin.
Terah still hadn’t moved from her perch on the boulder, looking into the bush. He picked up his pants and pulled them on over the water-soaked epidermis of man. He made sure he made enough noise that he wouldn’t startle her and end up with a dart sticking out of him.
“That feels better.” He said softly, knowing she’d hear.
Terah still looked at the area in front of her. “Something is moving that way.” She turned the gun toward it.
Konner walked over, so he could see her face. “There’s a few deer down there.”
“Deer?” She looked up at him.
“They’ll stay clear of us.” He didn’t have time to explain how deer would go to almost any lengths to avoid contact with man. Holding out his hand, he took the gun from her. “Thanks for keeping watch, I needed that swim.”
Standing, she smiled at him. “It is a peaceful lake.” She put her hand over her heart, “it felt,” she frowned, searching for the word.
“Calm?”
“Yes. Calm.” Terah smiled again. “I like feeling that more than the tightness that makes,” she patted her bicep, “muscles hard.”
Konner nodded, “being alert is good, but yes, it does get tiring after a while.” He motioned to the bag with the empty water bottles. “Can you fill the bottles while I call and see where things stand?” He pointed to the other side of the lake. “We’re going to move around to wait over there, it’s a better location.”
Nodding, she went over and picked up the bag. “How is it better?” She opened it and began to take out the bottles, setting them silently on the ground.
“There’s a cleared-out spot, that will make it easier to watch if anything or one is coming toward us.” He picked up his swim pack and opened it.
“Oh. Yes. That is good.” She waved a bottle at the trees. “It is hard to see around those.”
Konner sat on the rock, angling his body so he could keep an eye on her and watch for any movement in the trees. The direction the deer was, he kept to his back. They were a good alarm for anyone trying to come from that direction. Their hooves would alert him to anything near them as they bolted for safety.
He was both surprised and thankful that the signal was strong enough on his phone that the call would be clear. Watching Terah roll up her pant legs, he brought up Raymond’s number and hit send.
“Flores?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re well?” He could hear voices in the background.
“We’re fine. Just stopped to take a quick swim.” Terah walked out past the point she’d rolled the pants up, making him grin that she’d even bothered.
“We got to the van and those two before their own guys, barely.” He sounded amused, “you did a real number on the van I’m told.”
Konner shrugged one shoulder, “it was the only way to stop them.”
“I understand. Two of mine are waiting there to see if anyone shows up.”
Konner’s spine stiffened, “they still haven’t?”
“Not yet, or they have a way of watching and know we were there.”
“Any small drones in the area?”
“Only our own.”
Konner rubbed his hand through his damp hair. “Have you found where their base is?”
“Not yet.”
He remembered speaking into their phone. “It might be my fault.” He checked on Terah again. “Why they’re not coming. A call was still active, and I spoke, they had to have heard the crash though.”
“We’ll find them. We have enough bodies moving through that area now that it’s only a matter of time.”
Time. Konner looked at the other side of the lake. “We’re going to move to the other side of this lake for the night.” He stood up and looked in the direction they’d travel to get to it. “It will be too hard for Terah to keep moving all night.”
“I can send...”
“No. Keep the teams on task, if I don’t hear from you by morning, we’ll keep going.” Terah carried the full bottles to the shore and then picked up the remaining ones. Konner would have to show her they floated another time. “Prince and Princess secure?”
“They are.” Raymond chuckled, “the princess had some strong opinions about being whisked away.”
Konner thought of the peaceful serene Rayne and wondered what that would have looked like. “Just as long as they are safe and the grounds are secure, that’s all that matters.”
“Your roadside friends just arrived back here.” His tone had a harsh edge to it.
“Good. Find out anything they know.”
“I didn’t bring them here to have tea.”
Konner grinned. “I’ll send you the coordinates of where we’re stopping for the night.” Terah was putting the bottles back into the bag now. “So, your men don’t take us to be the enemy if they pick up our trail.”
“I’d fear for their safety if they did come across you.”
Konner watched her close the bag and then look down at the wet material against her legs. “They shouldn’t be this far out; my gut tells me we need to be looking near the campground.” He smirked as he thought of the new name for it.
“I’ll send someone that way as soon as we can.” He could hear the motion in the background. “Did you do that to this one’s face or was it the impact.”
“I didn’t touch them.” Konner’s voice dropped, “there wasn’t time.”
“We’ll patch him up and then have a chat.”
Konner nodded. “We’re going to get moving now.”
“Stay watchful, my friend.”
“Always.” Konner hung up and checked the battery on the phone. He only had one spare with him and didn’t want to risk not being able to get a call when needed.