Chapter 344: Seen enough
People actually stopped in the middle of whatever they were doing to stare at the girl walking beside Luke.
Men or women, they paused in their tracks and turned in their direction at least once.
Well, they had every reason to.
"Your hair is quite peculiar."
"In a horrifying way, I suppose?" she asked, glancing at him.
Luke chuckled. "Don’t ask for my honest opinion."
"Well, I’ve been told it looks beautiful, so I’ll choose to believe the positive interpretation."
She shrugged before gathering her long silver hair and tying it into a bun.
Luke’s gaze briefly fell on her slender hands. He could see a dark mark on her thumb and a few more thin lines that one doesn’t receive from chopping vegetables.
"Do you hunt as well?"
"Is that your way of complimenting my hands?" Her silvery brows rose as she turned toward him.
Luke nearly chuckled.
"More like, hunting is the only thing I usually talk about. And I get the feeling you have some interest in it."
She nodded softly. "I do. But there are other things that interest me as well. Flowers, for example."
Luke hummed. "So you do have a liking for something normal."
"I’m a normal girl."
"Not with those eyes."
Luke grinned, his gaze meeting hers.
"I’ve never seen you looking at me before. And yet, in the forest, you were always watching me, weren’t you?"
Whether it was before he started hunting the wolf or when he was confronting her brother, her eyes were all on him. And that was surprising since he never noticed her.
She paused for a moment, the corners of her lips curving faintly.
"It’s a skill of mine. I can see things in the forest more clearly than anyone else. Well, most things."
Luke hummed. "Then I suppose I need to be more careful about my surroundings."
"You should be." Her eyes curved a littlr. "You seemed quite confident back then, especially with your mate."
Luke stopped for a moment.
"You saw that?"
She turned her head toward him. "What do you think?"
Luke narrowed his eyes. "You were nowhere near me. I made sure of it."
She simply turned away.
"Keep telling yourself that."
Luke followed her, now slightly uncomfortable. Of course, he would be. While he made sure they remained under the water it was still pretty wierd to be seen.
"Quite an... interesting skill."
"Isn’t it?" she said smugly. "I can see what others try to hide."
"And what about you? Other than peeping at people, what do you usually do?"
"Train, hunt, wander. I just like doing anything except standing still."
She sighed, her gaze drifting toward the village ahead.
"This trip was supposed to be fun, yet somehow I find it more boring than my survival lessons."
Luke chuckled. "Surely not by visiting good places. Where do you plan on going, anyway?"
This village was merely a resting place for them. They were clearly heading somewhere else.
The girl suddenly glanced at him. "Why? Planning to follow me?"
"Giving yourself a little too much importance, aren’t you?" Luke said with a helpless look. "Trust me, I have yet to find anything likable about you besides your hair."
The girl narrowed her eyes. "Calling the chief’s daughter unlikable. Do you have any idea what the consequences of that could be?"
"A battle?" Luke stepped closer. "Your little brother would surely support your decision."
He leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"But I said what I said. I don’t like people invading my privacy."
She didn’t retreat. Instead, she remained where she was, standing mere inches from him as she stared directly into his eyes.
"So you’re bothered by being watched, yet you weren’t particularly quiet back then."
"Were you drawn to it?"
"By what? Unconventional methods of mating?"
Luke chuckled. "Unconventional..." His grin widened. "Are you actually too shy to admit it?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Admit what?"
"Your curiosity about me." He tilted his head. "I mean, you went against your own family to save me."
She didn’t answer this time.
There was no sharp remark or clever comeback. She simply stared at him.
Luke hummed, raising his brows.
"Really? What made you so curious?"
"Definitely not your eyes," she said after a moment. "Or your furious grin. Or the way you hunt..."
She paused.
"Definitely not any of that."
Luke laughed and shook his head.
She was surprisingly honest. And with every word they exchanged, he found himself liking her a little more.
He finally turned away.
"Come on. Let me show you a few more places before we part ways."
"No need."
Luke glanced back.
"I’ve seen what I came for."
He watched as she turned around and began walking back toward Baldon’s house.
Seriously, what a strange girl.
Shaking his head, Luke decided to return home as well. He still had something sweet to bring for his mate, just as she had demanded.
And once again, he failed to notice her gaze on him, watching him leave.
....
Dhak.
As Luke opened the door, he was met with an unexpected sight.
"Is someone going somewhere?" he asked, noticing Ginna arranging food inside a basket.
"I am."
Terek’s voice came from behind him as he stepped out of the room.
Luke frowned slightly before Monica approached them.
"They’re going to the neighboring village for a while. It will help Zuri get some fresh air."
Luke hummed in surprise and glanced toward the redhead, who immediately looked away, deliberately avoiding his gaze.
That caught him off guard.
A grin slowly spread across Luke’s face.
Ashamed? Guilty?
Whatever the reason, he didn’t say a word.
Her life. Her choices.
It wasn’t his place to interfere.
Terek soon approached Luke, causing everyone else in the room to fall silent.
The tension was still there. It was evident in the way the two men had barely spoken to each other in recent days.
Yet Terek wasn’t here to argue.
"I am grateful for what you did for Zuri and for us," he said. "She told me how you helped her recover from the shock. If it weren’t for you, she might never have found the courage to come out of her shell."
Luke glanced toward Zuri once again.
Her head remained lowered, though she stole a few fleeting glances in his direction.
He honestly couldn’t tell what was going through her mind.
Rather than dwell on it, he decided it wasn’t his concern and looked back at Terek.
"I did it for her. She didn’t deserve what she went through."
Terek nodded firmly.
"And I’ll make sure nothing harms her again."
He turned toward Zuri, his expression softening.
"I’ll protect her with everything I have. For us, and for our future child."
Luke smiled faintly. "Well, I wish you both the best of luck, then."
With that, Terek and Zuri left the house together.
"Now we really don’t need to leave right away," Ginna said with a smile.
Luke chuckled. "You’re trying to justify your daughter’s wish."
Ginna immediately grew flustered. "No, I..."
Luke shook his head.
"I am just teasing you, Ginna. Now, I brought something sweet for all of us. Let’s eat."
~~~~
A/N:- Thanks for reading.