Dawn Study (Soulfinders #3)(91)

Teegan grinned. “Tell my mom we’ll be joining you in the plains as soon as we pack up.”

Good. “Are Zohav and—”

“We’re here,” Zethan said. “Just enjoying the show. Since Heli hogged all the fun.”

“Next time you can do the honors,” Heli said in a tired voice.

“Sweet.”

Zohav frowned.

“Don’t worry, Zo,” her brother said. “I’ll let you in on the action.”

Which just caused her expression to deepen. But Zethan laughed, clearly not discouraged by her reaction. Janco approved. The boy had potential.

While they gathered their things and saddled the horses, Janco returned to Ari and Opal.

“Well?” Opal asked immediately.

“Relax, Mama Bunny, your family is safe. They’ll be here soon.”

“Here? What happened?”

He explained how Heli had stopped the ambush. “...that air blast of hers was a thing of beauty. If I was the Cartel, I’d be shaking in my boots right now.”

“It’s better if they underestimate us,” Ari said. “And don’t you mean Mama Bear?”

“Nah, female bears got nothin’ on bunnies when it comes to protecting their young. I once saw this—”

“I should have known better than to ask.” Ari walked away.

“Do you want to hear my story?” Janco asked Opal.

“No.”

“Fine. But the next time you get bitten by an overprotective mama rabbit, don’t come crying to me.” He pouted, but no one paid any attention to him, so he checked The Madam’s legs for hot spots. After all that hard riding, he hoped to give her a couple days’ rest, but they would need to travel further into the plains to avoid the Cartel’s next attempt. ’Cause they certainly weren’t going to stop, and it appeared that they’d upped the stakes.

He grinned. We scare them.

Within the hour, a group of nine people and four horses trudged into view. Opal whooped and raced to meet them. She scooped up her kids and hugged them both to her as if they weighed nothing. Devlen wrapped his arms around them. A hollow pang of longing ricocheted in Janco’s equally hollow chest, surprising him. He’d never considered settling down before. All this drama with the Cartel was getting to him. Pah. Janco looked away.

Ari interrupted the family reunion. They needed to put a few miles between them and Booruby.

“Where are we going?” Opal’s dad asked.

“South. We’ll find a medium-size town where you can stay,” Ari said.

They had a total of twelve people and seven horses, so most had to double up. Janco shared The Madam’s saddle with Opal’s father. Ahir joined Teegan on Caramel. Opal rode with her mother on Quartz, the twins shared Smoke, and Devlen and Reema stayed on Sunfire. Ari and Heli each rode alone, but Whiskey and Thunder carried additional bags.

Quite the posse. With all the extra weight and baggage, they moved slower than Janco’s grandmother—and he’d seen snails lap her.

Traveling through the plains as long as possible, they stopped near the Daviian Plateau’s border to make camp. There were still a few hours until sunset, but everyone drooped with fatigue. While they made camp, Janco hunted for a few rabbits. The fresh meat would help revive everyone. When he returned, Opal’s mother took the skinned rabbits and turned them into the best campfire meal he’d ever eaten.

Zethan brandished a forkful of meat. “This is why I gained ten pounds in the last week. Ahir, it’s a wonder you don’t weigh five hundred pounds.”

“I sweat it all off in the factory.” Ahir glanced at his dad. “Did you warn our employees about the Cartel?”

“No. I just left a note for my assistant saying we had a family emergency. She’ll take care of filling orders while we’re gone,” Jaymes said.

“Uh, what about the ambushers lying on the ground?” Janco asked. “They’re not going to be happy when they wake up.” Considering how hard they’d hit, they might still be out cold.

Teegan grinned. “No worries. We cleaned up the mess.”

“How—No, never mind,” Opal said. “I don’t need to know. I’m just glad we’re all together and safe.” She put her arm around Reema, who leaned into her.

Which reminded Janco. “Devlen, did something happen to Leif and Mara? You should have dropped Reema off a while ago.”

“They reached the Illiais Market without any trouble. Reema stayed with us because...” He glanced at Opal.

Janco straightened. This ought to be interesting.

“I’m good at spotting places to avoid,” Reema said.

“What do you mean?” Ari asked.

She shrugged. “We didn’t want to draw attention. And I know where to travel so we didn’t get noticed.” Then she crossed her arms. “Which is why we should have stayed with Uncle Leif and not wasted time coming up here. You’re gonna need me.”

Devlen ignored that comment. “Once the others continued into the jungle, we returned to Booruby. I wanted to arrive before dawn, just in case there were watchers on the house.”

“I was asleep, or else I would have warned him about the ambush,” Reema said. Then she beamed at her brother. “But Tee took care of it!”