“Not if I remember to breathe.”

She frowned at that and held out her hand to help him get up the last few feet. He didn’t need the help, but he did need to touch her skin again, so he wrapped his hand around hers and let her pull.

Her skin was hot and damp from the hike. Little rough patches proved she was used to hard work here, but they did nothing to detract from the silken softness of the rest of her. He could still remember just how warm and smooth the small of her back had been under his fingers.

The last step put him close to her. The two of them balanced in a narrow clearing amid the brush. From this distance, he could see fiery chips of gold in her brown eyes. A dash of freckles decorated her nose. Her cheeks were pink with exertion, and her lips were as dewy as the surrounding forest leaves.

The need to kiss her consumed him, made him shake.

Concern drew her dark brows together. She reached up and pressed her hand to his forehead. “Are you okay?”

The movement brought her close enough that he could smell the sunshine warming her skin. He wanted to bend down and slide his tongue along the slender curve of her neck, just to see what she tasted like there.

A low moan of need burst free before he could stop it.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you sick?”

He covered her hand with his, unwilling to let her pull away. He wanted to tell her that he needed her, that he loved her, that if she would just look deep enough into his eyes, she’d remember how much she loved him, too. Instead, words jumbled on his tongue, tangling together until nothing would come out.

Her other hand found his wrist to gauge his pulse. “We should go back. Your heart is racing.”

Of course it was. It always did when she was near.

“I’m okay.” He shoved the words out, his voice thick with his untimely need.

“You feel feverish.”

No surprise there. He burned for her. “I’m fine. Really.”

She stared at him for a long moment, as if deciding whether to believe him. Torr forced himself to back away from her touch and pulled a water skin from his pack. The liquid cooled his tongue and eased some of the tightness in his throat.

He offered it to Grace, watching as her mouth covered the spot where his had just been. He knew if he took another drink, he’d be able to taste her, but not in the way he was dying to.

When she was done, she licked her lips, causing another spike of lust to punch through him.

He turned away to put the water back and took some time to rearrange his load so that his damn erection was hidden from view. The thing was going to make hiking uncomfortable, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about that—not when he still had to follow along in Grace’s wake, her shapely legs and sweet bottom right in front of him.

There was no way he could look anywhere else—he wasn’t that strong a man—so he was stuck with the raging hard-on for the foreseeable future.

“Do you want to sit a minute?” she asked.

“No,” he said, a little too fast. Just the idea of trying to bend his body to sit on the ground hurt. His jeans had dried overnight, leaving them nice and stiff. If he tried to sit now, he would unman himself. “Let’s just keep going.” And I’ll try to keep my damn eyes off your backside.

“If you’re sure. We can stop anytime you want. It’s going to take a while to get where we’re going.”

They hiked for another two hours before Grace came to a stop at the crest of a ridge. From here, the break in the trees allowed them to see to the forested landscape below. To the left was a lake, and on the right were several plumes of smoke from small fires. A few of the trees had been cleared away, but he couldn’t quite make out anything else.

“That’s the southern village,” said Grace.

“Doesn’t look very big. Why don’t they live with you?”

“Brenya says it’s not safe. If we’re attacked, she wants at least one group to survive, so we’ve separated ourselves.”

“Are you attacked often?”

“No, and it’s always been animals wandering too close. But Brenya was always worried, like she knew something was coming.”

“Guess she was right. The Hunters are definitely out there. Does this village have adequate protection?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is there another Brenya guarding them the way she does your village?”

Grace shook her head. “There’s no one else like Brenya, but the Athanasian women who come here seem to be able to protect themselves. This is where they live until their time comes.”

“Their time?”

“To have their babies. They come to Brenya to deliver their children. Then they leave.”

“Where do the babies go?” he asked, but seeing the children of various ages in the village, he suspected he already knew the answer.

“They stay with us. We raise them until they leave.”

The ultimate sacrifice. That’s what Brenya had said. Now he understood.

“Where do they go then?”

“Some of them go to Earth. Others…” She shrugged.

“You don’t know where?”

“Brenya doesn’t say. She sends them into the light. We never see them again.” Tears shimmered in her eyes, catching fiery rays of sunshine.

“You miss them, don’t you?”

She nodded, sniffing away the tears. “It’s just sad that the few people in my life I can remember have to leave. I know it’s important, but it’s hard sometimes.”

Torr ached to pull her in for a hug, offering what comfort he could. The only thing that stopped him was his worry that what started as a hug would become more. He couldn’t resist this woman, and if she opened herself up for more than comfort, he knew better than to think he’d be strong enough to walk away.

Honor demanded that he remember why he was here, that he was a stranger to Grace, and that taking advantage of this situation would be a kind of betrayal of his vows.

He couldn’t do that to her. He was supposed to be earning her trust so she would have someone to lean on when she went back to Earth.

So instead of forcing himself on her, he forced himself to focus on gathering what information he could. He had no idea what might be useful to know someday. “Does Brenya arm the women she sends away?”

“No. Some are given an amulet with their name on it, but that’s all.” She looked back out toward the southern village. “The women who live there train hard and know their way around a fight. Even unarmed, they’re more dangerous than any animal I know of in these woods.”