He made a face similar to the one Darice had when she’d insisted he try it. But unlike his nephew, he sampled it without audible bitching. With an adorable astonished expression, he met her gaze and smiled. “It’s good.”

“Best of all, it doesn’t run or try to kill you when you go after it.”

He laughed again. “I like the danger.”

“I’m sure you do.”

Licking his lips, he finished his food in silence.

Once he was done, Sumi took the plate to wash it off while he went to attend his morning needs. It’d been a strange day so far. She’d awakened unsettled and couldn’t figure out why. Just a gut feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

Hauk had been barely lucid when she’d approached him earlier with the blanket, but she had no doubt that had she done something he perceived as a threat, he’d have shot up like he did a few minutes ago. Ready and willing to kill.

The poor, exhausted baby had fallen asleep before she’d finished tucking the blanket around him. Knowing he needed the rest, she and the kids had tiptoed around and left him to it.

Rubbing at her neck, she scanned the terrain, looking for the source of her discomfort.

What is wrong with me?

She was anxious and jittery. Unsettled. Like someone was watching her.

Not wanting to be alone, she started for the caves, then changed course to see if Hauk was okay. The kids had the lorina with them and Darice could scream loud enough to be heard for miles if they came under threat.

Hauk should have returned by now.

Sumi made her way to the small pond that was between the oasis and the caves, where a shirtless Hauk sat sideways to her. He was already washed, with his damp hair pulled back from his face. When he picked up his knife, she thought he was going to shave with it.

Until he used it to cauterize a wound in the side she couldn’t see.

“Oh my God,” she breathed, rushing forward.

He drew on her, then lowered the blaster as he recognized her.

Aghast, she gaped at him. “You’re wounded?”

Grinding his teeth, he returned to cauterizing the vicious knife wound across his lower left rib. “They didn’t all miss last night.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

He shrugged.

“Dancer!” she snapped at him. “You could have bled out.”

The expression on his face said that she was the one overreacting…

As if!

“I stopped the bleeding before we left. It didn’t reopen until I carried Darice.”

And he hadn’t said a word about it. To anyone. She stared at him in total disbelief. “Son, you can’t just walk around bleeding and not say something. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that?”

“No,” he said simply.