Page 43 of Hummingbird and Kraken

He shrugged and followed the bird, plunging directly into the forest.

“Thanks, by the way. I appreciate it. I mean, even if you’re trying to make sure I’m not a bad guy, the escort is nice. You know, I was having a kind of rough day.”

The bird twittered and hopped to another branch.

“Money problems. Ex-boyfriend problems. Ex-boyfriend problems that became money problems. You ever have those?”

The bird cocked its head to the side.

“Maybe I just don’t pick the good ones. I hope Geir’s different. He seems different.”

The bird hopped to another branch.

“What do you think?”

The bird fluttered to the next tree and Declan hastened to catch up.

When he got there, the bird up and left. Just flew into the air. They’d barely gone forty yards. If there weren’t so many trees in the way, Declan was pretty sure he’d still be able to see the road.

He looked around, making sure he had his bearings before heading back.

Only another flash of red caught his eye. He looked closer. It wasn’t a bird this time, but a scrap of plaid.

He moved closer. There was Geir, his back against a tree, sitting as still as a statue. His face was calm, and he appeared to be watching whatever was in front of him, but it was just some more trees so it couldn’t have been that interesting.

“Geir?” Declan whispered, not wanting to interrupt him if he was meditating or something. If his eyes weren’t open, Declan would think he was sleeping. Did krakens sleep with their eyes open? No, he’d had his eyes closed last night. “Hey, Geir?”

He didn’t respond.

“Geir?” he called louder.

No response. OK, that was a little freaky. Was he alright?

“Geir!” he called, getting a little panicked.

Geir slowly blinked, then turned to him. He blinked again, and then his face spread into a wide smile. “Declan!”

“Hey,” Declan ambled over, feeling a bit silly now. His heart was still pounding. That was twice in less than a week that Geir had scared the hell out of him because he thought he was dying.

Geir raised an arm in invitation and he clambered into his lap. Much better. He could feel Geir’s strong arms around him and taste the salty skin along his neck. “You scared me.”

Geir grunted back in question.

“You weren’t moving. And you didn’t answer me. I thought something was wrong and I got scared.”

Geir pulled him in tighter. Always tighter. Declan couldn’t get enough of it.

“I’m sorry,” Geir rumbled. “I’ll stay more alert in the future.”

“What were you doing?” Declan nestled into Geir’s neck and rested one hand over the steady beat of his heart.

Geir thought for a moment. “Waiting, I guess.”

“Waiting for what?”

Geir shrugged.

“Is it, like, a kraken thing?”