Out of this World

Chapter Eleven

The smile on Jas's face drops when he sees the tense room he just walked into. He immediately drops the dead bird creatures on the floor and slams the door shut behind him. His gaze doesn't leave my face as he comes over to me, putting himself between the two males. "What's going on?" Before I can answer he's looking at Caine with narrowed eyes. "If you're going to start something do it outside."
When his eyes returns to mine they are gentle, nothing like the look he just gave Caine. I'm surprised by this side of him. Jas is always happy to follow, a people pleaser.

He grabs my shoulders in a gentle but firm hold and starts moving me away from the two. I'm not so sure I want that as I had been the one thing stopping them from going at each other. "Caine? Are you okay?" I try to fight Jas's hold but he just keeps guiding me away.

I see Caine relax his stance and he gives me a small smile. "It's okay little one." He starts walking over to where Jas and I are standing. "I think we're all feeling a little cooped up. Nothing good food can't fix." He pauses as he passes by Orik, giving the slightly larger male a steady look. "Right?"

I see Orik give a nod, I can't see his expression but Caine nods back. What was that all about?

Caine walks to the table and pulls out a chair for me, I smile at him and sit. I watch as Orik walks over to the door and picks up the chicken creatures where Jas dropped them. He passes by us on his way into the kitchen area and doesn't spare a glance in our direction. Orik starts pulling out feathers as the guys sit in the chairs next to mine as if all is right in the world again.
It must be Orik's turn to cook, fine by me. Chopping off bird heads is not my cup of tea.

Jas runs his fingers through my hair as we wait, his favorite pastime. I rub my hands, trying to get some warmth into them. Caine notices and grabs them under the table, softly rubbing them in his much larger ones. "Are you hungry? I'm sorry about the late meal, I wasn't thinking when I left."

I pause, trying not to look in Orik's direction. "No I'm not very hungry, the snack from earlier was plenty-"

A loud grunt from Orik's direction has me wincing. "Mia, when I asked you earlier you told me that Caine made you lunch already."
Shit.

"Uh, I wasn't hungry and..." I look back to Caine who is now looking less than happy. "The snack you gave me was basically lunch..."

Silence.

I start getting nervous. I pull my hands away from Caine's and look down, not wanting to face his expression. "We need to be saving food, not wasting it. This is ridiculous. I'm not going outside as it is and I doubt that will change after the storm hits so the concern, although sweet, seems unnecessary. I'm doing great! I'm plenty warm enough with extra layers you guys got me and I sleep by the fire since it gets colder at night. I'm going to be fine, you guys can loosen up a little I think."

Caine pinches the bridge of his nose, literally a universal sign of stress.
Jas speaks up first. "Mia..." I turn around in my chair, more than willing to get away from whatever Caine was about to say. Jas's eyebrows are drawn together, he grasps my hands in his. "There's a good chance that the firewood will run out long before the storm ends. It's going to be colder during the day than it is at night now." He takes a take a slow breath, closing his eyes for a second. "We're doing the best we can but there's only so many resources we can gather-."

Caine jumps in before I can fully process what Jas said. "Mia, we're worried because this is life and death. As Jas said, we will do everything we can to keep you alive, but you need to trust that we are concerned for a reason. You will have food for as long as we can possibly make it last, but it's going to get lean by the end."

"The elders are predicting a short season, but that doesn't mean the tides won't shift." Orik says it casually as he prepares the chickens for the fire. "You should be able to last awhile without a decent meal if you hope to get through it either way." His one good eye shifts from his butchering to meet my gaze. "Don't make this harder on them."