Trust by Viola Rivard

must have been out cold.”
    His eyes dancing with amusement, he said, “You seemed very aware of what was happening. You punched Lark.”
    “Who’s Lark?”
    “I am!”
    Taylor let out a yelp of surprise as a woman materialized in the doorway. The first thing Taylor noticed about her was her eyes. They were big and brown and one of them had clearly been punched. Taylor cringed as Alder admonished the newcomer.
    “How long have you been standing out there?”
    Lark shrugged. “I was waiting for the appropriate time to make an entrance.” Her eyes moved to Taylor, her brows drawing together in sympathy. “But I can tell by your reaction that my timing was off after all.”
    Realizing that Alder was still rubbing her legs, Taylor blushed and lightly whacked his hands away. “N-No, you’re fine.”
    Alder gave her a funny look, but didn’t comment.
    Lark walked over to them, extending her hand to Taylor. “Gotta pee?”
    “Yeah,” Taylor said, accepting the help up. Alder stood as well.
    Winking at her, Lark said, “Come on. I’ll show you my favorite bush.”
    She tried to pull Taylor from the room, but Alder cleared his throat, prompting Lark to stop in her tracks.
    “Are you okay to walk?” he asked Taylor.
    She nodded, secretly happy that he was concerned about her.
    Turning his attention to Lark, he said, “I’m going to head down to rest for a few hours. She can’t be on her feet for too long. Make sure she eats something.”
    Lark was already ushering Taylor from the room again. “I’ll take care of your female, don’t you worry, boss.”
    As they entered a shadowed passageway, she heard Alder call out, “She doesn’t eat meat.”
    “No problem!” Lark yelled back, her voice ricocheting off the rocky walls.
    Taylor had been almost excited to get up and out of the room, but as she walked down the passageway she began to feel uncomfortable. Lark seemed friendly enough, but the fact remained that she was a lone human, walking in a den of wolves.

Chapter Fourteen
    “ Y ou’re going to love our den,” Lark said as she guided Taylor through the passageway.
    Lark was walking at a speed that was uncomfortable for Taylor, but she didn’t want to come across as whiny so she did her best to keep up.
    “Have you seen many dens?” Lark asked.
    “Can’t say that I have,” Taylor replied, narrowly avoiding a low-hanging stalactite.
    “Ours really is the best. So, Alder tells me you’ll be staying with us for a while.”
    “Yeah, I guess so,” Taylor said.
    She wasn’t sure how much Alder had told them about her. Considering the fact that Lark seemed so congenial, he probably hadn’t mentioned that Taylor was a fugitive hiding out from the FBI.
    Lark said, “You two seem close.”
    Taylor could tell Lark was fishing for information. Alder must not have told her much after all.
    “I was in a tight spot. Alder helped. That’s really all there is to it.”
    It was one of those times when Taylor found herself lying for no apparent reason aside from feeling awkward. Whatever was going on between her and Alder, it was all too new. She wasn’t ready to declare them as being in any sort of relationship.
    Lark seemed disappointed. “Oh. Well, I suppose now that you’re living with us, there’ll be plenty of time for romance.”
    Before Taylor could figure out how to address that, they turned a corner and the passageway opened up into an expansive cavern.
    The cavern looked like a massive tunnel. Light flooded the room, pouring in from a vine-covered opening. Grass grew all around the entrance, tapering off towards the darker end, where it was replaced by green moss. Walkways ran all throughout the room, leading to various small passageways.
    “This is the heart of the Halcyon den,” Lark said. “Every tunnel and room in the entire mountainside starts here.”
    “We’re inside a mountain?”
    Lark snickered. “Where else would a cave be?” She snatched Taylor’s arm. “This