Ice Ice Babies Read Online Free PDF Page B

brought several pouches of her own stash and we’re combining flavors while the babies sit on a nearby fur and flail their arms happily. “I know he loves me. I know he loves the babies. But every time I suggest he stay home and relax, he ignores it and rushes right back out the door to go hunting again.”
    Asha plucks a dried twist of leaves from my hand and places it in the section that we’ve marked off as ‘medicines’. Whoops. I really, really don’t have an eye for this sort of thing. “It is fear.”
    “Fear?” I echo. “Fear of what?”
    She gives me a look. “Fear of failing you. There are none of us in the tribe that have not experienced a brutal season where bellies went empty. That is probably why he hunts so much. He has you, and he has his kits to feed. And I have known Dagesh for a long time. He is very….” She hums, trying to think of the right word. “Devoted.”
    I nod slowly. My baby is super responsible. He’s given some tasks that others won’t do, just because Vektal knows he’ll give two hundred percent. I think of Dagesh and I feel guilty. Here I’ve been resenting the fact that he’s out the door before the sun rises, leaving me alone with two small children, and he’s probably been going through an entirely different kind of pressure. I think Asha’s right — he feels an intense need to hunt enough to take care of us. He’s been without family for a long time; I know from late night conversations in the furs that his mother died not long after he was born and his father died in the terrible khui sickness. I think he’s making himself crazy trying to please everyone.
    My poor Dagesh. He’s trying so hard. I feel a surge of love for him. His fear is understandable, but it’s not going to help if he runs himself into the ground trying to take care of everyone and everything. He has to realize that there needs to be some balance, and that we’re not going to starve to death the moment he turns his back. Is there a concern over a food shortage? Sure, but everyone else is hunting just a little more, not hunting twenty-four-seven. Everyone else’s mates take a day off to spend with their families. My sweet, obsessed mate needs to put his spear down for a day or two and relax. It would be different if we hated each other like Asha and Hemalo. Then, I wouldn’t mind if he disappeared all day every day. But the truth is…I miss him. I ache for him - not just his body but his smile, his warmth, his presence, his touch, his unwavering support.
    I look over at Asha again. “How would you feel about watching the babies for me again?”
    Asha goes very still. “You…trust me?”
    “Of course. Why wouldn’t I? You’ve been so wonderful to help me the past few days.” I smile at her so she knows I’m not pulling her leg.
    Her own smile slowly blossoms across her face. “I would love to.” She leans over and lifts a flailing Anna off the blanket and holds her close. “They are such good kits.”
    Are they? That might change when she’s been around them for a full evening, but I can’t disagree - I like to think they’re special, too. “I know I’ll have to feed them so you can come interrupt, of course, but just a few hours of alone time with my mate would be absolutely wonderful.”
    “Say no more,” Asha replies. “I will watch them and come to you only if they need to eat. You should convince your mate he needs to rest.”
    “That’s the game plan.”
    “I think the plan is to get your groof back.”
    Heck yeah, it is. I’m totally getting my groof back. I laugh and toss a few leaves into a pouch. Nora’s groof is totally scheduled to come back tonight.
DAGESH
    I do not make it back to the tribal caves for several days in a row. The snows fall thick, like a cascading mane, and I cannot see my hand in front of me. I am confined to my hunter cave for two sunrises and then when I can finally emerge, I must go and re-mark the trees that I have left caches at to