The rest of the trip was uneventful, although I did make him stop three times more throughout the day; twice for brief rest periods (I was still recovering from my experience with the vampires, after all, and was weaker than normal) and once to hunt again. We shared no more uncomfortable moments, for which I was glad. Contact with Gabriel made me weak and vulnerable and I wasn't ready for that yet. Besides, he seemed to want to maintain the barrier he erected around himself, the cool distance he kept. Aside from a few brief glimmers of emotion I didn't really know him. Though my body yearned to be closer to him, I was worried about the daunting task that lay ahead.
His territory was much more difficult to traverse than mine. For a few hours now we had been navigating rocky slopes and stee
