Mari's Mistake (Icehome, #10)

by Ruby Dixon

At first, I don’t know what’s happening. It gets dark for just a flash, and then suddenly I’m on the ground, with T’chai’s big body covering mine. I spit out sand, stunned and breathless, and then his big arms push me down when I try to sit up. It takes a moment for me to realize that he’s camouflaged, his color the exact same shade as the sand on the ground, and when he covers my arms, it’s dizzying to watch my skin “disappear.” Why is he camouflaging? Why did he tackle me? Why— A monster screams nearby. It’s like something out of a horror movie. The roar is impossibly loud and terrifying, and like any good idiotic horror movie heroine, I scream the moment I hear it. T’chai presses me down into the sand, and he whispers my name in my ear. His fingers lightly stroke my skin even as he pins me underneath him, his big body so heavy that it steals the breath from my lungs. His head presses down against mine, and I bite back a small whimper of distress, because I don’t entirely understand what’s happening. Then, the monster screams again, and an enormous body thumps onto the ground nearby, spraying sand all over us.