I didn't really know what that meant. But Van eased back off the tree, guiding my legs to the ground almost tenderly.

They shook slightly and he caught my bicep reflexively to hold me up.

""You're not acting much like a demon lately." I remarked. Still trying to figure all of this out. And not sure how I felt about any of it.

He gathered my dress and held it open at my feet.

I stepped in and he lifted it over my shoulders and began cinching the laces at my bodice to help me. Knowing I could still be sore from all that had happened to my body in the last few days.

The demon that Vandiel had become was horrifying and awful but he seemed truly remorseful. Desperate to take care of me and to make it up to me.

In his own twisted way.

He gave me a quick look. "Perhaps I don't know any other way."

"And what if you did?" I countered through narrowed eyes. "Would you be willing to learn."

"I don't know..."

***

Van crouched near the fire awhile and watched me trying to rig a trap nearby in the bushes. His face scrunched up in displeasure and eyeing me like something that had crawled from under a rock.

When finally I could take it no longer I tossed up my hands. "What?"

"What the devil are you doing?"

"Trying to make a trap for rabbits and squirrels."

"You're doing a terrible job." He rose to his feet. His strange gray cloak sweeping down around him. And I noticed he had on tan breeches beneath it today.

Still no shoes or shirt but some clothes is better than none.

"Why are you wearing clothes now?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "More comfortable then strolling around and having the breeze blow my rod about."

He gave me a disgruntled look. Clearly unsure why he felt more comfortable with them on, as well. He crouched next to me. "You need to slow down and look around. Why are you building your trap here to begin with?"

I toyed with the scrap of string. Bouncing it thoughtfully. "Close to my fire and I can see it."

"Being fearful will get you no rewards. Look around. Look for disturbed shrubs or tracks."

Together we were quiet as we gazed around. Once I slowed enough to look, I could see that a few feet further in there was a low trail carved by small animals through the tall grass and low shrubbery.

"There!" I said excitedly.

He gave me an approving quirk of his lips as I scampered that way, nearly on all fours in my excitement.

He strode behind me and crouched again. "Now when you set the trap..." He frowned as he lifted the twig I'd been intent on using. "You need a more pliable stick."

He tossed the one I had over his shoulder and shifted to both sides until spotting one he liked. Retrieving it he brought it back over. "See this. How it bends here. It's both soft and strong."

Which reminded me of parts of him. I chewed my lip as I tried not to think about how that particular part of his body became both iron hard and softly smooth at the same time.

He paused what he was saying and his head whipped to me. "Thinking like that will get me aroused again."

I grimaced. "Sorry. I can't help it."

"I'm fine with it. You won't be if I'm desperate to be back inside you again already." His voice hardened with warning.

"I know." I tucked my neck. "I'm listening."

I refocused on what he was saying.

He clucked in his cheek and ripped his gaze from me back to the string tied to the stick he was holding. "You take this here and fold it around here."

He pointed out where to show me. "Then you use this rock for weight and adjust it here."

By the time he was done the trap seemed perfectly constructed.

I leaned around to inspect it from different angles.

"You got it?" He asked me in a voice that was more kind then harsh.

"How do you prop the rock's weight?" He lifted it to show me the flatter bottom and told me how.

Once that was done, we returned to the fire to patiently weight. He said we'd hear the sound of the rock tipping.

He was staring at me thoughtfully as he took a bit of branch and a rock and began meticulously sharpening one end to a fierce point.

I watched his long-fingered hands working the bit of wood so expertly.

"You used to do this, didn't you?"

He gave me a lopsided grin and peered at me from under dark lashes. "Women weren't always the only thing I hunted."