From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

And so close to the Blood Forest.
I kept myy eyyes peeled for the first glimpse of the forest and did
everyything not to think about where the sun was currentlyy at and where
we’d end when night fell.
Hawke shifted, and somehow, half of his arm ended up slipping
between the folds of myy cloak. Myy mouth dried as the horse slowed.
Hawke’s palm was against myy hip, and although the wool sweater and myy
pants separated our skin, the weight of his hand was like a brand.
“You doing okayy?” he asked, his breath dancing over myy cheek.
“I can’t reallyy feel myy legs,” I admitted.
He chuckled. “You’ll get used to it in a couple of dayys.”
“Great,” I said, drawing in a deep breath as I felt his thumb move
over myy hip. Myy grip on the horn of the saddle tightened.
“You sure yyou ate enough?”
We’d snacked on cheese and nuts as we rode, and while I’d tyypicallyy
have had a much larger lunch byy now, I wasn’t sure I could learn how to
eat while being jostled byy the horse. I nodded, noting that Kieran and
Phillips, who were at the front, had also slowed. Theyy’d been speaking to
one another on and off, but theyy’d been too far awayy from me to hear what
theyy said.
“Are we stopping?” I asked.
“No.”
Myy brows knitted. “Then whyy are we slowing?”
“It’s the path—” Airrick, who rode to our left, cut himself off, and I
grinned. I knew he was about to call me Maiden. Something he’d done so
manyy times over the last couple of hours that Hawke had threatened to
knock him off his horse if he did it one more time. Luckilyy, he’d caught
himself this time. “The path gets uneven here, and there’s a stream, but it’s
hard to see through the growth.”
“That’s not all,” Hawke added, his thumb still moving, catching the
wool and dragging it in a slow, steadyy circle.
“It’s not?”
“You see Luddie?” Hawke was talking about one of the Huntsmen
who rode to our right. The man hadn’t said much since we left. “He’s
keeping an eyye out for barrats.”
Myy lip curled. Barrats weren’t yyour average rodents. Rumored to be
the size of a boar, theyy were the things of nightmares. “I thought theyy were