30. Chapter 30
Chapter thirty
~Kitari~
D arkness had fallen and we were almost at the pass when I sensed movement in the trees behind us.
“Run.”
He started to move, and at the same moment, a spear sailed out of the darkness, embedding itself into the ground at his feet, quivering. I snarled and grabbed his hand, pulling him along with me as I picked up the pace again.
Whoever had thrown that spear could have hit Bryce Bryce Gunner if they wanted to—it was a warning shot. But even so, I could have killed them for endangering him.
Just Bryce , I corrected myself, not Bryce Bryce Gunner, you fool . Now was not the time to wallow in my embarrassment at having called him the wrong name for so long.
The trees thinned, and the cliffs on either side converged ahead of us. The ground became strewn with loose rocks, then boulders. Bryce tripped, his boot catching and slipping on the loose ground. Before he could fall, I snatched him up into my arms again and held him safe against my chest. I leaped from stone to stone, gaining on the tight entrance to the pass.
Shouts rang out behind us; telling me to stop, to come back, to give up the human. I ignored them all. There was no way I was going to give up Bryce now, they would have to pry him from my hands.
A familiar tingle in the air shot down my spine, and I glanced up. Dark clouds gathered above us, heavy and bruised purple, blocking out the light of the moons. They gathered quickly, drawn together by static power. I cursed. An electrical storm.
I gritted my teeth and pushed harder, eyes set on the narrow passage ahead. Now I had not only a host of guards to deal with, but an electrical storm as well. The stars were testing me tonight, but I would not give in.
Behind us, more shouts: this time in warning of the coming storm. It looked to be a vicious one, and anyone in their right mind would be finding shelter as quickly as possible.
I grinned viciously as a thought occurred to me. Perhaps the stars were helping instead of testing me. As if in confirmation, I heard some of our pursuers shouting to each other to fall back. I did not have to beat the guards and the storm; I just had to outlast the storm longer than our pursuers did. It was reckless, but it might work.
As the first bolt of electricity flashed through the air, we dove into the shelter of the pass. I glanced back and saw some of them falter, looking fearfully at the sky. But not all of them. One figure in front was speeding up the scree, determined and getting closer. It was Koum. His face was a stern mask, his eyes fixed on me like a hunting sanslar . Damn his tenacity. Of course he would be single minded enough not to be swayed by the prospect of an electrical storm.
I kept running through the pass, my breaths and footfalls bouncing off the stone. Overhead, there was a flash as electricity lanced across the mountainside.
As Koum entered the pass behind us, he called out.
“Kitari, stop!” His voice echoed around me, stern and demanding. “You must bring the human back!”
I ignored him, hunching protectively over Bryce.
“There is nowhere else for you to go!”
The end of the pass neared, and Koum realized my intentions.
“You cannot stay out in the storm!” he shouted, alarmed. It sounded like there was actual concern in his voice. Again, I ignored him. He would not pursue us out of the pass.
Head down, running at full pelt, we burst through the opening in the rocks on the other side and plunged into the trees. Anger thrummed through the air; the storm was gathering.
“What the hell is happening?” Bryce panted.
“An electrical storm,” I said.
“That doesn’t sound fun.”
More blue and white sparks jumped from the edges of leaves and fizzed across tree trunks. This was going to be a powerful storm. We had to find shelter quickly, before it broke out in earnest.
Behind me, Koum shouted again, and I looked back. The fool had followed us out of the safety of the pass.
“Koum, you fool, go back!”
“Kitari! Come back! This is insane—” There was a crack, and he cut off in a yelp of pain.
I stopped and spun back to him. He was down on one knee, but struggling back to his feet. He was alone, some of the others just visible from where they were watching from the relative safety of the pass. Koum made it back to his feet and I kept on running, glancing behind to see him limp back to the pass, defeated. Then we entered the thickness of the trees and he, the others, and the pass faded from view.
Now there was just the storm to contend with. I had to get as much distance between us and our pursuers as possible before we were forced to stop for shelter. Blue light sparked at my feet with each step, and every move caused a snap of tension. A shock jumped from Bryce’s metal leg and shot into my hip like a searing bolt of fire.
Bryce stiffened and shouted, “Fuck!”
The shock sent numbness radiating down my leg, and I stumbled before I managed to right myself and push on. We needed to find shelter now. And if memory served, there should be some close by. I scanned each tree as we passed, following the familiar signs.
My leg was entirely numb when I found it; a small, dark opening between the roots of a huge tree, wide enough for an Aldar at a tight squeeze. I headed for it without slowing.
“In here.” I practically threw Bryce at it, and he skidded on his side, slipping into the opening feet first. I plunged in after him, catching my shoulders roughly against the stony ground and bark. For a moment I feared I would be stuck, my head and shoulders exposed to the storm, but then I felt a grip on my ankles pulling me. I wriggled. With a force that scraped the skin from my shoulders, I was in.
Inside, the narrow opening widened slightly, just enough to crawl for a few meters until it opened up into a small burrow lined with moss and dry plants. It was large enough for me to stand, half-crouched. Tree roots caged the dirt walls. It was dark and musty, but it would give us shelter from the storm outside, the crackles muted here beneath the ground.
I let a long breath of air out. We were safe for now.
“What is this smell?” Bryce said. I could just make out his form, crouching in the middle of the burrow. “Like an animal died in here.”
“I think it was a sanslar burrow.” I smiled at his concerned expression. “It does not live here anymore. I found it some seasons ago, but it appears I have grown since then.”
I gingerly touched the scraped skin of my shoulders. It was warm and stinging, damp with blood. But it was a superficial wound; the grazes would heal quickly on their own.
Now that my eyes were growing accustomed to the darkness, I could make out small patches of luminescent fungi that grew on the walls. Just enough to see the expression on Bryce’s face. He looked flushed and energized.
“So now what do we do?” he asked.
“We wait for the storm to pass.”
“How long will that be?”
“It can take anywhere from hours to days.”
“Yikes.” He picked at a root and a small shower of dirt fell down. He brushed it off. “Thanks for saving me. Again. How many times is that now?”
“My count is at six.”
“Six? I thought it was five.”
“You are not counting the pachaelion that almost trampled you.”
“Oh. I didn’t know you were there for that.”
“Of course. I have been with you since you first stepped foot here.”
He gazed at me, then quietly said, “Like my guardian angel.”
“What is that?”
He let out a huff of air, but did not answer.
I closed my eyes. His scent was already filling the small space.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, smiling blandly. “This space is small, and you smell strong. But I do not mind.”
“Oh.”
I needed to get a hold of myself. I could not lose control. I would not do that to Bryce, and I would not do it to myself. I held myself to a higher standard. I would not initiate. Although I had to tell myself that several times. When I opened my eyes again, he was watching me, face flushed. I licked my lips
“You must know the effect you have on me by now,” I said, by way of explanation.
His eyes raked over my face and across my body. I was aware of the muscles of his arms shifting as he adjusted his position against the curved wall of the burrow. He nodded, the merest movement of his head.
“And what effect do you think you have on me?” he said.
“The same, I hope.”
In the tight space, there was nowhere for our pheromones to escape, and by now, the air between us was thick with an intoxicating mix of musty earth and lust. The static in the air from the storm above danced across my skin and raised strands of yellow hair from his head.
“Clay told me about being soul-bound,” he said. “It sounds…intense.”
Was there something wistful about the way he said that?
My mind fogged. It was impossible to resist him at such close quarters. And why should I? Because Jursin ordered me to? He was not here now, and, besides, when had I ever let that stop me before? I wanted what Clay and Arcay had, there was no denying it. But I wanted it the right way. Not have my omega tricked into it by pheromones he could not control.
“Back there, when those other alphas had surrounded us, and you stopped them—”
I ground my teeth at the memory of the hunger in their predatory eyes.
“They wanted you,” I said, trying to keep the anger from my voice.
“You said something. What does it mean?”
I tilted my head. I had said many things, and the moment had passed by in a rush.
“What thing?”
He hesitated. “It sounded like ‘nina’?”
Ah yes. “ Ninya, ” I growled.
“That was it. What does that mean?” His eyes were set on me.
“It means ‘mine’.”
There was a long, heavy pause. “Mine?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Why did you say that?”
“Because they wanted you.” I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue. “But I want you more.”