9. Chapter 9
Her lips tasted sweeter than I had anticipated.
I couldn't have said what came over me, but the moment she slapped my hand off so defiantly for the second time, my cock ruled my body. Stiffer than my sword, I had only one urge: to pull her into my arms and make her MINE.
The slaps had been unexpected, but her kneeing me in the balls and following up with a blow to the head totally surprised me. I reached for her with one hand while the other cradled my manhandled balls, but she slipped right through my fingers, taking off in a sprint.
I cursed.
"Khadahr?" Rhon-Dhar called, alarmed, from a few paces ahead of me.
"I'll go after her. Keep going!" I commanded, getting on my feet with gritted teeth.
My head hurt. She had hit me hard for a gallis, but that was nothing to the pounding pain in my balls. I managed to look up and realized Rachel had already gotten farther away than I liked. Ignoring a slight dizziness and the pain between my legs, I gave chase.
Normally, I would have caught her within a few moments, but right then, my mistreated balls protested any movement, and I stumbled forward more than I ran.
"Rachel, stop!" I yelled, but that only seemed to spur her on.
She veered off to the left to avoid an array of boulders we had climbed earlier, and I shouted again for her to stop. The wildlands were dangerous. Only the toughest survived, and she was veering from a well-used path toward a grouping of narran trees that most likely hid some of our more aggressive predators.
She had used my surprise well and gained a formidable head start. I pushed all my pain from my consciousness, as I had learned during the trials, and increased my speed. Rachel had no idea what dangers she was running toward, but I did, and it gave me the incentive to run faster.
I ground my jaw when I realized she would reach the outcropping before me and tried one more time, "Rachel, stop!"
She didn't. Narran trees and thick bushes swallowed her up.
Moments later, I entered the diffused light of the forest. The large leaves of the narran trees blocked most of the sunlight out, making the area appear to be dipped into perpetual twilight.
There was no trace of her, forcing me to stop and to send out my senses. My ears listened for any sound, my nose twitched, trying to find her scent, while my eyes scanned the ground for tracks—which would be hard to find thanks to the boots I made her—and telltale signs of bent or ripped foliage. I got lucky and found a piece of her blouse that must have ripped as she headed right into the deeper underbrush, away from the small drycken trail she had entered through.
I didn't dare yell out her name again, worried I might attract one of Vandruk's aggressive predators. Xythrax liked these woods; they were easy to hide in, and marrut roots, which grew in abundance in the shadows of the large trees, attracted their favorite prey, drycken.
Scanning my surroundings for more traces of her, I cursed myself for making her afraid of me. Whatever would happen here would be my fault. Damn, I had only wanted to kiss her. You are a brute , Mynarra's words echoed in my head from a long time ago when I had done something similar, trying to kiss one of the servant gallies. Just like our father , she had accused me.
I thought I had learned my lesson then, but obviously, I hadn't because I had done the same thing again.
My fist hit one of the trees; it hurt, but the pain was a good deterrent from the self-loathing spreading through me.
I'm not like our father , I had defended myself to Mynarra. At the time, I hadn't realized that gallies didn't always like a male's advances. I had only ever seen the ones following 'Father's beckoning and every whim. That they had been cowed to do so hadn't entered my mind until Mynarra explained it to me. I felt just as low now as I had felt then.
The last thing I wanted was to make Rachel afraid of me. If Mynarra were here now, she would scold me to the end of the day, and rightly so.
The sound of a breaking twig caught my attention, and I moved in that direction. The shimmer of a yellow blouse filtered through one of the thick bushes, and I headed toward it, mindful to make as little noise as possible.
It didn't matter, though, because Rachel stood frozen to the spot, staring straight into the red eyes of Vandruk's worst predator: a vorathar. Ten times deadlier than a xythrax. It usually hunted at night and was rarely seen as it stayed away from larger groups.
A vorathar was far more intelligent than an ordinary animal. Although it had the strength to kill a warrior, it had learned to keep its distance from us. It could stand upright on two legs like a Vandruk, towering at twice our height. Thick plates armored its neck and back, while spikes jutted from its hind legs and forearms. As if that weren't enough, long claws extended from all six of its feet. Its sharp, lethal teeth gleamed, and its glowing red eyes were locked on Rachel.
A vorathar could kill a warrior in battle, and I hated the mere idea of what its claws or teeth could do to Rachel's soft skin.
"Stay still," I hissed.
Her head turned in my direction, and I cursed.
The vorathar also noticed her movement and growled from deep in its throat. Roaring, it stood up on both hind legs.
Rachel's eyes widened in terror as the vorathar's roar echoed through the trees. I only had moments to jump in front of Rachel before the vorathar pounced on me instead of her. I lunged forward, moving in front of Rachel, catching the beast's attention. It snarled and saliva dripped from its razor-sharp teeth.
With my sword in hand, I made myself bigger than I was, growling back at the creature. Unimpressed when its front legs swiped for me.
I dodged the first swipe just in time, feeling the wind of its claws grazing my arm. The vorathar's movements were swift and calculated. A deadly dance of predator and prey ensued. With a quick sidestep, I managed to avoid the next attack aimed at my chest, the claws barely missing me.