EPILOGUE
Dargo
Despite my assurances to Taz, I wasn’t in fighting form after killing the percer.
My healing sleep had mended the worst of my injuries, but left me drained and sore.
The bite on my arm had healed to a raw scar that I knew I’d wear for the rest of my life.
It was a trophy I was proud to display, proof of exactly how much I loved my mate.
I would have felt the same even if she’d never returned that love. But hearing it had satisfied a primal part of me I couldn’t deny. My mate loved me as much as I loved her.
Nothing in my life had prepared me for the sweetness of that reality.
Gentling Taz for a second time was well worth the ache in my bones, but it took several hours of rest before I felt ready to return to camp.
Hours I was happy to spend in the shade of a small tree, relishing the feeling of Taz’s naked skin against mine. I hadn’t had the chance to retreat from the world and glory in my mating for days like I longed to, but this was almost as good.
Out in the strange wilderness of Earth, there was no one to hear our conversation, or interrupt the simple intimacy with brawls or celebrations.
“What do you call the plants that are covered in spines? The ones that remind me of you?” I asked, stroking the back of her hand as I tried to find the motivation to leave our temporary shelter.
Taz lifted her head, her narrowed eyes glinting dangerously.
“Did you just call me a freaking cactus?”
I bit my tongue to hold back a laugh.
“Freaking cactus?” I repeated innocently. “Adak’s been wondering what those are.”
She pounded her head onto my chest dramatically.
“You never stop, do you?”
“Never.” Why would I, when teasing her was so much fun?
The sun had risen to its highest point above us, and the tree we laid under no longer shaded us quite as nicely. Taz’s pale skin was turning an angry red that I knew meant she was burning. As much as I hated the thought, it was time to return to camp.
I pressed a kiss to her sweat-dampened temple and sighed.
“We should go.”
“Are you up to the walk?” she asked, pushing herself up onto her knees and inspecting my healing arm.
“I’ll manage.” I hated the thought of limping back into camp, but my mate needed shade, and we both needed water.
With Taz’s help I got to my feet, knees shaking as my wrung out body fought to hold my weight.
I was immune enough to survive a bite, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel its brutal effects.
It would be days before I felt like myself.
Luckily the pack of boars had moved on, no doubt to safer nesting grounds. I hobbled past the sow’s carcass, one arm slung around Taz’s shoulders for balance and thanked Padru that my blood rage had enabled me to save my mate.
In the hundreds of times I’d lost myself to the powerful rage, I’d never come out the otherside happy. For once, the result was a good one. Taz was safe, another percer was dead, and I hadn’t killed any of my brothers for the sport of the sytos.
It took most of the day to make our way back to camp, and by the time I spotted the familiar tents, I was ready to collapse on our thin bed and sleep for a week.
Before I could do just that, Adak appeared from the main tent and headed our way, his face set in grim lines.
“Where were you?” he demanded, his voice gruffer than usual. His good eye was bloodshot, and there was a weary slump to his shoulders that rivaled mine.
“I was with Taz.” There would be time to talk of what had happened when I’d eaten and my body didn’t feel like a sack of fresh dackro mird.
He scented the air, nostrils flaring as he picked up every scent we’d collected on our adventures.
“You reek of percer.”
I shifted my weight off of Taz. Something was bothering my friend, and I wanted to face it on my own two hooves.
“We ran into a nest. I dealt with it.”
Adak cast a wary glance at my mate, no doubt smelling our recent activities, as well.
“We have bigger troubles than breeding percers,” he growled. “One of the patrols ran into a syto scout. They killed two males, captured another and left Treskir for dead. He’ll be lucky if he makes it.”
My stomach clenched at his words.
“They’re not going to let us go.”
Adak shook his head, his flicking ears the only outward sign of the frustration I knew was brewing under the surface.
“They’d rather kill us all than give us our freedom. We need to prepare.”
We’d barely won our freedom and the sytos were already declaring war.
I looked down at Taz’s worried, sun kissed face and squared my shoulders.
“We have more than freedom to fight for now, brother. We have our mates, and no one, not even a syto fleet, gets between a turoch and his female.”