Chapter 9
By midday, the sun was high and bright, and the jungle was hot and muggy.
Lacey wished she’d gone with shorts or a skirt simply to feel the breeze on her legs, but she’d been practical this morning and opted for pants, which provided some protection from snagging thorns and branches but none from the heat.
Sweat dripped between her breasts, down her lower back, and through her hair, making her scalp itchy, and her vest was soaked under her backpack.
To make it all worse, the friction from walking in sweat-dampened pants was irritating the long scars on her inner thighs.
Though it would’ve been far worse if it was skin rubbing against skin.
Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
Lacey groaned. “I think I’m dying.”
Cole, who was walking beside her, shirtless, laughed. “It’s been half a day.”
“I’m melting.”
“It’s called sweating, and it’s good for you.”
She pinched the fabric of her vest and peeled it off her skin, allowing some much-needed airflow over her chest. “I think I’m allergic.”
“To your own sweat?”
“To heat.”
Cole snickered and reached out, picking up one of her braids. “Must be the ginger in you.”
“See!” She pointed at him. “Right there. Me and my ginger self are heat intolerant.”
He gave her hair a little tug. “Too bad your ass got dropped in the jungle. You— Ow!” He stumbled forward, releasing her hair to clamp his hand over the back of his head. “What the fuck?”
Stopping, Cole spun around and scanned the ground at his feet before crouching and plucking something up. He rose with a pebble pinched between his finger and thumb.
“Good job Cole, you found a little baby rock,” Lacey said, stepping beside him and patting his shoulder.
“That wasn’t cool,” Cole called, tossing the pebble aside.
Lacey looked back to see Okkor, the green-hided thornskull, staring at them with wide eyes.
He quickly crossed his upper arms in front of his chest and pointed behind him with the thumb of a lower hand. “Kir’dak.”
Not me.
She shifted her gaze to the vrix who was trailing behind Okkor, the hunting party’s rear guard. Telok. All eight of his green eyes were narrowed, glinting with menace, and fixated upon Cole.
Had he… Had he really just thrown a rock at Cole for touching her hair?
No, that can’t be right. He wouldn’t…
Would he?
“What the hell was that for?” Cole demanded as Okkor scurried past.
“Bug,” Telok said.
“There was not a bug on my head.”
Telok shrugged, the gesture’s nonchalance belying his continued glare. “Oops.”
Cole pressed his lips together and breathed heavily through his nose, rubbing the back of his head. “You know, if you fuckers would learn to just talk things out, you’d save everyone a lot of damn trouble.”
“I do not know your words.”
“Bullshit. You know them as well as you know this.” Cole flipped him off, turned around, and continued walking.
Lacey tried and failed to keep herself from grinning…not that she’d put much effort into the trying part. “Yeah! Take that!” She also flipped Telok off before jogging to catch up with Cole.
Telok growled.
“You’re gonna get me killed,” Cole said when she was next to him again.
Her brow creased. “Huh?”
“Really? You really need me to spell it out?”
“I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face and muttered a few curses under his breath. “Remember how Ketahn was whenever anyone so much as looked at Ivy for more than a few seconds? Or Rekosh when Ahmya was hurt, and he almost bit Diego’s head off for touching her?”
“Yeah, but what does that have to do with me?”
“I would touch your hair again to show you, but I really don’t like getting beamed with fucking rocks, Lace.”
She gaped at him. “Are you seriously blaming me for Telok throwing a rock at you?”
“I’m not blaming you, but you’re the reason why.”
“I am not!”
Cole came to a halt and put his hand out in front of her. “Hold up for a sec.” When Lacey stopped, he turned in place. “Any bugs on me?”
“Uh…no.”
Facing her with a decidedly unamused expression, he lifted a hand and grasped one of her braids again, this time stroking it with his thumb.
Lacey wrinkled her nose and moved her head back, pulling the braid taut. “What are you doing?”
He ducked abruptly.
Lacey’s eyes flared as something tiny whizzed over Cole’s head. She swung her attention to the black and green vrix behind them. “Telok!”
“Bug,” Telok said flatly, still glaring at Cole.
Cole surged up, thrusting a finger at Telok. “There was fucking not!”
Telok only shrugged again.
Looking back at Lacey, Cole pressed his palms together. “Please tell me you get it now. Please, Lacey.”
She grabbed hold of his wrist and dragged him toward the others ahead. Once she’d put some distance between them and Telok, she released Cole.
“I don’t get it,” she said in harsh whisper.
Cole groaned. “Just let him kill me.”
“No, I’m serious! Telok can’t stand to be around me. You saw how mad he was when he realized I was coming this morning. You’ve seen how much he tries to avoid me, how annoyed he is when he’s around me. He’s not like that with anyone else.”
He squeezed his temples between forefinger and thumb. “I’m gonna make it simple. Really, really simple. You listening?”
She nodded.
Cole lowered his hand and looked her in the eyes. “He. Wants. To. Fuck you.”
Lacey gasped, recoiling. “Cole!”
“It’s true.”
“He doesn’t even like me!”
“Oh yes he does. A lot. And everyone knows it but you, apparently.”
Lacey frantically shook her head. Cole was wrong. He had to be wrong. There was no way Telok wanted her, no way he liked her. No way he wanted to…to fuck her. He barely tolerated her presence.
But however strongly she denied it, the truth clawed at the back of her mind, right where it had always lurked. Because beneath Telok’s rough, scarred, gruff exterior, there was a caring, considerate soul.
And that was why his coldness and disdain had hurt so much, wasn’t it?
Because that wasn’t the Telok she’d known during their journey.
Wasn’t the Telok who’d instructed her, who’d looked upon her with pride, who’d been thrilled to have her riding upon his hindquarters with her body pressed to his back and her arms wrapped around him.
That wasn’t the Telok who’d been frantic when he’d nearly lost her to the muckstalkers.
If Lacey looked past her own hurt, if she finally took off those blinders, the evidence was right in front of her.
When Telok had come to her at the waterfall, he’d been worried that she was injured and angry that she’d put herself at risk.
When she’d brought him the spear she’d made, he’d handled it as though it was the most precious gift he’d ever received.
And the look he’d given her then, with scorching heat in his eyes, had left Lacey burning…
That hadn’t been hate. It had been the furthest thing from it.
It had been lust.
She’d recognized it even as she’d tried to pretend it wasn’t real, and she’d run from it. From him.
Telok wants me.
Lacey’s foot caught on the uneven ground, and she stumbled forward, barely preventing herself from faceplanting in the dirt.
Cole grabbed her arm, steadying her. “You okay?”
Face flushing, Lacey nodded. “Yeah.”
No, I am not fucking okay!
She chanced a glance over her shoulder at Telok.
Sure enough, Telok’s glare was zeroed in on Cole’s hand upon her arm. His fists were clenched, the tiny hairs on his legs were raised, and the tension in his stride radiated threat, like he was a beast stalking toward prey he intended to maul.
Oh shit.
Lacey quickly shook Cole’s arm off and resumed walking at a brisk pace. “Better haul ass if you want to live, Cole!”
“I thought we were friends!”
The humans repositioned themselves at the center of the group, with Elharat, Okkor, and Ayali as a buffer between them and Telok.
Elharat huffed and said in vrix, “If Scarhide comes for you hyu-nanz, I will not stop him.”
“I thought you were to protect us,” Lacey replied slowly in vrix, the alien words still clumsy in her mouth. “We are of Kaldarak.”
Ayali’s chitter was deep and powerful, yet somehow still rich and warm. “He gives the wrong words. He says will not, but he means cannot.”
Elharat growled, drew back his spiked shoulders, and puffed out his yellow chest. “I could.”
Okkor chittered, shaking his head. “Not if you want to keep your hide.”
“And you would fair better?”
The green thornskull lifted his chin and stood taller. “Yes.”
“Then let us witness your shar’thai,” Elharat replied, waving toward Telok.
With a huff, Okkor quickened his stride. “I must save my strength to protect you from beasts.”
“Then I shall save my strength for when you fail.”
“Looks like you’re on your own, Lace,” Cole snickered.
Lacey arched a brow. “You’re the one who pissed him off.”
“But you’re the source of his frustration. Cranky ass just needs to get his dick—”
“Cole, don’t you dare finish that sentence.” She eased closer to him and lowered her voice. “Let’s say you’re right. Which one of us is he going to hurt if he’s angry? Me, the alleged object of his desire, or you, the one who keeps touching me?”
Throwing his hands up, Cole took a wide step away from her. “Fine. I won’t even breathe in your direction.”
“You better not expel any gasses in my direction, pal.”
Cole’s serious facade cracked with a smirk. “You’re a jerk.”
“Takes one to know one.”
“I hate when you’re right.”
Laughing together, they continued onward.
The day grew hotter as the afternoon wore on.
Before long, Lacey swore she could’ve literally cut the thick, suffocating air with a knife.
This made those Maine summers, which had already been plenty hot and humid to her, seem mild in comparison.
She wasn’t sure if she’d ever get used to this climate.
It was like living in a sauna, and she hated saunas. Who the hell wanted to sit and sweat like that for fun?
She eyed Cole. He was marching on with sweat dripping down his muscled back, chatting with Droztar and Koss, completely unbothered by the weather.
He probably loved going to the sauna, the bastard.