Chapter 23
It had been hours since the sun had risen.
Hours of slowly trekking through the underbrush, scrutinizing every branch, leaf, and bit of dirt for signs of kurghests.
They’d paused to study every pile of animal droppings they came across, with the hunters sometimes arguing about what had left them behind.
Garahk had explained that the leavings told a story.
Cole had enthusiastically dubbed it shit talking.
Though the vrix didn’t seem to understand the joke, Lacey and Sophia hadn’t been able to stop laughing.
Sophia was easy to get along with. She was talkative, sweet, and funny, and gave back as much sass as Cole with a little extra for good measure, completely without malice. Lacey knew she and Sophia would become good friends.
As for Cole… The man was smitten. He hung on Sophia’s every word, had been there to help her over every obstacle—though she hadn’t need it—and had grinned so much that Lacey was convinced his cheeks would ache for days.
There was a glow about both of them that suggested they’d had a very… satisfying night.
Unlike myself.
Lacey kicked a rock out of her path. Despite a teeny-tiny, insignificant bit of jealousy, she was happy for Cole. Happy to see him so happy. His relationship with Sophia already appeared so natural and carefree that Lacey didn’t have any doubts that it would bloom into something stronger.
She turned her gaze to Telok. He was several paces ahead of her, walking with Tas, the two forming the middle of a fanned-out line comprised of all the thornskulls and several winddancer hunters. Swiftclaw flitted from branch to branch above, keeping just in front of them.
When they’d left the village, Tas had led the group to the site of the most recent kurghest attack.
That was where Telok had found the trail they’d been following since.
Apart from a few things he’d pointed out to Lacey, like a bit of green fur caught on the branches of a bush or scratch marks on a tree, complete with a big, broken-off claw, she’d struggled to spot anything.
It was like he had a sixth sense helping him find even the most obscure tracks.
Lacey silently watched him. His pace was slow, each step precise and deliberate, as his eyes swept his surroundings. She’d seen him alert many, many times, but this was on another level. Hyper-aware, hyper-focused.
I’ve only seen him watching. This is the first time I’m seeing him hunting.
And it was fascinating.
“Telok losak kuix et Khan’ul’Tavitahl’ani vel losa,” Koss said from beside Lacey.
Telok sees with the Hunter’s eight eyes.
In her experience, thornskulls didn’t tend to invoke their gods insincerely.
She smiled and asked in vrix, “Is that why you always ask him to come on hunts with you?”
Koss chittered and tapped a foreleg against her calf. “Hunts are easier with him, and hunters safer.”
“It is true under sun and sky,” Garahk said solemnly from Lacey’s other side. “The Hunter and the Protector have marked his spirit.”
Pride welled inside her at their praise for Telok.
Did he know how appreciative others were of his skills, or how vital he was to his people?
He always seemed to keep himself apart, always maintained that safe distance, but did he understand how many people cared for him?
Did he understand that he didn’t have to shoulder his burdens alone?
“The Protector must truly favor him, to have shielded his life through so many wounds,” said Gai’Tahk Var, a winddancer who’d volunteered to join their hunt. He was a little larger than some of the other male winddancers, with broader shoulders and thicker muscles beneath his dark gray hide.
“Too many wounds,” Lacey said softly.
The group continued onward, following Telok’s lead as he uncovered more signs of the kurghests’ presence in the area. Though those traces were old, they were clear evidence of what Shir had told them. The beasts had indeed claimed this part of the jungle as their territory.
Lacey kept her eyes moving, scrutinizing the vegetation, watching for any movement. She’d been startled more than once by rustling leaves as a panicked critter scampered away from the hunters.
She wasn’t normally this paranoid when she went hunting and foraging with the thornskulls.
But before they’d departed for today’s hunt, Sophia had described the kurghests as being jungle nightmares.
Horrifying, toothy beasts that were difficult to discern when they were on the prowl, as they blended in to their surroundings due to their mosslike fur and bony spikes that resembled wood.
Now it felt like the jungle was playing tricks on Lacey’s senses.
Every little movement and sound made the hair on her arms and the back of her neck rise in paranoia.
There could be hidden eyes watching them, unseen beasts stalking them.
This group of hunters could become the prey at any moment without realizing it.
“You must have slain many mighty beasts, Ayali,” Ess said from his place on the female thornskull’s left.
Ayali trilled. “I am called Yatin’s Bane, for I have slain many by my own hands.”
Zesh, who strode on the female’s right, crooned, his topaz eyes moving over her. “Such strength.”
“Any male would stride pridefully with you as his mate,” Ess said, pounding his chest.
Zesh repeated the gesture. “This male would.”
Lacey grinned as Ess slowed his step enough to glare at Zesh behind Ayali’s back. The two winddancers had been practically tripping over each other since meeting the large female, constantly vying for her attention.
“As would I,” Ess said, picking up his pace and lightly brushing his foreleg against Ayali’s. “Are you seeking a mate?”
Humming, Ayali flicked her black eyes down to him. “Perhaps if a worthy male presents himself.”
Cole chuckled. “You two sure you can handle her?”
“Don’t underestimate the winddancers,” Sophia replied, nudging him with her elbow.
“Then I shall do as no thornskull has,” Zesh declared, standing taller and puffing his chest, “and win Ayali as my mate.”
Quickly rubbing at the fur on his shoulders to make it fluffier, Ess stood taller still. “And I will do the same. But before Zesh.”
Stifled chitters and laugher rippled through the group, with Lacey unable to hold back her own.
“And you, Lacey?” Var asked as he eased closer to her. “Do you have a mate?”
Her heart leapt at the question. She looked at Telok to find that he’d halted, and he now stood with his back toward her. Everyone else stopped around him.
“Not…yet,” she said.
From Telok’s direction, she heard a barely audible creak, like someone was clutching something far too tightly.
Var trilled and turned to face Lacey, his violet eyes meeting hers. “I was shocked to learn humans and vrix could mate.” He extended a foreleg and rubbed it along the outside of Lacey’s calf. “But I am curious…”
“Dude, you don’t wanna do that,” Cole warned.
Lacey took a step back and chuckled nervously. “Curious? What, uh… What would you like to know?”
She flicked her eyes toward Telok again. He hadn’t moved, not even the slightest bit.
Var approached again, reached up, and caught a stray lock of hair at the side of her face. He rubbed it between his fingers as he stroked the bare skin of her forearm with his lower hand. “Everything.”
“We stop here,” Telok said. The calmness and steadiness of his deep, raspy voice belied the rigid, threatening set of his posture.
“Thank God it’s not me this time,” Cole muttered, slipping an arm around Sophia’s shoulders and leading the confused woman away.
“Have you found new signs?” Tas asked.
Without acknowledging the question, Telok turned to face Lacey and Var. His chin was angled down, his mandibles were drawn in unnaturally tight, and his green eyes blazed with withering heat. Lacey’s heart sped as he stalked toward her.
Oh. Oh shit.
Eyes widening, Lacey plucked her hair from Var’s hold and retreated from him once more. “Um…”
Var’s gaze followed hers, and he flinched when he saw Telok, who did not stop his advance. The winddancer dropped his hands and scurried aside to make way for the furious shadowstalker.
Stopping in front of Lacey, Telok snatched her spear from her hand, bent forward, and banded his left arms around her, lifting her off her feet and against his shoulder. She gasped, bracing herself with her palms against his back as one of his hands gripped her ass.
He turned toward Var and snarled, “She is mine. Touch her again, you lose a hand.”
Lacey blinked.
Okay, that was pretty hot. Terrifying, but hot.
As Telok spun around and strode away from the group, Lacey saw the wide-eyed stares of their companions.
All except Cole, who was grinning. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “About fucking time!”
From above, Swiftclaw made an uncertain chirruping sound.
The jungle landscape rushed by until the group was no longer in Lacey’s sight. Tension radiated from the vrix carrying her; his entire body quaked with it.
“Telok?” Lacey inquired softly.
His hold tightened as a growl rumbled in his chest.
Desire sparked within her. The vibrations against her belly made her clit thrum and her breath stutter, the sensations only enhanced by his possessive grip on her ass and the prick of his wicked claws.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“Away.”
“Well, that’s obvious.”
He finally came to a stop in a little clearing, where the relatively flat ground was covered in ferns, small plants, moss, and fallen leaves. He dropped their spears on the ground, set Lacey onto her feet, and removed her backpack and his bag, tossing them next to the spears.
“Telok, what are—”
Grasping her arms, Telok lowered his face to hers. His voice was harsh and gravelly when he spoke. “I am your mate. And you are mine.”
He pressed his mouth roughly to hers.
Lacey’s breath hitched, and her eyes widened as everything came to a standstill.
Had he… Had he just declared she was his mate?
Telok pulled his head away slightly, angled it, and slanted his mouth over hers more insistently, rubbing it.