Chapter 25 #2
It landed heavily on its back and tumbled, unsteadily regaining its feet. As Telok straightened, the third kurghest swiped its wicked claws at Lacey. He quickly turned aside, sweeping her out of the way. Dull warmth bloomed on his shoulder.
Mine.
Kill.
His lower hand darted out, claws ripping across one of the beast’s eyes. Shaking its head sharply, the kurghest retreated, emitting a distressed chuffing sound.
The pinned kurghest clawed at Telok’s legs. Snarling, he twisted Lacey’s spear in its wound. Fresh blood bubbled around the shaft. He dropped his leg joint down on the kurghest’s ribs hard, putting his weight into the blow. Bones cracked, and a wheezing exhalation rushed out of the beast.
Kill. Every one of them.
Lacey would not be safe otherwise.
Echoes of pleasure crashed through his being, a torturous sensation that threatened to make his legs weak and steal his breath. They tickled at the edges of his frenzy-induced rage and wove into it like fingers through hair.
Protect her.
His eyes swung to the kurghest he’d thrown. It stared at him with its head low, its spines raised, and its rear legs bunched. Telok readied his spear.
Directly overhead, a larkhet called.
A soft, whispery thwip teased Telok’s hearing as an arrow struck the kurghest’s side just behind its front leg. The beast stumbled aside with an agonized whine. Without even glancing at Telok again, it loped into the brush, the shaft of the arrow bobbing with its movements.
Telok squeezed his spear. Instinct demanded he give chase, that he spare none of these beasts, but it also demanded he kill the more immediate threat first.
Bracing a leg on the dead kurghest before him, he tore Lacey’s spear free, spraying blood and viscera. He snapped his head toward the kurghest with the injured eye.
The beast had moved several segments away, staring in the direction from which the arrow had come with its hackles raised and a growl reverberating in its throat. Voices sounded from the same direction, and figures approached through the jungle, but Telok did not look away from the kurghest.
The red mist pulsed, demanding more blood.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
Telok lunged at the beast. It scrambled away from his stabs, contorting its body to bark and gnash its fangs at him. Its flattened ears rose as the sounds from the others grew clearer. Feet skidding over the jungle floor, it turned and bolted toward denser vegetation.
He ran after it, each step jostling Lacey and making his euphoria swell.
But the kurghest was faster. The distance between Telok and his target expanded.
Before it could plunge into the shelter of the thick undergrowth, a large spear struck its hindquarters, sinking deep and knocking it onto its side.
The silk strand tied to the spear went taut. Whining through panting breaths, the beast fought to get up, only for its back end to be yanked aside.
Roaring, Telok leapt at the kurghest, driving both spears into its chest with all his strength and weight behind them.
He ripped the weapons free and stabbed the beast repeatedly, growling as its body jerked with the impacts and its chest was reduced to a bloody, mangled mess of ruined flesh and splintered bone.
And Lacey clung to him, whimpering, as her pussy erratically ground against his slit. Telok shuddered and let out a sharp exhalation at the pleasure pulsating through him. His claspers held her close, and he dropped a hand to her ass, clutching it as his cock released inside her again.
“Lacey,” he rasped.
Heavy footfalls neared. Several figures were fast approaching, and he perceived only danger to his mate. More threats to be destroyed. Telok wrenched his weapons free of the carcass, angled Lacey away from the newcomers, and spread his mandibles with a hiss.
Mine! She is mine!
None could touch, none could look.
Fire blazed to new heights in his chest, fanned by another gust of rage, and he brought up the spears, stepping to meet his newest challengers, raising his forelegs in warning.
“Telok!”
Lacey’s voice cut through his frenzy, straight into Telok’s hearts. He halted. Clarity splashed over him like cool water from a waterfall. The approaching figures were not challengers, but his companions, his friends.
Garahk was at the lead. With a few gruff words and assertive gestures, he veered around Telok and Lacey, striding into the undergrowth with Droztar and Koss following close.
Pursuing the fleeing beast.
As the rest of the group spread out, warily watching their surroundings, Cole hurried toward Telok.
He carried his bow in hand, an arrow nocked, with Sophia beside him, her spear in hand.
The human male’s rounded eyes swept over Telok, his eyebrows rising so high they risked getting lost in his hair.
“Holy shit. Uh…wow.” He shook himself, clearing his throat and lifting his gaze to Telok’s. “Are you… Are you guys okay?”
Lacey groaned, her already warm body heating further as she buried her face against Telok’s neck. “Look away!”
Cole spun around. “Sorry!”
Growling at Cole, Telok turned away from the others and strode back to where he’d left their bags.
Each thump of his hearts resounded across his being, instilling him with a pervading, intensifying ache.
Hints of pain buzzed over his hide as his wounds made themselves known.
But none of that mattered. Not if Lacey had been harmed in the chaotic fray.
As worry clawed at his soul, his stem finally began to ease, its vibrations and the fluttering of his tendrils fading with every heartbeat.
“That wasn’t an answer,” Cole said. “You look like you’ve been dragged over a cheese grater!”
Sophia made a shushing sound and whispered, “You should probably leave him to it.”
Telok dropped the bloodied spears and hooked his hands beneath Lacey’s thighs and around her waist. She flattened her palms on his shoulders, and he lifted her.
They both drew in sharp breaths as her slit refused to relinquish his stem, tugging on his cock and creating more of that tantalizing pressure, more of that tormenting pleasure.
She curled her fingers into his hide, brow pinching. “This can’t be happening…”
Telok felt the gazes of the others upon him as clearly as he felt the delicious squeeze of her pussy. He clenched his jaw to silence a growl and pulled harder.