Chapter 30
Therxian descended quickly through the lower tunnels below the palace, his body flooded with an instinctual demand to return.
Though he had wished to escape the throne chamber and the gathered court of the matriarchs, he should have been annoyed with his mother’s quick dismissal.
It never failed to make him feel like a juvenile again, failing once more to meet his mother’s high expectations whenever she had summoned him to join her in the meeting chamber of the haga.
Not for the visible maternal care that some of the more fortunate males received, but to review his progress and witness his mother’s disappointment yet again.
She had dismissed him back to his nest then as well.
Seeing it again time-and-time again after his return never failed to bring forth the same feelings of resentment that he felt in his youth.
Anger that his mother looked upon him and saw an inconvenience and a disappointment and summarily set him aside so that he was not in her way.
If he failed to perform correctly or meet some goal, then he was summarily dismissed.
It was strange that this time he did not even feel the sting of it.
There was something else pricking at him, driving him to make his escape and descend into the lower tunnels.
It overtook him with an urgency that affected him the deeper he traveled beneath the palace.
And the more anxious the direction of his thoughts turned.
Something felt... off. He could not quite identify it, but the feeling of wrongness settled deeper into him as he drew closer to the elder palace.
It crept beneath his scales, tightening his skin until it tingled with heat before drawing lower and lower yet until it became a hot, gripping weight that sank low within his abdomen.
It burned within him with every breath, warming his scales in a way that teased his senses that had not cooled by the temperature of the lower tunnels.
His gavo flared and snapped anxiously, and then he felt it, a sudden fullness and sharp constriction of his sant that had him drawing to a halt at the edge of the crumpled segment of the tunnel.
He stared down into the abyss, his tail whipping disconcertedly around his middle as the constricting sensation grew tighter.
It was a pressure without relief that forced his body to double over from the shock of it as his swollen sant pressed forcibly against his sheath, constrained only by his tail that tightened reflexively against it.
Need. He let out a short bark of hissing laugh in disbelief as recognition of his ailment hit him, his gavo fluttering with the surge of hormones suddenly racing through his body.
He had been so recklessly foolish! Therxian hissed, his body breaking from his rigid self-command and twisting with an instinctive need for relief that would not come and cool the blistering heat coursing through him.
If he were not in such misery, he might have appreciated the irony of the situation.
Slengral certainly would enjoy hearing it recounted later how he had been so arrogant in the throne chamber as not to even attempt to shield himself from what he believed to be the ineffectual influence of the pheromones assaulting him.
His brother would laugh to hear how he was now suffering from it, especially after Therxian had shown such disdain and humor when his younger brother had spoken of his own weakness when cornered by Vekatha.
At least Slengral had the common sense not to take any chances with exposure, and had tried to escape the pheromone by outrunning it.
Therxian’s situation was different as there had been nowhere to run, but the consequences now left a bitter, lingering sting.
Why had he not taken the smallest action to protect himself?
Especially after hearing his brother’s accounts firsthand, despite the male’s commitment to Lori.
Therxian hissed again, his mouth twisting into a grim smile.
Of course, he was not so self-deluded as to not recognize exactly why he had not, even if it sat within his gut with a cold, unpleasant irony.
It was simply because he believed that he was stronger.
He had honed himself and had escaped to take a leadership position among the Vehal.
His younger brother had also escaped, but had been content to be a discarded male hunting in the upper caverns.
Some part of Therxian had erroneously believed that the males of the cave systems were weaker by design.
He had not believed that he would be as vulnerable to their common weaknesses.
In his arrogance and pride, he had not demonstrated even the slightest bit of caution.
He could have attempted to create a barrier with his wings.
Or even moved away from the immediate range of the pheromones’ effectiveness.
He had done none of that.
How could he have been so foolish as to believe that he had escaped unaffected?
One thing was for certain: he could not go to Alex’s nest in such a state.
Already, thoughts of the female’s small body, warm and lush burrowed within the bedding, sent a sharp longing piercing through him with such strength that it made him tremble.
Oh, the things he could show her! The pleasures that they could explore and discover together.
He snapped his head back and forth in an attempt to clear his mind as he rolled back from the broken edge of the tunnel.
He did not dare to proceed. He was feverish with his longing, but blood heated by the pheromone madness.
He would go back to his nest and let his blood cool. That was the only reasonable solution. Once he explained, Alex would not fault him for returning when he had better control of himself.
Drawing his tail up, he shifted back further on his coils so as to roll himself to face in the opposite direction, and his wings fanned the air to stabilize himself.
That air, however, brought with it a teasing hint of scent that lit up his receptors.
It was not just the sweet, musky perfume of his female but the subtler note of a male.
A male had been near there.
Heat and anger surged with Therxian as he continued to roll rapidly until he was spun around, his mind clouding as something dangerous rose from deep within him.
Fanning his wings rapidly toward himself, he drew the air into his lungs, allowing it to slide over his taste and scent receptors.
Another male was lingering there around the elder palace.
It lit up his mind with an instinctive drive and fury as the need to protect and defend what was his swept through him in response to the potential threat of a rival.
Another male sought to steal his female!
A shriek of fury tore through him as he spread his wings wide and launched himself into the broken tunnel.
There was no rational thought to stop him or slow his pursuit.
There was only instinct. And it demanded that he drive off the male.
He was large and powerful. Few males of the caverns could match him for strength and speed.
That certainly grew as he flew, and with it grew the desire to protect his female within his coils once the danger passed.
He would mark her thoroughly with his scent, inside and out.
His sant ached to scent her vent with his seed, to sow it so deeply within her that it would discourage any other male from stealing her.
That need crawled through him viciously, feeding his urge to drive off the other male until it became increasingly violent. He wanted the other male’s blood for his daring. That bloodlust rippled the shriek that burst from him again.
Alex was his hithana! His ashlava! It was his sant that would feed into her vent and pump her full of seed. It was he that she would nest with, and no other. He would breed her and cover her so thoroughly with his scent that no male would be so foolish as to approach again.
And if the male did not leave... then he would leave an even more brutal warning to other males with his rival’s remains.
Alex was his!