Chapter Twenty-Nine
Taryn
I was still reeling from what had happened on the training grounds as Rhydek pulled me into the shadows of the varkuun kennels. Usually, I looked forward to my time there, but I was distracted by the tangle inside me.
I couldn’t deny I craved Rhydek physically. Not as intensely as I had during heat, but enough to be a distraction, although it had begun even before he’d claimed me.
And while I had started to hope for more between us than a partnership prior to my heat, the strength of my need to be wanted by him was so intense now it stole my breath.
The thought of him being disappointed or upset with me had tears threatening, and I could only blame it on hormones and the bond.
Blocking him out had clearly been a poor choice, but it had seemed necessary at the time.
I had needed to clarify my own feelings, and that was hard to do with his influencing me as well, and his complaint about me distracting him during the council meeting had seemed to cement the need to separate, at least for a time.
I hadn’t realized he would react so violently to it. Then again, his response had shown me something I hadn’t realized before and given the chance to go back and change what I’d done, I didn’t think I would.
He cared.
And that changed everything.
The way he said I was a responsibility made it sound like pure duty, but the feeling that came with it went deeper. The way he viewed it felt tied to his identity, as if not taking care of me changed who he was.
I wasn’t sure I understood it completely, but it made a difference.
I was so lost in thought I didn’t realize where he was taking me until a snarl jerked my attention to my surroundings. Zharrek stared at us from the bars of his cage, baring his teeth and slamming his shoulder into them hard enough I felt the shudder where Rhydek stopped us outside Zharrek’s reach.
“You want to help him. So, help him.”
I felt how much Rhydek didn’t want to say the words. He truly thought he was putting me in danger in the kennels, and especially with Zharrek, but there was something else beneath the fear. Something I wasn’t sure I could put a name on, but he understood how important this was to me.
Meeting his golden eyes, I reached up and placed a hand on his cheek, standing on tiptoe to press a kiss to his lips.
“I’ll be careful.”
I knew the promise would mean more to him than thanks, but I also realized it wouldn’t soothe his anxiety. Nothing could do that but time and proof, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think that his permission couldn’t be revoked if he decided it was too dangerous.
I had to focus and stay aware at all times.
Which was hard to do with him lingering nearby.
“Could you… Uhm…”
Rhydek’s eyes narrowed and I amended what I’d been about to ask.
“Back up a little? I don’t want him thinking about you when I’m trying to work with him.”
Rhydek’s chest rose and fell twice before he gave me a short nod. Taking three steps back, he turned and leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.
“Guess that’s as much space as I’m getting,” I muttered as I turned around to face Zharrek.
The varku made a growl that rattled at the end as I walked to the center of path in front of his enclosure, but he was still focused on Rhydek.
“Hey, Zharrek. Remember me? He’s giving me a chance to see if I can get you to behave, so just ignore him and be a good boy.”
The beast’s head tipped as if he were listening although he didn’t turn towards me, and he gave a hiss. The noise cut off with what sounded like a sharp cough, and my brows lowered. I hadn’t heard that from any other varku, and I didn’t like it.
“Can they get sick?”
“Any creature can get sick. He started showing signs of rin’thyrhul, but we can’t treat him.”
Zharrek’s snarl covered my gasp of surprise when the same Morraki we’d found feeding him last time strode down the path.
He had another leg of something slung over one shoulder and a bucket of blood dangling from his hand.
I didn’t like that he’d arrived when I’d just been getting Zharrek to calm, but I was distracted by what he’d said.
“Rin-thear-hul?”
The alpha grunted as he shrugged the leg off his shoulder, the wet splat it gave making my lip curl. I was no stranger to blood or raw meat, but the leg was fresh enough to twitch.
Rhydek had straightened at the arrival of the other male, but both kept their distance, staying at the edge where Zharrek’s cage began.
“Wet lung. Mucus fills the airways. Severe cases lead to suffocation.”
Fear tightened around my spine, making me straighten once Rhydek explained.
“Why can’t you treat him?”
I shot the question at the other Morraki, but he just arched a brow at me as Zharrek snarled and slammed into the bars closest to him, attempting to reach him with the barb on his tail.
“The treatment is an oral serum given daily. It can’t be mixed in the veyr because it would become too diluted and he wouldn’t get enough.”
Rhydek felt the determination that surged through me because his brows slammed down and he shook his head before I got the chance to speak, his kethra going yellow.
“No, Taryn. He’s too dangerous.”
“I can do it. I’ve given medicine to dogs who didn’t want it a hundred times. More! I have to try.”
His growl rumbled around us, Zharrek answering before another cough stopped him. A glob of orange mucus laced with blue hit the sand between the bars and the path, and everyone looked from it to Zharrek.
“He’s already bleeding. He might have a talren.”
Reaching into his pocket, the older Morraki pulled something out and tossed it towards me. It hit the path with a clink and rolled until it stopped against my shoe.
“That’s the dose for today if you can convince this shae’ryn to let you get close enough to try. Just watch out for his tail.”
The male turned and walked away as if he didn’t care.
With Zharrek’s reputation he likely didn’t, and Zharrek dying of illness saved them from putting him down for his attitude.
The illness also drastically shortened the amount of time I had to get Zharrek to trust me, because he needed that medicine.
Rhydek started walking towards me, but I leaned down and snatched up the vial before he could claim it.
“I will not put myself in danger, but if I see the chance to give it to him, I’m going to take it.”
His lip curled and he growled, but when Zharrek surged at the bars again, he stopped moving towards me.
“You will not get close enough to touch him.”
I turned over every possibility I could think of that would get the medicine into the varku without diluting it too much to be effective, but I didn’t know enough about it to be certain anything would work. Still, trying was better than standing aside and leaving him to drown in his own mucus.
“We can cut chunks of meat like last time, feed them to him one by one, and put the serum in one of them. It won’t be as good as giving it to him straight, but it’s better than nothing.”
Rhydek’s hands curled at his sides, the emotions rolling through the bond overwhelming. The wash of relief that hit me when he turned and dropped to his knees to butcher the meat was so strong I nearly hit the ground too, but I had work to do.
I started talking to Zharrek again. His snarls stopped but he still paced across the end of his cage, gaze darting from Rhydek to me.
Once there was a pile of hand-sized chunks of meat, I gathered them and began tossing them through the bars. The first three he got free, and then I began giving him commands I’d heard other handlers use with the rest of the varkuun.
Zharrek was suspicious of the chunks at first and reluctant to follow commands, but he was hungry enough to comply once he realized he wouldn’t get more if he didn’t. He kept eyeing the bucket of blood between chunks, and I finally realized there was no water in the varkuun enclosures.
“Is blood the only way they hydrate?”
Rhydek raised his head to look from the bucket to me, dipping his chin in acknowledgment.
“A creature his size has to need more than a single bucket a day. Especially if he’s sick.”
Shrugging, Rhydek stood and stepped back, having finished cutting the meat from the bone.
“They only drink when they make a kill in the wild, and some is lost in the sand. There’s blood in the meat as well.”
Sucking in a breath, I tried to keep calm as I pressed him.
“Can we give him more? At least while he’s sick?”
Rhydek studied me, the emotions I felt from him matching mine.
Stubborn, slightly irritated, but reluctant to fight.
“We’ll get more.”
Giving him a tight smile, I focused on Zharrek again, tossing two more chunks to him before pulling the vial from my pocket.
There was no needle on the end that would have made my life easier, so I had to think of a way to get the liquid inside the meat in a way that wouldn’t let it come back out when I threw the chunk.
“I can make a pocket in the center, pour the serum in, then use a chunk of fat to plug the hole.”
I studied Rhydek, a moment of suspicion flashing through me. I couldn’t tell if he felt it, but he picked up one of the pieces of meat from the pile beside him and used his knife to create a slit down into the center, then held out his hand.
The vial had survived being thrown to me, but another impact with the stone path could have broken it and spill the serum on the ground.
Or Rhydek could pretend to pour the serum in without doing it. He didn’t trust Zharrek, didn’t understand or like my draw to the beast, so letting him die would be in his interest.
Taking a breath, I examined the bond and chose to trust him. I didn’t sense any deception or increase in worry. He seemed to care about my happiness, and he knew how much helping Zharrek meant to me. He’d brought me to the kennels because of it.