Chapter 21
Zathar
With only a small detour to retrieve our supplies, Vera and I made it back through the mountains toward Ahoshaga at a good pace.
I had to move with stealth and once, we had to hide for half an hour in a dense thicket while we watched Bitter Storm warriors pass, dragging with them a massive, wheeled trebuchet and struggling to keep it upright in the rocky terrain.
I was sorely tempted to sabotage the thing and contemplating how to do it when Vera pointed at the scree lying temptingly on the hillside a little above them. If we could get that to start rolling… A rock slide would definitely tip the unwieldy war machine over, rendering it useless.
She handed me her sling, and I squeezed the soft leather and fibers between my fingers as I contemplated it.
If they realized someone had started the rock slide on purpose, if they saw where it came from, we would be in great danger.
There were at least three dozen warriors surrounding the weapon and more pulling at the back to keep the machine from rolling down the hill unchecked.
“Do it,” she whispered. “You’ll feel better knowing you helped.
” I really couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have a mate like her.
She got me, she was willing to risk herself for my happiness.
It was more than I could have ever asked for.
More than I thought I deserved when I set out for the sky-ship she arrived in, hoping to win back my position in the Clan.
I knew now that I didn’t need anything in the world but her.
“I love you Zathar, and I trust you, do it.” I froze, staring at her upturned face, the warm, gentle smile that stretched her mouth.
The word she said was one I only knew as something used for younglings or the warm feeling I felt for my friends.
It wasn’t a word that a Naga female said to her mate and yet…
It felt so right. It felt like she was using it to describe all the massive feelings she encompassed for me.
And she was saying she felt them for me in return.
That’s when I knew, truly knew, that having a human as a mate was far better.
Vera was willing to show me her soft sides, and her vulnerabilities, she didn’t hesitate to share her feelings with me, good or bad.
A Naga female would never do any of those things, not any of the ambitious ones at least.
Filled with warmth and happiness, with this growing sense of elation at just what kind of lucky male I was, I yanked her against my chest. Heedless of the crunching branches and leaves of the passing army I pressed my mouth to hers and invaded the warm cavern with my tongue.
“Yes, that’s right. Love. We love each other. That’s what mates are supposed to do.”
We were lost in that embrace for a long, breathless moment and when she pulled away I wanted to protest. Her slightly glazed-over eyes and the pink flush of her lips were incredibly tempting but she drew a finger over my shoulder at the scree slope and I forced myself to refocus.
She was right, I needed to do this one final thing and then we could start our love-filled life, create many younglings, and start our own Clan beneath Ahoshaga mountain.
***
Vera
I was still a little breathless and shaky from the adrenaline high after the rock slide Zathar had caused with my sling.
I kept seeing it in my mind, the grace with which he’d swung the simple weapon, the whistling noise as the smooth pebble flew through the air, and the harsh rumble that followed immediately after.
We’d made a mad dash up the mountain, staying bent low against the thick foliage of the dense thicket we’d hidden in while around us the red-scaled Naga and their war machine started sliding down the mountain.
The wild chaos that had ensued had covered our escape, but from a higher vantage point, we’d turned to look.
The trebuchet, a giant catapult on wheels, had been broken into pieces against several trees, and at least a handful of Naga had been injured during the cascade of tumbling rocks Zathar’s single pebble had caused.
They weren’t using that thing to attack Thunder Rock now, we’d done our bit to level the playing field, and now the Clan had to do the rest. “Almost there,” Zathar said, pointing up through the sparser woods at the sharp, jagged peak of the mountain.
When we walked out from beneath the trees just a few minutes later, eager calls rang out from the entrance.
There had been a slight transformation of the place too. I spotted several wooden drying racks outside, with the remains of a hunt hanging from them. A space had been cleared and logs from the woods dragged out to sit around a dugout fire pit.
And the people that greeted us… I saw an unfamiliar woman, and a Naga male of a deep purple color, but the rest of the gang was all there too.
Including Corin, who hurried toward us and eagerly started exchanging words with Zathar.
It was obvious he’d been worried about us and the fate of his former Clan.
“Vera!” Cosima eagerly greeted me, jogging outside in her sneakers but dressed in a leather dress with just a single tie over one shoulder. “You’re back! And look, another pair arrived, can you believe that? They say the Shaman sent them here.”
The woman was a long-haired blonde with dark brown eyes.
She grinned happily at me, pumping my hand in greeting.
“I heard all about the brave Vera who went down the mountain to warn an enemy Clan of their impending doom! I’m Charlie, and that’s my mate, Mox, previously the First Hunter of the Copper Tooth Clan. ”
Tilting her head over her shoulder she grinned at the Naga male hovering just behind her.
He was big, with shimmering amethyst scales that shifted to a paler lavender on his belly, his eyes that same bright purple.
His expression was stern and alert but when he met the eyes of his mate it went all soft and warm. I liked him already.
Zathar clasped the wrist of the male, “Welcome Mox. Another spear is a welcome addition to this little Clan.” Soon we were all gathering at the new fire pit, sitting down and exchanging stories while Reid stoked the fire and handily started prepping food on a tripod above it.
It was a little bit surprising that he’d taken over the food-making duties but he seemed very adept at it.
He worked with the primitive supplies at hand as if he’d already done that a million times before.
The only one not joining us was Corin. Now that we were back, he was hurriedly gathering supplies and with a short goodbye to Zathar, he was gone.
Finally, able to search for Iave. I hoped he and the two women with him were fine, that they’d made it but just needed some guidance to find our camp at Ahoshaga.
But the worried feeling in the pit of my stomach told me otherwise.
Zathar had left marks for his friend to find, he would have found us if he’d been free to do so.
“Come, my mate,” Zathar said into my ear later that evening after we’d eaten and shared our stories.
“Let us forget our worries and celebrate our homecoming.” And with that heated promise, he swung me in his arms and slithered into the cave he’d once dreaded as haunted.
Catcalls and laughter followed us but we didn’t pay any attention to that.
“I love you Zathar, I meant it when I said it earlier. I’m happy that I ended up on Serant, and even happier that it was you who found me.
” Like before, the words seemed to strike him hard when I said them, his beautiful azure eyes growing moist as if they were about to overflow from emotion, only his species didn’t cry.
“And I love you, Vera. I am the luckiest male on Serant. I knew my fate was about to change when I saw the sky-ship streak from the heavens. I just didn’t know how and I’m going to celebrate every single day I have with you for the rest of our lives.
” Shouldering his way into the apartment we’d claimed, he slithered straight for the warm, soft nest waiting for us.
“And now I’m going to seed you, and make your belly swell with my youngling. ”
So he was a little savage, but I loved that claim, that promise with every fiber of my being. I was going to be the most well-loved, well-pleasured being on this planet if he was true to his word and I had no doubt that he would.
Here, I was not the unwanted outcast daughter of a family of sociopaths. Here, I was the most desired woman Zathar had ever laid eyes on, he wanted me with every scale on his body. Two outcasts who’d found their home, together.
THE END