Chapter 8
A soft breeze flowed over the jungle floor as Telok reached the base of the winding steps. It carried a hint of warmth, a promise that the sun would soon chase away the darkness and chill of the night.
But the sky was still drab and gray with the half-light that preceded suncrest, and the shadows here beneath Kaldarak remained deep.
Most of the city’s inhabitants were peacefully sleeping in their dens.
By the time they began their days, Telok and his companions would be a great many segments away.
Legs thumped on the wood planks as the rest of the hunters descended behind Telok. Offering a greeting to the pair of thornskull warriors guarding the stairs, he moved a few strides away and turned to face the others.
Garahk, who was mated to Kaldarak’s ruler, Nalaki, came first. He was a powerfully built thornskull, his white hide contrasted by the black spots and hard spikes on his shoulders and headcrest. By his stature and bearing, there was no mistaking his fierce warrior spirit, and the kindness and warmth in his black eyes made him look no less formidable.
He spoke to the guards with lightheartedness, familiarity, and respect, managing to make them chitter with a simple jest. Five more thornskulls followed him, all hunters who Telok had worked with in his time here.
Okkor and Elharat, who often guarded the entrance to Kaldarak together, walked side-by-side behind Garahk.
The former’s hide was a green reminiscent of some of the jungle’s foliage, the latter’s a bright yellow.
Droztar came next, his orange hide as vivid as the sky at sunfall.
Then was Koss, whose amber hide was rich and warm.
The hunter at the rear of the group stood nearly a segment taller than the rest, a brown-hided female named Ayali.
Telok had never met a female hunter during his time in Takarahl.
Male shadowstalkers tended to more easily fall into the role, with their smaller, leaner builds and natural stealth and agility helping them excel at prowling the dense jungle for prey.
And Zurvashi had reinforced that during her reign.
Hunters had been no different than any other laborer to her, unskilled workers who performed a necessary but menial task.
Females were meant to be warriors—elite, prestigious, equally revered and feared.
But he had known female hunters before. While Telok was a broodling, his mother had hunted alongside his sire, and his broodsister had learned those skills from their parents alongside him and their broodbrothers.
All the newly-arrived thornskulls carried the necessities for the journey ahead—baskets and sacks to haul forage, bags with tools and supplies, coils of woven rope, axes, and knives.
Most had at least two spears, including Telok.
He carried one of his freshly shaped spears in hand, with two more bundled together and slung over his shoulder, including the spear Lacey had made for him.
The eighth member of the party was revealed only after Ayali moved away from the stairs.
Humans were small as it was, but compared to the huge female thornskull, Cole looked like a hatchling.
Yet he walked with confidence, appearing to belong there just as much as any vrix.
He too had a spear in hand, with his bow and arrows—the former unstrung and wrapped in silk, the latter padded with it—attached to his bag.
As Cole walked to Telok, he stretched his arms over his head and opened his mouth to yawn. He said in English, “You must be pretty eager today. This is fucking early, even for you.”
Telok nodded, adjusting the strap of his bag as he replied in vrix, “We have far to stride.”
“It is true beneath sun and sky,” Garahk said with a chitter. “Though we may have awaited the sun.”
Lifting a hand, Telok tapped a knuckle to his headcrest. “The sooner we depart, the sooner we will return with the supplies Kaldarak needs.”
The white thornskull thumped a thick foreleg against Telok’s. “Kaldarak is blessed to call you ours, Scarhide.”
“I am blessed to call Kaldarak home.”
That answer left a strange feeling inside Telok, somehow taut yet fluttery. Was it possible for words to be both true and untrue at once?
Though some of the many scars on both his hide and his hearts had come from the war against the thornskulls nearly eight years ago, he held no grudge against them. He wanted to help Kaldarak and would not hesitate to do so.
But he knew his eagerness to depart was motivated by something more selfish. His fitful sleep last night, caused by thoughts he could neither direct nor silence, had only reaffirmed what he’d known—he needed get away from this place. Away from temptation.
Away from—
Boots thudded on the wooden steps above. A human was hurrying down at a pace that seemed much too quick for a creature with two legs to safely maintain.
The human peered over the edge high overhead, and everything in Telok stilled.
Lacey waved at the hunters. “Wait!” she called first in English, then in vrix, before resuming her descent and disappearing from sight.
Jaw clenched, Telok listened to her footfalls move steadily lower as she followed the stairs around the massive tree.
A few thornskulls spoke to each other, but Telok’s mind did not grasp their words.
Why was Lacey here? Had Cole forgotten something, or had she come to delay them by saying goodbye? Of everyone who might’ve come this morning, why her?
Cole laughed and rubbed his cheek. “Can’t believe I didn’t remember…”
So, the human had forgotten something. Telok relaxed. A tiny delay was acceptable, even if it wasn’t like Cole to be unprepared.
When Lacey reached the bottom of the stairs, Telok couldn’t keep his eyes from her.
Her red hair was gathered into two braids that rested over her shoulders with wispy strands framing her freckled face.
She wore dark green pants that hugged her legs and a snug, matching sleeveless vest. The garment was laced in the front, pushing her large breasts up and together.
His finger flexed with the sudden urge to hook a claw beneath that lacing, cut it, and let those mounds spill free. His stem throbbed behind his slit.
He ground his fangs together. The sooner they departed, the better.
A wide smile spread across her face. “I’m here and ready to go.”
Telok blinked at her.
Go?
Only then did he realize she was holding a spear and had a pack strapped to her back.
Those weren’t Cole’s things, they were Lacey’s.
“You…” Telok’s mandibles twitched.
Cole grinned and held out his elbow to her. “Shall we go forth and tame this unforgiving wilderness?”
She moved to his side, slipped her arm around his, and gave him a curt nod. “We shall conquer the ferocious beasties of the Tangle, for though we may be small, we are migh—”
“No,” Telok snapped.
All eyes whipped toward him.
“Huh?” Cole said.
“You, vi’jatai”—Telok pointed at Lacey and then aimed his finger up—“will return to your den.”
Brow furrowing, Lacey withdrew her arm from Cole’s and turned to face Telok. “No, I will not. I”—she pointed to herself then at him—“am going with you. Good luck clawing out this little thorn.”
Telok covered his face with a hand and raked his claws down it with a growl.
How could he put distance between them, how could he keep her out of his thoughts, if she was right beside him in the jungle with nowhere else to go?
She’d be even closer than she’d been in Kaldarak.
He’d see her, smell her, share meals with her, and sleep near her while they denned in the wild.
His every moment would be spent trying to protect her.
And all his willpower would be put toward resisting the urge to rut her.
“Go back,” he said.
Lacey lifted her chin, eyes defiant. “No.”
Cole glanced between them. “What’s going on, man? She’s gone out plenty of times.”
The thornskulls were speaking to each other softly now, but Telok didn’t take his eyes off Lacey as he strode toward her. She didn’t back away. He grasped her upper arm and pulled her aside, away from the others, painfully aware of the press of his fingers against her warm, soft flesh.
“Telok, what are you doing?” she demanded in a low, harsh tone.
He stopped and turned to face Lacey, leaning over her. “You cannot come. It is too far, too dangerous.”
Scowling, Lacey yanked her arm from his grasp and glared at him. “I will be fine.”
“Here.” He thumped a leg on the ground. “You will be fine here.”
She planted her spear. “I’m coming, and you can’t stop me.”
A harsh breath escaped through Telok’s nostrils as he drew his mandibles in tight and clenched his jaw.
She leveled a finger at him. “Telok, don’t you dare.”
He darted at her, snatching her spear in one hand and banding an arm around her middle. She kicked and fought as he lifted her off her feet.
“Telok!” she screeched, shoving at his chest. “You can’t go manhandling me every time you don’t get your way!”
“I am not a man.” He hefted her over his shoulder and locked his arms around her legs to keep her from kicking him.
“God, you’re such an ass. Put. Me. Down!”
“No.” Telok turned toward the stairs. If he had to bind her again and leave her in her den, he would do so.
Lacey shoved herself up, grasped the hair gathered atop his head, and yanked. He snarled and reared back as pain shot through his scalp.
Despite the pain, something sparked low in his belly—a ravenous fire that poured into his blood and awoke his deepest, wildest desires, reigniting his instinct to claim her. Just like when she’d bitten him at the waterfall.
And by the Eight, he wanted more.
Fuck!
Another moment of contact would be his undoing. Gritting his teeth, he quickly set Lacey on her feet and released her. She stumbled backward before regaining her balance.
Swiping the strands of hair that had come loose from her braids away from her face, she strode back to Telok, utterly defiant, green eyes flashing with anger.
“So why can’t I go, Telok? Huh? Is it because I’m human?
If that’s the case, why can Cole go? Oh, or is it because I’m female?
Funny, since you have no issue with her coming along.
” She threw an arm in Ayali’s direction.
“They are hunters, Lacey.”
“And so am I!”
“You—”
“How am I going to get better if you won’t let me learn?
All the things you taught me on the way here, all the skills I’ve developed, and now suddenly you want to act like it was for nothing?
Like I’m not good enough?” She crossed her arms over her chest, and her eyes took on a watery sheen.
“I know I’m not as experienced as you, but I’m a survivor.
And I have plenty to contribute to our home, whether I’m up there or out in the jungle. ”
Though her tears didn’t fall, seeing them gathering was a blow to Telok’s hearts. Lacey and the other humans had journeyed farther than he could ever understand, leaving everything they’d known behind, and they’d fought so hard to survive here. Who was he to hold her back now?
How could he behave so selfishly?
But by their eightfold eyes, how could he bear traveling with her again? The threads of his self-restraint were already frayed. How much longer before they snapped under the strain of this temptation, how much longer before he succumbed to instinct?
How much longer before he gave in to what his hearts demanded?
Deliberately heavy steps approached.
Telok’s fine hairs stood, and furious heat crackled through him. Another male was approaching his female while she was vulnerable. Another male was challenging him and—
No.
“Such fierce shar’thai burns in you both. You must take care that it does not make scars,” Garahk said as he neared.
Lacey scoffed as she glanced away, muttering, “What’s one more scar gonna do?”
Garahk looked from Telok to Lacey and back again, but Telok only saw the thornskull from the edge of his vision; he could not take his gaze off Lacey. The faintest glimmer of tears remained in her eyes, but it did not diminish her determination or strength even slightly.
“In the Tangle, ours must act as one,” Garahk said gently. “All is well now?”
Nodding, Lacey stepped forward and took her spear from Telok, which he relinquished without resistance.
“Yep.” She smiled at Garahk. “I’m ready to go. Let’s hit the road.”
With that, she walked away, rejoining Cole. The human male glanced at Lacey before looking at Telok and mouthing words that could only have been what the fuck?
Garahk turned his attention fully to Telok, tilting his head.
Though nothing within Telok was calm, he gestured smoothly for Garahk to go ahead. “I do not know the way. Lead, and I will guard our rear.”