Chapter 9 #3
“No as in he couldn’t have come, or no as in you’re not bothered by being around me?”
A long, low growl rumbled from him.
Lacey turned her lips in and bit down on them to keep herself from grinning too widely. So Telok was being jealous and territorial. Over her.
When she found a spot behind a tree that was both out of her companions’ view and clear enough for her to squat without anything tickling her backside, she pointed at Telok. “Stay there. No peeking.”
His mandibles twitched, and he planted the butt of his spear on the ground. “Be fast.”
Stepping behind the tree, she propped her spear against it, dug a small hole with the heel of her boot, shoved her pants down, and squatted.
Nothing like the feel of your bare ass hanging out in the jungle.
But the worst part of doing one’s business out here was how it always seemed like all the other sounds of nature went quiet just so everyone could hear your piss hitting the ground.
Lacey closed her eyes in mortification.
Why did it have to be Telok keeping watch, standing only a few feet away?
She much rather would’ve preferred Cole right now, even if he would’ve made a joke about her being overly hydrated, or that the flood season was starting early.
Hell, knowing him, he probably would’ve been peeing on the other side of the tree.
She emptied her bladder and wiped with some of the damp moss, using the remainder for her hands before standing and pulling up her pants. Her cheeks were still flushed when she grabbed her spear and walked past Telok. “All done.”
Though his movements were silent, she could feel him stalking close behind her.
When they reached camp, Garahk and Ayali had already returned, and the meat they’d butchered was being arranged on big leaves spread out atop a fallen log.
The thornskulls converged upon it, plucking up pieces and eating them raw.
After she stood her spear next to her backpack, Lacey grabbed a short, pointy stick and a big leaf and joined Cole to gather some meat for herself.
They brought their now skewered meat back to the fire, where she plopped herself down with a groan. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get back up again.”
Chuckling, Cole sat down on the opposite side of the fire. “Oh, I’m sure Telok won’t mind helping you up.”
Lacey smiled, not taking her eyes off him as she picked up a little rock from the ground. “Hey, Cole, I think I see a bug. Right…on…your forehead.”
“Tell you what, Lacey. You let the bug do its thing undisturbed, and when we get back to Kaldarak, I’ll make you a mannequin that you can throw rocks at to your heart’s content.”
Lacey laughed and tossed the rock aside. “Deal. But it has to look like you.”
He shook his head, grinning. “You are a cruel, cruel woman.”
They held their skewers over the fire. As the meat sizzled, a vrix approached, stabbing the blunt end of a spear into the ground before lowering themself beside Lacey.
She turned her head, ready to greet them, but the words died on her tongue.
It wasn’t a brightly colored thornskull.
It was Telok, his forelegs folded on the ground in front of him with the other four tucked along his hindquarters.
He carried a long stick in one hand with several chunks of meat impaled upon it, which he thrust out over the fire.
“Uh…hi,” Lacey said.
Telok offered her a curt nod, though his eyes softened.
“What’s up, buddy?” Cole asked skeptically.
After quietly staring at Cole, Telok gestured to the food he was roasting like the answer to the question should’ve been the most obvious thing in the world.
Cole arched a brow. “I thought you didn’t like your meat cooked.”
“Be silent,” Telok replied. “I must listen.”
“For what?”
“Danger.”
“The only danger here is of you fucking up that meat because you don’t know what you’re doing.”
With a huff, Telok raised a hand, holding his palm toward Cole’s face.
“Did you just—”
Telok shifted his hand an inch closer to Cole.
Lacey snickered.
Eyebrows raised, Cole glanced at her. “Is he for real right now?”
She shrugged. “I mean, you taught him all these smartass human gestures.”
“I’m not to blame for this!” When he looked back at Telok, he reached under the vrix’s raised arm. “Give it to me. I’ll make sure it’s cooked right.”
Clacking his mandible fangs, Telok twisted, shifting his meat-laden stick out of the human’s reach. “You cook often. It must be easy.”
“I’m not going to sit here while you commit crimes against fire-roasted meat.” Cole leaned forward, his own stick wobbling over the flames, but he was stopped short by Telok’s hand pressing against his face.
Cole wasn’t a small guy. He was probably six-one or six-two, with an athletic build and the kind of strength that came from working with his hands all day. But it didn’t seem to take Telok any effort to push Cole back upright even with the man actively resisting.
Finally, Cole gave up, withdrawing his smooshed face from Telok’s hand. “Fine. If you mess it up, it’s on you. Hope you enjoy burnt meat.”
“Um, Cole…” Lacey pointed at his skewer. “You might want to pay attention to your meat.”
His eyes rounded as he looked at his stick, the end of which was completely within the fire. He yanked it out. “Fuck!”
Frantically, he blew out the flames on the charred meat.
Telok chittered. The sound was low and rumbling, coming from deep in his chest.
Lacey stared at him in surprise. She’d so rarely heard him laugh or seen him so at ease, and the few times she had, it was while he was with Ketahn, Urkot, and Rekosh.
Most of the time, he was stern, serious, and alert, always watching, always ready, always protective.
And of course, when he was around her, he was usually also annoyed.
But seeing him like this, joking with Cole, his green eyes narrowed in amusement, made her heart patter.
Lacey slouched forward and tilted her head as she regarded Telok. What would his eyes look like if he were able to truly let his guard down, to set aside his worries? If he were able to shed the burden he seemed to carry in his hearts?
Cole cleared his throat. “Uh, Lacey?”
She blinked and gave herself a mental shake, cheeks heating as she realized she’d been staring at Telok. How long had she been doing so? She shifted her attention to Cole. “Sorry, what?”
He pointed at her cooking food.
Brow furrowing, she looked down. Her grip had grown so relaxed that her skewer now rested in the fire, which was creeping up the wood itself.
Her eyes widened. “Oh shit!”
Jerking the stick up, she quicky blew out the flames, revealing the blackened waste that remained. She tapped on one of the pieces at the end; it was hard as charcoal.
Lacey pouted.
Cole whistled. “Daaaamn. That sucks.”
Telok turned his stick to cook a different side of the meat. “Kir’ur gansha humans’ur ithaa ongahl dera ithin.”
I thought humans were skilled at this.
Lacey tossed the stick into the fire. “I let myself get distracted.”
“Same,” Cole said with a sigh. “But at least mine’s salvageable.”
“Ven’dak ithaa elthan, Lacey,” Telok rumbled. Do not have trouble—basically the vrix version of don’t worry. He gently gestured toward her with his stick. “I will give.”
Lacey glanced at his skewer, with its perfectly roasted meat, then up to him. “You’re…sharing with me?”
Withdrawing the stick from over the fire, he adjusted his grip on it to offer her the cool end.
Lacey hesitantly accepted it, uncertain of what to make of this. “Thank you.”
She looked down at the skewer and tested the temperature of the meat with her fingers. When it wasn’t blistering to the touch, she slipped the large chunk off the end and held the stick back out to Telok.
He displayed his palm and shook his head. “Keep it.”
“Huh? What about you?”
“Not hungry.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “How can you not be hungry? You’re seven feet tall and all muscle and spider butt.”
“Not spider butt, vrix butt.” He closed one of his big hands around hers, guiding the stick back toward her. “Eat.”
His touch and the way his large hand completely engulfed hers sent a thrill up her arm. She couldn’t help her awareness of the roughness of his hide and the immense strength in his fingers, and how that was all contrasted by the gentleness he used with her.
“You sneaky bastard,” Cole said around a mouthful of food. “You already ate, didn’t you? You just got this so she could have extra.”
Telok shifted his foreleg, knocking its bent joint sharply against Cole’s knee.
“Hey!” Glaring at Telok, Cole scooted a couple feet aside, rubbing his knee. “That defensiveness just tells me that I’m right, you know.”
“Sheevix,” Telok snapped.
Lacey’s eyes flared. Telok had reserved this for her? Had cooked it for her?
Cheeks warming, she turned back to the fire and tried to contain her delighted smile as she brought the meat to her mouth to take a bite.
It was some of the best meat she’d ever eaten…because it had been cooked and given to her by Telok.