Chapter 2
Laro watched the human leading them from the tavern with annoyance. She held herself with an authority that rankled, even as he could not help but admire the strength that visible in every line of her body and the simple way that she carried herself. His nostrils flared, filling his nose with her rich, delectable scent. His tongue slid against his fangs as he savored it as he allowed his gaze to run over her. With a strong torso and thick thighs, she was far more powerfully built than the females that had fluttered around him over the last several days. And for the first time since entering the citadel, he felt a true heat of interest stir within him as his eyes fell upon her rounded hindquarters.
Of all the females, it was this one who succeeded in drawing his interest where others had failed—and all he had to do to find it was surrender to the humans to get exactly what he wasted so much effort looking for.
The irony of the situation was not lost upon him. He had competed ruthlessly with Ragoru and humans who vied to lure the females away from him—and for what? He was now noted as a male to be reviled, and he was certain that the humans would be removing him from their territory swiftly due to the accusations that the males within the tavern cast upon him. And she was the one subjecting him to his punishment! That alone should have made his lust wither like fruit upon a dead stalk. She sought to punish him—not mate with him.
No, this female could not be what he was looking for. He was not interested in a domineering mate who was quick to punish and ruled over their den with harsh authority. If he were interested in that, he would not have sought out a soft human to mate to his triad. But it was clear that even humans had females of such temperament among them.
His gaze shifted away disdainfully. He would be a bigger fool than he had begun to suspect himself of being if he allowed him to become enamored with a female escorting them as her captives. No matter how pleasing she smelled or looked—he wanted a soft, pleasing human for his mate, none of which were words he could feel confident using to describe the female striding ahead of them.
“Brother?” Kam prodded in ragii, the male’s brows rising in inquiry.
“We do nothing,” Laro replied curtly as he maintained the even, slow stride that kept them within a short distance of the female’s clipped pace ahead of them.
“Nothing?” A startled look crossed Kam’s face. “But why? I can scent your interest and she is...”
“Dangerous,” Vrin grunted at his other side, the male’s yellow gaze narrowing warily at the female’s back. His head tipped toward the weapons sheathed from where they were strapped on her body without any attempt to conceal them. “A huntsman perhaps.”
Kam peered around Laro to frown in disbelief at their triad brother. “There are no more huntsmen, not since the male Rager and his triad stole their mate back from this same place. Besides,” he continued in a grumble, “even if the Order still existed, everyone knows that a huntsman would be male. The huntresses they traveled with only followed his lead in their attacks and have never posed a direct threat to us on their own.”
Laro’s ears flicked in casual agreement. She would not be a comfortable mate to den with—and therefore unsuitable—but he did not believe her to be a threat to them. He could scent her annoyance but nothing more concerning than that.
“I like her,” Kam continued, outright ignoring the dark look Vrin leveled at him. “She smells good, she’s strong... and she possesses a warm beauty that makes her gleam like a polished stone and stand out against the ice and snow.”
Laro’s gaze shifted to his slight view of her face in profile unbidden. Kam was not thinking clearly, but the male was not wrong. There was a graceful beauty in the rhythm of her movements that called to him, one that was enhanced by the arrogant slash of her dark brows over a strong nose and plush lips, and mimicked by the swing of her carefully braided headfur that fell from where it was bound in a long stream from the back of her head. She was glorious, right down to the glowing warmth to her complexion that reminded him of the deep golden brown of a gemstone that he had painstakingly polished for days... He shook his head, dismissing the dark shadows lurking within his memory. As unpleasant as they were, however, it was a poignant reminder of why they needed to avoid her, one that made the scars on his body and face ache in recollection.
Huntress or not, Vrin was also correct—she posed a potential danger toward everything that they wanted.
“She’s unsuitable,” Laro repeated aloud for his brothers’ benefit, his ears flattening as he practically snarled the words.
His response was louder than he expected, however, because the female in question glanced back at them over her shoulder, her brows knotting suspiciously as her pace slowed to a stop. She turned to face them completely as her hand dropped to the weapon at her side.
“Would you mind filling me in on what you three are discussing back there?” Her words were drawn out with a slow casualness that failed to match the sharpness of her dark gaze. “That is not common tongue.”
He resisted the urge to snap his teeth in irritation so that she would not be able to find a reason to punish them more severely on the spot. “It is not,” he agreed with a faint growl. “It is Ragoru ragii.”
Her brows inched up slightly for a moment before the broad slash of her mouth tipped in a smile that was nothing short of mocking. “So it is. But my question is why you would feel a need to speak so covertly around humans—unless you are planning something?” Her head cocked, her gaze flicking among them shrewdly.
Although they were doing nothing of the sort, he was forced to acknowledge that she would not be an easy female to deceive in any fashion—and would be quick to retaliate. He could see it in the tension coiling within her frame as she prepared herself for anything unexpected that might come. She would attack if she felt that it were needed. Although he knew that his triad could hold their own in a fight against the humans, he did not wish to set the citadel against them completely. Even if they fled Old Wayfairer, humans were notoriously interconnected, and one citadel against them would quickly turn into many once word spread that they were a triad to be avoided and driven away.
“No.” Laro looked away, his gaze shifting to a spot beyond her shoulder. “It is our habit to speak ragii together. There was no intention behind it.”
“Right,” she drawled. “Because the tone of the conversation didn’t sound the least bit threatening.” Lifting her chin, she regarded him suspiciously. “A fair warning—and the only one you will get from me—if you try anything at all, I won’t hesitate to kill you right here on the street to defend the guardswomen of my patrol, or the citizens of this citadel.”
His eyes narrowed on her in turn, but he waved off Vrin’s quiet rumble of a growl as he returned her glare. She was definitely a dangerous female if she could so easily threaten to kill every member of his triad and mean it. And he knew that she meant it. He could see it in her body language, and he could scent her sincerity.
“Understood,” he growled in reply. “We have no intention of violating the laws that we agreed to upon entering.”
“Funny how that didn’t stop you before,” another female scoffed at her left. This female was blood on snow with her reddish-brown headfur, pale complexion, and red cheeks. She shook her head and cut a glance toward the one clearly in charge. “Captain, we should just get them back to the guardhouse and lock them up as quickly as possible. The snow is coming down quicker, so it will likely be a few days until the Council can decide what to do with them. There’s no reason to stand out here in the middle of the street having a confrontation with them.”
“We would be happier to just leave,” Vrin growled as he drew up to Laro’s side. “It is clear that Ragoru are still unwelcome.”
The female turned to gape at him. “Unwelcome? It is you three causing the trouble... and not just with the humans. You did this to yourself. You should be driven out by spearpoint in this snowstorm for breaking the law rather than just suffering the inconvenience and warm shelter of the prison.”
Vrin’s hackles rose in response. Laro eyed him. The male who was once so easygoing and compassionate had a quick and volatile temper in the revolutions since the day he had pulled Laro half-alive from where he had been left discarded in a pit. He needed to calm the male before things spun out of claw. He did not get the opportunity, however, for the male immediately calmed and fell quiet when the female addressed as captain sighed heavily and squinted across the snow.
“Katiera, enough.” Laro’s heart clenched at her uttered command. She sounded tired, and that made him ache unexpectedly for the strain in her voice. She gave the other a female a wan smile that made him even more aware of how exhausted she clearly was. “Now you are the one arguing with them. We can’t let them go given the charges brought against them, but you are right that we need to just focus on doing our job quickly and fairly. We aren’t punishing them, nor do we have the right to blame them without view of the full picture here.”
His ears tipped toward her in surprise. That was... unexpected. His ears twitched uncertainly as he exchanged a cautious look with his brothers.
“We will cooperate, Captain,” he rumbled finally, trying not to wince at the unpleasant roughness of her name. “The female is correct—there is no reason to remain standing here. While we will not be harmed by it, you humans lack our pelts and sicken easily. We are willing to trust that you will not attempt to harm us, and in in turn, for your comfort, we will try to not make you unnecessarily uneasy by speaking in ragii.”
He ignored the look of disbelief Vrin shot him. His brother did not understand just how necessary it was to cooperate and maintain peace with the citadel, even if they were caged and eventually forced out. He had miscalculated enough already to defend himself and his rights to his hunting territory within the citadel. He would not risk more when it was clear that anything they did at that moment would certainly be held against them.
Captain gave him a searching look, but eventually her head dipped slowly in agreement. “Fair enough. Let’s go then. I’m sure you could use something warm to eat just as much as we do,” she muttered as she spun on heel and resumed walking at a brisk pace for her species, her dark cloak fluttering behind her.
Laro grunted begrudgingly to himself as he followed her. He refused to admire her, but he could at least appreciate her fairness and decisiveness.
She was dangerous to his intentions in more ways than one. The sooner he could put some distance between her and his triad, the better it would be for all of them.