Page 10 of Red

It would be even more dangerous for a creature as vulnerable as Arie.

Fine hairs from her curly red mane tickled his nose as she pressed into his chest. He took a minute to take pleasure from the feeling. Ragoru females did not cling to males; they were as strong and aggressive as their male counterparts. His own mother had been a rarity, a soft-spoken female cherished by his fathers until the day she had fallen ill and died. His fathers had not survived the passing of his mother, but Rager had known even as a young male that he wanted that sort of mating. This summer had been a brutal eye-opener for him.

Although he was as disappointed as the rest of his triad that they had been unable to attract a mate, he was also relieved. Not one of those females he’d encountered had been one that he genuinely wanted to pass his life with. Oh, he would have joined their triad with a female out of duty to his family if one had showed interest, but he would have had to regularly swallow his own bitter disappointment.

He wanted a mate that needed him more than just as protector of their den, or because he was judged on the merit of whether he would produce fine, strong offspring. In many ways, whether a female ever accepted his triad rested heavily on him. Due to the nature of the Ragoru, not only was the lead typically the largest and strongest among his brothers, he was also the only one who produced viable seed upon establishing the triad.

Rager was a large male, but he wasn’t considered as attractive as others. His features were broad and blunt, and his dark fur was considered undesirable whereas red was prized as the color of the sacred blood and fire. Even silvers were valued for their luminous coloring, not unlike the winter moon. Even golds and deep grays had their value whereas he was too much like a shadowy Dark Father of the Dead, Efru, to gain favor. A female with options rarely chose a stud of his coloring, preferring not to breed it to her rogs for the ill luck associated with it.

Because a lead’s value was only in their ability to breed and protect, his triad had been dismissed by every unmated female in favor of other triads with more desirable leads. Other than the bite of shame he felt from failing his triad, Rager couldn’t be sorry for that. He didn’t want his life to be forever bound to a female who would never truly need him. His vain hope of finding a special female who would see them as males of worth that she could depend on and care for her withered as the summer passed. The whole season had been a complete disaster and had left his brothers demoralized.

Then the human dropped into their lives, and she brought something new with her. For once, he had a female who didn’t look at him critically. Yes, Arie was fearful around them much of the time, but she also looked to him to take care of her and protect her on their journey. It was a new and exhilarating feeling. She didn’t look at him and see a breeder—of course not—but she did look at him and see a male of worth.

And she needed him. He would never admit it aloud, but he enjoyed the feeling of being needed.

There was no protest when he lifted her up, all four arms banding around her in a close, intimate embrace. Instead, she’d leaned against him, her face against his neck. Her fingers sank deep into the heavy fur of his scruff and along his shoulders, gripping him tightly. It stung a little, but not unpleasantly. Instead, it roused every protective instinct.

He suspected much of his instinct to guard her came from the fact that she was small and helpless like a rog. Like Warol, he didn’t look upon Arie and see a desirable female. Her features were strange to him. When he first saw her hairless body, he’d felt a wave of disgust at having to touch it, uncertain of whether it would be slimy like a toad. He’d been pleasantly surprised that her skin was soft and warm, but he wasn’t yet accustomed to her strange form or her odd flat face.

Not that he would have much time to become too familiar before they arrived at a human settlement.

When he’d cautioned Warol and (mostly) Kyx against becoming attached, he’d spoken the truth. Although their journey would take many weeks, none of them could risk bonding with her only to have her leave them in the end. As unlikely as it seemed that they would be capable of bonding at all since they were of different species, it was better to take precautions, especially given the way she seemed to draw some sort of instinctive response from them. Regardless of what was possible, they wouldn’t be able to keep her as Kyx pleaded. Rager had only seen the Citadel once, at a distance, and while it had seemed claustrophobic to him—the way all the humans lived clustered together there—he imagined that would be exactly what Arie needed. It wouldn’t be fair to keep her from there. She needed to be among her own kind. Until that time, he could enjoy the small comforts of caring for her needs where he could.

Warol slid up beside him, his lip curled back from his teeth as he scented the air. Arie stilled in his embrace as his brother closed in, and Rager repressed a growl. That he had to restrain himself at all struck him with a startling impact. He’d assumed that Warol and Kyx’s posturing had been more in the spirit of play that the males often engaged in but now he wasn’t so sure. There was no reason for him to desire domination over the other male when it came to Arie. It was illogical to show any form of aggression at all when Warol wasn’t doing anything wrong aside from unintentionally scaring her. The male flicked an ear toward the female, aware of her fear, but ignored it.

“An early snow is coming,” Warol observed, and his face lifted into the breeze.

Rager grumbled in agreement. An unseasonable snow couldn’t have come at a worse time. The mountains were a bad place to be during a snowstorm. It fell heavier there than anywhere else, often in near blizzard conditions. Although he knew of some cave systems where they could wait out a storm, he dreaded the idea of being stuck in a small cave with Warol for days on end with no relief. He wondered if he should foolishly hold onto hope that they could outrun it, but decided against it. There was no point in gambling with their lives just to avoid a bit of unpleasantness.

Rager inclined his head toward a familiar rocky slope cresting ahead of them. “We will wait out the storm there.”

Warol’s brow drew down in a frown, but he nodded reluctantly. Despite loathing small spaces, Warol had clearly brought the snow to his attention just in time, obviously with the same destination in mind. The male let loose a deep howl to call to Kyx, who was scouting some distance ahead, and a melodious howl responded within minutes.

Although smaller, Kyx was quicker and far nimbler. He often went far ahead to watch for signs of trouble. When their triad had been new, Rager had been concerned when the male would disappear for large spans of time, but he soon saw the value in it. Thanks to Kyx, his triad as a whole was able to avoid dangers that were often detrimental to others. They had forewarning of signs of giant predators as well as prey, movement of humans and other triads, unstable ground and barriers, and areas where sudden growths of predatory plants had appeared. After a while, Rager had ceased to object and began to see value in it. Although Kyx was far ahead, the male would head back immediately, and now he knew where to rejoin them.

They didn’t get far before the first few flakes of snow hit his dark fur and Arie’s cheek where it was nestled against him. If the snow wasn’t bad enough, it was accompanied by a cold gust that made the female shiver despite being cocooned in his warmth, the red strands of her mane blowing in the wind. Holding her tightly against him, Rager mentally cursed Warol for his lack of foresight. He understood his brother’s frustration at the way she’d hid herself within the folds of the material as if to make it a barrier against them, but now the female was suffering from the lack of adequate covering and at no fault of her own.

As if drawn to her in her suffering, Warol glanced down at Arie, and a flash of guilt appeared on his face. Rager scowled at him, making his displeasure known before letting the matter drop. There was little that could be done about it now other than to try to find something suitable to replace it. It would be illogical to castigate him further when the male was already feeling guilty. Rager tried to recall if there were any larger pelts in the small cavern to which they were heading that might make a suitable covering. Perhaps he would task Warol with finding something appropriate.

If they had been in their home territory, near the comfort of their den, it would have been an easy matter. They wouldn’t be sleeping on piles of musty furs on the hard floors of the caves. Arie would have every comfort. There was a hearth for cold winter nights that would warm her, plenty of food stored from what they had gathered and hunted, clean furs for her to sleep on as well as fabrics pillaged from an abandoned merchant’s cart that Kyx had found during one of his numerous explorations around the perimeter of their territory.

The unbidden image of Arie in their home rose in his mind, and a sense of warmth filled him. It was a ridiculous fantasy, of course. Even if they had been close enough to take shelter in their den, it would be disastrous for them when they finally found a mate. A female would have smelled the traces of her presence and would have been insulted, no matter how innocent the human’s presence would have been. Ragoru mated for life, and only the least among them would cavort with other females who were not their mate. Though that didn’t keep Kyx’s sly suggestion that they keep the human from whispering through his mind.

She’d be able to ease their loneliness, and they would protect and provide for her. Even if it were forbidden, they could be happy. No one needed to know of it.

It was an intoxicating and intriguing temptation.

It was perhaps a good thing that they were not in their home territory, after all. He’d likely yield to the temptation if they had been. Arie was not theirs to keep. She had family waiting for her, and he needed to remember that. He shifted the female in his arms and bent lower over her to give her what little protection he could against the snow.

The snow fell faster as they arrived at the crevice marking the narrow opening to the small cavern. Warol groaned as he looked at it, but pushed himself inside to root out any unwelcome creatures hiding in there. Within minutes, Rager clearly heard his muffled shout.

“All clear.”

Adjusting his grip on Arie so her tender skin wouldn’t scrape on any of the rocks, Rager slid inside. Warol had already set the human’s pack down and had pulled out the flint and steel to make a fire from the emergency supply of wood and tinder they’d stashed in each of their claimed caves in the neutral territory for situations such as this.

Once he had the fire burning steadily, Warol looted through storage baskets for dried provisions while Rager gently set the human in front of the flames. Her pale skin was nearly white with the cold, but she sighed gratefully and scooted closer, holding her hands out toward the warmth.

“Look and see if there are any large pelts that we can wrap around her,” he instructed as he settled behind her slowly so not to frighten her.

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