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The expression on his face said quite clearly that it was the last thing he wanted to do. No doubt he was perturbed they had to carry her at all. He’d made no secret of the fact that he wasn’t interested in escorting her through the woods, even if he participated in their illicit nocturnal activities.
Arie bit her lip. She wanted to throw it back in his face and say that she was more than capable of walking the rest of the way. She had her pride after all, but she wasn’t stupid either. Her shoes wouldn’t be able to keep the deep snow from soaking her feet, and even with the fur wrapped around her she would soon become thoroughly sodden. That was too much like begging the gods to strike her with hypothermia.
To her surprise, Kyx leaned forward into her field of vision and curled his lip at his brother.
“Do not worry yourself, Warol. Rager and I can take turns carrying Arie. You don’t need to put yourself out carrying a human.”
Warol froze, his ears turned back as his brow fell in an expression of embarrassment.
“I do not mind assisting,” he muttered, but Kyx only huffed in response.
Rager sighed. “Enough. I will carry her to the mountain crossing. Kyx can carry her from there to the rock ledge point. Warol, you will carry her until we hit the big tree plateau. There we can rest for the night and get our bearings.”
“Once we are clear of the deep snow, I am perfectly capable of walking,” Arie said.
The lead male looked at her without a trace of mockery or derision. His brow furrowed only slightly with concern.
“The area from the point to the plateau is hazardous and requires sure footing. Do you have skill climbing down rocky slopes?”
“Uh, no,” she admitted, and the corner of his mouth tipped faintly with amusement.
“Then Warol will carry you,” he stated firmly. Arie knew from his tone of voice that he would not bend even a little. It hadn’t escaped her notice that Rager was the most intractable of the triad when he set his mind on something.
She pursed her lips at him but smiled when two muscled arms wrapped around her middle and Kyx’s nuzzled her gently, drawing her attention from the alpha and back to him. Arie smiled and stroked her hands over the soft fur of his forearms as his second pair of strong hands lifted around her and stroked her from shoulder to elbow. Arie could have purred like a cat. There was certainly something to be said for an extra set of hands.
Warol made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat and rose to his feet once more. “I am going back outside to get a better look at the conditions out there a bit farther from the cave,” he muttered around a gravelly growl as he headed toward the entrance.
Arie stared after him in surprise. She would’ve almost believed that he was jealous if it weren’t for the fact that she knew he didn’t like her.
She didn’t take it personally since she knew that he hated humans in general. It made sense that he disliked her on principle. That he didn’t try to kill her and was no longer tormenting her was actually quite significant to her as it showed that he had ceased seeing her, specifically, as his enemy. If some part wished that he showed the same level of sweetness toward her that Kyx did, she didn’t ever dare let it show or even fully acknowledge it herself. Such thoughts did not good. A peaceful co-existence with him for as long as they helped her was all that she could really hope for.
“Don’t mind him,” Rager said, glancing up. “You’re not what we expected and Warol doesn’t know how to feel about it. His entire family was killed by humans and all he has known for revolutions is hatred.”
Arie’s lips parted in surprise, and she felt a swell of pity for the gruff male. No wonder he was so surly. If it were her, she didn’t think she could bear to be around a species that had slaughtered her entire family.
“Don’t waste your sorrow on him either,” Rager continued, correctly reading the emotions that she was sure had to quite clearly visible on her face. “Warol has been harboring hate for too long. He places the blame of a few on all humans collectively. While the Ragoru have been wronged, we are not entirely blameless in the unending feud, and not all of your kind deserves a share of our hatred. Just as most of us keep to the old treaties and stay far from human roads and communities, it is known that most humans offer us no harm. Unfortunately, there are many Ragoru who, like Warol, see humans as a danger to be avoided at all costs. Warol is just now seeing that there is more to humans than he believed. With time, he will work it out in his own mind and heart.”
Arie stared back at him thoughtfully as she turned that over in her mind. It had never occurred to her that the Ragoru might stay away from humans due to fear. The reaction of humans to Ragoru was no different than what Rager described of his own species. Everyone in her village had certainly been quick to suspect and blame Ragoru for everything. Any mischance was because of a Ragoru and rumors spread like wildfire if a few hens were killed, or a goat disappeared. Anything that went missing fed the rumor mills. Suddenly, everyone was claiming to have sighted a lone Ragoru sneaking around the village barrier in the night. She even heard of a failed crop being blamed on Ragoru prowling around at night and destroying crops and clothing missing from lines where they were left out to dry. She’d always dismissed the rumors as far-fetched since no one had actually seen signs of Ragoru around the village, but now she understood just how absurd their claims were. It was all because of the villagers’ fear and paranoia regarding them.
Rager’s claims aside, she was quite certain that not one male among the triad that had taken her in was the sort to skulk around the walls of a settlement looking for easy prey or to steal human goods. With their internal sexual organs and heavy pelts, it was unlikely they would have any use for clothing. Nor, as superior hunters, did they need to steal livestock. Everything around her had been provided by their hunt. Not only in terms of food, but everything that allowed them to live comfortably, if not simply. In both caves, there had been plenty of tanned hides, tasty preserved meat, and even woven baskets for storage. By all appearances, they didn’t seem to be the brutish animals people imagined the Ragoru were.
“We have plenty of faults,” she said as a cold blast of air signaled Warol’s return. “Truthfully, I do not blame anyone for hating us. Especially not someone who has suffered at human hands. Humanity has a tendency to be cruel even to its own species,” she admitted, her eyes dropping to her hands gripping her fur around her.
Kyx nuzzled her gently. “Don’t be sad,” he rumbled against her ear. “Who was cruel to you, Arie?”
She swallowed and took a deep breath as she lifted a hand to comb through her hair with her fingers. Kyx lightly swatted it aside to take up the task of untangling the knots himself. He worked his fingers through her hair in such a gentle manner that she barely felt the pull of his claws through her curls.
“I wasn’t entirely truthful when we met,” she admitted. “I had to flee from my village. People are terrified of the Ragoru, so much so that anything bright is banned because people fear it will bring your attention to us. It has fed into a superstition that anyone born with red hair is cursed by the Mother. No one will suffer a redhead to live among them, and many will not give a person with my coloring the opportunity to taint the village from their contact with someone suffering such a curse. Had I stayed, there was a good chance the people would have eventually descended upon me and killed me to wash my curse from the village. The Citadel is more… clear-thinking, and less superstitious regarding it even if they hold to the same beliefs. That is why I was traveling to find my grandmother. I can have a future there.”
She felt Kyx still behind her during confession. She didn’t dare to glance at the other two males until she finished speaking. Rager’s brow was pulled down and his ears flattened in an unheard-of show of temper, while Warol seemed at a complete loss. An emotion that she couldn’t quite identify crossed his face and he slid next to her. Nudging her with his muzzle, he pulled her from a protesting Kyx and enfolded her in his arms before setting his jaw against the top of her head with a deep sigh.
“I am sorry, little one,” Warol whispered. “I swear we will protect you until you can rejoin your family. You will suffer no harm from the hands of your people or from any among ours.”
Rager and Kyx rumbled in agreement with steely voiced growls. Arie shivered, the flesh on her arms goose-pimpled at the weight of their commitment. She settled against Warol’s chest, wrapping her arms around him and allowing herself to enjoy their moment of mutual comfort. She suspected it was something they both needed.
Before long, Kyx and Rager crowded in to either side of her, each stroking her, crooning comforting words and nuzzling her with something that seemed like affection. For the first time since her mother died, Arie felt like someone cared. It would be difficult to give up when the time came but that, like the feelings they roused in her, was also a matter she refused to dwell upon.
Chapter
