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From the way his fingers bit into the skin of her arm, Arie knew the plan the other woman concocted wasn’t winning her freedom. Instead of looking frightened or willing to listen to reason regarding the imminent threat to his health, he thrust his jaw out stubbornly as he set Arie on her feet. Releasing her, he turned to fully face the female. The other members of his family backed away, their milky eyes turning toward the woods. Arie could just make out four yellow eyes reflecting in the deep shadows.
Arie’s heart picked up. Warol!
“No, this woman is mine,” Morosh snapped. “You go lay for him, Essi. We all know you are wankumu. All of the village knows you are eager to serve beast-men.”
The picture suddenly became clear for Arie. The beast-men that the feral men spoke of were the Ragoru. There were Ragoru who were trading meat for sexual favors. She felt sick as she wondered if her guys had been among those who made such transactions. Was that how he knew the blond woman? Perhaps they’d had an arrangement before, and he had used his relationship with this Essi to find Arie. It wasn’t improbable. Feral humans were quite different from those he had a grudge against, perhaps he didn’t find touching Essi to be as foul. That thought stung and made her irrationally jealous, but she was grateful all the same that he was there and pressing his claim against that of the feral men.
One of the older men a short distance away cleared his throat. “Morosh, we don’t want any harm from the beast-men. If he has prior claim to the woman and she is his mate, it takes priority over your claim. You know the rules of the ehurmuvale.”
Men and women nodded their heads as they moved away from the site of confrontation. Essi grinned victoriously but didn’t spare her even a glance. Arie knew, without a doubt, that the woman in front of her didn’t care for her wellbeing in the least and was only interested in using the situation to assert her influence. She didn’t even look at Arie when she spoke.
“Go away, flat-face. I don’t know why the beast-man wants you, but you go to him and leave us. I don’t want you here,” she said as she finally turned her head in Arie’s direction and bared her teeth. “If it was my choice, I would kill you here for thinking you can have ehurmu breeding rights, but that would make the beast-man angry,” she said.
Arie nodded and tried to comply, but she didn’t get more than two feet when Morosh suddenly wrapped both arms around her and hauled her to his chest.
“No! This woman belongs to my family. We will destroy the beast-man. We will not yield her!” he shouted, and his brothers came up in a half-circle behind them. They growled their own crude agreement as they lifted long spears toward the forest.
Warol let out a piercing howl before bursting out from the trees with such speed and that he was nothing more than a blur of silver that meted out death wherever he struck. He hit the ehurmu with the full power of his fury and bodies were flung in his wake. They were no match for him, and though they managed to get their spears past his defenses several times, it did not slow him down.
Arie’s blood pounded in her ears as she watched Warol’s demonstration of strength with awe. Although she knew that he was perfectly capable of such actions, that he was doing it for her sake made her heart jump in her chest. The moment Morosh freed her to confront the Ragoru, Arie hurried over to his side as he stood over the wounded men. Though his muzzle wrinkled up so that his lips peeled back from his fangs as he snarled at the male, Arie was relieved to see that one of his secondary eyes turned her way as if reassuring himself that she was okay.
But then the unexpected happened. Blood soaking his sides from numerous wounds, his yellow eyes suddenly rolled back in his head, and he dropped to the ground in front of her. Arie let out a shout of dismay and crouched over him as she tried to gauge just how bad his injuries were. From a glance, she could tell that a number of them were older injuries likely incurred from their fall, but a strange smell coming from the spots where the spears pierced his hide concerned her.
The ehurmu whispered among themselves and crept forward. The elderly male who had attempted to reason with Morosh , crouched down beside her and frowned as he looked over Warol.
“You should give him up for dead,” he said. “Our spears are dipped in vorok poison from the frogs that share these parts of the forest with us. He will be very sick and is likely to die. Few of our men survive one accidental piercing with the poison. The beast-man endured several. It’s not good.”
Her heart sank but she clenched her jaw. “I won’t give up on him.”
“Arie?” a weak voice whispered from beneath her. She glanced down and met Warol’s glazed eyes. “Please don’t leave me to die alone.”
Arie gave him a reassuring smile. “You aren’t going to die. You are a horribly stubborn, foul tempered Ragoru. You will be just fine.”
Brush from the trees broke in a crash, and all around her the ehurmu began to shriek and dart into their shacks. Even the elderly man moved away and, with a final lingering look of sympathy, retreated into his own dwelling.
Arie felt their presence as they collected behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she met Kyx’s worried amber gaze as Rager surveyed the village with cool regard for any sign of dissent. His dark fur was bristled with such aggression that Arie doubted anyone would be so foolish as to step out and confront him. She reached over and ran her fingers against his leg, drawing the attention of his primary eyes while his secondary eyes shifted continuously.
“Warol has been poisoned. We need to get him out of here to somewhere sheltered where I can attempt to heal him,” she said.
His gaze trailed over to Warol, and he grimaced as the other male watched him with unfocused eyes from where he lay. Rager shook his head.
“See what all your antics bring about?” he grumbled as he pulled the other male up over his shoulder. “Kyx, see to Arie.”
The red Ragoru grinned at her with a sweet lopsided smile and opened all four of his arms to her. She rushed into them with a sob of relief and clung to him as his arms closed around her, bringing an undeniable sense of safety. Tucked high against his chest, her face buried in the scruff at his throat, she allowed herself to find sanctuary in his embrace as he turned and loped back into the woods after Rager at his usual high speed.
Chapter
Eleven
Rager scowled as he looked over Warol as he lay on the mound of furs that Kyx had hastily piled. The male was a mess. He was in such poor condition that it was a stroke of good fortune that Rager had recognized the area. Arie had needed someplace safe to attempt to tend to the ugly wounds if she had any hope of saving him. As close as plateau shelter was, it had still taken them some time to arrive at the hollow they had painstakingly dug out many revolutions ago while scouting through the neutral territory.
He cursed Warol for not delaying his attack until they could join him. As soon as he’d caught scent of him, Rager had bellowed a greeting that was almost instantly returned. He’d felt a moment of relief, but that was replaced with concern when another call echoed to him that he was tracking their female. Arie hadn’t been with him and Warol, as was typical for him, had ignored his order to wait for them. Foolish male. Rager shook his head, sending his dark braids whipping around him. The male never had the patience to wait for anything, even when it was in their best interest.
And this was now the result of his folly. Arie was covered in scratches and bruises and was not only nursing a wrenched shoulder but was now also caring for the poisoned male. And he was pulled in two different directions—wanting to care for his brother and wanting to sit the small female down and tend to her. He knew that she was in pain, but she pushed through it for Warol. He found that both admirable and frustrating when he wished to hold her to him as he had every night and bathe her wounds with his healing saliva. Instead, he was trying to help as much as possible without hindering her, knowing that what she was doing was no easy task and less so with her injuries.
Warol panted in his feverish state, shifting on the furs in agony. The stench of poison was so strong that Rager wrinkled his muzzle. Ragoru didn’t deal in poison and had no natural defenses against it, but they had become familiar with its devastating effect after a number of their kind turned up dead from huntsmen utilizing it. He’d never heard of one surviving such a heavy dosage and that alarmed him as he looked upon his brother. He didn’t want him to die. Losing the male would devastate their triad… and Arie, he was certain.
Though he knew that the female wouldn’t readily admit any more than Warol would, he could tell that Warol’s condition was affecting her deeply. But that knowledge brought him a sense of relief too because he knew that she also wouldn’t give up on his brother. He could see in the stubborn set of Arie’s jaw to the narrowed focus of her eyes as she scrutinized the male. Rager knew she would do anything in her power to save Warol and he had to help her by stepping back to give her the necessary space to see to his second.
