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Warol was none of those things. He could be impatient at times and tended to be distrustful and quick of temper in bad situations. Their current predicament was only making the matter worse.
The frustration was understandable. Rager had promised they would travel as far as necessary to find a mate this season; it was unfortunate that this task was proving harder than he’d thought it would be. None of them wanted to put off their hunt to guard a human. Yet the idea of moving on and leaving the female to her own devices didn’t sit well with him.
Kyx whined, a low rumbling sound in his throat. “I still think we should keep her,” he muttered in Ragii. “A human female around is better than no female at all, and I am tired of looking at your faces every day.”
He silenced the male with a look and returned his focus to the little female. He couldn’t exactly keep calling her female or human indefinitely. Weeks of that would become annoying fast.
“What is your name, female?”
She looked at him blankly for a minute as if she weren’t sure whether she would honestly answer him. Then she turned her right shoulder up in a half shrug. “Arie,” she mumbled.
He contemplated the name and decided he liked the sound of it. Arie was close to the word arel, meaning ‘little song.’ Knowing that some of the smallest songs among his kind were often the most aggressive and lively, among them being the war song and the mating song, he wondered if this would prove true for the little human as well.
“I am Rager. This is Warol and Kyx,” he said. Despite her obvious fear, the female inclined her head in greeting to both of the other males. That didn’t, however, keep her from fidgeting with an obvious case of nerves.
He wanted to smooth his hands over hers and put her at ease and that reaction, as well as his fascination for her, was disconcerting. Ever since he picked her up and held her against his body, some part of him was turned constantly toward her. He felt entirely unbalanced for the first time since reaching maturity. He did not know how he should feel about it, how it would affect his dealings with her, or whether it be for the good or ill of their triad.
Rager turned away and stalked back to his comfortable corner where heavy pelts remained piled during their absence. He settled into them with a long sigh before looking over at the female and his brothers.
“Enough foolishness now. Let’s sleep,” he barked before settling down onto the fur, his back turned to them. He didn’t know if he was fooling anyone. He suspected he wouldn’t be resting well any time soon with the warm bundle of femininity distractingly close. As he fell asleep, he was still marveling at just how peculiar that was.
Chapter
Five
Arie curled up on her side on the pallet of pelts the Ragoru had made for her. The furs smelled like them, and for some reason it was strangely comforting. She’d entertained the thought of fleeing once they were asleep but had thought better of it. She had no idea where she was in the forest, had limited provisions, and would be alone in a hostile environment. It would be foolish and probably suicidal to run away when they offered to take her to Wayfairer Citadel.
Other than expressing curiosity over her, and some bad manners from the silver one, the Ragoru hadn’t threatened or tried to harm her. Since they were a different species, she was relieved she didn’t have to worry about being harassed sexually as she might if she’d been traveling alone with strangers. Logically it made them the safest traveling companions now that it seemed clear that they weren’t interested in outright killing her as she’d initially thought. They surely wouldn’t have bothered introducing themselves if they had any plans on murdering her. That gave her enough hope to see her current situation as promising. Even if they had predatory behavior that was somewhat unnerving for her.
Such as the two sets of yellow eyes glowing at her eerily in the low light of the cave. Unlike Rager and Kyx, who both now slept soundly, Warol had been watching her since waking in the early hours of the morning and continued to watch her suspiciously without any sign of exhaustion. If it weren’t for the fact that the large black male was clearly the one in charge, she might have been concerned. Mistrust was spelled out clearly for her in every tense line of his body and in his focused glare.
Well, that was fine. If he was determined to stay awake all night watching her, Arie wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it. In fact, getting a bit more sleep sounded like a good idea.
Rolling to her side, Arie turned her back to him and yawned as she settled further into the pelts surrounding her. She could still feel his eyes burning into her flesh, and though she was determined to ignore him, she shivered despite herself. The last thing she wanted to do was show any further weakness in front of them. Although they agreed to help her, they were still predators and would likely respond instinctively to a show of vulnerability or fear. She’d done too much of that already. She was surprised that they’d been inclined to help her at all given the way she’d practically trembled like a scared rabbit in front of them.
Now that she was thinking of it, she had to admit that their actions didn’t quite mesh with the reputation of the Ragoru for being wild, savage creatures who delight in tormenting and ripping apart weak humans. Men in the tavern would whisper about how the scent of fear drove Ragoru into a killing lust. It confounded Arie because hadn’t seen anything of the sort and the males certainly had plenty of opportunities to torment and kill her. The worst that had happened was being pounced on by Warol when she’d emerged from hiding. Yet even then, despite nearly scaring her to death, he hadn’t actually tried to hurt her. He had been heavy and frightfully huge, but he had also been careful now that she thought of it. With his size he could have harmed her easily if he hadn’t shown at least a small amount of restraint and care. As much as he obviously didn’t trust her, she was certain now that he wouldn’t go out of his way to hurt her.
He could have at least left the cape in one piece though, she grumbled quietly to herself.
She snuggled deeper into the furs as another shiver racked through her, this time due to a cold breeze that slid over her, and she mentally cursed Warol for shredding her cape. Not only did she no longer have the protection of her hood, but she was also freezing. She was envious of the thick fur of the males. No doubt that was part of the reason that they were able to sleep so comfortably while she tossed and turned and froze.
She turned her head just enough to eye Kyx, who slept the closest to her, and debated moving closer to him to share his body heat. He’d been the friendliest of the three; perhaps he wouldn’t mind having a human snuggled up against him. She shifted as if to rise but then flattened herself against the floor, her courage withering up and blowing away with the cold wind. Arie tucked her nose under her arm and huddled into herself.
A raspy sigh sounded from nearby and she heard someone shift. A warm body flopped against her and curled around her side, a thick tail fell across her hip, and four arms surrounded her and tucked her against a warm belly. She wasn’t sure which of the males had her, but at that moment she couldn’t care less. She was blessedly warm. She froze warily as a nose tucked in against her neck and then slowly allowed her muscles to relax when it became apparent that he was only cuddling in deeper around her.
The warmth eased into her body like a drug and she felt her muscles become languid. For a moment she imagined that this was what bliss felt like. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so comfortable. She yawned and her eyes, suddenly heavy, drifted shut.
The pitiful shivering of the human curled into him eased as he settled beside her. If it weren’t for the fact that he’d been responsible for damaging her covering, he wouldn’t have felt inclined to warm her. She wasn’t his responsibility. Warol hoped the human didn’t expect him to warm her every night. He wasn’t one of their furry companion beasts. He absolutely did not find her scent comforting as it surrounded him, nor did he enjoy the way her body perfectly cradled into his own. There was absolutely nothing enjoyable about curling up together.
Warol glanced at Kyx slumbering a short distance away. No doubt if the male had been awake and saw the way Arie had been shivering, he would’ve been happy to curl around her every night to provide her warmth so that Warol wouldn’t have to. To his surprise, the idea of being replaced by Kyx did not come with a rush of relief. Instead, his stomach soured, and he tasted something bitter in his mouth. Despite his confused feelings, Warol drew the female closer against his torso with a low rumble of displeasure.
He didn’t want the inconvenience of warming the female, but he certainly didn’t want Kyx to replace him either.
Settling himself more comfortably, he placed his muzzle once more against the crook of her neck and breathed in her fragrance. Her natural musk was so warm and sweet that his body drank it in as if it were the only thing capable of sustaining him. The scent was addictive, and his fur prickled with pleasure. Pleasure hummed through him. It danced over his entire body, and especially teased his balls and his cock nestled within its sheath.
He eased himself closer as his nose trailed down the graceful slope of her collar. He was greedy for it, but he didn’t understand why. Was it a mystery of females in general? He’d never been around an unmated female. Or perhaps it was something that human females used to draw in males to care for them. That certainly seemed like a valid possibility. In that moment, he was willing to offer anything to be able to continue feeling the way he was.
He tried not to examine the effect her scent was having on his body until he could no longer ignore it when his cocks hardened and extruded swiftly. It was so abrupt that Warol’s eyes widened in horror, and he scrambled away from the female, putting several lengths between them. He’d never fully extruded before. It was something he had been eagerly anticipating.
