Page 10 of The Hunter

When they reached the shallows, Lacey dropped her legs from around him. “You can put me down now.”

He hooked his lower arm under her backside and tightened his upper arm around her middle, keeping her firmly against him and preventing her feet from reaching the ground. Without missing a step, he continued to the shore.

Lacey pressed her palms to his shoulders and leaned back. “Telok, put me down.”

“No.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I want down now.”

He narrowed his eyes right back at her. “I will put you down in your den.”

“Why are you being like this?” Lacey wriggled, pushing against his hold. “Just put me down. I can walk.”

Telok did not loosen his grip. “Now you want to go back?”

“Yes!”

“Good. I will take you.”

“You— I can’t— Ugh!” With a growl, she snapped her head forward and clamped her teeth onto the side of his neck.

Telok’s stride faltered at the spike of pain. Even more alarming was the rush of pleasure that followed, which poured into his pelvis. His stem stiffened with a deep ache.

He hissed, instinctively cupping the back of her head in his hand, curling his fingers into her hair, and holding her in place as he squeezed his eyes shut. A shudder coursed through him, and the fine hairs on his legs rose. The strengthening press of his claspers over his slit only added to the unexpected pleasure-pain.

A low snarl built in his chest as fire crackled beneath his hide. She was marking him with her teeth. He needed to mark her with his, to put his claim on her. To bind her and take her. His spinnerets twitched, ready to spin the silk to restrain her, even as his cock threatened to burst from his slit.

Telok had yearned for Lacey from the moment he’d first seen her. For moon cycles, he’d resisted, but she was here now, in his arms, with her mouth on his hide…

What else could this have been but fate? A fate he’d struggled against for so long, a fate he’d denied, a fate he could not escape.

Take her.

Claim her.

His fingers flexed, pressing into her soft flesh and raking his claws over her scalp. A slash of those same claws could have her dress off and her tempting body bared to him. This enduring torture could end in a single moment.

Lacey’s teeth released him, and she shook her head, trying to dislodge his hand from her hair as she pushed against his shoulders.

Telok growled, tightening his arms around her.

“Telok, let go,” she said as she squirmed. “You’re…squeezing me.”

The hint of pain in her voice pierced the haze descending over his mind.

What was he doing? He couldn’t allow himself to lose control like this, couldn’t allow himself to…to claim her.

Because one day, the Tangle would take her, just like it had taken so many others. Just like it would take everyone.

And Lacey clearly hadn’t learned that lesson despite the trials they’d faced to reach Kaldarak, or else she wouldn’t have come out here alone. All of this could’ve been avoided had she just stayed above.

For both their sakes, he needed to get her back to her den as quickly as possible. He wasn’t going to let her walk and potentially leave a trail of blood to lure predators. Neither was he willing to endure her slaps, kicks, and bites the entire way.

He curled a rear leg, drawing silk from his spinnerets, as he lowered Lacey onto her feet.

“Finally,” she said with a relieved sigh and a roll of her strange human eyes. “Now you can just skitter away and leave me alone.”

She turned away from him and began walking toward Kaldarak—with watery blood running down her inner legs and dripping onto the grass.