Page 102 of The Hunter

She smiled and asked in vrix, “Is that why you always ask him to come on hunts with you?”

Koss chittered and tapped a foreleg against her calf. “Hunts are easier with him, and hunters safer.”

“It is true under sun and sky,” Garahk said solemnly from Lacey’s other side. “The Hunter and the Protector have marked his spirit.”

Pride welled inside her at their praise for Telok. Did he know how appreciative others were of his skills, or how vital he was to his people? He always seemed to keep himself apart, always maintained that safe distance, but did he understand how many people cared for him? Did he understand that he didn’t have to shoulder his burdens alone?

“The Protector must truly favor him, to have shielded his life through so many wounds,” said Gai’Tahk Var, a winddancer who’d volunteered to join their hunt. He was a little larger than some of the other male winddancers, with broader shoulders and thicker muscles beneath his dark gray hide.

“Too many wounds,” Lacey said softly.

The group continued onward, following Telok’s lead as he uncovered more signs of the kurghests’ presence in the area. Though those traces were old, they were clear evidence of what Shir had told them. The beasts had indeed claimed this part of the jungle as their territory.

Lacey kept her eyes moving, scrutinizing the vegetation, watching for any movement. She’d been startled more than once by rustling leaves as a panicked critter scampered away from the hunters.

She wasn’t normally this paranoid when she went hunting and foraging with the thornskulls. But before they’d departed for today’s hunt, Sophia had described the kurghests as being jungle nightmares. Horrifying, toothy beasts that were difficult to discern when they were on the prowl, as they blended in to their surroundings due to their mosslike fur and bony spikes that resembled wood.

Now it felt like the jungle was playing tricks on Lacey’s senses. Every little movement and sound made the hair on her arms and the back of her neck rise in paranoia. There could be hidden eyes watching them, unseen beasts stalking them. This group of hunters could become the prey at any moment without realizing it.

“You must have slain many mighty beasts, Ayali,” Ess said from his place on the female thornskull’s left.

Ayali trilled. “I am called Yatin’s Bane, for I have slain many by my own hands.”

Zesh, who strode on the female’s right, crooned, his topaz eyes moving over her. “Such strength.”

“Any male would stride pridefully with you as his mate,” Ess said, pounding his chest.

Zesh repeated the gesture. “This male would.”

Lacey grinned as Ess slowed his step enough to glare at Zesh behind Ayali’s back. The two winddancers had been practically tripping over each other since meeting the large female, constantly vying for her attention.

“As would I,” Ess said, picking up his pace and lightly brushing his foreleg against Ayali’s. “Are you seeking a mate?”

Humming, Ayali flicked her black eyes down to him. “Perhaps if a worthy male presents himself.”

Cole chuckled. “You two sure you can handle her?”

“Don’t underestimate the winddancers,” Sophia replied, nudging him with her elbow.

“Then I shall do as no thornskull has,” Zesh declared, standing taller and puffing his chest, “and win Ayali as my mate.”

Quickly rubbing at the fur on his shoulders to make it fluffier, Ess stood taller still. “And I will do the same. But before Zesh.”

Stifled chitters and laugher rippled through the group, with Lacey unable to hold back her own.

“And you, Lacey?” Var asked as he eased closer to her. “Do you have a mate?”

Her heart leapt at the question. She looked at Telok to find that he’d halted, and he now stood with his back toward her. Everyone else stopped around him.

“Not…yet,” she said.

From Telok’s direction, she heard a barely audible creak, like someone was clutching something far too tightly.

Var trilled and turned to face Lacey, his violet eyes meeting hers. “I was shocked to learn humans and vrix could mate.” He extended a foreleg and rubbed it along the outside of Lacey’s calf. “But I am curious…”

“Dude, you don’t wanna do that,” Cole warned.

Lacey took a step back and chuckled nervously. “Curious? What, uh… What would you like to know?”