Page 103 of The Hunter

She flicked her eyes toward Telok again. He hadn’t moved, not even the slightest bit.

Var approached again, reached up, and caught a stray lock of hair at the side of her face. He rubbed it between his fingers as he stroked the bare skin of her forearm with his lower hand. “Everything.”

“We stop here,” Telok said. The calmness and steadiness of his deep, raspy voice belied the rigid, threatening set of his posture.

“Thank God it’s not me this time,” Cole muttered, slipping an arm around Sophia’s shoulders and leading the confused woman away.

“Have you found new signs?” Tas asked.

Without acknowledging the question, Telok turned to face Lacey and Var. His chin was angled down, his mandibles were drawn in unnaturally tight, and his green eyes blazed with withering heat. Lacey’s heart sped as he stalked toward her.

Oh. Oh shit.

Eyes widening, Lacey plucked her hair from Var’s hold and retreated from him once more. “Um…”

Var’s gaze followed hers, and he flinched when he saw Telok, who did not stop his advance. The winddancer dropped his hands and scurried aside to make way for the furious shadowstalker.

Stopping in front of Lacey, Telok snatched her spear from her hand, bent forward, and banded his left arms around her, lifting her off her feet and against his shoulder. She gasped, bracing herself with her palms against his back as one of his hands gripped her ass.

He turned toward Var and snarled, “She is mine. Touch her again, you lose a hand.”

Lacey blinked.

Okay, that was pretty hot. Terrifying, but hot.

As Telok spun around and strode away from the group, Lacey saw the wide-eyed stares of their companions.

All except Cole, who was grinning. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “About fucking time!”

From above, Swiftclaw made an uncertain chirruping sound.

The jungle landscape rushed by until the group was no longer in Lacey’s sight. Tension radiated from the vrix carrying her; his entire body quaked with it.

“Telok?” Lacey inquired softly.

His hold tightened as a growl rumbled in his chest.

Desire sparked within her. The vibrations against her belly made her clit thrum and her breath stutter, the sensations only enhanced by his possessive grip on her ass and the prick of his wicked claws.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“Away.”

“Well, that’s obvious.”

He finally came to a stop in a little clearing, where the relatively flat ground was covered in ferns, small plants, moss, and fallen leaves. He dropped their spears on the ground, set Lacey onto her feet, and removed her backpack and his bag, tossing them next to the spears.

“Telok, what are⁠—”

Grasping her arms, Telok lowered his face to hers. His voice was harsh and gravelly when he spoke. “I am your mate. And you are mine.”

He pressed his mouth roughly to hers.

Lacey’s breath hitched, and her eyes widened as everything came to a standstill.

Had he… Had he just declared she was his mate?

Telok pulled his head away slightly, angled it, and slanted his mouth over hers more insistently, rubbing it.