Page 108 of The Hunter

Such explorations will have to wait.

“That is…so much cum,” Lacey breathed, slipping a hand between their bodies and pressing it low on her belly.

Trilling, Telok nuzzled the side of her face.

Then it occurred to him.

His seed—his cum—was filling his mate. Would this mating result in a broodling?

He couldn’t deny his joy and excitement at the thought of watching her belly grow with a new life inside it, a life they’d created. But neither could he ignore the fear and uncertainty that came along with it.

According to the humans, pregnancy came with many risks to both mother and broodling. Risks that none of Telok’s skill, ferocity, and determination could overcome. If he and Lacey were to have a broodling, there would be another thread bound to his hearts, one that was delicate, helpless, vulnerable. There would be another potential loss that would tear his spirit to shreds.

Could he protect Lacey and their broodling?

Telok rubbed his mouth against Lacey’s temple as he tightened his embrace. No. He would not allow any of those threads to be severed. All his strength, all his hearts and soul, would be dedicated to protecting his mate and their broodling. So long as life pulsed in his veins, he would shield them with a savagery to make the Tangle itself recoil.

He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with his mate’s scent—with the scent of their mating—as he trailed his mouth down her neck. But that fragrance was tinged with blood now.

He lifted his head enough to stare at the bite mark on her shoulder. Pride swelled in his chest even as guilt knotted in his stomach. It would leave a scar, and that scar would mark her as his to everyone. His Lacey, his mate, his heartsthread. But he’d hurt her to leave it. He’d added another scar to her body, when she carried the rest of them with sorrow and regret.

Gently, he licked the wound.

Lacey shivered and canted her head, allowing him freer access. He laved the marks, cleaning the blood away, then trailed his tongue up the side of her neck to swirl beneath her ear.

She sighed softly, her fingers threading through his hair before she wiggled her hips and bore down upon him farther.

Telok grunted and tightened his grip on her hips in warning. “Lacey…”

“I can’t help it. Those tendrils feel so good. How long will we be stuck—” She gasped. “Oh…oh… Oh God, it’s happening again!” With a keen, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him as she quivered and writhed, her inner walls constricting around his stem.

Telok growled at the pleasurable squeeze of her body as his went taut. Burying a clawed hand in her hair, he lost himself to his own release, once more spilling inside her. His cock vibrated, his tendrils fluttered, and her pussy drew upon him, greedily drinking his essence.

“Ah, kir’ani vi’jatai. My Lacey,” he purred.

In all his years, had anything felt as good as her? Had anything even come close?

No. And nothing ever will.

Those sensations held him aloft, high above the jungle floor, above the thick ceiling of leaves and branches, above the sky itself, leaving him and his mate to float amongst the stars.

Until a sound, heard in the fleeting silence between heavy breaths and thumping hearts, snared Telok’s attention and dragged him back toward the ground. The fine hairs on his legs rose.

The undergrowth rustled behind him.

Mine.

Clutching Lacey against him with his left arms, he leaned hard to the side, snatched up the weapons from the ground with his right hands, and swung his spear in a wide arc as he spun around on his bent leg joints. Lacey let out a startled shriek.

The beast, which had prowled to within two segments of him, scurried back and shrank away from the weapon with a growl. At the shoulder, it was as tall as Lacey’s chest, and would likely surpass Telok’s height were it to stand on its hind legs. Its short fur was mottled with shades of green and textured like fuzzy moss. Hooked black claws tipped its thick toes, brown spines jutted from its shoulders and the end of its tail, and its lipless muzzle left its long fangs bared in a ceaseless snarl.

Fury swelled in Telok with all the power and swiftness of a river flooded by torrential rains.

Lacey tensed. “Oh shit, is that a⁠—”

“Kurghest.”

A female, fully grown.