Page 109 of The Hunter

Telok surged up onto his legs. The suddenness and force of the movement snapped Lacey’s mouth shut with a clack and drove her down even harder on his stem, jolting him with pleasure.

At that same instant, the brush to either side shook violently.

Kurghests did not hunt alone.

“Hold me,” he commanded.

Telok leapt back as two more female kurghests burst from the undergrowth, twisting his torso to shield his mate from their swiping claws. He hurriedly passed her shorter spear to his upper left hand, using his lower hands to keep his mate tucked securely against him.

A red haze swallowed him again, rage, passion, and instinct swirling into a chaotic, fiery storm.

Lacey was in danger.

His mate was in danger.

The Tangle had taken everything from him once. But it would not take her, not this day, not ever. So long as his hearts beat, nothing would harm her.

The beasts released low, ululating growls and charged in unison, two of them spreading out to the sides to get at Telok’s flanks.

He let out a roar and threw himself into motion. The spears darted out faster than eyes could track, forcing one kurghest to veer away to avoid injury and disrupting another’s charge by tearing a gash in its front shoulder. The middle beast leapt directly at Telok’s front—at Lacey’s back.

Rearing back, he raised his forelegs high, bending them to shield his mate. The kurghest’s chest slammed into his leg joints, its momentum and weight making him rock, and its claws bit into the hide of his legs as the beast fought to get past his defenses.

Somewhere in the distance, perhaps in another world, a larkhet’s alarmed cawing echoed through the trees.

The beast’s fangs chomped the air barely a handspan from Lacey’s head.

Crying out, she flinched away, turning her face into Telok’s chest, squeezing him with her entire body. A shudder rippled through him.

“Mine,” he snarled, pushing off the ground with his other four legs to heave the kurghest aside. Before it had even crashed down, the other two beasts were attacking again.

Kill.

Telok removed his lower arms from Lacey, leaving only his claspers in place as he spun, using his whole body to shield her. Despite her desperate hold, the wild movements caused her to bounce on him, blasting him with bursts of ecstasy that silenced the pain of claws tearing his hide.

Heat built in him rapidly, the result of those ever-growing flames being stoked, and his cock ached more deeply than any wound he’d ever suffered.

He lashed out with limbs and spears, answering every wound with eightfold the strength and brutality. And his stem’s tendrils lashed Lacey from within with equal ferocity. Kurghest blood sprayed his hide, cold in comparison to his inner heat, and his hearts beat only louder, only faster.

With each pulse, he became more aware of his mate. His Lacey. Of her warm breath against his chest, her blunt nails digging into his back, her legs constricting his waist with crushing force, her quivering thighs and pulsating inner walls.

“Telok,” she rasped through rapid breaths, “are you…serious? Oh, fuck!”

Her body seized around him, nails raking his hide, as several escalating, high-pitched cries escaped her. Her slit squeezed his stem so hard that he felt ready to burst. More hot essence flooded her.

With another roar, Telok thrust Lacey’s spear down into the back of a kurghest, drowning out its pained snarl. Stars flashed through his crimson stained vision as seed spurted from his cock and his muscles flexed involuntarily.

But despite the ecstasy flowing through him, his focus remained on the threat at hand.

Driving his weight down, he pinned the flailing beast to the ground. He hammered his forelegs into its ribs again and again. “She. Is. Mine!”

He emphasized each word with another bone-crunching kick; each jolt of impact renewed the sensations in his stem, forcing more seed out of him.

“Oh God,” Lacey whimpered shakily. “This can’t be happening.”

A kurghest pounced on Telok’s back. Lacey screamed, jerking back. He banded an arm around his mate, whipped his torso downward, plunging his cock deeper into her, and shoved up hard with his rear legs to flip the beast off over his head.

It landed heavily on its back and tumbled, unsteadily regaining its feet. As Telok straightened, the third kurghest swiped its wicked claws at Lacey. He quickly turned aside, sweeping her out of the way. Dull warmth bloomed on his shoulder.