Page 11 of The Hunter

Telok tossed her spear down and passed the silk strand to his lower right hand as he closed the distance between them in a single long stride. He caught Lacey by the elbow. Her steps wavered, and she partly turned to look back at him with her eyebrows slanted sharply over her nose. With a practiced flick of his wrist, he looped the strand around her chest.

Lacey’s eyes widened. “What the hell, Telok?”

Using her elbow, he spun her to face him again, hands moving to wrap more of the silk rope around her.

He’d done this with beasts more times than he could count; the movements were instinctual. But he had to remind himself, again and again, that he was not binding Lacey to claim her. He was doing so to protect her from her own foolish decisions.

“What the fuck? Telok!” She planted her feet on the ground and pulled away, managing to gain a couple steps before he caught her other arm and dragged her back.

Despite her struggles and angry shrieks, he finished his work quickly, tying her arms against her sides and her legs together. She wriggled and strained, but she couldn’t accomplish much more than shifting her weight around, and she would’ve fallen if not for him holding her steady.

She glared at him. That fire in her eyes, that rage, was brighter than ever. “You really are an asshole.”

Good. It would be easier to stay away if she hated him. Easier to control himself, to resist.

He chose not to acknowledge how poorly that had worked thus far.

With her restrained, he again hefted her over his shoulder.

Lacey grunted and released a pained groan. “Just you wait, you prick. I’m going to get you back for this.”

Keeping a firm grip on her, Telok stooped to pick up the spear and set out for Kaldarak. Her scent was still mixed with that of her blood.

Telok clenched his jaw and told himself that he was not carrying his would-be mate, now bound and helpless. He was…hauling a harvest back to Kaldarak. Nothing more. He could not let it be anything more.

Though both her struggles and her curses had diminished by the time the stairs to Kaldarak came into sight, Telok had heard several new human insults from her that he’d have to ask Cole to explain.

Elharat and Okkor remained in their places at the base of the stairs. The former tilted his head, mouth opening as though he meant to speak, but he snapped it shut when Okkor hissed and thumped his spear on the ground.

Telok strode past them without a word.

Lacey tensed on his shoulder. “Are you two really going to stand there and let this happen?”

Behind them, Okkor muttered in vrix, “I do not know your words, human.”

“Nor do I,” Elharat said.

That coaxed a savage growl from the bound female. “Liars!”

She was quiet as Telok ascended the steps, but he felt the rage radiating from her, felt the barbed words gathering behind her lips. Yet her silence persisted even after he reached the top and strode toward the human dens on the far side of the city.

As they passed the central platform, where Urkot’s stonetoss games continued, many of those gathered there looked in Telok’s direction with questioning gazes. The humans stared with mouths agape and eyes wide.

Lacey’s body heated against Telok’s hide through the silk.

“I hate you,” she said in a low, raspy voice.

She’d said those words to him before, with far more venom, but the way they’d come out now…

He continued onward, trying to ignore the twinge in his chest, the tightness in his throat, and the lump sinking in his belly.

This is what I wanted, is it not?

Lacey neither spoke nor struggled the rest of the way to the human dwellings.

When he reached her den, he swept aside the curtain hanging in the entrance and ducked inside. Her scent enveloped him. Despite everything, his desire rekindled. Clamping his claspers over his slit, he stood her spear next to the entryway, dropped her bag on the floor beside it, and strode to her bed.

Telok grabbed a spare blanket, folded it, and set it atop her bedding before laying her down upon it.