Page 149 of The Hunter

It hurt my family. Hurt my friends.

Hurt my mate.

Another wave of fury blasted through Telok, searing away his pain. He planted his hands on the ground and shoved himself up. The instant his legs were beneath him, he jumped at the prime kurghest.

He came down upon its head, and his weight dragged it down as he wrapped his arms around its thick neck. The beast again bucked and thrashed, swinging its front feet up and raking them down as though to scrape off its own snout. The claws of one foot sliced into Telok’s back, but those of the other were blunted by the wood still stuck to them.

“For my sire!” Telok stabbed the spear into the side of the kurghest’s neck repeatedly, covering his hand in yet more blood.

Chuffing, the prime kurghest dipped its head even lower and shoved Telok off. He landed on his back, his wet, muddy hair slapping into his face. Before he could rise, the beast’s front feet slammed down on his shoulders, pinning him beneath overwhelming weight.

Blood spilled onto Telok’s face from the gaping wound in the beast’s neck, thicker and heavier than the rainfall. Red engulfed his vision.

Telok felt the kurghest’s hot breath as it lowered it muzzle and growled through its perpetually bared fangs.

He drove the spear into the kurghest’s leg, just above its ankle, and swept it outward as he tore it free, ripping through tendons.

The prime snatched its leg away and reared back with a deep, pained howl.

Okkor lunged from the side, a vengeful spirit emerging from the rain, and thrust his spear into the kurghest’s exposed chest with a bestial roar. His green hide was smeared with mud and blood.

The thornskull drove up with his powerful legs, keeping the kurghest upright as Telok scrambled back onto his legs. Winddancers rushed in from both sides, burying their spears in the beast’s underbelly.

Throwing its bulk aside, the kurghest spun on its hind legs, tearing spears from vrix hands. Its front legs came down heavily, creating a tremor that vibrated up Telok’s legs, and it continued to turn, swinging its tail in a sweeping arc that forced Okkor and the others to retreat. When it stopped, it was again facing Telok.

The beast’s sides swelled as it drew in a ragged breath. Its shoulders were hunched, its head low, but its orange eye burned with stubborn, spiteful vitality as it met Telok’s gaze.

Telok’s thumb shifted along the broken shaft of his spear to find the now dirty, sopping lock of braided hair still dangling from it.

“Please, Telok,” Lacey called again, desperate, pleading, fearful.

It hurt my mate. My Lacey. My love.

The prime kurghest roared with a fury that could’ve toppled trees, shattered mountains, and sent every living creature within an eightday’s journey fleeing in terror, a fury that could’ve chilled the Eight themselves.

Telok let out a roar of his own, matching the beast’s fury, but something more was woven through it—love. Love that would shield no matter the cost. Love that would overcome any obstacle, any foe, any limitation. Love that spanned all the stars in the night sky, love that connected alien hearts, that spun its own fate in defiance of everything.

All that rage, all that love, poured strength into his arms as he lunged at the beast. His left hands caught the side of the kurghest’s head, one thumb digging into its ruined eye socket. His right hands hammered the head of the spear into its good eye, cracking the surrounding bone.

The prime kurghest’s roar died abruptly. Its head jerked, but Telok exerted more strength, allowing it no escape as he pushed the spearhead deeper into its skull.

“For my mother,” he rasped.

Letting out a half-grunt, half-whine, the beast staggered. Telok released it. Only a small portion of the splintered spear shaft jutted from the creature’s eye, barely as long as Telok’s fist was wide.

The prime’s injured foreleg gave out as Telok stepped back. Its other legs went next, and it crashed onto the ground, splashing muck. It let out a strained, broken breath and stilled.

The rain continued falling. The wind continued blowing. The Tangle continued living, indifferent to the blood and death that had just stained it.

Telok’s legs trembled. Exhaustion pressed in on him from all directions, and agony pulsed through his entire body. But he would not yet submit. He could not.

He turned around, his gaze instantly falling upon his mate, and his already pounding hearts quickened. Lacey now lay propped up on her side, her wound toward the sky, with blood covering her hand and belly. He rushed to her, all else forgotten.

Telok dropped onto his forelegs before Lacey. Bristling emotions roiled in his chest, churning and clashing, but none matched his fear in that moment.

Lacey stared up at him. Beneath the smears of rain-streaked mud, her skin was paler than usual, but her eyes were as bright as ever. “Oh, Telok…”

He knew the moisture gathering in her eyes had nothing to do with the rain.