Page 41 of The Hunter

Telok turned his head to glare at the thornskull.

Koss chittered, turned all four of his palms toward the sky, and backed away as he said in English, “I okay. You take.”

Returning his gaze to Lacey, Telok pressed the strand against her chest.

Her fingers closed around it. “You still didn’t apologize.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I did no wrong.”

Lacey swept her arm out and gestured to the retreating Koss. “You threw his silk at him.”

“I have my own.”

“He was going to help me.”

“Now I am helping you.” Telok turned and lowered himself to the ground. “Come.”

“Overbearing brute,” Lacey mumbled.

All on their own, his eyes drifted to her backside, and he watched the fabric of her pants mold to it as she bent to retrieve her spear. An ache bloomed in his pelvis.

She strode back to him and held her spear up. “Can you help me with this?”

As soon as he accepted the spear, she turned. He ran the shaft through the loops sewn on the side of her backpack and tightened the ties to secure the weapon in place.

When he was done, she stepped between his left legs, braced a hand on his shoulder, and threw a leg over his hindquarters, hauling herself up. “You know, if you wanted to help me climb, you could have just offered. You didn’t have to be so rude about it.”

Whatever retort he might’ve offered died on his tongue when she slid forward, pressing herself against his back with her thighs snug on either side of his waist. Her breasts rubbed his hide as she slipped her arms around his sides to pass him the ends of the rope.

As Telok fought back a shiver, his hands moved, driven by habit rather than thought as he tied the silk into a tight knot. All he could focus on was Lacey’s body—the way it nestled against his so perfectly, the reassurance of her slight weight, her welcoming warmth and softness. The tickle of her breath on his hide.

Lacey hugged his middle, her palms flattening against his abdomen.

Telok’s claspers crossed over his slit as his pulsing stem pressed against it from within. He’d carried her like this many times when they’d fled Zurvashi, but he’d never been quite so aware of her as he was now. Every bit of hide she was touching was ablaze. The urge to shred her clothing so he could feel her bare skin clawed its way up from his core.

Wrestling against instinct and need, Telok strode to the base of the tree. The sooner he climbed, the sooner he could sever this contact between them. That was the only way he’d maintain control. The only chance he had at resisting.

He sank his claws into the bark and pulled himself up. Once they were off the ground, Lacey’s weight shifted backward, pulling the rope taut, and her hold on him tightened. He felt her blunt nails digging into his hide, felt the muscles of her legs quivering ever so slightly, even felt the beating of her heart against his back.

All he would’ve had to do was swing her to his front, hook his claspers over her thighs, and drive his cock into her, and his need would be fulfilled.

No!

However great the temptation, however insistent and torturous, he would not submit to it.

Yet he knew his willpower could withstand only so much…and it was already worn dangerously thin.

Telok had no one to blame for this torment but himself. He had chosen to help her. He’d chosen to take her from Koss, to carry her on his own back. To have her clinging to him, bound to him. But he refused to see her wrapped around another male.

Though his muscles burned, his skin thrummed, and his stem ached, he kept his limbs in motion, climbing higher. He reached the wide branch where Garahk, Koss, Okkor, Elharat, and Cole sat with their belongings, preparing for sleep.

The male human grinned and winked at Telok, giving him two thumbs up.

Growling, Telok continued climbing, chased by Cole’s laughter.

“What the hell are you laughing about, Cole?” Lacey demanded.

“Oh, nothing at all. Sweet dreams!”