Page 51 of The Hunter

“Oh… Ohhhh.” Lacey snapped her face forward, the blush spreading from her cheeks down to her neck and chest. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “You pervy, dirty vrix.”

Telok didn’t miss the hint of playfulness in her voice, the slight curl at the corner of her mouth, or the heated gleam in her eyes. And she still didn’t pull her hand away.

Did she…like the thought of him watching her?

A pleased trill escaped him, though he knew one of the walls that had been holding back the insistent surge of instinct inside him had fallen. Resisting would be that much harder now, and it had already felt nearly impossible.

They continued forward in silence that was broken only by Lacey’s increasingly ragged breaths as the ground grew steeper and rockier. She kept their fingers laced through it all. When her pace began to slow, her grip tightened, and soon Telok was supporting her as much as her spear was, if not more so.

Finally, she stopped, slipped her hand free of his, and bent over, holding up a single finger as she panted. “One sec. Just…need to catch my breath. Jesus, I’m out of shape.”

“I like your shape.”

She chuckled, looking up at him as she rasped, “Thanks.”

Telok lowered himself beside her, dropping his underside onto the ground. “Come.”

“Huh?”

He curled his arm around her waist and drew her closer, positioning her between his middle and back leg. “Get on. I will carry you.”

“Are you⁠—”

“Yes, vi’jatai. Climb.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.” She braced a hand on one of his leg joints and climbed atop him. Her weight settled on his hindquarters as she scooted closer to his back. Unfortunately, his bag blocked him from feeling her chest against his back and the fullness of her arms around him.

At least he was able to feel the touch of her soft, warm hands, the squeeze of those supple thighs, and the press of her rounded ass.

Rising, Telok strode onward, setting a more natural pace for himself.

When her fingers lightly brushed over a scar on his shoulder, Telok shivered. The ghostly pain of that long-healed wound whispered in the back of his mind, but her touch, so gentle and soothing, chased it away.

Soon enough, they reached the top of the incline, where the others had gathered. Cole, dripping with sweat, guzzled water while Garahk, Okkor, and Elharat chatted amongst themselves. Nearby, Ayali plucked clusters of bluevine fruit off a tree and tossed them to Koss. Past all of them, Droztar was perched on a root, surveying the jungle ahead.

With the hunters now reunited, they resumed their journey.

Though the ground was level here and the walk was easier, Telok allowed Lacey no opportunity to get down. He liked her exactly where she was.

CHAPTER 13

“I would kill for a dunk in a lake right now,” Lacey groaned.

“You kill?” Koss turned his head toward her, interest gleaming in his black eyes. “What you kill?”

Of course kill was the English word Koss had picked up on.

“No, no. I’m not⁠—”

“Lacey will make a kill this day,” Koss declared to the others in vrix.

The thornskulls cheered in their gruff voices.

Okkor thumped his chest with a fist. “Our little huntress wants to make a kill.”

“What will you hunt?” Garahk asked in English. “Soota? Nurunal?”

Lacey sighed heavily and pressed her fingers to her temples as the vrix chattered in their language too quickly and excitedly for her to understand.