Page 60 of The Hunter

His gaze, darker and more ravenous than before, was locked on her pussy. Tension pulsed from him.

Lacey held her hands up, uncertain of what to do with them. Everything inside her screamed to cover body, to shield herself from him. And yet…

And yet the way he looked at her made her feel like she never had before. Beautiful, desired. Like no one had ever wanted anything as much as Telok wanted her right now.

And then his gaze dipped. His mandibles twitched and fell, and he emitted a distressed buzz. “Ah, Lacey…”

Delicately, he touched the fingers of his lower hands to the insides of her knees and guided her to widen her stance. She couldn’t help the mortification that overcame her as she spread her legs. There was no hiding the long, puckered, jagged scars on her inner thighs, or just how inflamed and raw they and the surrounding skin had become. Some of the scarring had been chafed so badly it was bleeding.

Telok curled his hands around her knees. “You stubborn, foolish female.”

Growling, he snapped his gaze back to hers. This time, it held not the heat of lust, but of anger. “You said days. For days you had this hurt, for days it grew worse, and you did not tend it?”

Unable to withstand that burning, reproachful stare, Lacey crossed her arms over her chest and turned her face away, brow creasing. “I didn’t want to slow everyone down.”

“When the pain is too much for you to walk, we will be stopped. Not slowed.”

Lacey pressed her lips together and dug her fingers into her arms. She hated this. Hated feeling so vulnerable in this moment, naked in the damn jungle, hated feeling like she was the weakest link of the hunting party.

“What is there to do about them anyway? Anytime I walk long distances, they get irritated.” Her eyes stung with tears, and her throat tightened with building emotion. “You wanted to me to stay in Kaldarak. I bet you’re wishing I had.”

He wrapped his fingers around her jaw and forced her to face him again as he leaned close. His eyes were eight emerald flames, blazing into her, through her. He growled, “I wish for you to be safe. I wish you were not hurt.” Mandibles twitching, he let out a harsh breath. “I wish you had told me.”

“And why would I have told you?” she asked, voice thick. “Until a few days ago, I was convinced you hated me.”

“Never hated you,” he rasped fervently, fingers flexing.

“Uh, you guys okay over there?” Cole called.

Telok snarled, whipping his face toward the others. “Fuck off!”

“Okay, okay!”

When Telok looked back at Lacey, he stared at her silently. As he drew in a deep breath, his gaze softened, and he loosened his grip on her jaw, stroking it. “You would rather suffer than ask me for help?”

That question, asked so quietly, showed her the cracks in his armor. Showed her the hurt and vulnerability hidden inside his scarred, intimidating exterior.

Her own anger deflated as swiftly as it had come. She leaned into his touch, her vision blurring with tears. “These scars are just something I have to live with.”

“But you do not have to face the hurt alone.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Kir’ani vi’jatai…” Telok brushed his thumb along her jaw one more time before he released her and stepped back.

Wiping her eyes, Lacey watched as he turned toward her backpack, bent down to open it, and rummaged inside until he took out a cloth-wrapped bar of soap.

He unwrapped the soap, lifted it to his face, and sniffed. His mandibles perked, and he trilled appreciatively as he took a deeper inhalation. Dropping the cloth onto a rock, Telok turned back to Lacey, wrapped his left arms around her, and lifted her as he stood.

Eyes rounding, she squeaked as her body came into contact with his and her breasts squished against his chest. She clutched his shoulders. “Telok, what are you doing?”

Water sloshed around his legs as he stepped into the stream. “Caring for you.”

“Oh… So when you said you’re going to care for me, you meant bathe me?”

“Yes.”

He’d said it like carrying a grown woman into a stream and washing her was the most natural thing in the world. Like he’d done so a hundred times before.