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The members of the group that had gathered all turned to look at us as we descended. Well, all of them but one. Zuh-Tephanie made a show ofnotturning to look at me, ignoring me and fiddling with her cloak.
So, you will not even look at me, mate?
I did not say the question out loud.
It felt too pathetic.
And I refused to be pathetic.
I landed near the group and dismounted, striding over. Zuh-Tephanie kept her eyes fastidiously elsewhere. Three new women, the ones who often spent time with her, closed ranks around her.
I stopped in front of them.
“Oh, there is no need for that,” I growled, jerking my chin at the little wall of new women that had been erected in front of my mate. “I do not plan to snatch her from among your ranks.” I decided not to add that I would happily snatch her from them if it would not make her even more hateful towards me than before. Frankly, my claws ached to do it. But my mate’s reactions confounded every instinct I had. So, I fought the urge.
“Then what do you want?” This question came from a new woman I recognized. Valeria. She’d been in the mountains before.
“I merely want to wish my mate a safe journey,” I retorted. Then, my voice turned hard and cold as high mountain ice. “And to warn you all that if anything happens to her, you won’t even have time to blink before the arrow of my punishment is upon you.”
Tok, the golden giant, snapped his mighty jaws, stepping in front of a wide-eyed new woman with spirals of brown hair.
“I would like to see you try to harm us, little mountain Gahn,” Tok growled. The spikes along his arms twitched, threatening to emerge.
I met his gaze unflinchingly, though the use of “little” sent rage pounding through my veins.
I should know how irritating that is considering I call my brother Little Lerokan just to incense him...
“Enough of this,” barked Valeria. “Gahn Errok, you are welcome to do whatever you wish, whether that be to remain at the settlement in our absence or to follow us back into Deep Sky territory. What you will not do, however, is disrupt my mission. We are leaving momentarily, and you will not get in the way.”
“No, I will not get in your way,” I said smoothly, keeping the irritation out of my voice. “But Iwillsee you soon.”
Those last words were meant solely for Zuh-Tephanie, who finally looked up from the front of her cloak. My jaw clenched, my fangs clanging off of each other when her eyes met mine. Curse me, those defiant eyes could burn a man from the inside out.
Theywereburning me from the inside out.
That gaze scorched me. Branded me.
I was hated and I was hers.
And there was nothing I could do about it.
At least...
Not yet.
I watched my mate go with the others into the cliffs to find the wingless thing. Even though I was secure in the knowledge that she would soon be in the Deep Sky, just as I’d wanted, I felt further from her than ever.
I watched her the entire time before she disappeared from view.
Not once did she look back.
“Come, Togo,” I said, returning to my mount’s side as the sun rose higher. It glanced off the smooth blades of his feathers. “It’s time for us to go.”
