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Oh man. The last time he asked me that, he went down on me and gave me the pussy-licking of a lifetime. Somehow I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. “Yes…but please don’t ask me to eat that thing. Please don’t.”
He laughs. “I would never ask you to eat this.”
I exhale in relief. “Thank goodness. Because there’s no way.”
R’jaal gives me another one of those grins, crazy with utter delight, and leans in closer. I think he wants to kiss me, and for some reason, I’m good with it. I lean toward him—
—and quicker than I can think, he slashes my arm with the knife in his hand and drops the worm onto my wrist.
“Oh! Ew! R’jaal! What the fuck!” I try to brush it off, horrified at the prank he’s playing on me…when the creature moves for the wound in my skin, faster than I can catch it, and burrows into my flesh right where R’jaal cut me.
This is a nightmare.
I’m going to faint.
There’s a cold surge inside my veins, like a needle racing through my blood, and I look up at R’jaal with sheer betrayal.
“What the ever-loving fuck,” I whisper as I grow dizzy and pass out all over again.
Sixteen
R’JAAL
R’slind slumps in my arms as the khui embeds itself in her body. Had I not seen this happen to every single kit born on the beach, I would be terrified of the fact that R’slind has fainted yet again. As it is, I am relieved, because it means that the khui is working. I remember D’see fainting when she received hers, and Leezh tells everyone that will listen about how she fainted after R’hosh stepped on her chest to give her the life-saving khui.
I cradle my mate in my arms as she continues to shiver, her eyes shut. I pry one eyelid open, hoping to see the spark of blue life there, but there is nothing yet. It is too soon, I suppose.
Please, let this work, I tell the khui. Work for my R’slind. The sa-khui always hunt the sa-kohtsk, thinking that the biggest and most powerful of creatures is the best khui, but I know any creature will work provided the khui is strong enough to live inside the new body. But what if it is too late and R’slind is too weak?
What if she will not resonate to me? What happens then? I caress her cheek, watching her face for signs of improvement, for the glow of the khui to appear under her closed lids.
“Is she dead?” Set’nef returns to my side, limping a bit. He is covered in blood, but not as much as I am.
I shake my head. “She lives. She will be fine.”
He stares at me for a long moment, then shakes his head. “I wish I understood your words. Or that I understood any of this. Your female is dying. You can give her a swift death with your knife and spare her the pain of withering through the curse upon her.”
I glare at him, holding her closer to my chest as Set’nef holds out a blade out to me.
He throws another hand up in annoyance. “Fine. We do it your way.”
Tal’nef returns a short time later, panting. He rests two hands on his knees, clutching his knife in another and gesturing at the jungle of mushrooms behind him. “Kin’far is gone. I chased him back into the tunnels. When the others hear of this—”
“They will not hear of it,” Set’nef says wearily, rubbing his face. “That is what he counts on. He knows we will not return.”
His brother huffs in frustration. “So he gets away with this?”
“We go to the oracle,” Set’nef says. “It will have the answers for us.”
Tal’nef moves to my side, eyeing R’slind. “Dead?”
I growl at him in anger.
He raises his hands into the air, backing away. “I was merely curious, stranger.”
Set’nef gets to his feet. He rolls out his ankle, and at his brother’s curious look, shakes his head. “I twisted to get away from one that jumped at me. Better to have a sore ankle than be eaten alive.” In the distance, the sound of bones crunching interrupts, and he winces. “There is still at least one more. Once they are done feasting upon each other, they will come this way, following the trail of blood. We should go.”
Tal’nef puts away his blade, tucking it into his belt. “Time to climb. I will carry the female.”
I want to growl again, clutching R’slind tightly to me. She is mine, and I should be the one to carry her. But I have seen how fast they move, and how they use all four of their arms to maneuver along the vines with great speed. I would not be able to keep up.
Set’nef grabs his bag and shoves the water-tubes into it, then begins to climb the vine-covered sheer cliff. He pauses a few arm-lengths up, turning and watching us, waiting.
