AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just answer the question,” Honor barked. “Did you feed it?”
“Just pizza rolls,” I said, shaking my head. “Why?”
“Fuck.” Honor switched off the cattle prod and tossed it and the machete aside before lifting his hands.
“What the hell is going on?” I demanded from everyone.
“Axel,” Honor said in a calm, even tone, “I’m going to need you to talk to it, convince it that we don’t mean you any harm.”
“What? Why?”
I’d never once seen Honor afraid, not in all the years we’d spent together, but he looked terrified standing out there that night. He stood very still, arms raised, while Ghost growled in my ear. “Because that thing thinks you’re its mate, and if you don’t talk it down right fucking now, me and Ziggy are dead.”
The scent of bloodhung in the air like sweet nectar, begging me to taste it. I snarled, resisting the urge to launch forward to devour the human backing away from me. Protecting my mate was more important.
My tentacles unfurled from where they usually remained hidden at the base of my wrists and along my ribs, spreading into the air as I stretched to my full height with a roar. The others had come to take him away from me, to hunt me and take what was mine.
The t’chl stepped between me and the human with a snarl, claws extended, and fangs bared. Blood dripped in three deep gashes along his front, staining the ground. My tongue flicked out, tasting weakness in the air, fear. My claws twitched in response, not because I wanted to rip them apart, but because Ihad to. The drive to defend what was mine was all-consuming, maddening.
Until my mate put a hand on my chest. He stepped in front of me, blocking my path forward. I growled down at him andhis foolishness. Didn’t he realize he was putting his back to a dangerous predator? Still growling, I shoved him aside, but he closed a determined hand around my forearm.
“Stop,” he demanded firmly.
I hesitated, cocking my head and looking down at him in question.
“They’re not going to hurt you, are you, Honor?” He threw a long look over his shoulder at the human who was still slowly backing away. “In fact, they were just leaving.”
“We can’t leave you out here with an irqed,” Honor protested. “That thing is dangerous.”
“I’m telling you he’s not,” Axel insisted. “He’s only acting this way becauseyouattackedhim! Leave. Now!”
“If we run, we’re dead,” growled the t’chl, and he was right. If they ran, I would have to chase. Only prey ran from irqed.
“Ghost.” My mate slid his hand down my arm, closing narrow, delicate fingers around my wrist.
For a moment, I was distracted by the softness of him, his lovely pliant copper skin bright against the darkness of me. My tentacle wriggled free from the duct hidden on my wrist to wrap tightly around his arm.
“They don’t matter,” he whispered. “Let them go. You want me? I’m right here. But if you hurt them, I’ll never forgive you. Do you understand? If you attack Honor, I’ll leave.”
I snorted and lifted my head to look back at my quarry.
Axel yanked his hand away from my grasp to reach up, taking my jaw in both hands to pull my head back down to look at him. His soft flesh was perilously close to my sharp teeth. So close. Too close! I stilled, afraid that any sudden movement might cause my teeth to graze his skin and rip him open. If that happened, I didn’t know if I’d be able to stop the blood fury. Would I be able to resist attacking my own mate? It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
I looked into his eyes, pretty eyes the color of perfectly crunchy red-brown leaves. Soft eyes. Pleading eyes.
“Go, Honor,” my mate said, clearly speaking to the others.
“But Axel…”
“Ghost won’t hurt me. Not as long as I stay with him.” Soft fingers stroked along my jaw.
I closed my eyes and leaned into the touch. So gentle. So distracting. So…I didn’t have words for the strange swooping feeling in my stomach, or the light fluttering in my diaphragm. All I knew was that the need to be close to my mate was getting stronger, my chest heavier.
Grass rustled as the t’chl took a step back and then another. I wrestled with my need to look up at fleeing, bleeding prey against the strengthening desire to lean harder into my mate and let him pet me more. Eventually, curiosity won, and I cracked open an eye, watching the t’chl and human retreat, never once giving me their back. They disappeared over the hill, but I didn’t relax, not until their scent was so weak, I knew they had to be some distance away.
A small growl escaped me, and I pulled away from my mate just long enough to climb to the small rise above so I could see as far as possible. There was no sign of either the t’chl or the human, but I didn’t trust my eyes, or my nose. T’chl were good hunters and knew how to hide their scent. Between that and the blood the t’chl had left behind, my nest was tainted, no longer fit for my mate.
“Ghost?” He shifted below me, nervous. I could smell it on him. Did he think I meant to hunt down the escaped t’chl and human?
