Once we were all ready and night had suitably soaked the sky, I led Priya out of the cave for the final time. Breena had already gone ahead of us, desperate to take in as much fresh air as possible. So, it was just Priya and I stepping through the tunnel of stone.

  Her little hand was curled around one of my weapons straps, her dainty knuckles bumping my back with every step. Every skirting drag of those impossibly small knuckles made my skin heat strangely, tingles running down my spine to the base of my tail.

  Luckily, the disturbingly sensational contact did not last long. As soon as we stepped into the light of the moons and stars, Priya let her hand drop.

  I got to work fastening her pack and my few belongings to Breena’s side. Normally, I’d fly with my bow ready in one hand. But I’d learned it was impossible to use a bow, an arrow, and keep Priya stable on Breena’s back at the same time. Priya could not be counted upon to hold herself steady, either. Ultimately, I tied my quiver to Breena’s side, too, slinging my bow across my body and instead choosing to hold a long blade that I could throw one-handed like a spear if needed.

  Hopefully, it will not be needed.

  I was a skilled warrior. I could hold my own in battle.

  But with Priya to look after, to protect, the thought of an attack was less a thrilling one and more... Terrifying.

  This bothered me greatly. I could not understand it.

  I hadn’t been truly terrified before in all my life.

  Even when scaling the side of a jagged cliff as a child, when my feet had faltered and I’d almost fallen, barely catching myself with the claws of one hand, I hadn’t felt true terror. Just the hard smack of my heart against my ribs demanding that I survive. And I knew I would.

  I always did.

  Priya was a survivor, too. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but I could see it now. I could see it in the determined set of her dark brows and delicate jaw. Could see it in the way she’d braided her hair, neat and tight, for a flight I knew she dreaded. But even that flinty survivor’s spirit could not keep her soft body alive out here. She had no claws to catch herself on stone before she fell.

  But I did.

  So much responsibility for such a small package, I thought, frowning at her.

  I could feel the fondness behind that frown of concern.

  I was not even sure what terrified me most.

  The thought of Priya getting hurt.

  Or the fact I was so terrified of her getting hurt.

  Well, obviously, I’d want no female to come to harm, I reasoned with myself as I watched Priya gently pat Breena’s feathers, murmuring softly to our mount.

  Our mount?

  Enough of this. It’s time to find her friends.

  An obnoxious little voice growled at me from somewhere in the back of my skull.

  But you’re her friend, too.

  I physically shook my head to dislodge the words.

  We’d become friendly allies out here, certainly. But I had no real claim to her. Even if I had grown a little too pleased by the sight of her smiles, the sound of her voice, the little annoyances and inconveniences she caused me.

  “Come on,” I said. The faster we get going the faster we get this over with. “It’s time.”

  Priya turned from Breena, her gaze catching mine. Her eyes were luminous and huge, her dark sight stars twin pools that drew me deeply inwards. Threatening to drown me.

  She bumped her head up and down in that odd gesture of hers.

  “I’m ready.”

  I stepped up to her, placing my hands on her waist.

  She gasped softly at the contact. Maddeningly, her little sound went directly to my groin. Even through the stiff fabric of her cloak, I could feel the narrowness of her waist and then the flare of her hips under my claws. I could feel her tension, too, vibrating through her narrow frame. Her breaths came shallow and quick.

  “What is it? I need to lift you up,” I growled through clenched fangs, doing everything I could to ignore the sweet scent of her recently washed and braided hair.

  “I know!” she stammered. “I just... I wasn’t ready!”

  “You just said you were ready!”

  She pressed her plush lips into a thin line, avoiding my gaze.

  “I meant I was ready to go, not ready for...”

  “Not ready for me to lift you up so that we actually could go?” I asked flatly. The fact I also did not seem entirely ready for the effect her nearness had on me was beside the point.

  “Just lift me up, will you?” she muttered, smacking her palms against my chest. I was sure the movement was meant to demonstrate her particular brand of feisty human stubbornness. But with such weak limbs, it felt more like a gentle little pat.

  She didn’t take her hands away, staring at where her small fingers splayed on my chest.

  She seemed as unable to remove her hands from my chest as I was unable to remove my hands from her waist. It was as if the deep core of her drew my fingers inward against her curves, locking my grip in place.

  Lift her and let her go, Lerokan.

  Curse me, it was difficult.

  But I’d always been a strong warrior. And I could do difficult things.

  Without letting myself get sucked further into this embrace, I lifted her without warning and swung her over onto Breena’s back. Her hands slipped off my chest as she cried out in surprise. I removed my hands from her waist as soon as possible after making sure she was settled.

  I grimaced when I remembered that just letting go of her wouldn’t sever the contact. Because now I had to leap up and settle myself behind her, holding her tightly against me. I hadn’t given such a position a second thought our first night together when I’d snatched her from the plains.

  But things...

  Things had changed since then.

  For some incoherent reason, I found her beautiful, now.

  And that made such nearness... Challenging.

  It is too bad she is not a woman of the Deep Sky. She could fly Breena without my help, I thought sourly as I dawdled, checking the straps on our belongings once more. I could feel Breena’s six-eyed gaze upon me. She knew as well as I did that the straps required no checking.

  Women of the Deep Sky did not usually travel on braxilk out of tribal territory, but they were trained from childhood, as boys were, to fly with a mount. They usually used such skills to travel to other valleys and caves for foraging while males did the majority of the hunting.

  I tried to picture Priya as a Deep Sky woman. Tried to shift her features into something more familiar.

  But I did not like the result.

  Her features already had become familiar to me.

  And as irritating as it was to accept the betrayal of my body and my blood and my cock around her now, a small part of me was glad she needed me. I had saved her. I had the skills to help her. I was a worthy male who could prove his strength to her with ease.

  Perhaps it is not so small a part that wants her to need me.

  “Are you coming?” Priya asked, gazing down at me from Breena’s back.

  “Yes,” I grunted. There was no more stalling to be done. No more straps to quadruple check even though the first check had been sufficient.

  I leaped up onto Breena, my thighs spread wide across her.

  Instinctively, Priya scooted backwards, getting closer so I could hold her properly. A pang in my groin and the rapid thickening of my cock had me scrambling for some sort of cover between us. I snatched my quiver of arrows from Breena’s side and jammed it in front of my betrayal of an erection just as Priya’s small rump bumped it. Luckily, she said nothing about the quiver of arrows there. Perhaps she thinks this is how I usually fly since I did it last time, too.

  I kept my one spear-like blade ready in my left hand and looped my right arm around Priya’s front, drawing her further back against me. Unlike our last flight, her pack was safely strapped to Breena’s side. This freed her hands to grasp my forearm. Little tingling veins of fire snaked under my skin, originating where every one of her fingers touched my bare hide.

  I could not afford to get so distracted by her. It was time to fly.

  I clicked my tongues and Breena responded instantly. Her many legs crunched downward then snapped straight, propelling her up as her wings beat.

  As we ascended, Priya’s grip got harder on my arm.

  “This flight will be smoother than the last,” I said, leaning down to speak next to her ear. This time, as far as I could tell, we wouldn’t be blocked and chased by the Vrika. At least for now, the great being was nowhere to be seen.

  The cold whip of the wind, and the force of focus required to watch for enemies, soon distracted me from the swelling at my groin. Priya remained silent, concerned with her own thoughts, as we flew through the last of the peaks and soared over the plains.

  It soon became apparent that the storm had not actually ended, just moved. At the far edge of the plains, where the ablik fields began, the night turned solid - a dark, whirling wall lit occasionally by streaking sky veins. The resulting booms met our ears slowly due to the distance.

  We were nearly at the battle scene, now. Corpses came into focus. A grim fist of dread squeezed my heart.

  Priya’s friends.

  But...

  No. They were not Priya’s friends.

  The remains of three men littered the plains, along with the bodies of three braxilk.

  I did not even see the body of the one-armed man I’d seen fall.

  After casting my gaze about once more to make sure the area seemed secure, I ordered Breena into a controlled descent. We landed beside the grove of harlok trees where I’d first seen Priya and the two other women. A quick glance between the harlok grove told me their tents and belongings were now gone.

  Priya wrenched her eyes open now that we’d landed, her head whipping back and forth.

  “Where are we? Is anyone - oh.”

  Her words died as her gaze settled on the fallen men and their mounts.

  “I saw no other bodies,” I told her softly. “And your group’s tents are gone.”

  She twisted where she sat, looking up at me with painful hope carved into her features.

  “So, that means they’re alive, right? Maybe even Varrow, too!”

  I highly doubted Varrow had survived his hit. That would likely have been a lethal hit even with a skilled healer and Vrika’s blood ready at hand, which I doubted they’d had.

  “At the very least, it appears your group was victorious in the fight,” I replied, avoiding the question about Varrow. “Whoever among them survived clearly had enough strength to pack up the tents and leave with any injured or fallen men. Where they went from here now becomes the question.”

  Because the storm had swept from the mountains out over the plains, any recent tracks had been obliterated. It had been eight days since her group had presumably been here, and finding them now would not be easy.

  “Well, it’s likely at least some of them went back to the settlement,” Priya said, turning to face forward again, squinting at the dark wall of the storm ahead. “No way Gahn Razek would keep Jocelyn and Camille out here after being attacked. They probably took my two friends back to the settlement. Varrow, too.” Her voice cracked a little on the fallen man’s name, but she kept going. “I honestly don’t believe the entire group would have gone back and left me here, though. There were seven male warriors in the group, and obviously, none of them are lying dead here. I think it’s likely at least a couple of them stayed behind to follow you and try to find me.”

  That made me gnash my fangs. Which was absurd, really. The entire point of coming out here was to return Priya to her group. The fact she believed some of the men had remained behind to find her should have been good news.

  It did not feel like good news.

  “I will not be able to track those men now,” I hissed, my voice much more vehement than I’d intended. “The storm has swept any trace of them away. And this territory is vast. Besides, if more of Gahn Thaleo’s men found them, they may not even be alive now.”

  Priya twisted around again to stare at me.

  “Can you just let me have a little moment of hope and happiness? Please?”

  Her eyes glimmered, threatening to spill her unnerving tears. I hardened myself against her sadness.

  “I am trying to be sensible about what the next step is,” I said firmly.

  Are you? Or are you trying to convince yourself, and her, that it would be easier to just stay with you, now?

  Priya sighed, sagging, looking even smaller than before.

  “You’re right,” she said softly. “Gahn Thaleo clearly doesn’t like outsiders around here, and every day I’m out here looking for the other men, men we don’t even know are still alive now, is putting both of us in danger.”

  She squared her shoulders and met my gaze once more.

  “I suppose there’s just one thing left to do then.”

  Yes. Stay here, I thought.

  “I need you to take me back,” she said, her voice unwavering.

  “Back?” I repeated, wanting to clarify that she meant back to the mountains we’d just come from.

  “Back,” she reiterated, her eyes fierce. “Back to the Cliffs of Uruzai.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Priya

  I was asking a lot of Lerokan. I knew it. So did he.

  The words turned the air between us thick with tension. His sight stars spun, his mouth an unhappy line pressed across the bottom half of his face.

  “I know it’s a lot,” I said. “Really, I do. But we just established that it’s not safe for me to stay out here. You know how to survive, you know how to avoid Gahn Thaleo’s men. I’m just going to get in your way out here. It would be better if you took me back. With Breena, the journey would take a fraction of the time that it took us to get here on foot.”

  Lerokan let out a grim, growly breath through his nostrils, his mouth never relaxing from that hard, thin line.

  “That seems like the best option,” I said. “The journey back is dangerous too, don’t get me wrong. But I’ve got my maps. I know where the quicksand is if we need to land in the Death Plains. And we can just fly over most predators out there, like the ablokoi. The other tribes won’t attack you if they see me with you, I promise.”

  Still nothing.

  “Well, I suppose we don’t have to decide right now,” I said, swivelling to face forward once again.

  I should have been ecstatic that it looked as if most, if not maybe even all, my friends had survived the battle. But... I wasn’t. My throat thickened, my eyes wet and hot.

  I was about to cry. Because I had to leave Lerokan.

  If he agrees to take me back there...

  He had no obligation to do so, of course. But I believed that what I’d said was true. I’d be a burden for him out here if I stayed. Without the support of his tribe, or my human friends, he’d be stuck looking after me, protecting me, hunting for me every single day.

  I knew he probably already felt enough regret and resentment for picking me up in the battle and now being stuck with me. I didn’t want that resentment to grow even bigger if he were stuck with me forever.

  Even if the idea of staying with him was a temptation so sharp it made my breath catch.

  “That is not the only option,” Lerokan said slowly from behind me. I blinked rapidly, trying to make the tears go away.

  “Really?” I asked, not letting myself look at him. Not letting myself hope that there was some option that allowed me to be with both my friends and him.

  But there is, isn’t there?!

  “Wait! I know what the other option is!” I cried before he could speak. Again, I found myself wrenching around to look at him. “You take me back. And you stay there. Stay with... With us.”

  I’d almost said, “With me.” Caught myself just in time.

  Lerokan did not look impressed with this suggestion.

  “Why not?” I asked, the tears back again. Humiliatingly, one of them slipped down my cheek. I watched Lerokan’s sight stars track the salty wet drop as it rolled to my jaw. I swiped furiously at my eyes, then focused on him again. “You’ve been banished from your tribe. You’re all by yourself out here. You could come back and join us as an ally. That’s why we came out here in the first place. To gain allies.”

  “Even with everything you propose, the journey back would still be an arduous one,” he said. His face was even more unreadable than usual beneath his mask. “And when I said there was another option, that is not what I meant.”

  “Oh.” The word was a hard croak. I sniffed and wiped my eyes some more, trying not to linger on the sting of rejection. I’d asked far too much of him. Asked him to take me all the way back, and to abandon the lands of his birth in the process.

  “I could take you to Gahn Errok.”

  I whipped my hands away from my wet face, staring at him in shock. That hadn't even occurred to me as an option because... Well, it seemed the least likely to make either of us happy.

  “He banished you,” I said slowly, trying to understand his logic.

  “Yes,” Lerokan confirmed, his voice giving nothing away.

  “So... You’d either drop me off and leave me there to continue your exile, or...”

  “Or I’d have to answer the Vrika’s call.”

  “But you don’t want to do that!” I cried. “That’s, like, the worst-case scenario for you, right?”

  In all honesty, it kind of was for me, too. Either I’d be stuck with a tribe who didn’t know me and potentially didn’t even want me, utterly friendless with Lerokan banished. Or, I’d have to watch Lerokan answer the Vrika’s call and probably fall madly in love with another woman right in front of me.

  “No.” Lerokan’s voice was a brutal scrape down my spine, ripping me from my thoughts. “No, the worst-case scenario is I put you in unnecessary danger, either by keeping you with me out here, or by taking the long journey back. You may have your maps, but that land, with all its monsters, is unknown to me. Besides, even if I wanted to take you back, the storm would not permit it, at least not for some time, yet.”

  Shit. I hadn’t even considered the stupid storm. It raged beyond us, lightning spiking down every few minutes, punctuated with delayed booms of thunder that rolled over the plains. There would be no way to circumvent the storm. We’d have to once again wait for it to move on before we could even attempt to get past the ablik fields and into the Death Plains.

 

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