From the moment he lost sight of her, Thanred’s pulse quickened. The reaction was unusual for him. Things didn’t normally... faze him in that way. His stomach hollowed, an empty feeling settling inside him.
As the time grew longer, he began pacing, beating back the panic that kept crawling through him. Questions began to fill his mind. Why had he trusted her? What if she didn’t return? Would he really be able to find her?
He trusted his scent. It was what had led him to her in the first place. But that had been a pleasant coincidence. She’d been offered there. Perhaps not for him, but for the Dranark. He had known there would be something there. Her scent had only helped him narrow in on her.
Now that he had left her to the wide, wild woods, she would be able to run wherever she pleased.
His palms began to sweat. He cursed himself for letting her out of his sight. If he couldn’t find her, if she was lost to him, the hunger would consume him, and he would...
His shoulders sagged as he saw her emerging from the forest, her arms filled with twigs and a few larger branches. The air left his lungs in a loud, undignified-sounding sigh. He collected himself just as she knelt before him, laying thefirewood at his feet.
“I’m sorry I was gone so long, Master,” she said, bowing her head.
His cock lurched at her submission. He watched as she began arranging the twigs, scattering dry leaves beneath them.
He’d heard stories of how the humans controlled fire, how they’d sent arrows of fire sailing through the air during the Cramick Wars. That was before they’d been defeated and forced to hole up inside their palisades. His grandfather had told many a story.
He continued to watch her as she took a clump of dry grass, arranged it on a log, picked up a sharp stick and began twisting it against the wood. His eyes roamed her body, his fascination with her growing as smoke began to waft from the tip of the stick.
Something flickered.
Thanred took a step back as embers began to lick up from the grass.
Royla deftly crouched over the grass and blew a gentle breath, giving life into the fire.
His eyes widened at how adept she was.
Picking up more grass, she covered what was already burning. That caught fire next. Moving the log, she transferred the crackling, sparking grass onto the pile of sticks. Flames licked at the wood, some of them catching, crawling up until they were dancing from the top of the heap. Soon the whole pyramid was engulfed, a gentle fire roaring between them.
She looked up at him and smiled.
Something softened inside him. Of all the stories about humans he’d heard, never had anyone told him they could be this clever.
“Does it please you, Master?” she asked quietly.
He answered with a single nod.
She reached behind him and picked up the rabbit he’d killed. Picking up a rock, she began to chop at it.
He watched, puzzled as the creature’s fur came off, exposing the meat underneath. She worked quickly, and this made him more curious, how she could be so skilled. He’d never seen a human female be anything but a vessel for Dranark seed.
It wasn’t long before the rabbit had been skinned, a stick pierced through it, and Royla was holding it above the fire.
His lust became stronger. He wanted to take her then and there, claim her, spill his seed onto her beautiful breasts and mark her as his. But he knew she was hungry and desperate to eat.
So, he waited, watching the meat cook until it began to fall off the bone. When the outside was ever so slightly charred, Royla pulled it away from the fire.
She brought the meat up to her mouth to take a bite, then paused. Glancing at him, she offered him the stick.
A pang of something, something so foreign he couldn’t name it, gripped his chest and wouldn’t let go. That something softened the anger and betrayal that had been brewing since his humiliating exile. His throat tightened. He breathed deeply, trying to suppress the emotions that welled from within.
“Please,” she said quietly. “Try some.”
Taking the stick from her, Thanred had to steel his nerves to keep his hand from shaking. Suddenly she was so much more than just a vessel. She was another living, breathing thing, offering him her sustenance despite how hungry she must have been.
He raised the stick and sniffed. The smell of the cooked meat was overpowering. It smelled delicious. He ripped off a strip and handed the stick back to Royla as he began to chew. The tender meat melted over his tongue.
As soon as she’d grabbed the skewered rabbit, she tore into it like an animal. She ripped strip after strip of it off, barely chewing and swallowing like a hungry animal.
