"Have you considered taking the role?"
He finally looked at me, his scarred brow wrinkling as his good eye focused on my face.
"Me?"
"I saw your tent.It's twice the size of mine, and something tells me you didn't demand the extra supplies to build it.These males respect you already.It wouldn't be a struggle to convince them to follow you."
"They respect you, why don't you claim the title?"he asked.
"With my mate already drawing challenges from every corner?No, brother, these males would rather see me dead than follow me."I already ached from the battles I'd won today and I knew tomorrow would only bring more males eager to claim the only available female for miles.
"Then gentle her and be done with this.Penny told me she shared your tent last night.These challenges are of your own making."
I grinned, not denying his words."My Firebrand requires a bit of strategy to gentle."
Taz didn't trust me yet.She thought I was playing with her, maybe a few more battles would convince her I saw her as more than a place to warm my cock.Though the urge to fully claim her had been powerful last night.With the taste of her on my tongue and her gasps of pleasure still echoing in my ears, it had taken all my control not to sink into her.
Just the thought stirred my blood, and I adjusted my cock as subtly as I could.
She was still holding herself back from me.I could wait until she truly surrendered to the bond.
"Besides," I continued."These males still see the gladiator that killed turochs to survive the Pit when they look at me."
"I killed just as many at your side."
A fact that tortured him more than it did me and the others could sense it.
"But you never raged," I reminded him, wishing I could say the same.Adak's control had been legendary in the Pit.Never in the dozens of matches he fought, did he let his instincts overtake him.Every death at his hands had been quick and merciful.He honored every opponent he had beaten, and no male here could accuse him of glorying in his kills.
I, on the other hand, struggled to remember the faces of those I'd defeated.In the madness of a bloodrage, I'd taken the lives of my brothers, and the haze had stolen even my ability to mourn them.
This band would never follow me as chief and they shouldn't.
"I will support you wholeheartedly as chief.I'd be honored to be your second, but keeping my mate alive is more than enough responsibility for me."
Speaking of my mate, she’d strayed out of sight and I wondered if I should go find her before she ran off and into another percer.
Or a less honorable male.
Pushing to my feet, I brushed the sand off my haunches and headed in the direction Taz disappeared.I caught the eyes of several males and I sent up a prayer to Padru that no one would challenge me until I hunted my female down.
I didn't relish fighting my brothers.The challenges were a fact of life, the price I paid for claiming a female in a world that seemed mostly empty of them, but I was sore, and all I wanted was to corner my Firebrand and see how much I could make her blush.
Last night had been more than I could have imagined and I was eager to continue my pursuit.But Taz was acting prickly and I had a feeling she was going to make this harder than it had to be.
I found her standing on the edge of camp, a bag slung over her shoulder, her eyes fixed on the percer head someone had mounted on a stick.
"Going somewhere?"I asked, stopping several yards behind her.
Her shoulders stiffened but she didn't turn around.
"Just looking around," she said, dropping her bag to the ground as she walked toward the trophy."Are they all this big?"
I let my attention move to the sightless eyes of the percer.
"The females are."
"The males are bigger?"She sounded horrified and I couldn't help but chuckle.I could remember my own shock when I'd first come face to face with these beasts.
