His jaw ticked. Relief filled him. Perhaps this obsession was not only his own. Did she feel the depths of it too? Did humans feel the Instinct’s pull too?
When he managed to refocus his attention on the furnace, he cursed and realized his mistake. He’d left the metal too long. It sat in a melted, unusable pool at the bottom. He’d have to start again.
As he looked up at the sky to gauge the time, Jaxor knew there would be a storm soon. He felt it in the air. How violent it would be was unknown, but he would open more drainage lines as a precaution. At the very least, he could prop the door against the cave wall as protection from the storm if he couldn’t finish the hinges in time.
The sky was darkening quickly. Nightfall approached rapidly during that season.
Just then, he heard thekekevirbegin to rouse. Small chirring sounds echoed down the tunnels, spreading into the base. They knew night came too. They could also sense the storm.
Jaxor looked at the furnace. The hinges could wait, he decided. But he’d left thekekevirtoo long. They bred and grew rapidly and needed to be culled on a regular basis, especially with the storm approaching. It would be a long night otherwise.
Chapter Ten
Jaxor had been gone a long time.
Erin sat in front of the fire, facing the main tunnel. He’d gone down it without a word after picking up a long blade from where he stored his weapons—a sword, really, though it’d been curved.
Her tunic and her hair had long dried. The fire Jaxor made that morning still burned bright and it burnedhot. Even the fires back in the Golden City hadn’t been this hot and she wondered if it was because of the type of fuel he used.
She rubbed her hands down her legs, a little uneasy. She wished that he would stop doing that…going off on his own without an explanation. Especially since thekekevirseemed to be going crazy. Every second, she heard echoing hisses and shrieks.
Is he in there with them?she wondered, shuddering at the thought, wondering what would have possessed him to do such a thing if he was.
The air felt sticky that night. Cold, yet sticky. Glancing above her, at the brief sliver in the fog bank, she saw the sky had changed to a deep indigo. Then the wind shifted and covered the gap. When she looked around the base, the darkness combined with the intense firelight cast deep, menacing shadows.
A part of her was tempted to hide in the little sleeping cave again, but there was no door to protect her now and she didn’t want to get trapped if one of those creatures managed to find her there. She’d even plucked a knife from Jaxor’s weapon stores, though she knew he’d probably be angry once he found out. Still, having it at her side made her feel slightly protected, even though she hadn’t the faintest clue how to use it to protect herself.
Another eerie cry emerged from the tunnel, though it sounded closer than the others. Erin straightened, peering at the entrance, her heart picking up in her chest. Her hand closed around the handle of the knife at her side.
Then she heard other sounds. Different ones. Scraping. Metal. Something wet dragging across stone.
She saw his eyes glowing from the darkness before he fully came into view. And when he did, she almost gasped. Streaks of dark blue blood painted the tunic he wore. His pants were in a similar state. He even had some on his cheeks and arms. Blood dripped off the sword dangling in one hand at his side. In his other, dragging behind him, was one ofthem. Thekekevir. Or at least she thought it was. Then she realized Jaxor had already butchered it. Were theyeatingit? Was this what he meant when he said thekekevirwere a good resource to have?
Erin stood hesitantly, favoring her right foot, eyeing the creature.
“Are you hurt, Jaxor?” she asked, furrowing her brow, inspecting him.
“Nix,” he grunted, depositing thekekevirclose to the fire. Its shiny meat gleamed in the firelight. His eyes were on her when she looked up at him. There was something different in the way he looked at her and Erin’s arms prickled with goosebumps, her pulse throbbing.
She swallowed thickly. It reminded her of…
The first time he’d looked at her. Possession. Want. Those things were in his gaze.
The sight of him should make her afraid. Deeply afraid. He was covered in blood. He had a dead creature at his feet. His lethal blade was covered in blood and other things she didn’t want to identify. He lookedunhinged. Insane.
So why did her body respond to that look? Why did her breath quicken, knowing that she had his attention so fully?
Erin licked her lips, remembering that Luxirians could scent when their mates were aroused. She squeezed her thighs together and asked, though her voice came out huskier than intended, “Are there more?”
“Nix,” he grunted. “We only need this one tonight. The rest I disposed of. Off thefacev, to keep predators away.”
How many had he killed? she wondered, looking at him.
Many, she decided, a moment later.
“Predators?” she repeated.
His brows lowered. “There are worse things than thekekevir,rixella.”
