When he came back I’d cooled from the fever of his presence and an embarrassed flush heated my neck and cheeks at the sight of him.
“We should go. You likely need rest.” He reached for me and I braced my hands on his shoulders as he lifted me down.
“Thank you.” I followed him to the cliff edge. “Will we be placed back in our—the home you had us in?”
“Yes.”
“And what about…him?” The worry that the captain could come back and finish what he so clearly thought needed to be done, weighed on me.
He faced me. “There is nothing to fear. I've dealt with him.”
“But what if he decides to come and do it himself?”
“He will not. He has been stripped of his position and is confined to his house until my advisors and I convene to decide what punishment should be meted out for disobeying my wishes in this way.”
I was surprised. “Thank you.” I meant it. “But why does he hate us so much?”
Arrazyl huffed out a heavy breath, “there are a lot of details that aren’t precisely known about the first times our species’ met and tried to negotiate agreements, but one thing that is known is that many vorpyr died. One of them was Jzulyk’s older brother.”
I rubbed my chest at the information, thinking about Jaron. I could see how anger would fester after something like that.
“Come, let’s go. There’s nothing we can do to fix the past.”
It was awkward, being held in his arms, thinking of what we’d just done and his abrupt departure and attitude, as though we hadn’t done anything. Did he regret getting caught up in the moment? As much as I probably should, I didn’t. It had been wonderful and my body was still relaxed.
We landed in front of the home we’ve been living in and he carefully set me down on my feet.
“Go rest. And Jacqueline?” his eyes flicked between mine. “I will invite you all out more, if that’s what you’d like. Don’t try to escape again, the danger out there is great.”
“You know we won’t if our lives aren’t at stake.”
He flicked his wing in acknowledgement. “Get some sleep, Jacqueline.”
I stepped inside and flinched when the bar clicked into place. Jaron and Tatiana were at the table. Tatiana had her head resting on it.
“Why aren’t you two sleeping?”
Tatiana sat up. “We wanted to make sure that you got back safely.”
“We wanted to make sure that you got back at all.” Jaron looked me over as though I might have new injuries. I flushed, hoping he didn’t realize that my lips were swollen.
“The captain is contained until they decide what to do with him for disobeying the Vorazyr.” I was suddenly bone tired, and all I wanted was to crawl into bed. “Let’s all get some sleep. It’s been a long couple of days.”
Chapter 21
“The humans rested all day and all night and are still asleep this morning.” Junyv told me, fluttering her wings anxiously. “I left food on their table.”
I flicked a wing. It was to be expected, their human bodies couldn’t take a lot, and they’d been through a great deal.
Junyv tapped her wings together, but I stopped her before she could leave.
“Have Lyyr create a special outfit for Jacqueline for the festival. It should be made of Ghindhar silk and have amber and garnet jewels to complement her eyes. He should have her measurements from her initial visit.” It was last minute, but he was fast and would already have most of his orders done, with only a few stragglers left. Junyv kept her gaze down, buther wings fluttered and twitched with curiosity. “That’s all.” She tapped her wings and left.
As much as I knew I shouldn’t have taken advantage of Jacqueline in her sensitive state, I kept thinking about her body melded to mine, her lips parting for me. She had tasted amazing, and I wondered what her cunt would taste like. Kyvar interrupted the alluring fantasy of spreading her legs and seeing how beautiful her human cunt would be, fully open to me.
He strode through the open door. “I received a report. The largest herd of hykhhas grown to eleven hundred and is terrorizing herds of non-predatory animals.”
“Time for a hunt then, is it?” It seemed like we had just gone, but then again so much had happened lately that time had passed quickly. “The gykshhave started preparing for migration early.” I tapped a stylus on my desk and a projection of my territory came up. I moved it around until I found the spot and zoomed in. It wasn’t in real time, but Kyvar at least could see the location I was referring to. “We need to send a party out to gather their layings as well.”
