Zan looks at these sweet-smelling, fragile females and clearly sees a weakness that will get the entire clan slaughtered by Lucek. He is terrified the matings will dull our sharp claws, and the shifting dust will simply bury us all.
”Reshaping is not the same as breaking,”I project, my frequency deadly calm.
Zan stares at me, his amber eyes narrowing sharply in the dark.
”And if this fearless female reshapes you?”Zan asks. The rebellious thought loudly rings between us in the cold stone space.”If the undefeated dra-dam yields completely to a tiny human who does not even understand the ancient vows she speaks? What then for the safety of the clan?”
I hold his gaze, maintaining absolute physical stillness. I do not answer his sharp question.
I do not answer him because the terrifying truth belongs only to the dark.
He is afraid she will reshape me.
My darkest fear is that she will not. Icraveto be reshaped by her. I fiercely want the vicious, soft little female to break me down and build my strength back up to serve her. I am the deadliest warlord on this brutal planet, and my only screaming instinct right now is to wrap my body around hers, bury my face in her sweet-smelling neck, and belong to her.
Zan waits rigidly for a response. When none comes, he bows his head stiffly, turns, and leaves the armory.
I go back to violently sharpening the spear.
I grind the stone against the bone until the edge could split a grain of sand. Then I pick up another. The armory grows pitch dark as Ain drops below the high ridge. The stone cools against my broad back. The rhythmic grinding sound fills the tight space, and for a while, it drowns out the scent of her soft neck.
For a while.
The cavern is dark.The deep dark cycle has settled over the sleeping clan.
I walk my outer patrol in silence. I am carrying the thickest, furred hide from my own private stores.
I pass the quiet water channels. I pass the sleeping healing alcoves. I walk the absolute perimeter line near the females’ sleeping partition and rigidly stop at her space.
Eh-ree-kah is fast asleep on a single, rough hide blanket. She is curled into a tight, miserable ball, her soft, delicate knees pulled high up toward her chest, shivering. The harsh, biting chill of the dark cave presses down on her. Her breathing is shallow. Her delicate, fragile body constantly fights Xiraxis,fights the severe lack of water, fights the exhaustion of keeping the other Daughters alive.
She is so tiny. So breakable. She should not be suffering alone on a freezing cold stone ledge. She should be wrapped directly against my chest, warm and protected by my heat.
I stand completely still in the deepest dark before stepping silently to the edge of the stone mat.
My towering shadow swallows her completely. I carefully drape the thick fur over her shivering form and she instantly burrows deep into the warmth of it, letting out a soft, completely unconscious whimper of sheer relief.
Mydra-kirseizes and my glow flares.
I slowly, helplessly reach my sharp claw out.
My rough palm completely hovers exactly one tiny inch above her sweet brow. The soft heat radiating off her skin is completely intoxicating. The sweet, sharp scent of her, like a storm-wind tearing across the open dunes, fills my lungs until there is no room left for air. Mydra-kirswells, screaming at me to drag her against my chest and carry her deep into my own private alcove.
If I touch her, I will not pull away. If I touch the soft skin of her jaw, I will never let another breathing warrior smell the exact same air as her again.
My claws tremble as I rip my arm back from the severe temptation. I strangle the glow down until I am nothing but a dark watcher standing in the void.
The silence of the dark roars in my ears.
She does not know what she said in the cavern,my logic argues as I retreat into the deeper tunnels where neither the light nor the mindspace can possibly reach me.
But my empty hand burns from the ghost of her heat in the freezing dark. The scent of her skin clings to my lungs, and I know the terrifying fire in my blood is never going to break.
Chapter 6
I'M NOT SAYING HE'S NESTING, BUT MY WAKING AREA SUDDENLY LOOKS HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS
ERIKA
