The lingering effect of having mated with my female is burning in my blood. It wants me to stay in this alcove forever. Itwants me to build a wall of rocks over the entrance, hoard dried meat, and spend every waking dra-kirbeat exploring the limits of Eh-ree-kah’s tiny body. It does not care about the clan. It does not care about Lucek. It only cares about keeping her exactly where she is.
But I am the dra-dam.
My people are bleeding. The enemy holds one of our own.
I let out a slow, silent breath through my nose. The pain of leaving this bed of furs will be immense. The beast inside me is already roaring in protest at the mere thought of releasing my grip on her hips. We must hold a council. We must track Lucek. We must hunt.
But not yet.
I tighten my arm around Eh-ree-kah, closing my eyes. I have a few more moments before Ain fully clears the horizon. The clan can wait just a little longer.
Chapter 20
I AM COMMANDED TO HIDE MY BIOLOGICAL SUPERIORITY
KOL
“Kol?”
My name is whispered softly against my chest.
I open my eyes. The alcove is bright with yellow light. I slept. I have never slept after Ain rises.
Eh-ree-kah is propped up on one elbow, looking down at me. Her dark mane is a wild, tangled mess.
But my eyes instantly lock onto her collarbone.
Dark, purple bruises are blooming across her pale skin. They perfectly match the shape of my mouth.
A cold spike of horror sinks directly into my gut. Ihurther? I was so consumed by the need to claim her in the dark that my jaws damaged her fragile body? I am a monster.
I reach up slowly, my digit trembling as I trace the air just above the bruised skin. I cannot even touch it without fearing I will hurt her more.
“I... broke you,” I rumble.
I pull the furs back from her body to check the damage.
It is worse than I thought.
There are more bruises. A dark mark on the curve of her hip where I gripped her too hard. A faint shadow along her ribs where my chest pinned her into the stone. And on the inside of her thigh, high up near the crease of her leg, a deep, angry bloom of purple where I had ground against her soft skin while I was buried inside her.
I jerk my claw back from the furs as if they burned me.
Iama monster. I am the worst thing that has ever happened to her fragile body. I was rebuilt toprotectthis female, and the first thing I did was crush her beneath me like a sandfin under a rock.
I need to get Mee-rah. The small female knows about human healing. She will have medicine. She will know how to fix what I have done. I need to leave this alcove immediately and never touch this female again with my clumsy, destructive-
Eh-ree-kah giggles.
The sound stops me dead.
I stare down at her. She is looking up at me, covered in the marks of my teeth and my grip and my careless, feral hunger.
And she is not afraid.
“Your face,” she manages, the words muffled behind her fingers. “You look like you accidentally sat on a baby.”
I do not understand.
