Page 113 of The Hunter

“Can you take me to the shower?” Lacey asked, her soft, muffled voice shattering his thoughts.

Telok clenched his teeth, biting back both the growl and the words of protest that threatened to escape him. She wanted to wash off that scent? Wanted to clean away the traces of what they had shared?

After letting out a slow breath through his nostrils, he nodded with a grunt and changed his course, heading for the shower closest to their den.

A male and two female winddancers stood within the enclosed space, chatting with buckets of water on the floor beneath them as they scrubbed swaths of cloth. Their attention turned to Telok as he entered, their eyes first lighting up in warm greeting before quickly widening in concern.

“By their eightfold eyes, are you all right?” the male asked in vrix, stepping forward.

One of the females glanced rapidly between Telok and the bundled human in his arms. “The human, is she⁠—”

“Leave,” Telok growled, flaring his mandibles.

The winddancers winced back from him and hurriedly collected their silks and buckets, sloshing water over the sides. They scurried past without looking at him again.

“They must’ve found kurghests,” the male said in a hushed voice.

“We had best check on the others,” one of the females replied. “More might have been hurt.”

Telok set down his and Lacey’s belongings beside the doorway and strode deeper inside.

“Are they gone?” Lacey asked, parting the blanket to peek out of it.

In as gentle a tone as he could manage, he said, “Yes.”

“Okay. You can put me down now.”

He didn’t want to. Apparently, his arms didn’t either, as they refused to move for several heartbeats, remaining stiff around her. This was the only way he could ensure she was safe. The only way he could protect her. Once he let go…

With a huff, he forced himself to set Lacey down on her feet, forced himself to withdraw his hands, forced his arms down to his sides to keep from reaching for her again.

She stilled and groaned. “There’s more?”

Telok canted his head. “More?”

“Your…cum.”

His mandibles twitched, and his cock throbbed behind his slit. “Ah…”

Drawing the cloth back from her head, she studied her new surroundings. There was an unsteadiness about her well beyond the trembling Telok had felt while holding her.

Lacey took in a deep inhalation, expelled it slowly, and turned to face him. “Thank you. I can—” Her eyes rounded. “Oh my God, Telok…”

Under her gaze, his wounds throbbed with warmth, spreading their aches deeper into his body. “I am fine.”

“Bullshit.” She moved to the shelves on the wall, which bore folded cloths, jars of oil, and baskets filled with cleanleaf. “You are not fine.”

Plucking up a cloth, she faced Telok. “You carried me all the way back here, and I was too stuck in my head to realize you were injured and bleeding the whole time.”

“Next time you may carry me, and we will be even.”

“Why do you always find your sense of humor at the worst times? You could’ve hurt yourself more, Telok. There is…so much blood.”

Even had they torn off my legs, I would have carried you back without complaint. So long as you are safe.

He stretched his arms to the sides and pivoted at his waist. A few of the many cuts he’d suffered tore as he moved, sending twinges of pain through him. “There is no hurt.”

“That’s twice now you’ve lied to me.”