Page 36 of The Hunter

“Ugh.” Lacey shuddered at the memory of the basic survival classes all the colonists had gone through in preparation for the journey to Xolea. She’d had blisters on her hands for days after they’d learned how to use a hand drill to light a fire.

Cole chuckled and picked up a stick to shift some of the kindling, spreading the flames. “It’s really not that hard.”

“Says the guy who’s been doing this for years.”

“Practice makes perfect.”

Once the fire was crackling, she returned to her bag and pulled out her waterskin. She took a quick drink before pouring some of it into her palm to splash on her face, neck, and chest, giving her skin a quick scrub. It was refreshing after feeling sticky and gross all day.

But there was another pressing matter she needed to take care of.

“I’m going pee,” Lacey announced as she grabbed her spear.

“Need me to come keep watch?” Cole asked.

“No,” Telok said, approaching her. “I will watch.”

Lacey’s cheeks flushed. “Um, I’ll be fine. I’ll make it quick.”

Telok jerked his chin for her to precede him. “You go. I watch.”

“All right, all right.”

She stepped away from the campsite, picking her way around thick brush and large rocks. As she walked, she gathered chunks of damp moss, highly aware of Telok’s presence behind her. “I thought you preferred to avoid me.”

Telok huffed. “You come to make pee or make words?”

“I can do both.”

When he didn’t answer, she looked at him over her shoulder. His eyes were upon her, intense and unwavering, and a different wave of heat coursed over Lacey’s skin. She felt it more clearly than ever in that moment—Telok’s stare could devour her, and she longed to lose herself in it.

She faced forward. “You know, Cole could’ve come if it’s such a bother for you to be around me.”

“No.”

“No as in he couldn’t have come, or no as in you’re not bothered by being around me?”

A long, low growl rumbled from him.

Lacey turned her lips in and bit down on them to keep herself from grinning too widely. So Telok was being jealous and territorial. Over her.

When she found a spot behind a tree that was both out of her companions’ view and clear enough for her to squat without anything tickling her backside, she pointed at Telok. “Stay there. No peeking.”

His mandibles twitched, and he planted the butt of his spear on the ground. “Be fast.”

Stepping behind the tree, she propped her spear against it, dug a small hole with the heel of her boot, shoved her pants down, and squatted.

Nothing like the feel of your bare ass hanging out in the jungle.

But the worst part of doing one’s business out here was how it always seemed like all the other sounds of nature went quiet just so everyone could hear your piss hitting the ground.

Lacey closed her eyes in mortification.

Why did it have to be Telok keeping watch, standing only a few feet away? She much rather would’ve preferred Cole right now, even if he would’ve made a joke about her being overly hydrated, or that the flood season was starting early. Hell, knowing him, he probably would’ve been peeing on the other side of the tree.

She emptied her bladder and wiped with some of the damp moss, using the remainder for her hands before standing and pulling up her pants. Her cheeks were still flushed when she grabbed her spear and walked past Telok. “All done.”

Though his movements were silent, she could feel him stalking close behind her. When they reached camp, Garahk and Ayali had already returned, and the meat they’d butchered was being arranged on big leaves spread out atop a fallen log. The thornskulls converged upon it, plucking up pieces and eating them raw.