Page 71 of The Hunter

The bird’s attention immediately caught on the meat, and it released a series of excited chirrups.

Tearing off a small piece, Lacey smiled. “You can’t tell the others, okay?”

She tossed the meat in front of the bird. The larkhet launched off the branch and caught it in midair with its beak, wings flapping as it landed gracefully on the ground. Its head tipped back as it swallowed the food. Then it returned its eyes to her, giving another chirrup.

She chuckled. “You’re really not acting very scared about getting close to me.”

When she peeked in Telok’s direction, he was already looking at her.

Shit, did he see?

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She smiled innocently. “Oh, we’re just talking.”

His eyes flicked to the larkhet and narrowed. “You are…okay?”

Something in his tone made her think he wasn’t asking if she was hurt.

“All my marbles are accounted for and securely in their bag.”

Telok’s mandibles twitched, and he canted his head.

“I’m fine,” Lacey said with a chuckle. “Really.”

He huffed, keeping his eyes on her for a few heartbeats before he turned his attention back to his harvest.

As soon as Telok’s back was toward her, Lacey cast a sly grin at the larkhet and said in a quiet voice, “That was close. Want more?”

The bird let out a warbling sound as it bobbed its head.

“Since you’ve kept your promise, you can have the rest. I need to get back to work. Don’t want the others to think I’m slacking off.” Lacey tore the jerky into smaller bits. “I wasn’t supposed to feed you, so don’t get me in trouble, okay?”

After throwing the meat toward the larkhet, Lacey turned back around to resume her task, but she paused at what she saw. There was something within the tall, thick bushes ahead of her, partly obscured by shadows. It looked like…gems. Blue cat’s eye gems, defined by the faintest reflections of light, with two larger ones at the center and smaller ones symmetrically trailing out and upward.

She tilted her head. She was sure they hadn’t been there before…hadn’t they? Otherwise, how could she have missed them? Staring at the gems, Lacey subconsciously leaned closer. They were hypnotically beautiful.

They blinked.

She started. And that’s when she took in the sight before her more fully. Those…those were not gems. They were eyes. Eyes!

Lacey’s own flared.

The blue eyes shifted closer, unveiling the face they belonged to. A face with light gray skin and mandibles, which were covered in white fur and tipped with black fangs, tucked against the cheeks.

It was a vrix.

“Holy shit,” she rasped as fell back onto her ass.

The vrix’s eyes also widened, and it quickly put a finger to its mouth as though to tell her to shush.

Lacey blinked, and her brow creased. That was…such a human gesture.

The vrix glanced past her before it slipped a gray clawed hand out and gently moved aside some of the vegetation, revealing three of its legs and some of its body.

A male. But a small male, who looked like he couldn’t have been much bigger than Lacey. He clearly was neither a shadowstalker nor a thornskull, and he definitely didn’t match Callie and Urkot’s description of spiritstriders either.

He beckoned her with a curl of his fingers and whispered, “Come with me, human.”