It was the promise of what life would be like that kept her optimistic for the future.
She smiled at Shaagra, who held a heavy branch out of her way so she could comfortably continue on her path. Shaagra was her usual walking buddy, since Vadal had been foisted into the role of clan healer shortly after their mating. Technically, he “assisted” the official elderly clan leader, but no one was fooled as to who was doing the actual work. It kept him busy, but he always seemed to make time for her. Probably more than he would have been able to do if they’d stayed in Evath territory.
Reggie wasn’t blind. She knew that Vadal’s studies had consumed him.
As they passed an unfamiliar bend in the river, Reggie recoiled at the sight before her. A small pack of giant lizards, each one about the size of a VW Bug, lumbered past. They looked something like oversized monitor lizards, except they had thick, hard plates protecting their backs and facial horns like a triceratops. They let barked, long and gruff, to each other as they mingled.
“What the—?”
Shaagra pulled up beside her. “Ah, this must be the clan’s corcoo nest.”
Reggie’s eyebrows rose into her hairline. That was a corcoo? Well, at least now she knew where breakfast had been coming from. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but Reggie simply reminded herself that dinosaurs had a lot in common with birds, or so she’d heard.
Just think of them as big scaly dinosaur chickens. No problem.
Her lips parted to ask Shaagra a question about how the eggs were gathered when a flash of brilliant red caught her attention. Beside her, Shaagra tensed. A brilliant rose red male moved into their territory, heading toward the healer’s alcove where Vadal was hard at work.
“Who’s that?”
“Walooth,” Shaagra said, his expression closed.
Reggie peered at him. “Uh-huh. Okay, let’s go check it out.”
Shaagra blew out a long sigh. “Reggie, I do not think that is a good idea. Better for you to allow us to take care of your safety. I will return you to the nest and then go see what news Walooth brings.”
“Nope,” Reggie said cheerfully, turning about face and making her way toward the healer’s alcove. She gave Shaagra little option but to follower her—unless he decided to physically cart her back to their nest. But by the way the clan females frowned on such things, she doubted he would attempt it out in the open.
It wasn’t that she wanted to run headlong into trouble or anything. The idea of being anywhere near a Kampi was item number one on her Never Again list, and frankly it left in her a cold sweat. It was easier to just let her guys take care of it. But she also knew that she couldn’t stay tucked away, comfortably ignorant. She needed to know what was going on. If this Walooth had anything to report, she really needed to pull on her big girl pants and hear it.
No more hiding behind the tails of Shaagra and Vadal. It seemed like that was all she’d done since Vadal rescued her.
She could feel Shaagra no less than a pace behind her—so close she could reach back and touch him if needed. Together, they entered the healer’s alcove and saw Walooth leaning back on a coil in a position of alert rest.
The male turned his head and smiled when they entered. Easing off his coil, he approached, stopping at a respectful distance when Shaagra released a low rattling sound deep within his chest. Shaagra looked amused and inclined his head toward her.
“The Mother smiles upon you,” he murmured in standard greeting.
“And on you as well,” Reggie replied, her eyes scanning him with undisguised curiosity. She turned to Vadal and cocked an inquiring eyebrow.
Vadal pursed his lips. “Reggie, this is Walooth. He and I grew from nestlings to adults in each other’s company. His mother is a friend of my mother from a neighboring clan. He has been doing reconnaissance on the Kampi for us. Walooth, this is our mate, Reggie.” He hissed between his teeth with clear exasperation. “Reggie, what are you doing here? When we have visitors in our territory, you know that I wish you to remain where it is safer, protected in the heart of our nest.”
Reggie didn’t feel like having this conversation publicly, but if Vadal insisted, she would oblige.
“I don’t see any other females in your clan rushing for their nests whenever there’s a visitor,” Reggie stated plainly.
Vadal looked over her head to Shaagra and something passed silently between the males. Reggie clenched her teeth. She knew they were about to gang up on her over this. He looked to Shaagra because he knew his bonded nest brother would have no trouble pressing her to do as they wanted. Vadal, for all his cool and calm temperament, naturally yielded to female authority, even if he acted like he wanted to track down the world’s biggest sheet of bubble-wrap to secure around her. Shaagra had no such compunction in privacy or whenever he thought he could get away with it.
It took less than a minute before she felt the long length of Shaagra’s tail coil gently around her.
“Reggie, come. We should leave Vadal to his inquiry here,” Shaagra said in a low voice, the slight but constant rattle in his chest the only thing betraying his slight agitation.
Reggie narrowed her eyes at Walooth, wondering what it was about the male that Shaagra found so objectionable. The male was pretty with his perfect red rosebud hue, but she didn’t think it was that. Nor was it the soft mannerisms of the male, for that didn’t threaten Shaagra’s dominance. But he found something threatening about him. She wondered if it was perhaps unsafe to leave Vadal in his company if that were the case.
Vadal didn’t seem particularly worried, although he wore an expression tinged with a strange mixture of exhaustion, guilt, and apology. The exhaustion part she understood. Vadal had been going nonstop ever since the left Evath, but the rest? Why would he feel so uncomfortable?
She looked back at Shaagra and opened her mouth to suggest that Shaagra take himself back to the nest if he wanted to return so badly, and then snapped it shut at the stressed look on her mate’s face.
But she knew her male.
Shaagra would never leave without her, even if being near this other male was triggering his aggression to uncomfortable levels. The only way to calm him would be to stop being selfish and go back to the nest with him.
“All right, Shaagra. Let’s go home. We can leave Vadal and his… friend to talk.” She smiled back at him as she stroked a hand against the scales of his coil. “Let’s see if I can help you unwind a bit when we get back.”
An uncomfortable blush stained Vadal’s cheeks, but Shaagra gave her a fangy grin and gratefully held her close before unwinding his coil and leading the way out of the alcove. Reggie narrowed her eyes once more on Walooth for not more than a heartbeat before she followed Shaagra out.
As predicted, her mate led her straight back to their nest. She felt a bit less like the overprotected weak human when she noted that strangely several of the other females that nested nearby were likewise retreating, followed close behind by their males. Reggie frowned. Maybe there was something up after all. Something bad was on the air if the females were retreating to the safety of their well-fortified nests and surrounded by the guard of their mates.
They passed by Eyuul, his laser-bladed spear clenched tight in one hand as he stared off into the distance of the jungle, his lips pulled back baring his fangs. The end of his tail curled upward and rattled low in agitation.
Reggie followed Shaagra into the nest, surprised when he immediately barricaded the door with a thick bar once it slid shut behind them.
“Shaagra,” she whispered, “what’s going on?”
The male ushered her deeper into the nest, past the central room, into the deepest part of their home, into the nest proper. There he swept Reggie up into his arms and coiled protectively around her, his tail subtly rattling despite his comforting hold on her.
“Shaagra?” Reggie insisted, her fear heightening.
“Walooth wouldn’t have come personally here unless the Kampi are breaching our territory.”
>
Reggie’s hands tightened around her mate, listening to the rapid beat of his hearts.
“What is going to happen?”
Shaagra’s breath caressed her as he rested his nose against her hair. “Now we wait. Vadal will come once he is finished with Walooth and I will join the hunters to deal with the threat.”
Reggie slowly nodded her understanding. “What will I do?”
He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “You will stay safe.”
***
Vadal met Walooth’s eyes and steeled himself for what he knew was coming. Walooth had told him before that never would he come personally with information except in extreme situations of crisis. He never entered Etale Clan territory. As his mother’s oldest child, the responsibility for the security of his clan had always fallen on Vadal, and until he left to pursue his medical career, he’d often coordinated with Walooth’s intel to ensure the welfare of the clan.
He had flirted briefly with the idea of solidifying their arrangement by bonding as nest brothers but had never approached the male, despite the signals Walooth had given to indicate his openness to the idea. Bonding would have been the logical thing to do, and his mother had encouraged it, but he’d been unable to summon up the interest to bind their lives together. He’d been in no hurry to rush to find a nest brother when there were so few females.
When Shaagra, a young hunter then, descended with a number of his clan from their territory nestled within the Shagorith Mountains to trade during the verdant high season, Vadal received the hunters on behalf of his mother. They grew close within the few short weeks that the Agor clan was in their territory, and he’d known without a moment’s hesitation who he was meant to share a nest with. Their clans celebrated the bonding, and Shaagra left Norveth with him when Vadal desired to study in Evath.
When he left, he never imagined that he would return to Norveth, nor be placed in the position of relying on Walooth once more.
Even after all the years that had passed, Walooth was still unreasonably persistent—and obvious about it. Shaagra had stiffened with displeasure in the male’s company, and Reggie had watched everything that passed with wary scrutiny. Although many females welcomed additional males into their nest, Reggie was had clearly expressed that she did not wish to accept other males. No amount of prodding from Walooth would have him attempt to pressure his mate to decide otherwise. He knew from the contemplative look on Walooth’s face that the male was going to press the matter.
“Vadal,” the male said with a long sigh. “do not look at me like that. You and I both know that the Kampi are breaching the territory, and unlike Vori females, we both know that your female is fragile. Your territories are being breached as we speak. She needs more males.”
Vadal hissed out a long breath. “Walooth, she will not accept more males, and not just because of any feeling of Shaagra or myself on the matter. We do not keep her to ourselves simply because we do not wish to share her. It took her time to accept the idea of have two mates, and she adamantly against having any other males. I know that she is not as physically strong as a female of our species, but Reggie has her own strengths. She knows her own mind.”
He brushed his agitated crown coils out of his face with one hand. “You have my sincerest thanks for risking yourself to warn us, Walooth. I am sorry that I cannot provide what you desire.”
Walooth stared at him, disappointed. At first his jaw tightened stubbornly but then he conceded. It was the Vori way to respect the will of their mates. He could not ask Vadal to press Reggie in his favor against her wishes. Vadal was relieved when the male didn’t argue further with him. Instead, Walooth smiled sadly at him and inclined his head.
“You are right, of course, Vadal. Humans are different from Vori. I should not have presumed that your female would be eager to take me into her nest. I apologize for placing you in an uncomfortable position.”
Vadal reached his hand forward and touched the arm of the other male sympathetically. Walooth was a good male. His nature was shy and quiet, but his hearts were brave and cunning. He would be a good mate.
The male returned his grasp before pulling back.
“Maybe I will see how my own chances will be with a human,” he said softly before setting his shoulders back resolutely. “You have maybe an hour, two at most, before the Kampi break through the barrier zone of your territory. Protect your mate well Vadal. May the Mother obscure your nest, and may the divine Fathers make it whole and inviolable against your enemies.”
“Blessings of the Mother be on Walooth. Thank you,” Vadal said quietly as Walooth turned to go. The slight incline of the male’s head was the only sign that he even heard him.
When Vadal left the healing alcove, he was not surprised to see the clan’s hunters amassing in the central clearing. Males he grew up with, males he didn’t recognize who willingly joined their fate with his by bonding to their clan, all preparing to go into battle and protect their territory for the sake of his mate. They required no words to be uttered. Instead, Vadal set his face above his hearts and bowed to his clan, promising himself to them even as they returned the gesture, promising themselves to him in return.
Vadal hurried to the entrance of their nest, pressing his hand against the panel that would send the alert through the nest to Shaagra to give him access. He knew without even testing the door that his nest brother had it securely bolted. He would have done no less, and in fact would be re-securing the door behind Shaagra. The most important thing for either of them was keeping their nest safe. This was the way of it. One male stayed to protect the nest and their female as a matter of last defense, and the other went before the threat to keep it away from the nest.
Within minutes, the door was open and the fierce form of Shaagra greeted him, ushering him into the nest. Shaagra touched his shoulder lightly as an inquiry and Vadal managed a small smile for him before turning to embrace Reggie, standing just behind the vibrant orange coils of the other male. She stared at the pair, eyes glossy, leaning for a moment past him to hug Shaagra to her.
“You’d better come back to me. To us,” she choked before turning back into Vadal’s chest.
Shaagra drew his hand slowly down their mate’s back in a brief loving stroke, his eyes holding the depth of his intense feelings. Shaagra’s heart always felt everything so intensely. It was part of what drew Vadal to him. Shaagra surprised Vadal by drawing forward and pressing his cheek against his own, a sign of depth of affection and loyalty rarely shown between males except the closest of bonds forged over a lifetime. Vadal leaned into it, breathing the spicy scent of his nest brother in, uncertain if they would ever see each other again.
Shaagra straightened and looked him in the eye, his expression stern.
“You take care of our mate. Let none touch her,” he rasped.
Vadal nodded, hugging Reggie closer to him, and watched the male depart their nest.
Chapter 15
Shaagra held his spear firmly. In his youth, high in the mountains, he had trained in the use of traditional spears tipped with ore mined from the depths of his clan’s mountainous abode. It was the only spear he ever kept. He could not deny that the laser-tipped spears of the other clan members were lethally efficient, but he trusted the unbreakable blade of his own. His spear had many shafts over the revolutions, but always the same tip forged by his father when he came of age to join the hunters.
The other hunters greeted his presence, raising their spears toward him. Since they had returned to the clan, Shaagra had reaffirmed his place among them as one of their elite hunters and warriors. He solemnly returned the salute, acknowledging the males who would be putting their lives in danger for the sake of their nest and mate.
He stopped in surprise before a familiar red male at the fore of their number, the muscles of his lithe arm bearing easily the weight of the spear as he raised it in greeting. The male smiled at his surprise.
“Walooth, why are you still in Etale terri
tory? I thought you were returning to your clan.”
Walooth grinned and shrugged helplessly.
“I could not abandon your nest to the Kampi. Oh, I tried to leave, but didn’t get far. I confess I attempted to convince Vadal to allow me to join your nest, to offer my protection, but even after his refusal I couldn’t leave her potentially vulnerable to the Kampi. Your mate may not wish for a third, and you and Vadal may not wish for me to be in your nest, but I will help all the same. I am unable to do otherwise.”
Shaagra studied the male. For revolutions, he’d resented the male who had occupied Vadal’s company in his youth, who had made it no secret that Shaagra’s presence was an unwelcome interference. Yet this same male, after repeated rejections, was there to help them and guard their nest at his side.
He studied the male with disbelief. The male was lean and quick, which made an efficient spy, but he did not have the muscle or bulk of males who typically fought.
Still, he would not turn the male aside.
He eyed him and spoke slowly. “This will be dangerous, Walooth. You risk a great deal to fight for our nest.”
Walooth kept grinning with a forced gaiety. “I didn’t have anything else scheduled today.”
The males around them laughed and jeered at the comment, and even Shaagra was forced to smile.
“Very well,” Shaagra acquiesced. “We appreciate your guard, Walooth. It is welcome. May the Fathers keep you strong in the face of adversity.”
Walooth raised his spear once more in silent acknowledgment as Eyuul approached with a tense expression.
“All the hunters are amassed, Hunt Lead Shaagra,” Eyuul informed him, a questioning eye drifting over Walooth.
“Eyuul, I am putting Walooth here under your second flank. He is quick and may get to areas easier than some of our larger brethren. I trust you will utilize his abilities well.”
Eyuul looked the smaller male over and grunted. “I think I have a good use for him. Not afraid of heights, are you?” he demanded.
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