“Of Tansey?”
“Of you living your life. I do not advise you to forget your mate and youngling, but you need to live, my friend.”
Letting go of those who counted on me to protect them is not easy. Neither is knowing I may fail again. But I do not say these words to my grak, even when he speaks to me as a friend. To show weakness before him would mean losing his respect.
Respect is all I have left.
“Get away from me!” a female screams in the distance, slicing right through me.
Tansey.
I dive into the water and emerge onto the shore, screams ringing in my ears. I race through the brush, branches slicing across my face, chest, and arms. I’m so focused on reaching Tansey that I’ve lost all sense of where I am or where my grak is in relation to me. Neither is good, but I don’t care as the drive to reach her becomes all-consuming.
Her scent, laced with fear, reaches me before I spot her. I push past a narrow pass of trees to find Baloq pinning Tansey down, his loincloth on the ground feet away. She brings up herfoot, catching him in the stomach, but he merely pushes her leg back.
With all my energy, I throw myself against the sartog, knocking him away from her. My fists fly, pounding into his face over and over. Blood pours from his nose and mouth as one of his tusks slices my palm, but I don’t stop. Ican’t. Too much rage pours out of me. For Haaka, Veeya, and now Tansey.
“Verig, stop!” Tansey shouts.
I hear her pleas, but I cannot comply. The male tried to take what is mine. Even if she never lets me mate her, she’s not his to touch. I will protect this female with my life, as I should have done with Haaka and our youngling.
Metal glints in my periphery as Baloq draws a knife.
I’m yanked off him from behind as his knife slices through the air, narrowly missing me.
“Enough!” Atox roars and slams me against a tree trunk.
My rage turns red hot as a branch bites my shoulder from the force. I shove Atox back, and my hand grips a knife.
“Verig!” Tansey shouts. The fear in her voice pulls me from the haze. She’s safe, no longer in danger. What, then, frightens her?
I survey my surroundings. Woods, Baloq—bloody and on the ground—and my hand gripping a sheathed knife as I stand with legs braced, facing my grak.
Vekk me. I was about to draw a blade against my grak.
Tansey stopped me.
I lift both hands, hold my palms up, open and empty, showing my surrender. There is no excuse for attacking my grak. Or thinking of it. Except I wasn’t thinking, only reacting to my female’s screams. I will not humiliate myself by trying to excuse my actions.
“Killing him only weakens us,” my grak growls, choosing to ignore my near-fatal error of drawing a knife against him and instead focusing on the larger issue. I tried to kill Baloq.
Vekk the male. I still want to kill him.
“I will take care of Baloq,” Atox’s voice booms. “You will return the female to the tunnels. Is that clear, Neld?”
Twice, he’s reminded me that I serve him, that his word is law, and he is to be obeyed, no matter what. Despite every bone in my body telling me to remove Baloq’s head with my sword, I say, “Yes, Grak.”
Atox stares into my eyes, assessing if he can trust me to leave Baloq to him. For over ten years, I’ve held his trust.
No longer.
My eyes wander to my female, who’s shaking, and then to Baloq. The need to kill him returns full force.
Atox must be reading my thoughts, for he shoves me so hard I’m thrown into Tansey.
The moment my hands grab hold of her to steady her, her scent wraps around me. Her soft flesh beneath my fingers calms me. A mere touch from this female drives the bloodlust from me. She’s the priority and she always will be.
This is why Atox is our Grak. He knows his warriors and how to motivate them, including me.
