Page 19 of Lera of Lunos
My foot slips on a wet patch of rock and I throw out my arms, barely keeping myself from tumbling into the water—but still landing atop the soiled laundry. “Damn it.” My breath comes in pants as I examine my stinging left forearm, where a long bloody gash runs from wrist to elbow. Adding insult to injury, deer blood now soaks into my breeches. Holding the wound against my mouth, I sit back on my heels and growl at the cold sky.
An animal growls back.
“Not now, Tye,” I say without turning around. “You are at least partially responsible for all this, you know.”
Behind me, the growl comes again, this time with theclick, click, clickof claws against stone. Then... nothing.
A cold shiver runs along the length of my spine, the rushing of the river suddenly too quiet. “Tye?” Slipping my knife from its sheath on my thigh, I stand and slowly turn around.
The tiger is there, two paces away.
“Stars, cat, I thought it was someone else,” I say, letting the familiar green eyes and swishing tail soothe my nerves as I re-sheathe the blade.
The tiger’s nostrils flare, his eyes narrowing on the drops of blood coming from my arm. At the deer blood saturating my scent. The tail stops swishing. His ears perk and still.
I swallow, a fine tremor of fear rushing through me, my muscles waking with the need to be elsewhere. Now.
The tiger advances, his great maw of white teeth glistening in the evening light. A large pink tongue jets out to lick a twitching nose. The click of claws on stone reverberates through my body as the predator’s focus zeros in on my blood again. When the tiger lets free a roar, there is a different sound to it. One that I’ve not heard before.
Marking my escape route, I slide slowly to the side.
The tiger shifts his weight to block my path, sharp green eyes missing nothing.
Behind me, the icy, rushing river beats against the rocks. In front of me, there is a wall of claws and teeth and muscle.Fight or freeze? Fight or freeze?My breath halts.Fightor—
My boot lands on cloth, the wet fabric sliding against slippery stone. I barely register the flash of orange fur in the time it takes me to fall.
The pain of my hip hitting stone is nothing compared to the agony of the tiger’s jaw clamping around my shoulder,his great teeth pressing deeply into muscle.
Pain explodes in my shoulder and I bite back a scream. Tye’s tiger might let me live, but it is unlikely he’d extend the same courtesy to my males, should they come. Gathering all my strength, I try to kick the tiger off me instead, my foot hitting solid muscles.
Unimpressed, the tiger swings around and drags me away, my boots bouncing along the smooth stones. I raise my other arm and cling onto the fur of his neck, trying to take pressure off my shoulder. Between the pain and the tiger’s thick limbs, glimpses of shoreline show us moving away from the river toward the mountain’s darkness. Fire flares in my shoulder with each bump, until, several steps later, my head hits a stone and the world blinks away.
13
Lera
Consciousness washes over me like a dream, my nose filling with the scents of mossy cave, animal fur, and blood. Cracking open my eyes, I see evening light shining beyond the opening, as warm and golden as before. I’ve not been out for long, then. Just enough for Tye’s tiger to have dragged me to... wherever this is.
Pressing my hand to my screaming shoulder, I lift away my tunic collar. I don’t know how, but he seems to have dragged me here without tearing or breaking anything too vital. Dark blue, purple, and red-tinged bruises bloom over my chest and collarbone and disappear around my shoulder.
Examination over, I slowly look around. The cave is about ten feet deep and tall enough for me to stand upright, if I could get to my feet. A pace away, Tye’s tiger sits on his haunches and watches me.
“Is this your lair?” I mutter. “More to the point, am I here as your friend or your supper?”
The tiger opens his maw and roars again, that same wrong sound that I heard before. The one that shakes me to my core, especially now that it echoes from the walls, surrounding me with its force. Violence, yes, that’s there, but mixed with something a great deal more frightening. Desire.
Not good.The fire in my shoulder banks itself to a nagging voice in the back of my mind while I race through my options. Reaching inside myself, I search for any spark of Tye’s magic. Nothing. Tye’s tiger doesn’t engage magic the way his fae form does, and there’s nothing for my body to mirror off of. Right. Slowly extending my good arm, I grope around for a good-sized stone, wrapping my fingers around the prize.
“Easy, Tye.” I make my voice low and soothing, as if calming a skittish horse. Bringing my legs under me, I shift my weight onto my knees. “Just walking out now.” When the tiger stays put, I dare to start rising.
Tye’s tiger roars again, one front paw scratching the ground, a fevered blaze consuming his wide green eyes. My breath halts as the tiger stands, his hackles up, his dangling maleness heavy with readiness.
Icy terror crackles along my nerves, my heart pumping so hard and fast that my body shakes with each thump. When the tiger takes his first step toward me, I launch my stone at his head and bolt for the exit.
A wounded yelp squeezes my chest and I can’t help halting. Turning. Feeling acid rise up my throat at the sight of blood soaking Tye’s gorgeous fur, turning the white tufts of his ears pink and red. “Are you all right?”
The tiger swipes at me, his claws out and sharp.
