Page 14 of Monstrous Hunt
:Anytime, baby,:I growled back. I meant it—and they knew it too.:Whatever she’s into, I’m game.:
Ozone crackled around Axxol, and his jaws worked like he was crunching bones. He didn’t say a word as he whirled on his heel and led us back the way he’d come. After a few minutes trekking through thick undergrowth, he ducked beneath a slab of rock overhanging a dark slit in the cliff. It was barely big enough for him to fit through. Riz stepped through first and then helped steady Natalie as I twisted through the narrow opening. Axxol dropped down to his hands and scooted beneath a low section, disappearing on the other side of thick rock.
Unease churned in my gut. I couldn’t see him now thanks to the fucking rock.
:I’ve got the bastard,:Rizan assured me.:Sound passes through the layers of rock and dirt just fine.:
Bending low over Natalie, I shuffled beneath the shelf jutting down from the ceiling. When the stone scraped the back of my neck, I dropped down to my knees for the last few crawling steps, but then the chamber opened. I caught the slit of blazing blue fire in the darkness against the red-hot heat of Axxol’s body. I didn’t remember his body temperature being so high before.
:It’s abnormal.:Snryx damned near chortled.:Our human mate has had quite the effect on him.:
Good. Let him fucking disintegrate in the blaze of the hottest supernova in the universe.
Natalie shivered against me. Yes, the air temperature was colder in the cave. However, I didn’t think that was the sole cause of her physical reaction. The dank, moist smell of old dirt filled my nose. When I tipped my head back to scan the ceiling, it was like staring into the depths of the deepest trench in the ocean. I couldn’t tell how deep we were beneath the surface. I couldn’t see threats approaching.I’m blind.
My heart beat quickened, adrenaline pumping through my veins. The raptor hissed inside me, dragging claws up and down my ribcage. He didn’t like this place, either.
Data burst onto the grid. Lohr sampled a pool of water and a pile of melted stone.:How interesting. This stalagmite is well over a million years old.:
Pulses of electromagnetic energy made my skin tingle and my ears itch as Rizan mapped out the cave on the grid. Ahead, sunlight trickled down through a crack in the ceiling, giving me an idea of how thick the stone was above our heads. Nearly one-hundred meters. And according to his map, the tunnel ahead dipped even deeper.
“This is where she fell into the river,” Axxol said.
“I didn’t fucking fall, asshole,” she muttered, her teeth chattering. “I rolled on purpose.”
I hugged her tighter, tucking her arms up beneath her body so I could warm her. “We stashed some supplies a few minutes away. We’ll go there next so I can wrap you up in a blanket.”
“I’m fine. I just don’t like this place.”
I kissed the top of her head. “Me neither.”
Ignoring us, Axxol pointed down a narrowing side path that twisted deeper into the earth. “This tunnel dead-ends in a snug little room where I gathered supplies for her stay. It’s too narrow for us all to go, and the room is too small for all of you at the same time.”
“I’ll go,” Riz immediately trotted down the tunnel, loading everything he sensed to the grid. He could see perfectly well in the dark, and it only took him a few seconds to map the cramped room.
No. I refused to call it that. It was a fucking holding cell without even a container for her to use for when she was sick or needed to pass waste. I smelled plenty of both. The thought of her trapped in the pitch-dark, cramped space, throwing up, seriously injured and alone, made rage boil through my veins. A thin, narrow cot. A couple of rough blankets that scratched and irritated her silken skin. No hot food. No fresh water or fruit. Only dried crumbles in packets that she had to eat while huddled on her bed.
I could all too easily see her lying there. Crying. Hurting. Unable to walk because of her knee. Her health quickly failing in such poor conditions, both physically and mentally.
Seething with murderous rage, I slowly turned to face Axxol. “If I wasn’t still knotted inside her, I’d rip you limb from limb.”
“Go head, Red.” Lips curled in a snarl, he braced, chest out, shoulders broad, fingers already curling into claws. “Try me. Let me remind you who’s the motherfucking alpha of Z288C.”
Natalie tensed against me, her head popping up so she could look up at me with wide, scared eyes. Giving her a lazy smile, I let out a slow, relaxed laugh. “It takes more than genetics and breeding to make an alpha, Big Rig.”
“Oh yeah?” Veins started popping in his neck and shoulders. Scales peppered his skin. “Easy for an inferior dynos to say.”
“What are you going to do? Kill us all?” I rubbed my thumb on her bottom lip, completely ignoring his posturing. In the end, that’s all it was. A show. He’d already admitted to his mistake. He knew he was fucking wrong to jump in and take my mate in such a risky maneuver. Let alone force her to endure such a terrible place.
“It takes trust to lead a squad. And you’ve lost ours. You’ve lost us.”
8
RIZAN
Icaught myself staring again.
The way Kroktl filled her up, straining her flesh so wide it must surely hurt her. Though the ragged sounds she made indicated only pleasure. I couldn’t help but wonder how I would fit inside her if—and that was an astronomically large if—her mate would ever allow it. I’d only been allowed to breed once, and the female hadn’t had any complaints. But that didn’t fucking mean I’d done a decent job at the deed. If I ever got the opportunity to touch Natalie, I wanted to give her as much pleasure as her mate. But my anatomy might cause her some alarm.
