Page 41 of Monstrous Hunt
:You’re all fucking idiots.:Axxol filled the grid with blue flares.:I can jump to the location and scout it out. No one needs to fucking lift a single dainty finger to leave this place.:
The only one with a dainty finger was Natalie, but even after days of proximity to the squad’s mate, he still couldn’t bring himself to say her name.
:What about trackers?:Rizan asked.
Fireballs crackled on the grid.:How long have we been here, safe and sound without a single fucking threat? I fucking told you before it’d be impossible to trail us through that last jump. I’ll jump a thousand times if I have to before I end up at the crash site. Then I’ll take my time coming back cross-country. You won’t miss me.:
Shewon’t miss me.The implication weighed heavily in Axxol’s tone, even if he didn’t intend it.
Rizan let out a rattling shriek on the grid.:Meanwhile, you’re starting location is marked loud and clear for anyone watching.:
:Like I’d be dumb enough to jump from here,:Axxol snarled.:I’ll head up country first. I’m not as fast as Red but I can cover a lot of ground in a few days. Lead them completely off the trail:
Natalie shifted beside me, untangling her limbs from mine so she could sit up fully. “The entire squad needs to go.”
“Fuck, no,” I growled, even as she lightly pressed her fingers over my mouth.
“Lohr, what’s the probability that the site near Creel is the real Myrm crash site?”
“Given the human’s accurate marking of our original jump site and the proximity of this second site, I’d have to say…” He let out a long, deep breath. “Nearly ninety percent. Again, assuming our assumptions about DSC’s involvement and motives for exterminating this planet—and us—are accurate.”
She nodded, softening her touch on my mouth. “I’m not on your grid to hear all your plans but the way I see it, you don’t have a choice. I’m your mate. I carry your baby. You can’t leave me here for fear another squad will attack. If the Myrm are there, you need to act quickly. It’s already been over a year since the crash—”
“Wait, what?” Rizan broken in. “It hasn’t been that long.”
Her eyes flared, searching my gaze. “But you said you were sent here a year ago on a rescue mission. The first night I met you. Remember?”
I nodded, opening my lips so I could softly nibble on her fingertips. “It felt like a year, but I’m also not that familiar with Earth measurements. Jumps blur everything and I may have overestimated how long we’d been here. How long have we been at this house? I have no idea.”
“Me either.” She gave me a rueful quirk of her lips. “Somehow I lose track of everything when I with you. How long has it been since the crash?”
“After calculating universal star date time back to Earth’s standard units, it has been fifty-nine days since we came to Earth,” Lohr replied.
Her mouth hung open for a moment, and then she gave me a playful shove, pushing my head backwards from her hand. “That’s it? You made me think you’d been suffering for a year.”
“Every single day without you felt like an eternity.”
The smile she gave me cracked open my ribcage and shredded my heart. I couldn’t breathe for the sweet pain of her beauty. The soft glow of her eyes. Oblivious to my agony, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and gingerly stood up. Hands in the small of her back, she stretched.
I couldn’t stop looking at her. Her stomach, heavy and swollen with my young. Her full breasts, soft and sensitive and full. The graceful swell of her hips. She’d captivated me from the first moment I scented her but now… Round and soft and luscious, she was even more irresistible.
I licked my lips and let a raptor rumble rattle my chest. “So what’s the plan, baby?”
The door slammed open, sending Rizan and Snryx spinning around, talons and spikes armed and ready. Axxol stood in the doorway, hands fisted at his sides, his eyes raging blue fire. “You’re not actually going to let the human decide how we handle this.”
I forced straining muscles to loosen. Lounging back against the pillows, I ignored his belligerent posture. He wanted a fight. I refused to give it to him. “The fuck I am.”
Wide eyed, she looked at me, her bottom lip trembling slightly. I gave her an encouraging nod, letting out another husky purr. “This squad only exists because of you, baby. It’s your planet. Your body. Your offspring. You decide how much you’re willing to risk to save your people. Just know that if anything happens to you, I’m following you wherever you go, even in death.”
Tears made her eyes shimmer. “No one’s going to die.”
“Agreed,” I replied, keeping my voice light and easy. “Other than the human who threatened and hurt you. We each get to eat a piece of him.”
Shuddering, she grimaced. “For him, I’ll give you a pass on the whole eating humans rule.” Pacing back and forth, she was silent for a few moments. What I wouldn’t give to hear her thoughts on the grid. I loved the way her mind worked. She might not have our technology, but there was an element of inquisitive genius in her thoughts that I’d be a fool not to utilize.
Pausing, she turned to face Axxol. “Why did you pick that cave in particular?”
He didn’t answer immediately, though for once, I didn’t think he was deliberately trying to be rude. I watched as his gaze slipped down her body, drinking in her magnificence. His mouth twisted, his shoulders straining. As if simply being in the same room as her—and not responding to her pull as our mate—was physically causing him pain.
