Page 9 of Monstrous Hunt
Flattening his tongue, he worked the wound, scraping away the dried blood and god only knew what else. It fucking hurt and my stomach clenched again, ready to hurl at the thought of licking pus and infection out of a wound. Though I didn’t eat raw meat, either, and his species didn’t eat anything but live prey. Including humans. Which didn’t make me feel any better.
Kroktl had licked my wounds too, and they’d healed faster according to Snryx. As long as Axxol didn’t make the cut deeper, just to taste the blood. Or bite me. Though the sounds he made sent terror shrilling down my spine. A lion settling in to rip and gnaw on a downed zebra, rolling his eyes up at the other lions. Warning them away from his feast, while he gripped my muscle in his jaws.
I tried to distract myself by thinking about what he’d meant by temporary. What was his ultimate goal? If he planned to lure Kroktl here… Why? To kill him? To kill me so he could have his squad back? Or something else entirely?
Axxol released my thigh, and I risked a little sigh of relief. Until he started licking my other knee. He leaned over me, his arm locked over my hips, pressing me down against the rock. His mouth open against my flesh, his teeth grazing my skin.
Frantic little twitches rocked through me. My brain hopped around like a hot potato.
Did he think I was his mate too? Was I? Why else would he lick me like this? It had to be more than instinct. Kroktl had licked me before…
Oh fuck.
What did male lions do when they took over the pride?
They killed all the other male’s cubs. So the females would come back into heat, and his own DNA would continue the line.
Axxol lifted his head, a dark look in his eyes. Hunger. For flesh? Or lust? I couldn’t tell. My heart pounded, the fine hairs on my neck prickling with alarm. Yet I couldn’t deny the heat spiraling in my core.
Guilt flooded me. It felt like a betrayal. Not just of Kroktl but of myself. My own pride and sense of self. This alien had taken me by force from my mates. He’d fucking swallowed me and locked me in a dark cave by myself for forever. I’d almost gone out of my mind in the darkness, all alone and hurt.
His fingers moved to the roughly tied knot of my sling. He meant to lick my arm. And then what?
You know what comes next, Nat.
And the scary part was even though I was injured, my body was game. Which only scared me even more.
I opened my mouth and a scared croak escaped. More like a hiccup. Finally I got my brain and throat to cooperate enough to ask, “Can I have that bottle of water? I’m really thirsty.”
His jaw ground back and forth, the muscles ticking over his chiseled cheek. But instead of retorting something harsh, he released me and strode back the way we’d come.
Heart pounding, I scanned the water, weighing my alternatives. Stay here and endure whatever “healing” he decided to try next, and probably find out exactly what mating the alpha of the squad would mean. Especially when he found out I was already pregnant.
Or take my chances in the underground river when I was too injured to swim.
Before I could change my mind, I quickly leaned over and let my body slip into the water. Icy cold water sucked me down. Fighting the urge to gasp and struggle for the surface, I rolled onto my back, letting the current carry me away into darkness.
6
KROKTL
Desperation hammered in my skull. She was nearby. So fucking close I ought to be able to smell her. My raptor paced back and forth, tail slicing through the undergrowth, while Lohr sampled the ground, trying to find any trace of her.
Overhead, Rizan let out a screech.:I’m picking up a cave system approximately three-hundred feet below the surface.:
Fucking bastard. No wonder I couldn’t see her. Axxol had her tucked away under stone.:See if you can find the entrance.:
Dropping lower, Rizan coasted in slow circles over the trees, letting his echolocation roll through the ground. A map displayed on the grid. Sprawling tunnels and larger chambers linked together beneath the surface for miles.
:I’m picking up increased moisture and calcium carbonate in the soil,:Lohr said.:We should be close to a water source that cut the caves through the limestone in the first place.:
Water—that I could definitely smell. I sprinted forward, weaving through the trees, leading the way to a river.
:Good,:Lohr strained to keep up.:Head upstream and find where it exits the rock.:
Rizan shifted his scan to capture the meandering path of the river, allowing me to cut directly across a thick grove rather than waste time doubling back and forth. The terrain roughened, tall cliffs steep on either side of the river.
:That’s a good sign,:Lohr said.:There should be game trails down to the water.:
