Page 18 of His Human to Chase

“There was gossip in my tribe before I left,” Rallan starts talking when the room grows quiet. “Males who started to believe the stories Xarr told at the dining tables at night. Most did not believe him, or at least I do not think they did. A few, however, believed him enough to start talking about making their way up to this tribe. I thought with the storms, they would not dare to make the venture since your tribe is so deep into the trees, but they must have waited out the storms in the safety buildings.”

“You knew,” I feel the rage under my scales start to boil, and I launch myself at Rallan before I can register what I’m doing. Thankfully, Dath is on me in an instant, tackling me to the ground and holding me in place with a hand around my throat and claws pressed into my chest.

Xarr is one of the males who was banished with the others after attacking Ralleth’s mate when she was first brought to our tribe. Most cannot survive out in the trees after being banished, but somehow Xarr survived long enough to make an argument with another tribe to house him. He convinced their leader that our tribe was blessed with females to earn his freedom. The tribe leader sent a few of his males to see the validity of Xarr’s claims. Rallan was one of the males, and he was there to warn us of what Xarr had said. We were blessed that he was more inclined to help his brother than do the bidding of his leader, but it appears that Xarr continued to tell others of the sweet females the goddess has blessed us with.

“Calm, brother, “ Dath hisses in my face as though calm is something any of us can feel anymore. “He told us as soon as he came to the tribe. You were already in the trees with your mate. There was nothing we could do but wait for your return.”

I wince as Dath’s hand tenses around the fresh bite mark on my neck. I have cleaned and covered it with a few pieces of clean fabric. I am sure he has opened the wound again, and I will need to replace my bandages.

Dath notices my wince and releases me. He is the strongest out of all the males in the tribe since he was the first chosen warrior, and he found his mate before Toron or I found ours. He will always be slightly stronger than us, which means he tells us what to do, and we do it.

“I apologize,” I hiss at Rallan as I stand back up and urge my body not to attack him. I look toward the door, where I can feel my mate waiting for me in the dining room. We are tethered together, and I need to give the tether only a small tug, and she will come running through the great hall until she has her hands on me.

“Not yet.” Dath clasps my shoulder and turns me back to face Ralleth and Rallan. “We need to discuss what our plans are to make sure there are no other males in the trees.

My lips pull back into a snarl, the fangs dropping menacingly as I do. “There’s more?”

“There were about ten or so who were all interested in what Xarr had to say when I was still in the tribe.” Rallan rubs one of his horns. “They were the ones who spoke about it openly, so I am unsure if there were others who said nothing and plotted quietly to do the same.”

“What could they even want with human females?” I ask. My human is the best thing that has ever happened to me, but that does not mean that human females should be causing such an uproar in other tribes. “They are small and weak. They have their own females in their tribe. Females of our kind that are more suited for them.”

Rallan looks at his brother before he says something, checking to make sure that it is okay for him to say his next words. He waits for a small nod before saying words that make us all even angrier.

“They want human females because they are small and weak. These are not honorable males who wish to find out if there truly are new creatures that can act as substitutes for our own females. Females are also dwindling in numbers. We don’t know why, but many males have been born since before the illness first took all of the females of this tribe, but for every five males, only one female has been born in my tribe. Those who are less desirable are finding themselves desperate and, in their desperation, are turning to less honorable ways of finding female companions.”

I am not the only one whose claws have fully extended and who is hissing loud enough to shake the great hall. There is a reason Ralleth has called us to speak with him, and it is not just to brief us on what happened to my human and me in the trees. It was not an accident that the three males found Skylar. They knew exactly what she was and how she could not escape them on her own.

“We need to make sure none of them return to their tribe to tell of our females,” Ralleth’s words are clear to me and every male in his room. He wants us to track them down and kill them so they never think of stepping foot in the trees again. I don’t care about supplies or relationships with the other tribes, and I am starting to think our leader is willing to throw away those relationships as well. “Find them, and kill them.”

I give him a short nod and then leave the room. Dath stays to talk with Ralleth more, but Toron is right behind me, ready to fight as well. He may not have mated his female yet, but that only makes him more of a weapon. He has no outlet for his rage like Dath and I do in physically pleasuring our mates. No, his only outlet will be in killing males who think to take the goddess’s gifts from us.

When we make it to the dining hall, I am solely focused on making sure my mate knows I will not be around for a couple of days. I need to protect her and keep her safe. That is all that matters in this world.

Skylar must know my intentions because when she looks at me, she gives me a soft nod as though she knows I need to go now before I can talk myself into staying in bed with her forever. She gives me a soft smile and then touches her throat in the place where her teeth have sunk into mine. I touch her mark on me and feel some of the tension in my body fade. Yes, my mate will be with me when I am out in the trees. She understands that I must do what Ralleth asks to keep her and all of her sisters safe.

Toron’s mate is not in the dining hall, and he doesn’t seek her out. She has not chosen him as her mate, and as much as it hurts him, he will not force himself in her life. I wish she was here to see him off, though. We will be fine with killing the males who would hurt our humans, but killing is still killing. I may be practiced at it now, but it still hurts my soul slightly to know I have torn life from this world. Toron does not have the softness of his mate to blunt the severity of ripping out another male’s throat. He will need her when we are back, and I can only hope she is willing to be with him then.

“Let’s go.” I clap Toron on the shoulder, and then we’re running out of the great hall, through the tribe, and out into the trees, following the same way I came from after I killed the three men who attacked my Skylar. If there were others, they would have been nearby. We just need to get to them before they can get back to their tribe to tell them of the humans and of how I killed three of their men.

I feel the tether wrapped around my soul, and it glows with warmth as I run through my trees. My mate is filling me with her love and offering me her presence even when she is not near. I will kill these dishonorable males quickly, and then I will return to her.

Skylar

Ispend most of the day sitting in the great hall and talking with Alice about what all has happened to her since I was gone in the forest for a few days and then curled up in bed with my demon for a couple more. Now, Yril and his brother are out in the woods, hunting down some other demons from another tribe that apparently want to steal a human or two for themselves since we aren’t the greatest at fighting back to get away from them.

By the time night falls, I’m a nervous wreck of negative energy. I can feel Yril tugging on the tether that’s wrapped around my heart like a leash. He’s begging me to go to him, to soothe his anger, and help him in any way I can. He’s not tugging on it on purpose, I’m sure of it, because I know if I was to even tug on it slightly, he’d be racing back here no matter what was happening. No, his mind and soul must be needing me, but he’s not tugging on my soul on purpose.

I send him all of the love I can throughout the day and hope it is enough for him to know that I am with him, but I’m not about to go to him. He’d probably be pissed at me if I did anyway.

There’s a soft knock on the bedroom door, and then Deja is slowly cracking it open.

“Do you care if I stay in here tonight?” She carries a small torch but snuffs it out when she sees the fire I have roaring in the fireplace.

This planet is hot, and the fire makes it so much hotter, but I can’t stand not being able to see when Yril isn’t here. Even when he’s here, I’ve made him light a fire unless we’re playing with one another. I’m unsettled, to say the least.

“No, of course,” I wave my hand for her to come sit on my bed instead of taking one of the other two that are currently empty. Yril told me he shares this room with Toron and Dath normally.

Dath’s been staying in his workshop with his mate, and we’re not too sure where Toron has been staying. There’s a single chair at the end of the hall where Alice’s room is, so we figure that’s where he’s been staying.

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