Page 21 of His Human to Chase

I know he is thinking back many years to when he was attacked by a verpar. He was trying to get back to where Dath and I had hidden with all of the other brothers. He had offered to find us help by going off into the trees on his own after the elders had attempted to kill us since there were too many mouths to feed. By the time he found us, night had fallen, the storms were raging, and he was a tasty meal for a mother verpar and her cub. He was saved by Dath, who at the time was still a young male and the smallest of all of us. The goddess blessed them both, and even though Toron sustained awful injuries that still mar and scar his body, he survived. We all survived.

“Toron,” I try to keep my voice calm and gentle, but it is more of a snarl, no matter how much I wish for it not to be.

“I know,” he snaps back at me. His features relax when he sees I am tensed and ready to go to my mate, but I am waiting for him.

Toron sighs before squeezing his eyes shut and taking a slow step out into the night. I give him a few breaths before I open my mouth to speak again, but before I can, he opens his eyes and sprints back toward the tribe, where all of our mates are waiting for us. I don’t say a single word to him. I just run behind him, a silent reminder that I am watching out for him, and I will help him with any verpar that attempt to get in our way.

When we make it halfway back, we slow because a dead verpar body with its throat ripped out and its blood oozing into the grass is laid in our path. Toron’s eyes grow wide at the enormous creature, slain and lifeless, with its jaw unhinged and lying open against the grass. The beasts are normally dangerous, the most dangerous in our land, but when they get between a goddess’s chosen and his mate, they are as frightening as a small floof.

“Dath is leaving us a clear path.” I slap Toron’s shoulder. “He is skilled in killing them. The goddess blesses him in this way. Come before others are no longer scared of our brother.”

Even if the others in the pack are not warned away by their dead brother, we will be able to kill them. Toron may hate every moment of it, but we will prevail. I doubt any will bother us, though. They normally sense when they are outmatched and will only attack a stronger creature in desperation.

“Yes,” Toron mumbles under his breath, his eyes not leaving the verpar corpse until we are too far away from it to see it clearly. If he did not care for his mate, he might find himself more lost to his terror. Thankfully, his skittish Alice has him enamored.

If we were closer to the tribe and we weren’t trying to get to the females as quickly as possible, I would carry the verpar to our home since it is perfectly good meat to eat, and their hides might be useful for the humans. I need to get back to Skylar more than anything, though, and carrying a verpar on my back will slow me down. It will just have to be food for desperate verpar and olacks once morning comes. They will make good use of the body since we cannot right now.

Another long while goes without words. Our muscles are burning, our chests beating quickly, and our breathing becoming more and more labored. We had ventured far from the tribe, making sure we didn’t allow any males to make it back to the other tribe to tell them of the humans we have at ours.

There is no way we killed them all. We only managed to find four, but they were on their way to our tribe. They weren’t heading back yet. The one that Dath talked to had said that a group of fourteen of them had separated when the storms were inevitable, but that meant there were still seven of them that needed to be taken care of. Seven of them that we have no idea where they are or if they know of the females yet.

“Stop,” Toron hisses in front of me so quietly I almost miss his arm outstretched to stop my movements. Thankfully, I stop quickly enough that he doesn’t have to restrain me, but it takes me a moment to realize why he’s stopped me.

“What are you doing here?” Dath’s voice sounds venomous as he holds the door of a safety building open. We cannot make out how many males are in the building since Dath’s frame is blocking everything, but we can see the smoke billowing out of their chimney. They did not know that we do not fear being out in the night, or they might have tried to hide themselves a bit better.

“So you do have females,” A stranger sounds too amused, considering he is flirting with death. “The goddess only blesses chosen males with mates, and if you are chosen, you must have a mate.”

My lips pull back to reveal the sharpened fangs that descend when I am ready to kill. I do not like that the male Dath is talking to does not seem to fear the position he is in. Toron keeps a hand on my shoulder, keeping me from doing something rash. It is smart because I am ready to tear the male apart for even thinking he knows of our females.

Dath ignores the taunting words from the male he is talking to and asks, “Just the three of you here? Do you know where I can find the others?”

There’s a laugh from inside the building, but it belongs to the same male talking with Dath. The other two must realize that they are going to die and have remained silent. This is for the best since they have come to take what is ours and take them against their will. They are not males who deserve to live, and they must have already accepted this since they do not cry or beg.

“Three of our men are already at your gates. One of them returned to our tribe to tell them you have females now.” The stranger says, loud enough that it is clear he knows Toron and I are out here. He wants us to all know that there are males close enough to our humans that they have probably already seen them. They have seen them and have plans of telling others about them. My chest rises and falls with such power I worry that my breathing will never be controlled again. I need to get back to my mate, make sure she is safe, and that none of the males have touched her or thought about touching her.

“You know you die now?” Dath takes a step back from the doorway like he is offering the male a chance to fight him in the grass, beneath the trees, for his life. It is honorable to at least fight for your life, even if it is clear a chosen has marked you for death. I am envious that Dath will be the one to sink his claws into the male because he is taunting all of us.

“I die, my companions die, but what of your females?” The male takes a step out, and I’m surprised he talks as much as he does since he is much smaller than Dath. Even I would not talk to him in the way this male is because Dath is the strongest male in our tribe, much stronger than most other males in the whole of the world.

“They were told to grab one to prove to our tribal leader that you are harboring females so we can convince him that you are hiding them from us. One of my companions is already telling them, but we thought showing our leader would prove to him your tribe has been holding out. Maybe they’ll grab your mate.”

Dath’s hand is around the male’s neck before he can finish his laugh. “They touch my mate, and I will bring death to anyone in your tribe that even looks at her.”

The male keeps a smile on his lips even as his eyes begin to widen in panic. He opens his mouth to say something, but Dath merely tightens his grip until his claws sink into the back of his neck, and blood starts dripping. The smile is soon erased from his lips, and a begging look takes its place. Dath keeps his eyes locked on the smaller male as his claws penetrate through his throat, and then he rips it free from the male’s neck, leaving him dead on the grass.

“What is the plan to take the female?” Dath turns his attention back inside the safety building.

There’s a whimpering sound, but nothing is said loud enough for Toron or me to hear. Dath hisses loudly and then stares at us. He tilts his head toward the safety building, and we run to stand next to him. One of the males in the safety building is killed quickly before we make it to them, but the other is kneeling in front of Dath with his head hung low.

“We saw the bodies of three of our companions. At first, we thought it was a verpar attack, but it happened during the day.” The male doesn’t look up at us as he speaks. “We separated from the others so we could at least find proof of females that were easier to control.” He shakes his head, a snarl tugging on his lips just like ours. “I know I am to die, but I want you to know my father brought us with him. I had no choice but to come.”

I keep my head tilted down to the male. He is younger than any of the others we have killed so far, but he doesn’t seem so young that he has not gone through the changing. I shift my eyes to the side, trying to see what Dath thinks of this. I would look for Toron’s opinion, but he’s completely lost already.

“My younger brother was sent ahead to scout,” The male continues, not knowing that we’re debating whether or not to kill him. “I sent him with a note, a warning for your tribe. My father spoke true when he said three of them are after your females, but one of them is good. Please, just if you find them, know Thro had no choice in this. Even less of a choice than I did.”

Silence stretches between all of us, the tugging on my soul, much less thanks to Skylar’s calming. I hope that she is safe. No, I know she is currently safe. I need for her to stay that way until she is back in my arms.

“What did this note say?” I ask when I tire of not hearing anything else.

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