Page 22 of His Human to Chase

The male shifts his eyes to meet my gaze for just a moment before averting them back to the ground. “I warned them that the females needed to hide and that more scouts were coming. My father said we were to scout for the next few days before taking a female, but plans must have changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“He told Thro and me that we were to take turns scouting in the evenings to see the schedule you all follow. He let it slip tonight before you came that it was just a ploy to make Thro and I feel like we had done something. They are planning on taking one of your females before day breaks.” He shakes his head. “They may have already done it if Thro didn’t get there quick enough to warn them.”

My teeth grind against one another, and I silently beg Dath to tell Toron and me to head back to the tribe. He meets my eyes for all of a second before tilting his head in a dismissal. Toron races off ahead of me, and I keep watch from behind him.

“What is your name?” Dath asks, the venom in his voice dissipating some. I don’t turn to see if he is actually thinking about sparing the male’s life, but it is evident in his tone he is not as eager to kill him as he was before the male spoke.

“Marron,” The male says just loud enough for all of us to hear like he wants Toron and me to know his name. Maybe he thinks it will make us not hate him, but I will wait until my mate is in my arms before I make any decisions like that. I turn back briefly to see Dath kneeling down in front of the male, his hand on his shoulder. It makes me hiss, but maybe Dath sees truth and honor in the male that I am too angry to see. It is no matter to me. I will kill him the next time I see him if I decide to, but for now, he is Dath’s problem.

The sky is starting to lighten when we finally make it to the tribe. There is an eerie quiet as we enter. No brothers are walking around, which is normal enough, except for when we enter the great hall, and they are all seated at the tables in the dining hall. All of them seated there, silent. My eyes scan over them, red eyes on all of their faces, and my lips pull back in a snarl to see there is not a single female among them. Toron and I both hiss loud enough that it rattles our bones and shakes the air around us.

“Where is my mate?” My words are distorted in anger, but all of my brothers know what I am saying. They know the importance of getting me my mate right now, but their attention is solely focused on Toron.

“We need to speak with both of you,” Ralleth stands from his seat and motions for us to sit in front of him.

“Where is she?” Toron’s voice isn’t broken in anger like mine was. No, it is so much worse than that. He knows what none of them are saying. He feels the way their eyes are pleading with him not to break completely when he finds out. It’s cruel that they would take my brother’s mate when he has no tether to her, no way to know where she is or if she’s safe. “Please.”

That one word breaks me, and it’s me who lunges for my brothers and attempts to slaughter them for neglecting my brother’s mate. None of them deserve to live. Not a single one if they cannot protect the most cherished creatures to have ever blessed our tribe. I am a flurry of claws and gnashing teeth as my brothers try to subdue me, but I refuse to back down. Not even when it is my claws pressing into the soft flesh of Ralleth’s neck.

They all deserve this. They deserve to feel the pain of neglecting our humans. For not protecting my blood, they deserve all of my wrath.

Skylar

Six of us are all crammed into one of the elder’s, Narrath’s, home in the room he used to share with his wife but has been left abandoned since Dath’s mother died since she was the last one to stay in the room. I want more than anything to have Deja explain to me why in the Hell Dath’s mother was in Narrath’s marital bed, but I’m not about to ask when I need him to let us stay in his house and presumably under his protection.

There’s also the small detail of Alice missing that has everyone on edge.

“Where would she have gone?” I whisper more to myself than to anyone else.

I’ve been going over it in my head since I read that note. Someone warned us about other demons coming to the tribe to look for humans, but they said they were scouting. They said nothing about anyone coming to take us, so I’m hanging onto a very small thread of hope that Alice is somewhere in the tribe hiding out. I refuse to think that somehow we were given a note warning us, and she was taken all in the same night.

“Why couldn’t they have taken you or me,” Deja sighs next to me. She lays her head against my shoulder, but her question has me stiffening at the absurd idea.

“Why would you want to be kidnapped?” I ask wide-eyed.

I make sure not to get too loud since we are in hiding, but it’s kind of hard when Deja is suggesting she or I should have been taken if someone had to be taken. I was in the hands of three of the other demons already, and I know I’m not eager to be in that position again.

“Dath and Yril feel the bond,” She says softly. “They’d find us in an instant. They’re close. You can feel it, right?”

I nod, numb to any feeling other than the tether. Of course, it would have been easier if Deja or I had been taken because Dath and Yril would be able to track us down without having to work hard. We’d just need to give the tether a tug, and they’d find us no matter what. Not that it’s a good enough reason to have me wanting to be the one who was possibly kidnapped. Nope, maybe I’m selfish, but no way am I ever going to wish it was me in Alice’s position.

I take a deep breath and feel where Yril is. He’s here, maybe not with Dath since Deja just said he was close to the tribe, but Yril is here.

“Yril’s back.”

The words barely leave my mouth when I feel the tether snap tight around me with so much force it takes the breath from my lungs.

“Fuck, fuck.” I shoot to my feet, not caring that we need to be hiding. Not caring that I could be messing everything up. Yril needs me. Maybe he’s dying. That has to be why the tether feels so tight that it feels like it’s about to snap and splinter into thousands of pieces. “I need to go.”

I stumble to my feet in the dark. I listen to my body as I navigate through the dark room where all of the humans are being stored. I hear them say something to stop me. Hands are on my wrist trying to pull me back. I don’t listen to them and shrug off their grasp. Narrath is sitting in the living area, his eyes deep red as he watches the front door.

“Yril?” He asks when I stumble into the room. I don’t need to answer. My body is stiff and begging me to go to my mate. “Go.” Narrath’s prompting is all it takes for me to sprint out the front door and let the tether pull me to where he is. I don’t even grab a torch. My intuition takes me straight to him. Straight to the double doors of the great hall.

I swing the door to the great hall open and run through the door, not even making sure it closes behind me. I can’t stop myself, especially when I see what’s happening inside. Yril is a snarling beast, ripping and clawing at anyone he can get close to. Toron grabs me around my shoulders when I try to run past him to stop Yril.

“He’s in bloodlust, sister,” Toron’s voice is barely a whisper, the heartbreak evident in the hopelessness in his eyes. Alice is gone. She has to be gone if Toron looks so completely broken. Which means Yril is seeking vengeance for his brother. “I need to keep you safe. I won’t let his mate die. Not to his hand.”

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