Page 18 of His Human to Charm

“If you find a trail before we find shelter, we will follow it,” Dath says.

The posture in both their bodies relaxes. I have been standing against a tree, making sure no verpar sneaks up on me during this entire fight between the two of them. Not that my opinion truly matters right now.

I felt Yril’s terror when he pulled on our souls to aid him in finding his mate. I know he truly means it when he says he wants to keep searching until we find every male in the trees and kill them. I also understand that Dath is probably right.

I am not thinking rationally because I am lost in the rage. Yril is not thinking rationally because he keeps thinking of his mate being hurt over and over again. The only sense of reason between us is Dath, and even that is a joke because he was the most angry of us all not even a handful of days ago.

“Let’s go.” Yril steps away from Dath, lowering his eyes for a moment in the act of submission so small that I know he will deny it if I say something. Not that I would. I would be lucky to stand even a small chance against Dath, especially in the state I’m in now without a mate. “If I find a trail, we follow it.”

“That is what I said,” Dath mumbles under his breath but doesn’t pick more of a fight.

Yril is quick about running through the trees, scanning the area for any sign that others have traveled through. I know he wants nothing more than to find the last of the males who might have come to take our females, but I am starting to wonder if Dath was not correct in thinking we all need some sleep. It is not that I care less than Yril about the safety of our mates, but he has a lot more energy for this than I do.

Alice still has not accepted me, and my transformation into one of the goddess’s warriors is incomplete. All I want is to go back home to where Alice is and see if maybe she will let me hold her while she sleeps again. This time, I will make sure I do not leave until morning when she wakes.

“Yril!” Dath yells to my brother, who is hyperfocused on not noticing the safety building he is trying to get us to pass. “We made a deal.”

Yril is back to pressing his horns against Dath’s in an instant. He says something hardened by the hiss in his throat, but I can no longer care about their fighting. I need to sleep, preferably somewhere near my soon-to-be mate, but since she is not anywhere close to where we are, I settle for the floor of the safety building. I let my body fall to the ground, not caring about starting a fire or the blood that’s dried to my claws. Sleep settles me before Yril and Dath quit their arguing and join me in the safety building.

My sleep is short-lived. I’m woken by a panicked Yril before I can fully clear the dreams from my mind. A dream about holding my sweet mate in my arms. A dream where she accepts me as hers. It takes me longer than it should to remember where I am or what is happening to me. The bloodlust makes my thoughts hazy. It is not until Yril punches me in the face that I realize I am trying to attack him.

“What is happening?” I feel the words leaving my mouth, but it takes me a moment to know they are coming from me.

“Dath and I can feel our mates begging us to return,” Yril’s voice is filled with more panic, but he stays waiting with me in the safety building. Dath has left already, probably running as fast as he can back to the tribe since his mate might be in danger. Yril would be doing the same, except he is waiting for me.

“We go back then.” I nod, daring to glance outside where the trees are even darker than before.

I know it is irrational to think of a verpar coming out of the trees and the safety of their dens to attack me, but my mind is not completely rational any longer. Especially not when I can still feel the bite of a verpar if I think about it.

I have been standing in the doorway to the safety building for too long. I know this without needing to look over at Yril and the look of annoyance he has. He is just about to say something to me, probably to tell me to hurry up, when I take a deep breath and begin running back toward the tribe.

I am very much not myself the entire time we run back to the tribe. I am vaguely aware of stopping for a moment when Dath finds a safety building where three males are hiding. I know I stop and listen to one of the males tell us how many others are out there and how some of them are making a play on grabbing one of our females tonight. I try to pay attention to what Dath does to the male as we leave, but it is difficult in my state.

My mind is fuzzy, the hollowness in my chest consuming every bit of my being. Even the anger and the fury I have been feeling all day have faded to allow space for just how empty and hopeless I am beginning to feel.

By the time Yril and I make it back to the tribe, the light is soon to rise. Yril is the one who throws the doors to the great hall open.

“Where is my mate?” Yril growls the words, fury lacing every single sound out of his mouth.

The anger he shows has me noticing there are no females in the great hall at all. That is not what hurts me, though. No, it is how all the brothers look to me. None of them are worried about the rage that Yril is filled with because they are watching me. They want to know how I will react, which can mean only one terrible thing.

“Where is she?” I ask. My voice is finally sounding more like myself, my mind clearing just long enough to let the pure sorrow fill my chest. “Please.”

None of the others get a chance to tell me what I already know. My mate, my sweet Alice, was taken tonight. They do not get a chance to tell me because Yril is launching himself at them. All the rage and fury I should have is flowing through him. He cuts and slices through my brothers’ scales as they try to subdue him. I should be stopping him, but I can’t make myself move. It’s like all of the will to live has been pulled from me.

It isn’t until I see a flurry of pale hair try to run past me that I snap out of my haze. I grab Yril’s mate by the shoulders and hold her back so she can’t be hurt by Yril’s hand. I do not know what will happen to him for attacking the others, but I know he will kill himself if he were to raise a hand to his mate. He would never do it if he were thinking with his full mind, but he is only acting on instinct now. An instinct that wants nothing but vengeance for my mate.

“He’s in bloodlust, sister.” My voice is barely a whisper, but Skylar hears it and looks up at me with guilt in her eyes. “I need to keep you safe. I won’t let his mate die. Not to his hand.”

“He won’t hurt me.” Skylar pushes at my hands, where they hold her in place. I know she speaks true, but I do not want to risk the chance that he might lash out at her without realizing it is her. I have lost my mate this night. I do not want my brother to lose his as well.

“Toron, please,” Skylar saying my name makes me startle, but she doesn’t say it as a lover might. This is good because it would have me being just as angry as Yril if she was. My soul, my entire being, belongs to someone else. “I didn’t protect your mate. Let me protect him.”

New energy seems to spark in my chest at my brother’s mate’s bravery in wanting to keep him from committing terrible acts. She sees him in all his monstrous ways, and yet she wants to save him, protecting him from himself. How could such a small human have so much courage inside of her?

“We are meant to protect you,” I say, but even I know I have lost this argument. She will go to her mate and try to soothe his bloodlust. Just as I will leave this tribe to find mine as soon as I know my brother is not going to kill any of our brothers tonight.

“Most of the time.” Skylar nods, keeping my eyes even though we both know she wants to be looking at her mate. “Let me protect your brothers now.”

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