Page 42 of Lake of Sorrow

The musky odor was growing stronger, and was that a clipped voice speaking in the distance?

“Go and hide.” It was an order.

“Not without you.”

If the two taybarri returned to help, the three of them could make a stand and protect Vlerion. Her sling rounds might not do much, but their claws and fangs did genuine damage. But where were they?

“Leave, Kaylina. Please. If they hurt you…” Vlerion closed his eyes. “I wouldn’t forgive myself for not forcing you to return to the city with Jankarr.”

“I wouldn’t have forgiven you if you had forced me to do something.”

“I would accept your anger if it came with your safety.”

“Vlerion.” Kaylina glared at him, but his eyes were closed, so he missed it.

He was trying to keep his emotions under control. Maybe he shouldn’t…

Nervous at the idea that came to mind, she licked her lips. “If you turned into the beast, would you be strong enough to break free?”

She’d seen him throw two-hundred-pound men twenty feet in that form.

“I don’t know.” His eyes opened but only so he could look warily at her.

“I bet you could,” she whispered.

“This isn’t the time for experimentation.”

The voices were drawing closer. The Kar’ruk had to be along the lake, not far from the ruins. Their words were unintelligible to her, but they sounded excited. Like they knew they were on the trail of their enemies…

A war horn blew, the musical blast traveling over the lake—and probably for miles in all directions. A call for more Kar’ruk to come? It had to be.

“No, it’s the time for desperation.” Kaylina stepped close to Vlerion and rested her hands on his chest.

Even on tiptoes, she couldn’t reach his mouth to kiss him, but his forbidding expression didn’t suggest he was amenable to that anyway. She loosened his armor—the bindings would break when he turned anyway—and slid her hands under his shirt, scraping her nails over the taut muscles of his abdomen.

“Go hide,” he whispered, more tension than arousal in his eyes. “I can speak a few of their words. I’ll attempt to bargain with them, get them to release me in exchange for… something.”

“That’s not going to work. Even I know that. They hate humans. They hate you.” Remembering his words about her beauty, she stepped back and unbuttoned her shirt. She didn’t want to disrobe with enemies about to charge in, but she showed the skin of her stomach and touched her breasts, hoping to draw his eye. If there was a chance he could, as the beast, free himself and defend himself…

“Stop,” Vlerion whispered harshly. “I’m not going to get aroused like this, and the beast is too dangerous to deliberately call forth.” Despite the words, his eyes tracked her movements. “Hide,” he repeated. “If I do turn… I could go after you as readily as them.”

“You could have killed me in the dungeon, and you didn’t.”

“You don’t know what I wanted to do.” Vlerion squinted his eyes shut, his face aggrieved. “I don’t always remember much of what happens afterward, but sometimes there are snatches of memories, and I recall…” His eyes opened. “Hide. Please.”

Kaylina paused, remembering the beast rasping, “My female.”

His mother had hinted of encounters with her husband in beast form. And she had those scars on her neck. Kaylina might survive the beast taking her, but would Vlerion forgive himself afterward? And would she… still want to be with him? It sounded like his mother hadn’t had a choice about marrying his father. Would she have stayed if she had?

The Kar’ruk voices sounded again, closer, and she shook away the worries. If she trusted that he would change as soon as his life was in danger, she could stand back and let the inevitable occur, but Vlerion didn’t lose his equanimity when he fought on his own behalf, not that she’d ever seen. She couldn’t be sure.

“Bring out the beast,” she whispered. “To save yourself.”

Before he could object, she stepped closer again, pushing his shirt up and his armor aside to kiss his stomach. She ran her hands over his hard muscles, scraping her nails over his flesh, trying to make her touches as enticing as possible. As erotic as possible. She didn’t dare loosen his belt and lower his trousers when enemies approached, but she held him, stroking him through his clothing.

“Kaylina,” Vlerion rasped. Was that desire in his voice? Lust? “Go, damn it. If they hurt you…”

Yes, that was what had made him change in the past. Fear for her. The need to protect her.

---