Page 32 of Warrioress

“Ah.” Uma sighed and shifted beside him until she seemed to find a more comfortable angle to lay, pillowing her breasts against him in a way that he enjoyed. “That is a bit of a long story.”

“We are not going anywhere,” Laro reminded her. “Sometimes it is good to share history and pain to ease our own hearts. In doing so we all benefit from understanding each other better. And maybe it will help these two be quiet and go to sleep.”

Vrin smiled to himself at the male’s disgruntled tone directed at them at the end but nodded in agreement. More than anything, he wanted to understand her better and for her to understand them. He was determined to keep her with him for the rest of their lives, so this was a necessary foundation—trusting each other with their pasts.

“What is your pain?” she whispered back. “You are all as scarred as I am, though only one of you wears it on your flesh like I do. If you want me to dig up my painful memories, maybe you should start.”

Laro did not reply immediately, and the silence stretched on in the den until Vrin wondered if he should just begin. He did not get the chance to reach a decision, however, because the lead’s voice finally broke the silence with a tired sigh.

“We were mated before. To a Ragoru, not one of your kind,” he clarified. “As we told you before, males compete to mate and the females chose the most desirable triad based on the performance of the lead.”

“That sounds like a lot of pressure,” Uma said softly, and Laro nodded.

“It is the duty of the lead, among many others. And the whole of the triad is weighed and judged by his actions. Ekeren was a strong female and highly desirable among several triads who had tracked her to where she was denning. In the end we were chosen, and we thought that we had been rewarded with best of mates. We took her to our den and settled into life together, looking forward to a future filled with plentitude and rogs. But my failures turned and soured her affections for us.”

Vrin snorted disdainfully. “What affection? You are trying to be too kind to her memory, but there was not an affectionate bone in that female’s body. She was admired for her strength and beauty, but that female did nothing more than take everything that she saw as her due. She only laid with us to enjoy our warmth when it was cold and for breeding purposes. We did nothing more than serve her and suffered punishment when we failed to meet her demands—you worst of all as our lead. So do not make her image seem kinder than it was and sacrifice yourself yet again for her to spare Uma from knowing the full truth.”

“I did fail,” Laro growled in return. “You cannot say that I did not when revolution after revolution our den remained empty.”

Uma shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand. What did you fail to do?”

Laro’s silence spoke a great deal of the shame he still felt but Vrin had no patience for that. What the Fathers dictated in such matters was not his fault.

“He was unable to breed her,” he gritted out on Laro’s behalf. “Laro was picked for having the largest and most pleasing cock of all the lead males who extruded in demonstration for her, and so Ekeren expected that he would also breed her best.” He scoffed angrily. “And he did breed her—often in fact—and she got much joy out of it, but when the seasons passed and her heat cycle during the Withering Days failed to produce rogs revolution after revolution, she took it out on him.”

“Goddess!” Uma whispered, and he grimaced in agreement.

“She had a foul temper already and would physically punish us for anything that displeased her, but when she failed to be successfully bred, she became even more vicious. And Laro took the brunt of the punishment, though she had her ways of seeing that I suffered for my shortcomings,” he added bitterly. “We managed to spare Kam, sending him away from the den while one of us had her distracted so that he too would not have to suffer.”

Kam chuffed sadly. “You think I was unaware? I witnessed enough, and when you drove me away, I could still hear it and saw the aftermath. And Ekeren managed to catch me alone enough to remind me of my place. She was careful to hit me where it did not leave any permanent damage or show too much, since she understood well that you were protecting me. It was convenient for her to punish me when I went out hunting, and any strain or injuries could easily be explained away due to the hunt.”

Vrin’s jaw clenched. That was something he had not known. How had Kam never mentioned it? What had he suffered from that deranged female?

“Blessed Mother. I didn’t realize that it could be that way. And I thought problems of abuse were just a human issue.” Uma shook her head angrily. “She deserves to suffer her own punishment.”

“Oh, she did,” Vrin replied, a dark smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Her eyes turned sightlessly toward him, but he could feel the weight of her curiosity.

“What happened to her?”

“She died,” Laro bluntly replied. “I killed her.”

“We killed her,” Vrin cut in. He hugged Uma to him. “She tried to kill Laro so that she could replace us with another triad, or at the very least find another male to replace him as our lead. But it was clear she intended for him to die. Laro defended himself, but I attacked her while she had him pinned beneath her. Laro simply delivered the killing blow.”

Uma shuddered against him, and his heart sank. Would she be afraid of them now that she knew that they had intentionally killed their mate to save themselves?

“Good,” she snarled, and he blinked down at her in surprise. She shivered again and he realized then that it was not fear but anger as the emotion contorted her features and bled thickly into her scent. “She fucking deserved it.”

“You do not think badly of us for killing our mate?” Laro rasped hesitantly.

She shook her head. “Fuck no. I mean outright murder is one thing, and probably would have assured that I escaped your company while you slept just to be on the safe side. But you did not murder her. She was trying to kill you. That is self-defense. And that kind of cruelty deserves to be put down, if we are being honest.”

Laro did not respond but Vrin felt a change in the air as the male’s tension bled out, hopefully releasing some of the long-held pain that he felt with it. Laro had blamed himself for too long and had been afraid that any female who knew would reject them for what he had done. That a female would see him as a monster, and so be fearful of him. Vrin smiled as his eyes slid shut with relief. Uma had just shown what a worthy female she was yet again.

“What about you?” she asked, poking him in the side. He barely felt it due to the thick fur there, but he begrudgingly opened his eyes to scowl down at her.

“What about me?”

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