Page 34 of Warrioress

She smiled and gave his chest a pat. That was the sweetest and most violent gift she had ever been offered. He deserved that... and worse.

“He betrayed me,” she agreed, giving voice to it out loud for the first time. She had never even said as much to Renny, her own shame keeping her silent, though she believed her superior suspected. Her voice shook but she pushed on, needing to get the rest of the story out. It was like she was scraping out the festering rot that had been growing beneath the scars in her heart. “He followed me to my parents house, followed me right through the door.” A sob caught in her throat, and she blinked furiously as she worked her way past it. “I never got a sound out. He attacked me. He tried to slice my throat, but I dodged at the last moment which gave me this cut across my cheek.”

One of Vrin’s left hands came up and she felt the brush of his claw over said scar. His touch was almost reverent, which brought a new sting of tears to her eyes. “The mark of a warrior,” he rasped. “You fought well.”

A grimace twisted her lips. “Not well enough. I was not yet in training to be a guardswoman. It took him little effort to win. I can still feel the strength of his kick to my stomach.” She shuddered, recalling her shock at his sudden brutality and the pain when he had never been anything but unfailingly gentle with her. “That was all it took to drop me. I fell and he climbed over, this chilling smile on his face.”

She raised her hand to her throat, brushing her fingers over the skin that he had crushed beneath his hand. “He held me by throat and carved into my face until he was satisfied with my pain, and I couldn’t even scream from it because he was squeezing the breath out of me.” Her hand drifted down her chest, over her heart. “And then he stabbed me. When I woke up it was in the house of a guardswoman. Renny told me that my attacker’s knife had only just missed my heart, but I had been unconscious for days. But my parents...” A sob broke from her as all the pain and misery unleashed. “They were dead. He had killed my mother, my father, and my baby sister and set the house on fire, and I was left for dead just inside the entrance where Renny found me. It was only later that I found out that my brother Will had been executed and his body hung outside the Order’s headquarters with a sign that read traitor hung around his throat.”

Her shoulder shook with her tears, her sobs growing louder as she pressed her face into Vrin’s fur. She was certain she was getting his fur all wet and snotty, but he didn’t protest. He held her there. His hand came up to cup the back of her head as he growled in a light sound that was surprisingly soothing. Kam’s muzzle brushed the side of her head and he whined softly in his throat.

“Release your sorrow, brave female,” he whispered. “It is not your fault. That male deceived you. Your pain and loss are his doing, not yours.”

“I shouldn’t have trusted him,” she choked out between sobs.

“We all must trust someone sometime,” Vrin rumbled. “Sometimes we choose wrong and place our trust in someone unworthy who will use it to harm us, but that is never the fault of the one who is wronged.”

She sniffled as she tried to rein in her emotion and nodded. She pulled back slightly, her hand coming up to his wet fur as tears continued to run freely down her cheeks. “I am messing up your fur.”

He chuckled softly and tucked her head back against his chest. “You have seen for yourself that I have had worse on my fur. Cry if it helps. My fur can be cleaned.”

She crumpled against him gratefully, her body shaking with the strength of her grief. All the while Kam and Vrin held her between them, and Laro’s large hand stroked her until the last of her sobs subsided. They lay there quietly together for a long while before Laro grunted softly, his hand tucking around her waist. She couldn’t imagine how close he had to be squeezed against Kam to be able to do that—and that only brought back memories of seeing what he had done to Vrin. A blush ran up her cheeks, and she immediately chased the idea away.

She was definitely not feeling sexy at the moment and in no shape to chase after any ideas that might arise from her feral imagination.

“Please tell me that the male died in Rager’s retribution,” Laro growled finally.

Uma’s head turned toward his voice in surprise, and she brushed a hand against her wet cheek in an attempt to dry it. “I did not realize that other Ragoru would know his name. In the citadel it is widely known because Arie helped with the reformation, but I am surprised you know who he is.”

Kam barked a laugh close enough to her ear to make her jump. “Ragoru territories are far apart but word spreads quickly. How do you think so many knew that the citadels were now safe to approach and that we are welcome to mate with humans? It caught on quickly, and the lead male responsible for it is now very well known amongst most triads, I think.”

She smiled over at him. “I suppose that makes sense,” she agreed but then sighed as her mind drifted back to Drake. “Unfortunately, he was not in the citadel at that time. That would have been a nice bit of revenge if he had been destroyed with his beloved Order. He had not even returned when the disband notice went out for the remaining huntsmen, so I have no idea what happened to him.”

“The male deserved death,” Vrin snarled.

“If the gods are just, then he is lying dead somewhere, his bones picked clean by scavengers,” she replied.

And if he wasn’t, then gods help him if she ever got her hands on him.

“If he is still alive, the male best hope that we never come across him,” Laro observed angrily, echoing her thoughts. He snarled but then huffed a loud sigh as he gave her waist a squeeze. “Now sleep. We can all use the rest.”

Vrin and Kam grunted in agreement, and Kam nestled closer behind her, his breath fanning her ear.

“Are you warm enough?” he whispered.

She smiled at the note of worry in his voice and snuggled comfortably between them and Laro’s thick arm. Her eyes drooped and she yawned, drawing a chuckle from all three males.

“Sleep,” Vrin said quietly, his muzzle brushing her head in a gentle caress as she drifted off in the heavy warmth of slumber.

Chapter 25

Kam’s gaze skipped along the trees, the fresh powder of snow making them sparkle in the daylight. They had settled into what Uma called “camp” earlier than usual, but Kam was enjoying the new sedate pace they had set over the last couple of days. They still took turns carrying Uma to make for easier and quicker travel when she didn’t insist on walking on her own two feet, but there was a new spirit of closeness now that seemed to reduce some of the urgency Kam had been experiencing. The citadel was less a threatening shadow seeking to draw them back and rip their female from them, and now something lost in the distance and obscured by the thick cover of trees. Soon the trees would thin out, of course, but at that point the citadel would be nothing more than a mark on the landscape, its power and influence unable to touch them.

Unfortunately, at that point they would be getting closer to their destination and the moment where Uma would try to leave them. That that did not leave him much time to convince his triad brothers to accept Uma. Vrin was a hard enough sale, but he was more worried about Laro as he was the one who would actually be making a move on behalf of all of them. What if he decided not to? Although Laro had been the one to push the hardest for them to find a new mate, he was not entirely convinced that his brother was able to put himself out there and display for another female.

Especially not after what Ekeren did to his cock. It was not terribly mutilated as Laro liked to think, but the three long scars along its length were vivid and a constant reminder to the lead of his inability to breed his mate. That he also bore terrible scars on his face and body just made the matter worse as far as Kam saw. It was hard to miss the way Laro shrank back and tried to cast the scarred parts of his body to a less visible angle. Despite the male’s strength as a lead for their triad and seemingly limitless patience, he was more damaged than Kam had realized when it came to interacting with an interested female.

Kam snorted softly to himself. By the way Laro acted, he likely was not even aware of Uma’s interest. Outside of offering her comfort the other night, the male barely touched her unless it was his turn to carry her. That said, Laro had to be blind of eye and nose to miss it. Although her need was unmistakable whenever one of them was carrying her, the way she watched them now made Kam’s tail curl with excitement. And it was not just moody, broody Vrin who drew her appreciative stares—although it was enough that over the last couple of days the male was strutting around like a brightly feathered bird. No, she watched all of them with the same interest, but of all of them their lead seemed the most unaware of it, and that was not a good thing if the male were to make a decision and take action before it was too late.

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