Page 41 of Warrioress

She sighed and leaned back against the wall. “I will have to hold you to that if we ever get out of here. If you ever come to the citadel, that is. All three of you. I would hate to think that after this there will only be goodbye. I hope that perhaps you will decide to return.”

He cocked his head as he considered her seriously. The citadel. He would return to the citadel for her. He would travel across all the forests of the continent for her. He would live in one of those small human dens with humans all around for her, and he would love it because the citadel was where his mate needed to be. He needed to pledge himself now and then convince his brothers that he was not insane.

“We will,” he growled, only to find the same words offered by his triad brothers.

His gaze shot to them in shock as they stared back at him with the same expression of surprise.

“You will?” they said at once and promptly growled together. “Of course!”

He shook his head. This was ridiculous. “You do not understand,” he snarled. “There will not be any goodbye because I refuse to let her go. She is brave, honorable, generous, and kind. She leads but does not abuse her power. And... I love her. You must agree to accept her,” he bit out.

Laro stared at him for a long moment, then chuffed as Kam broke out into a wild cackle. The latter male wheezed as he attempted to regain his breath and shook his head helplessly. Laro, however, gave him an encouraging smile as he settled back comfortably.

“I have been thinking of how I will convince my stubborn, wounded Vrin, but it seems that you have worked it out without my help,” he observed with another chuff of laughter.

“I was beginning to think that I was going to have to drug him,” Kam added a little too gleefully before turning a hopeful look on their silent female. “Say you will keep us, rya?”

“You guys really love me... and want to stay with me... in the citadel?” she whispered.

Vrin scooted as close as he could manage before the chain pulled taut and offered his hand to her. “You belong in the citadel. And we belong with you.”

“And in you,” Kam added.

Laro grunted with annoyance as he peered over at Kam before reaching over to slap him on the back of the head. His expression gentled, however, when he turned to Uma. “Your people will probably still be afraid of us, but I too have you in my heart. I want to be with you regardless of where you are. Vrin is right, the citadel and your work there is important to you, so we find a way.”

“It is important to note here that I loved you first,” Kam added and ducked quickly out of Laro’s reach before grinning over at Uma. “What do you say, Uma? Want to return to the citadel with a banned triad?”

“Why do you have to make it sound that way?” Vrin growled. Uma laughed, the sound more carefree and genuine than anything he had ever heard from her.

“Yes! Yes, I will be happy to return with you and keep you with me, even if I have to spend hours in Renny’s office begging for you.”

“That should do it,” Kam agreed.

Their female sobered quickly, however, and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “No, you don’t get it. I really will after I file my report, especially if we can bring back whatever they are dosing the forest with for proof. They drugged you so that you acted out of character. And severely too, I suspect, since your reactions seemed a lot stronger than those of the triad that ended up with Betani... and I think that is because her triad came from the north, which would have been more difficult for them.”

Laro frowned in confusion. “What do you mean? Are you saying that the other triad did not suffer the same circumstances?”

Uma shook her head. “I think this drug was one that they dispersed widely, perhaps as some sort of fumigation, but had it in a larger concentration in the northern part of the Great Forest. Drake said specifically that the results only played out satisfactorily here. The Great Forest offers more cover and is seldom ventured into by anyone with any sense. It is a good place for them to hide and consolidate their efforts. The other triad would have felt enough impact to go to the citadel, but their hormones were less out of control, I think. Nor would they have been captured when they left the citadel among the open routes that headed east for some distance before they would have to venture northward. I think we are the only ones that they managed to capture so far with this scheme. It is possibly that the drug itself is created and stored here as it appears that we are being held at an old huntsmen’s outpost.”

“Very good,” a male’s voice boomed, interrupting them.

Vrin stiffened, his gaze locking on the huntsmen that stepped into the holding area, a vile smile stretching his lips in a way that made Vrin feel especially violent. Then his gaze slid over to the shorter male at the huntsman’s side. This time he snarled and drew up to his full height as Uma clamored quickly to her feet.

“Adrin? What the fuck?” she shouted. “How the hell did you get here?”

“Stay back, rya!” he snapped, pushing the enormous bulk of his body between his mate and the bars of their cell and glared at the male in question.

The human shrugged and smiled smugly. “I did try to tell you. Thanks to my cousin’s abilities, those two guardswomen you trusted to keep watch over me disappeared, and a simple distraction from Ava gave me the perfect opening to flee. I almost didn’t think I would make it on time with the horse I acquired from the club. So I must thank you for entertaining them in the mountains so that we were finally able to prove the success of Heat.”

“Heat?” Laro growled as he too pushed to the fore.

Drake smirked. “That is what we are calling it. Although the general effects with the right wind can be felt quite far, it takes more concentrated doses of the smoke to see real results. Heat is like throwing dynamite at your creatures—it is your means of self-destruction. When Ragoru go crazy, who else will the Councils be able to turn to but the huntsmen?”

“And keep Ragoru out of our citadels and away from our women,” Adrin added.

“Starting with you, Uma,” Drake drawled. “I’m afraid that your plan to return to the citadel with these monsters will not happen. You won’t be returning either, but that is neither here nor there. For now, however, this is your family’s new home until the High Commander and First Elite arrive from the capital. Then you can witness for yourself the full effect of Heat administered on them directly as they tear each other part to get to you.”

Vrin’s eyes widened, but before he could react, Laro threw himself at the bars, his long arms swiping forward. Drake had the miserably good fortune to duck out of the way in time, but Vrin felt no shortage of satisfaction at Adrin’s scream of pain as he was torn from chest to navel, ending in a gurgle of blood and the wet splat of his body hitting the floor.

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