Page 22 of Unleashed

Aduun glanced across the fire. Nina was obscured from him by the blanket and the dancing shadows cast by the firelight. The slow rise and fall of the fabric was the only indication she was there — well, thatandher scent, which even the smell of burning wood couldn’t mask.

His beast stirred. Its original instinct had been to flee the fire, but it wanted something very different now. He’d seen her in the stream, and his arousal had been swift and unwelcome. Why should this small, fragile creature incite his lust? He’d not asked for her to blood his heartstone. He’d not asked to be bound to her.

Just as he’d never asked to be bound to Kelsharn.

I cannot allow my will to be bent to another’s again.

Baring his teeth, he shifted his focus to the warmth of the flames. After so many years in a cold cage, this was a welcome sensation, and it reminded him of times long past. So long as he didn’t acknowledge that those times were gone and never to return, the reminiscence was pleasant.

He withdrew the tip of the long stick in his hand from the fire and used the small knife he’d borrowed from Nina to shave the charred wood off the end, refining the tip to a point. They’d found three suitable shafts, all remarkably straight and fresh; once the tips were hardened and shaped, the flexibility of the shaft-wood would grant the spears some degree of durability. If there were more time, they would have searched for stones to shape into spearheads, but Aduun felt in his gut that such delays would only make their journey more dangerous.

His eye shifted back to Nina of their own accord. He clenched and unclenched his jaw repeatedly as he stared at her, conflicted. That he wasn’t sure what to think of her only heightened his suspicions.

“She released us from those cages,” Balir said. “She is the only reason we’ve tastedanyfreedom.”

Aduun turned his attention to Balir, whose pale, unseeing eyes were another reminder of all that had been lost through Aduun’s follies. Another reminder that trusting outsiders only brought ruin upon the tribes. And if Orishok’s clan had been taken, if they’d also been changed…

“And what if that is part of Kelsharn’s punishment for us? What if she was sent by him to release us, to blood our heartstones, and to lead us through more torment?”

“She wasn’t,” Vortok said, placing his huge hands on his knees and leaning forward. The slabs of muscle on his arms and chest twitched with agitation.

Aduun shook his head. “We do not know that, Vortok. We know nothing about her.”

“She is of our tribe, Aduun,” Balir said. The firelight reflected oddly in his eyes, which were highlighted by the deep shadows on his head plate. “Orishok raised her. She knows our ways, our people.”

“Just as Kelsharn knew of our ways and our people? If the other clans were taken, if ourwhole tribewas taken, would not Kelsharn have all that information, too?” Aduun jabbed the head of the spear into the ground and used the shaft to pull himself onto his feet. He paced restlessly. “What better a way to instill false hope in us than to send someone who claims to have a connection to our people?”

“I sensed no dishonesty in her words,” Balir said.

Vortok grunted, his eyes gleaming at the edge of Aduun’s vision. “We are blooded by her.”

“Against our will,” Aduun snarled.

Vortok rose suddenly, fists clenched at his sides. “If you wake her—”

“Her presence is already causing conflict between us!” Aduun hissed, sweeping his claws toward her. “Battling over claims, over your desire for her flesh. How long before we shed one another’s blood because of her?”

“There is no battle,” Balir said softly. “She is—”

“Mine,” Vortok growled, turning his face toward Balir.

Balir bared his teeth, and the red spots on his throat flared. “However big you are, Vortok, you cannot—”

“Enough!” Aduun commanded. “I will not have us at one another’s throats. If she is the cause of this strife, if she will be our downfall, I will do what must be done. We will never again be slaves toanyone.” He tugged the spear from the ground and took a step toward the shelter.

A torrent of emotions assaulted Aduun in that instant; rage and pain at what he and the two who’d been brothers to him had become, the crushing despair of responsibilities he’d never wanted, and an overwhelming guilt that tore a hole in his chest. His beast was conflicted — it wanted Nina, but it wanted solitude. It wanted freedom from Aduun’s obligations and worries, but it wanted to be bound to its new mate forever.

Her face flashed in his mind’s eye, her voice echoed in his memory, and the ghost of her scent wafted past his nose. He’d been so close to her when he’d applied the moonweed, had felt her warmth, and he’dwantedher so terribly… The knowledge that he’d caused some of her wounds felt like a spear buried in his gut.

The thought of purposefully doing her harm made his insides twist into knots. If he hurt her now, he’d only be what Kelsharn had wanted him to be — not a hunter, not a predator, but akiller.

Whether he’d asked for it or not, Aduun was bound to Nina. She washis.

Balir crashed into him, his momentum knocking them both to the ground. Leaves crunched, and branches snapped. They skidded to a halt, and Balir, who’d landed on top with his claws digging into Aduun’s arms, leaned his face down and released an ear-piercing shriek.

“You will do her no harm!” Balir snarled. His nostrils flared, his eyes paled, and the red spots on his throat intensified, casting their own light.

“What’s wrong?” Nina’s voice was laced with worry, confusion, and weariness.

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