Page 71 of Unleashed

Aduun smiled, one corner of his mouth rising slightly over the other. He walked ahead of her. “Come, then.”

“I already have, many times,” she muttered with a grin, her gaze dropping to his backside — only partially concealed by his tail — as she followed him.

“I heard that,” Aduun said over his shoulder.

“So did I,” Balir added as he fell into step beside her. “What do you mean?”

“What did I miss?” Vortok asked from behind.

“You didn’t miss anything,” Nina assured him, her skin heating at the double meaning of her words; he’d been integral to a several of the times she’d climaxed. She licked her lips. “In the human tongue,comehas another meaning. It can mean…” Her cheeks warmed further as she moaned, mimicking the sounds she made during an orgasm.

Aduun and Balir faltered midstride, and Vortok grunted. She managed to hold in her laughter until Aduun turned to stare at her with his mouth agape. His lips turned up into that wicked smile again.

“Not enough times,” he said. “Never enough.”

“Oh,” she said, her sex suddenly clenching with want in response to the promise in his deep voice.

“I like the new meaning to this word,” Vortok said. “Come.Come. Nina, come.” He chuckled to himself, placed his hand on her backside, and gave it a squeeze before smacking it.

“Vortok!” she gasped, turning her head toward him with wide eyes as she covered her ass with a hand. The smack had been enough to leave a small sting, but it was just enough to send a jolt of desire through her.

Vortok grinned widely, unashamed.

Balir’s face pressed against her neck. He inhaled deeply, and his chest rattled with a purr. “We will make youcomeagain later.” He brushed his tail against her leg as he stepped away.

Nina was thankful for the cool, crisp air against her flushed skin as they walked.

Aduun maintained his position in the lead while Vortok and Balir remained to either side of Nina. Each step heightened her anticipation; she couldn’t wait to experience what her valos had in mind for her, and she couldn’t help but envision what she wanted to do with them — all three of them.

Her internal clock — not that she could trust it after so many disorienting days underground — told her only about an hour had passed when color began bleeding into the surrounding desert. The sky gradually lightened, and the details of the landscape sharpened.

“You should have woken me sooner,” Nina said. “I didn’t mean to make us waste the whole night.”

“We woke you just after sunset,” Aduun said, brow creased as he turned his head, scanning the desert.

The light strengthened rapidly, shifting from the muted gray of early dawn to a blaring red-orange as the sun crested the cliffs to Nina’s right. The cool air she’d enjoyed for a short time instantly warmed, hinting at what they’d be dealing with once the sun was fully overhead.

“Perhaps more time passed than we realized,” Vortok said, though he didn’t sound at all convinced of his own words.

“We know what this is,” said Balir. “We’ve known what all of this is since we began.”

Their thoughts echoed, all four of them thinking the same thing at once —Kelsharn.

They resumed their journey, refusing to slow. The sun seemed to have different plans; after bursting over the horizon and rising high over the desert with unnatural speed, its pace slowed until it seemed to hang there, a blaring orb pulsing increasingly hotter.

Heat beat down on them from above, reflected up at them from the ground, and slithered through the air all around them. Sweat dampened Nina’s hair and dripped down her neck, back, and chest uncomfortably. She drank at Vortok’s urging, though only took a few sips at a time. When she told them to also drink, they refused.

“There are things skittering around us,” Balir said after a time. “I hear their legs on sand and stone.”

Something moved in Nina’s peripheral vision. She turned her head, squinting against the glare, to see small creatures crawling out from the dry brush, from behind rocks, and clawing up from beneath the sand. Many were insect-like, with segmented bodies, armored plates, and numerous limbs. Others appeared to have scales and claws, with short, broad bodies. Yet others had beaks and quill-like feathers that bobbed as they moved on two legs, bellies low to the ground.

Several of the creatures were following Nina and her valos, maintaining a healthy distance but keeping their eyes on the group. She brushed them off as merely curious, paying them no more attention until Balir suddenly darted behind her. Somethingcrunched.

Startled, Nina spun around and dropped her gaze to see Balir’s clawed foot atop one of the bug-things. Its gooey insides oozed from between the broken segments of its squashed body, and one of its long pincers was extended, weakly closing on the air where her calf had been a moment ago before falling into the sand.

The creature’s body was as long as her foot; twice that if she counted its pincers and tail. And it had been coming at her. At least a dozen more critters lurked just behind it.

Vortok turned and lunged at the other creatures, releasing a booming roar that seemed to carry across the entire desert.

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