Page 15 of Tharn's Hunt
I huff softly. This is complicated.
But if laying eyes on my member will bring Jah-kee into the mindspace, I must try. For her sake. For… understanding.
I curl my claws around the edge of my pouch, ready to slide it free, when a pained whimper cuts through my thoughts.
Her face tightens as she shifts, the movement pulling at a wound along her wrist. One still weeping faint streaks of rust-scented blood.
I go still.
I’ve ripped apart many a kill to know the look of a wound made by my own claws.
No.
My gut twists.
I lean forward without thinking?—
"Stay on your side, Goldilocks!"
—and freeze when she brandishes her weapon, her arm trembling but her glare searing.
I don’t need mindspeak to understand that.
Slowly, I retreat, settling back on my haunches. She eyes me for another breath before slumping slightly, her grip on her weapon loosening. But not releasing. Never releasing.
Angry, stubborn,loudlittle thing.
Her vocalizations, thank the dust, go lower. She’s still angry, still stubborn, stillloud, but at least my ear holes aren’t ringing anymore.
"Thanks for your help, but we’re not friends, okay. You’re still a stranger. Still a male—" (another glance at my pouch) "—kinda."
Her words may be meaningless, but her actions are clear enough. She doesn’t trust me. Of course, she doesn’t. She doesn’t understand me, and she cannot hear me in the mindspace.
And that… that is my failure.
She must be claimed. Perhaps exactly like her sister-female was.
I recall the moment all too clearly. Jus-teen broadcasted it. The image of Rok crouched between her thighs, his tongue moving. The wet slurping sounds.
She shared water with him…from between her thighs.
The entire clan had seen it.
Water-sharing is sacred. If I drink from Jah-kee, she will be claimed. She’ll hear me. Understand.
Or perhaps I must do both. Present myself first,thenshare her water.
Hmm. This is logical.
I square my shoulders. "JAH-KEE," I project, gesturing first to my pouch, then emphatically at her thighs. "THARN WILL PRESENT AND LICK. FOR CLAIMING. YOU WILL ENTER THE MINDSPACE AS YOUR SISTER-FEMALE HAS."
She blinks at me blankly.
Dust.
“JAH-KEE. THARN CLAIM NOW. MAKE YOU HEAR.”
Nothing.
