Page 25 of Tharn's Hunt
“Hey,” I slur, my head lolling against his chest. “I don’t… I don’t want you to die either.”
His gaze snaps to mine, and he stumbles, the disbelief in his eyes crystal clear.
For a moment, I think he’s about to drop me, but his grip tightens.
“You…” He sounds stunned. “Can hear me?”
“Of course I can hear you,” I say, struggling to keep him in focus. The world tilts drunkenly, and his face swims in and out of my vision, golden eyes flickering like lit candles through the haze. “I’m not deaf. Just… a little dumb.”
His steps falter. The light in his skin flares brighter. “This is not possible,” his voice is ragged. “I have not… claimed you. I have not even licked you yet.”
He…what?
I’m hearing things that don’t make sense. I really am not well.
“How did you enter the mindspace?”
“Mindspace?” I repeat, frowning. “I don’t know what that is. I’m just talking to you. With my mouth. You know, like normal people?”
The way he’s looking at me, it’s like he’s searching for answers I don’t have. “Your mouth is not moving.”
I blink slowly. “Huh. Weird.”
My head swims, the fever pulling me under in waves, but I cling to the sound of that deep, steady, grounding voice.
“Jah-kee,” he says again. My name comes out so thick with emotion it’s almost unrecognizable. “Do not leave me. Stay awake.”
I manage a weak laugh. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Goldilocks.You’re kind of growing on me.”
But I don’t hear his response, if any. The world tilts, the heat and exhaustion finally dragging me down. The last thing I remember is his heartbeat, frantic but steady beneath my cheek, and the faint glow of his skin lighting the darkness behind my eyelids.
Chapter 9
DYING IS A BITCH (BUT SO IS WALKING THROUGH THE DESERT)
JACQUI
Pain. Heat. A deep, rhythmic jolting.
Consciousness comes in waves. Some strong enough to pull me under, others weak enough to let me float. My skin is on fire. My throat is a wasteland of its own.
A sound drills into my skull. A desperate, repeated chanting.
“Live, Jah-kee. Live.”
It’s a voice, but not a voice. A feeling. A frantic prayer being hammered directly into my brain. The sheer force of it is an anchor, and I cling to it, pulling myself back into my body one agonizing inch at a time.
He's still carrying me.
The realization tugs at the edges of my awareness, but everything feels distant, like I'm floating in a dream. I can't tell how much time has passed. Minutes? Hours? Days? The sun is much farther across the sky than it was before.
"Live, Jah-kee."
His voice hums through my mind, and I blink my eyes open with effort, the world tilting sharply before settling into the same endless stretch of blasted sand and stone. The sun hangs lower now, painting everything in hues of amber and purple. This fucking desert. It’s beautiful in that brutal, unforgiving way that reminds you it could kill you without a second thought.
And then there's him.
Goldilocks.
