Page 44 of The VaDorok's Unexpected Mate
Let him take note! She would never be a male’s victim again!
Chapter 33
The Edoka’s shout through the gathering ground cut through Kull like a blow. His head shot up and he rose to his feet, knocking off his table and scattering his baskets as he saw Jegar sprint through the crowd making their way to where platters of meat where being carried for the feast, a small human hoisted over his shoulder.
Not just any human.Hishuman.
Rage filled Kull as he tracked the male’s movement, his instincts angrily roaring to life within him. Snarling furiously, he tore off after the male in hot pursuit; the ulukskinon blazing through him, burning hotter and more fiercely as his mate’s brief scream pierced his heart. It broke him to hear that fearful sound. After all his Katie suffered through, he refused to allow Jegar to harm or frighten her. He refused to lose another mate to the thoughtless cruelty of a male. That it was his own cousin terrorizing his mate sickened him. Worst, he did not even have to guess who was behind it.
With a roar that promised considerable pain and retribution, he shot after them. Once again, they were drawing attention from the entire tribe, but he did not care. Let them be witnesses and see for themselves just how far his mother dared to go. Few in the tribe sided with his decision to cut off all contact with his mother. Many felt it was unjustly cruel to do to a mother who just wished for her son to find some happiness despite the pain that the gods saw fit to dump on him. Now his mother would not escape criticism for her meddling. Finally. He just hated that it came at the cost of the fragile peace his mate had found with him.
That was something that he would take out of Jegar’s hide specifically.
Swerving to avoid a pair of females carrying massive platters of food to the feast, Kull began to gradually close the distance between himself and his cousin as the male adjusted his trajectory for the woods. He was closing in faster than he had expected. It was only when he drew closer that he realized that the male was running awkwardly with his head pinned at an angle, hampering him from having complete freedom of movement necessary to successfully flee. Jegar struggled as he ran, yelling painfully as Katie twisted her head in turn. The movement was sharp and ruthless, suddenly revealing the source of his cousin’s struggle.
Kull stumbled in surprise and nearly laughed aloud at the sight of the mangled, bloody ear clenched tightly in his mate’s teeth. He had been so worried that she would be frightened to death, but his mate was fighting fiercely in her earnest effort to maim her abductor—and he could not be prouder. Now it was just a matter of bringing his cousin down without harming his ulukska.
Baring his teeth in a brutal smile, he rushed up alongside his cousin’s blind side where the male’s head was bent down at a sharp angle by Katie’s hold. He knew the male would have heard his pursuit, but he could also hear Katie growling and shrieking in his cousin’s ear, which was bound to distract him, if not come closer to deafening him. It was little wonder that Jegar did not attempt to change direction to evade him while struggling to both carry Katie and yank her off him simultaneously. If it were not for the fact that he was so concerned for his mate, Kull would have found it highly entertaining.
Eyes narrowed in consideration, Kull sprung at his cousin, his arms coming around his mate, pulling her free—along with a significant portion of Jegar’s ear that came free with a spurt of blood—and rolled, his body curling protectively around his mate so that his shoulder slammed into Jegar, bring him downwith Kull dropping directly on top of him. A fresh howl of pain escaped the male, bloodied and crushed beneath him.
Kull carefully rolled to a standing position and straightened before depositing his ulukska gently on her feet. To his surprise, she immediately leaped forward, and he found himself forced to restrain her in the next breath when she attempted to spring back onto the fallen male.
“Easy,” he chuckled as he drew her back and set her on her feet again. Smiling fondly down at her, he cupped her cheek and tenderly rubbed the blood-sprayed flesh with his thumb. “My little warrioress. Relax, I will take it from here.”
She blinked up at him, her eyes focusing on him with returning clarity as if noticing that it was him there holding her for the first time. “Kull?” she whispered, and she immediately flung her arms around him, hugging him tight. “Thank fuck. You stopped him.”
“That is debatable since it appeared you were doing a fine job of stopping him already,” he observed with a quiet laugh as he drew her into his arms, relief flooding him that she was safe. “I am here, ulukska,” he rasped. “I swear to grim Tirzon himself and to Udula, who hears the prayers of all her children, that I will never allow another male to take you from me or harm you.”
She sniffled loudly into his fur, but he felt her smile, and the ripple through their bond scorched him to the soul where her smile touched him.
“Ulukska?” Jegar moaned pitifully as he slowly rolled to his side. “Did you just say ulukska?”
“Wait,” Katie mumbled as she drew back to peer at him quizzically. “He’s right. You did.”
Shooting a peevish look at his cousin, Kull smiled at his mate as he gently brushed her hair back from her face with one hand. “Do not worry. I would not force this life on you.”
Her brow furrowed at him. “Do you hate the idea of being with me that much?”
Kull stared at her in disbelief and shook his head. “I admit that I was resentful of it at first because the idea of being mated again, especially to such a small and fragile female, frightened me, but I also knew that this bond is not what you want. You wish to live your own life without fear of a male demanding anything from you. But then I grew to admire your determination, and now—I just wish for you to have everything that you desire because my heart cannot bear anything less than that. I do not want you to remain with me because of ulukskinon. I want you by my side and in my den because our hearts speak together and are one. Ever since that night, we have fulfilled the demands of the ulukskinon and have been bound, but I can control—”
She gave an impatient shake of her head, breaking his train of thought when suddenly she grabbed him by the horns and drew his head down so that her lips pressed against his mouth, stealing his breath, heart, and soul all at once. Slowly, in awe, he pulled away to stare down at her, barely daring to breathe as she smiled at him.
“I love you, too. And I feel this ulukskinon, too. I don’t want to be alone,” she whispered. “I only want you.”
Tears of relief and happiness sprung into his eyes, and he clung to her for a long moment until he heard his cousin shift in the snow and slowly push himself to his feet.
“Since that has been sorted out,” Jegar wheezed painfully, “I think I will just return and—”
“Not so fast,” Kull interrupted as he slowly withdrew from Katie. He narrowed his eyes at the male. “We have some unsettled business to... discuss.”
Giving Katie’s hand a loving squeeze, he smiled over at her before striding toward his cousin grimly. His cousin, in somepitiful show of bravery, attempted to strike him but Kull caught him by the wrist and jerked his arm upward at an angle with such brutal force that the first break was just as audible as the second when his opposite hand came down on the arm at a higher point. Jegar screamed in agony, and Kull released him. Lifting his arm, he let his first real blow fall, that first strike dropping the male to the ground. The second strike drew blood. Over and over, he delivered another blow, his claws deeply scoring his cousin’s body until he was satisfied that every insult his mate had suffered had been dealt. It was not until he felt Katie’s hand lock around his tail, however, that he reeled back from his cousin, the fugue of his anger shifting abruptly to lust as she tugged on it, drawing him back.
“I think you’ve punished him enough, Kull,” she whispered. “I can actually see the protruding bone in his arm. We need to get him back to the tribe.”
Distaste curdled within the pit of Kull’s stomach. He did not want to touch the male, not even to help him. Reluctantly he turned to his cousin only to see one of his uncles jog forward with a concerned look on his face. The male nodded to him with an apologetic grimace.
“Kull, my apologies. I only just caught word of what Zalla sent Jegar to do,” he rumbled. “She heard that Borax intends to abolish the old mate testing and mate challenge traditions. She foolishly thought she had no choice but to act now if there was any chance of convincing you to accept the presence of another female to test for possible ulukskinon. So, she asked Jegar to help her with this by hiding your female for a period of time.” He shook his head grimly. “It is ridiculous that it has to come to this.”
