Page 6 of The VaDorok's Unexpected Mate
He exhaled slowly, his eyes slowly lifting to meet Borax’s steady gaze. He was fine. Luckily, he managed to control his impulse in time. Borax was watching. He could not do anything to give himself away. Not if he wanted to be able to make his escape. The chief could suspect nothing.
Wrinkling his nose with exaggerated annoyance, he returned the chief’s stare. “Who do I turn her over to when we arrive?” he asked bluntly.
Borax’s brows rose faintly. “I assumed that the males who are currently caring for the females would continue to do so until a decision is made. It would be less traumatic for them, but we could set up a temporary shelter for those who do not wish to remain within the care of a male—even if unideal.”
Kull snorted mirthlessly. “Unideal for encouraging ulukskinon, you mean.”
A calm smile spread slowly across the chief’s face as he leaned back against the crate behind him. “Ulukskinon will have its way regardless of what I do or do not do. But more matings are always a blessing.”
“But you are not above helping it move along through proximity,” Kull grumbled. He shook his head. “If that is yourplan, then prepare for disappointment. Many may eagerly agree to it, but I just need to know where to drop this one before I depart for my own territory.”
Vidok’s head turned toward him with a disapproving frown, but Kull ignored him. The priest was clearly pleased to have finally found his ulukska and was basking in the long-awaited heat of the ulukskinon. The male was judging him from the position of one who had not yet tasted the bitterness that came from the mating bond.
Borax’s expression shifted to amusement. “Well... I suppose that any females who do not wish to reside with their rescuers as their hosts can be turned over to my care. I will see to it that a shelter is erected for them.”
“Good,” Kull rumbled. That would make it easy.
“Wait, he is talking about ditching Katie?” Sara, Vidok’s annoying ulukska, demanded as she leaned across the male’s wide chest with a scowl. “You can’t be serious.” She squinted at Kull’s face as he stared flatly back at her. “Oh, my gods, you are. That’s such a dick move. But, given everything she’s been through, she probably wouldn’t want to be stuck with your grumpy ass anyway,” she muttered with a huff as she withdrew and burrowed down into her mate’s arms again.
Kull was tempted to bare his teeth at the female in answer, but Vidok’s piercing eyes were coldly fixed upon him... waiting. He looked ready to skin Kull’s pelt from his body at the first insult. All because the ulukskinon had transformed the normally affable priest into an overreactive and overprotective brute when it came to his mate. It was not Kull’s fault that she refused to control herself. Annoying female. Kull grunted and turned his head away, ignoring the both of them despite Borax’s soft chuckle. As curious as he was about what the female in his arms had been through, he refused to inquire about it. It was not his business. He would just focus on marking the minutes until hecould finally escape her. The separation would be difficult, but with ulukskinon unfulfilled, and considerable distance between them, its demands on him would eventually relinquish their hold. He would be fine. He just needed to be patient. He just did not understand why the ship appeared to be taking twice as long on its return to their tribal lands.
Jaw clenching, he waited... and waited. His twitching tail gradually began to pick up a quicker tempo until it was flicking sharply up and down in agitation. He did not even hesitate to jump to his feet the moment the ship landed and was already halfway to the offloading ramp while other warriors were slowly rising. He got more than one surprised look as he hauled his female—no, not his, just the female he happened to be carrying—out of the Edoka’s ship and into the familiar open clearing of their meeting grounds.
Borax followed behind him at a more leisurely pace as he led the other warriors from the ship. The male veered away, his arms opening for his mate and offspring who hurried to greet him. Kull felt a momentary pang of envy and loss but quickly buried it. He had long accepted that he was not meant to have a mate and younglings, and he was at peace with it. There was no reason to torment himself.
Tail whipping impatiently, he headed toward the chief as he gave the female in his arms a brisk tap on her cheeks to wake her. It was time to part ways with her, despite the fact that his heart clenched painfully at the thought. That was just the ulukskinon, he reminded himself. It would get better once he was able to set her on her feet and put some distance between them.
Pale blue eyes flew open in alarm, her breath catching with a faint, strangled sound as a look of fear momentarily crossed her face in her disorientation. Kull frowned but held perfectly still until the fog from sleep cleared from her eyes and she wasable to regain control over herself. The moment her expression smoothed, and her breathing steadied once more into an even rhythm, Kull bent and very carefully set her on the ground beside the chief and his mate. Swallowing sharply, he sternly forced himself to take a step back and then another. He ignored the protest that shrieked through him and the pain he felt upon seeing the look of panic in her eyes when she turned toward him and realized that he was backing away. He resolutely turned away from her as he left her there and approached the chief. He had to be strong... for both their sake.
“I have done as you asked. I will now leave the female in your care so that I may return home,” he rumbled, refusing to look over at his—the female, again.
A hesitant look crept across the chief’s face, his eyes dropping to the female Kull could feel creeping up at his side. He gritted his teeth, snarling impatiently to himself. She was incapable of taking a hint.
The male’s lips twitched faintly. “It does not appear that she wishes to be parted from you, Kull,” he observed.
“Nevertheless—” Kull began, buthervoice rose, cutting him off despite its soft pitch.
“You’re right,” she quietly agreed. “Despite... Kull’s... eagerness to dump me here, he is the one who rescued me. And he is the one I feel safe with, perhaps even more so now. I would rather remain with him.”
“You are safesthere... withthem,” he stated emphatically, and he jabbed a finger in the direction of the three females waiting a short distance away with one of the warrior females. They clearly had not roused ulukskinon in their rescuers and had received no objections when they opted to remain behind. All the better for them as far as he was concerned. “You will remain here with the other humans while the decision is being made. There are plenty of warriors that come through here ifyou wish for other company,” he added, ignoring the fury that clawed at him at the idea of another male approaching his ulukska.
She was nothis. And she was not even VaDorok, so there was a good chance that she could trigger another male’s ulukskinon. Not that he wanted that. He preferred that she leave Dorok altogether for a world more hospitable for her species, but if she chose to remain, then she deserved a male less scarred by the past who was willing to take the risk.
The female glanced over at the others, but something like apprehension crept back into her expression, and she shook her head. “I don’t think so. While I’m sure that they will be well taken care of, I don’t want to be here if strangers are regularly in and out.”
“They are members of our tribe. They will not harm you,” he insisted as he glanced to Borax for help, but she shook her head again.
“I don’t think so. I will go with you.”
Kull growled quietly, not loud enough to frighten her but enough to make his point as he pointedly moved away from her. Her brow knitted in response and, to his surprise, she frowned belligerently as she took several of her smaller steps in his direction and lunged for him, wrapping her small arms tightly around his one much larger arm. He stared down at her shock and attempted to pull free, but she remained stubbornly attached.
“Let go,” he snarled.
“No, you’re not leaving without me,” she replied so vehemently that it momentarily startled him.
Was this the same female he saw bowed under the grip of the Agraak male who held her prisoner? She had not struck him as a female who would be a fighter. He scowled back at her.
“Kull,” Borax interrupted softly. “I do not wish to cause the female further distress. Perhaps—for now—you could do this if she is truly insistent that she will feel safer.”
