Page 11 of Ragoru

His head dropped and turned to her, his ears moving back as if he were still intently listening in that direction. His lips peeled back from his teeth as he darted another look that way, but when he faced her again, his expression was tense as he appeared to struggle with what to say. Or perhaps if he wanted to tell her at all.

“What is it, Sabol?” she repeated, her voice rising slightly as her nerves spiked.

“We’re being pursued,” he grumbled at last, and she felt a cold sweat pop out over her skin.

“Okay,” she mumbled as she cast a furtive look in the same direction as she wiped her sweaty hands against her pant legs. “By what? Fuck, I hope it’s not a huntsman. The last thing either of us need is someone from the Order up here.”

Sabol peered down at her in confusion, his ears flattening to the side. “I don’t know what that is. I know the hunt, but I don’t think you are speaking of finding prey to eat.”

Sucking her in cheeks nervously, she shook her head. She didn’t want to have a conversation about the huntsmen just yet, but it couldn’t be avoided. “They are hunters,” she said slowly, “but their prey is not food.”

He cocked his head quizzically. “I don’t understand.”

“They hunt… dangerous things. Anything that they think is a danger to humans, they destroy. This planet has some very dangerous wildlife, and when we were forced to rely on surviving without the help of our homeworld here, their Order was formed. They were to serve a simple service to keep our habitable zones safe.”

“This is… good, yes?”

“Yes,” she replied, drawing it out. “It was supposed to be—and perhaps started out that way. But now they have begun to assert control over everything, and I’m afraid that they will take one look at you and…”

Her throat closed, the sudden distress that flooded through her making her eyes prickle.

Understanding filled his yellow eyes, and he brought his upper hands up to cup her cheeks as he leaned in close so that his breath lightly fanned her skin. “You think that they will hunt me.”

She nodded miserably. “If we have someone following us, it could be them, which means we will need to find a way to lose them… to hide our trail somehow.” She groaned in frustration as she looked away to scan their surroundings. There had to be somewhere they could reasonably hide where a huntsman wouldn’t notice them. “This is not exactly stuff I’m trained in. Being downwind from a predator is one thing, but eluding someone who is tracking you is entirely different.”

“It is,” he agreed and huffed softly. “But it is not a human tracking us.”

Her eyes snapped up to his in surprise. “It’s not? How can you be certain?”

He smiled and tapped his nose with one claw. “I can smell their odor print. They are close enough that the air carries it to me, and I can tell that they are gaining ground quickly,” he added with a quiet growl.

“Who is?” she asked.

“Ragoru,” he rumbled as he looked back behind them once again, the long mane of fur rolling down his shoulders and back ruffling in the breeze. “Not a full triad, but there are two of them.”

Evie shivered despite herself. As much as she’d grown to trust Sabol and had begun to feel genuine affection for the male, she wasn’t sure she wanted a pair of unknown males chasing them down.

“They will catch up to us, won’t they?” Her eyes skimmed over him quickly. “I know that you intentionally stick close to me, but given the length of your stride from what I’ve observed, you can cover four times as much ground than I can. Perhaps more with your superior endurance.”

He let out a distinct sigh. “This is true.” He met her eyes. “And yes, they will. Soon. Before the sun begins to sink in the sky.”

Her stomach pitched as she scrubbed her hands against her legs again. Then her gaze shot up to the sun. It was well past midday. If he was accurate, they had less than two hours at most, or as little as forty-five minutes. “Just perfect. What do you think they want?”

Sabols throat worked and he glanced at her and away again, his long fingers curling inward at his sides. “The same reason that drew me to you,” he growled. “They want you.”

She gaped at him. “For what? I’m guessing it isn’t because they are fascinated and simply want to follow me around like you’ve been. Do they want to kill and eat me? I admit this wasn’t a possibility that I considered given our interactions, but…” She shivered.

He chuffed a guttural laugh that had her looking up at him crossly. He held out his hands peacefully and grinned.

“Do not be angry, rya,” he soothed. “I did not understand until now how you’ve mistaken my presence. I thought that my marking would have been enough, but I should have guessed when you did not respond to it with anger when we met again.”

She peered back at him in bewilderment. “I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”

He stepped closer, the gleam in his eyes brightening as his massive frame hovered over her. “I’m speaking of that—of fucking. Mating. I tried to cover your scent with my own as we moved through the forest, but its chances of going unnoticed by other Ragoru were slim. They’ve caught the scent of an unmated female and have locked onto your pheromones. They are following your scent trail so that they can try to mate with you.”

She gaped at him. She wouldn’t deny that she’d entertained a few fantasies lately due to the image of him yanking his cocks that had been burned into her mind, but she certainly wasn’t interested in being claimed by alien males she didn’t even know.

“I’ll pass, thanks,” she croaked, and he grinned down at her, his jaw dropping slightly in that faintly lupine smile of his.

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