Page 23 of Ragoru

Vrishna grinned at that, his tail waving with his amusement as Sabol’s eyes brightened with lust, his ears flicking toward her. Thral understood how the male felt. He hadn’t felt the overwhelming need to extrude since Sabol had thoroughly marked Evie, but with the male’s scent increasingly waning, the need was building and he didn’t know how much longer it would be before his body betrayed him and made its demands to mate.

“Then trust us with us,” he rumbled as he closed the remaining space between him and his family to reach out and caress her cheek with one hand. To his pleasure, she leaned into his touch, smiling in response. “We will keep a distance from the mining village because your wisdom in this is sound, but let us protect you and care for you until that moment. That will be hard enough as it is to let you go even for that long,” he admitted.

Her mouth tightened slightly as she looked at each of them, and a soft sigh racked her small body. “Are you sure? I don’t know what lies between here and the village, or who else may be near there. If there is a huntsman—”

“Then we will deal with him,” Vrishna interrupted, snapping his teeth together, bringing a smile to Thral’s face at the reminder that Vrishna was a vicious opponent to those who challenged him.

“Then there are the carnivorous plants,” she pointed out, her lips twitching.

Vrishna snorted at that but grinned. “It’s settled. No more talk of leaving us here. We will rest here.” He eyed her for a moment, his gaze running over the length of her body speculatively. “Two days, I think.”

Evie tilted her head. “Two days?”

Thral inclined his head in agreement. “So that we are fully rested and so that you can be scent marked again by Sabol,” he added, as much as it pained him to not be included. But she hadn’t offered, and he was a patient male.

Her lips pursed for a moment, but he was taken off guard by the way she smiled thoughtfully up at him. “Okay. Two days it is. Now go hunt up some food while I see what I have to work with in the kitchen. I’m starving!”

He stared after her as she headed deeper into the human house and shared a confused look with his triad. “That felt too easy.”

“It was hard enough,” Sabol quipped, brushing by him, his tail once more waving with his pleasure.

Of course he would be happy. He would get to rut.

Sighing, Thral followed the males out, hoping that they caught enough game that he could gorge himself to the point where he forgot about the pressure of his own rising rut coming to the fore.

She would accept them soon. He was certain of it. That affection would not be feigned. He just needed to be patient a little longer.

CHAPTER19

Vrishna stretched languidly as he wandered around the house. They had fed well, and cleansed in the basin that Evie had called a shower… one that was equipped with a miraculous blower that shot warm air from all sides afterward, thoroughly drying his fur. And they had slept with bellies full and no other worries immediately occupying their mind.

The only unexpected occurrence was actually what didn’t happen at all. Sabol hadn’t so much as tried to scent mark Evie. It was for this reason that he was tracking Sabol through the house. Naturally, being an excellent hunter, it didn’t take him long to find the male exploring the territory around the house. He filled a bowl with berries in between eating the occasional few straight from the bush. Despite the few berries that he tossed into his mouth every few minutes, the large bowl was filling rapidly.

“Sabol, what are you doing?”

The male smiled but didn’t look up from his task. “It should be obvious. I’m gathering berries. Last night Evie said that these are her favorite, so I’m going to surprise her with them.”

Perplexed, Vrishna cocked his head and watched him work. Sabol was behaving oddly. With all the anxious pacing Sabol had been doing in response to his fading scent markers, he seemed entirely too at ease and pleased with himself. But beneath that, he could still scent the rising need of a male preparing to rut. His eyes narrowed on an ear twitching a little too much, and Vrishna huffed.

Ridiculous. Why didn’t he just do what needed to be done and enjoy it? Vrishna would be if their positions were reversed. And Thral certainly would. Neither of them would be out here collecting berries in the early morning while their female was still nestled in her bed. Evie hadn’t even objected when Thral pointed out that it needed to be done. It was understood that it needed to be done as a necessity to keep rogues from following them and she’d understood. Vrishna and Thral had even left the house numerous times, giving him plenty of opportunities to do so without any pressure.

He huffed. “Hide out here all you like, but at least answer me one thing. Why didn’t you scent mark her? You know it needs to be done.”

Sabol slowed, his ears flattening. “I know,” he rumbled, grabbing at a cluster of berries. They burst in his hand, smearing and dripping juice over his fingers. He stared down at the mess and snarled. “She needs more time to accept us.”

Vrishna stared at him and chuffed loudly. “You’ve already rutted her, so what’s the difference?”

“The difference is that we are family now—a triad—and because of that I should not be the only one to enjoy pleasure with her.”

“If this were about bonding and pleasure, I would agree with you. But it’s not. It’s about protection,” he replied, his ears flicking without concern. “I crave what you’ll enjoy, but I know that there will be plenty of time for that later. Thral knows this too. But I will not let her leave this place with the last traces of your mark fading away completely,” he bit out a little more aggressively than he intended as Sabol’s hackles rose in response. Vrishna sighed wearily and gave him a curious stare.

Despite himself, his smile returned at how ridiculous their conversation was. “Have you considered how useless we would be if a rogue male or any other danger came upon us? All of us would be rut-addled, extruded, and leaking seed for her with every step. That’s if we could even get more than mornings walk from here before we all succumbed to the need to seek relief. Or perhaps you wish to entice her that way? That she should witness seeking us relief and comfort within the grip of our need?”

Sabol shook his head but sighed and stared dismally down at the mound of berries in the bowl between his lower hands. “The thought might have occurred to me. You don’t think it would work?”

He cocked his head curiously. “You are not a rog. And you’ve been in a triad so I’m certain that you’ve been engorged at least a few times in your life as your triad sought a mate. How do you think it would entice her? Engorgement and rut fire the blood. It’s raw need, not seduction. If she’s not a part of it, she will feel closed out of it entirely if it fails to get her to participate. And what then? No. I would much rather her accept us before we get that far and have her participating fully so that she is either under one of us or between two of us while the third seeks his relief however he desires.”

“What would you suggest then, Vrishna? Do I ignore the bonds of the triad that I willingly accepted when I yielded to Thral?” Sabol snapped. “You want me to rut her until she howls as she did last time while you both wait and are left wanting?”

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