Page 41 of Ragoru

“We leave tomorrow?”

Evie yawned and nodded tiredly. “Yes. We need to head up to the village to look around for a minute before we head over to the coordinates. They are fairly close to each other. From what I understand from the data I have, there is direct access into the caverns from somewhere near the village. It may be an easier way to get to the coordinates. Whatever the miner saw was definitely within the cave system and not above ground.”

Thral grunted. “Our kind den in shallow caves, but not even a Ragoru enjoys going to such depths.” He sighed and rubbed his muzzle against her soft skin, his yellow eyes gleaming at her with love. “But for you we will do so. You will not be going in alone, so do not even suggest it.”

Sabol growled in agreement, and Vrishna chuffed as if the suggestion that she would do so was absurd. Their mate didn’t protest, however. She laughed softly and burrowed into their combined warmth. Sabol didn’t find it a laughing matter. There was something about the starkness of the mountain that unnerved him. He knew that his triad didn’t like it either, though none of them commented on it. It was too quiet. The valley below, aside from the human village, seemed alarmingly empty. He contented himself with the knowledge that tomorrow would be the end of this journey. He couldn’t wait to get his family back to their territory and comfortably denned and leave this place far behind them.

CHAPTER33

It took some time coming down from the mountain, mostly because Evie had to work out an alternate route that wouldn’t take them near the mining village. They were still forced to venture closer than she was comfortable with but there was nothing she could do about it at that moment. At least the walk through the valley—once they cut through the long way in—was a lot more pleasant than that of the mountain. The breeze from the ocean was cool and had a salty sting to it, but the ground beneath their feet was pleasantly soft with growing things since none of them bothered to venture on the rocky shores that comprised the northern beaches. They’d had enough of rocks.

She’d had enough of rocks. Although her mates tried to cushion her as much as possible, her back was still aching. Thank the Mother for their marvelous tongues, or else the ache between her thighs and the scarring bites marring both shoulders and one bicep would have made the climb down miserable, to say the least.

Besides, it was exposed more than any of them liked. Once they moved into the valley and farther from the mining camp, they discovered quite a bit of forest cover from trees that had been seeded there. The fact that there was a mill suggested that a lot of these trees had been planted to supply fast lumber, but it provided some shelter as they took to traveling and resting among them. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to improve the anxiety of her triad, which only seemed to get worse as they kept her safely between them.

Thral drew in a deep breath, scenting the air when they stopped, and his mouth twisted in a grimace. His hackles had risen as soon as they entered the valley, but now he was outright bristling as he scanned their surroundings warily. Sabol stood at a distance, his big body noticeably twitching as his head snapped around with pricked ears. Evie frowned over at him, and her gaze didn’t shift away from him even once as he stalked away, tension radiating through his muscles and his stiff tail. She took a long gulp from her canteen as she watched him. He paced anxiously as if he were expecting danger to descend upon them. Screwing the lid back in place, she pursed her lips thoughtfully. Something was disturbing him, but she had no idea what. She couldn’t smell anything, not even a hint of campfire smoke that would indicate that someone was nearby.

At her side, Vrishna grumbled as he sank into a crouch, and she glanced over at him curiously.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

He shook his head as he thoughtfully scraped the claws of one hand against the ground, digging deep gouges into the dirt and ripping up tiny plants. She narrowed her eyes on him, not willing just to have her question dismissed and stared intently at him until he huffed and gave her an exasperated look.

“It is nothing that you should be concerned about, rya,” he rumbled. “We are on our guard. We are just more on edge since completing our mating. It is unheard of to mate a female so far from a den where she can be protected. It is not uncommon for a female to become impregnated during the mating. So we are all experiencing additional stress having you exposed out here and the worry that it may be endangering any rogs.”

Evie regarded him with confusion. “Vrishna, I doubt that we’re even biologically compatible. We aren’t of the same species. I think with as much as you guys have fucked me, if I were going to be pregnant there would have been some sign of it before now.”

His expression eased, the scar side of his face wrinkling as he grinned over at her as he was momentarily distracted from whatever he was worried over by her observation. “We were careful not to breed you, Evie.”

She chuckled softly. “I’m pretty sure I remember cum dripping out of me quite every time you guys had me pinned beneath you.”

Vrishna chuffed softly. “That is not true seed. It does not impregnate. We can only produce our true seed when both the pleasure and breeding cocks are active. That is the only time there is the correct stimulation against the knot to cause a breeding lock through which we release our fertile seed. This has been observed among our species for generations, and it is how honorable males prevent siring rogs when he yields to a female who desires rutting but has not committed to mating.”

They’ve been shooting blanks this whole time.Her smugness disappeared with the realization that, while it was unlikely that they fathered offspring on her since her statement still held true, she no longer had weeks of data to rely upon. This was the first time they’d released live sperm into her.

“Fuck,” she whispered.

His ear tipped toward her, but his eyes grew distant again as he began to stare out at their surroundings, his hackles rising once more now that he was no longer distracted by their conversation.

“But that’s not what is bothering you,” she pointed out in a low voice. “I want to know what it is that has made you all nervous since we came down into the valley.”

Vrishna’s throat worked with his indecision and finally he sighed. “We’ve been here before. When we escaped the Shining Ones we decided to travel to the north and then west once we ran into the mountains. We found a small path cut into the northernmost part of this valley. I didn’t recognize it at first until just a short while ago. The scent of wrongness is hard to ignore.”

“Wrongness?” She shook her head at a loss for what he meant by that.

He ran a hand through his scruff. “It’s difficult to explain. Something in the air smells and tastes off… it leaves a sourness in my stomach. And there are no animal sounds. It is too silent. We couldn’t pinpoint the danger last time, and even now it eludes me as to where it’s coming from. It’s like it permeates this entire area, and that disturbs me. Just as it disturbs Sabol, though he doesn’t understand why yet. And then there is Thral. It weighs on him the heaviest, perhaps. As the alpha, he is the most anxious over it since he is responsible for the wellbeing of the family as a whole.”

She licked her lips and wanted to protest, but for the first time she was also noticing just how quiet it was. She’d become accustomed to the relative silence of their surroundings when they entered the mountains, but the moment they dropped into the valley, there should have been signs of life everywhere. A shudder ran through her. She’d been so distracted as they came down from the mountains that she hadn’t even noticed the absence of sounds that should’ve been there. She swallowed, contemplating if they should just go back and head directly for the coordinates above ground as she’d originally planned rather than through the caves.

If there were something strange going on with this valley, it would be better for all of them if they just returned.

Stroking her hand down his arm, she gave his forearm a pat as she stood. She was aware of his eyes following her, as well as Sabol’s gaze as the male’s head turned toward her as she made her way over to where Thral stood watch. The alpha’s ear turned toward her at her approach, and then his whole body followed, embracing her as she reached him.

“Where are you off to?” he rumbled as he slid his muzzle lovingly along the side of her cheek.

She smiled, relishing the attention from the male as she stroked the longer fur spilling around his shoulders and the thick fur of his scruff.

“Just here, but I was thinking…perhaps we should go back.”

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