Page 17 of Ragoru

Evie grinned and sank into the warmth of the fur contentedly. Okay, this isn’t bad. This isn’t bad at all.

Their love huddle didn’t last nearly long enough for Evie, but the males broke apart with content looks upon their faces, telling her that they all got exactly what they needed from it before going about their morning.

And she couldn’t get enough of watching them as she got out her field journal and made more notes and sketches within it, paying careful attention to every detail written and rendered. Although beneath it all, in the back of her mind, there was that small voice that reminded her that she had an important job she needed to see to and had to get to the mining camp quickly to interview the miners who reported it before proceeding to her coordinates.

She watched the triad, a flutter of something she couldn’t quite identify moving through her. It wasn’t fear or even unease, but nor was it sexual desire really. She wasn’t ready to even contemplate sex with all three of them yet, even though she knew that Sabol’s scent marking wouldn’t last more than a few days. But she liked how comfortable she felt around the three of them, even if it still privately surprised her.

She suspected it was in part due to the easy way with which all three males fell in together. Even after the dominance fight, they had settled into an easy comradery without even a trace of the previous hostility between Sabol and Thral. There had been no further fighting, which had worked to put her at ease the night before. But after the bonding earlier, the males seemed even closer which made her feel even more comfortable and safer. And it sparked a sense of satisfaction that she’d never really felt before that she didn’t want to examine too closely. She preferred giving all her attention to them instead as she watched them procure their meal. She’d done her part already, starting up the fire despite Thral’s and Vrishna’s disgusted looks when she explained what she needed it for. Sabol, accustomed to her eating preference, had just given a long-suffering sigh before moving off with the other males.

All three were wading into the stream some distance from each other as they fished. Her eyebrows rose as a vivid pink fish sailed from the water onto the bank. It flopped there for a moment, and it was soon joined by another. She had to admit, watching them snatching fish out of the water was impressive even if they were piling up quickly. As they pulled more fish out of the water, they beamed at her every smile and nod. As determined as they were to take the very best care of her, it was also obvious to Evie that they required quite a bit to fuel their large bodies as well. Yet, despite their large size, the Ragoru moved with an easy gracefulness that she was a little envious of.

She had to admit that she was impressed with how well Vrishna and Thral worked with Sabol. It was one thing accepting the male as if he were one of their own, but they worked in tandem as if they had all three been together for years.

“And all three wantme,” she murmured, shaking her head in disbelief.

And the worst of it was that ultimately, she just didn’t know what to do with that.

CHAPTER15

Thral scratched his chest with satisfaction. They had walked far over the last several days. Since Evie insisted on not being carried, it slowed them from their usual lope, but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed every moment with her, and walking at her side gave him plenty of time to talk to her and his triad—far more than they would have done if they were at their usual pace. They also made more stops so she could rest, but that surprisingly didn’t bother him either. He had developed a reputation among the Ragoru within the confinement area for having a short temper, and yet when it came to Evie and his triad he was less tense and impatient. Instead, he allowed himself to enjoy the little moments while still maintaining his alertness of their surroundings.

She also seemed to need to drink more, which concerned him when water sources were far apart. She sweated water from her skin profusely as she walked and was constantly having to replenish it. Because of that, Thral had led them following the stream for as long as he could until Evie indicated that they needed to veer north away from it. He hadn’t been pleased to leave a reliable water source, but at least she had the container she carried around and filled with water. She’d offered it to him and the rest of the triad more than once, but they always declined, not wanting to take water from her that she desperately needed. But it didn’t make him dislike their new path any less, though he understood that there was a purpose that brought Evie to the northern lands even if he didn’t fully understand what it was. She’d tried to explain it to them, and he tried to follow it. There was much he didn’t understand, but what he did glean from her explanation didn’t set comfortably with him.

That she was being sent to investigate some unknown potential threat made him feel like he was leading his mate directly into danger.

His ears flattened at the thought even as he forced himself to recall that she wasn’t yet his mate and for now was merely allowing them to accompany her. It rankled him that he didn’t have the full rights as alpha to insist that she allow him to direct their family into safer territory… preferably to head east again since their northwest trajectory made his fur itch with dread, recalling the area that he had crossed through with Vrishna.

He growled softly to himself, his ears tipping uneasily to the northwest. Vrishna glanced over at him and gave him a sympathetic look, though the one Sabol turned on both of them was filled with confusion. Thral sighed. Though they had both tried to explain that strange place in the north to Sabol, they hadn’t really been able to communicate how unnerving it had been. It didn’t help that the male was increasingly distracted as of late. Understandably so. As the days passed, his scent was gradually fading from Evie, but she had refused to allow him to rut her again.

Though he was sympathetic to Sabol’s displeasure, Thral recognized that it wasn’t out of unkindness that she refused the male. Rather, it was with the reasoning that it would be unfair to do so without the rest of the triad, and she still needed time to get used to the idea of being with all of them. And to get to know Thral and Vrishna better. Although he understood Sabol’s frustration, Thral couldn’t help but to be secretly pleased that she was showing kindness to them rather than allowing Sabol to rut her in front of them. As far as he could tell, other than showing more familiarity with Sabol due to their many days together, she didn’t demonstrate any preference for anyone in the triad. She was fair in the time she gave to each of them, encouraged them to enjoy each other’s company rather than jealously demanding that it all be reserved for herself, and she was generous with her affection among the entire triad.

For a male who never desired to have a triad or a mate, only to enjoy peace and quiet in his own territory and a full stomach, he found himself increasingly happier among them. Even the sudden appearance of his dominant instinct shocked him at first. None of this was something he would have expected of himself from before. He loved how it made him feel, and at other times it terrified him. At times, that happiness made him anxious, worrying that something would take it all away, especially when Sabol had quietly filled them in about the huntsmen. His fur still prickled with unease knowing that there was yet another threat out there that could try to take Evie from them.

Unable to resist himself, he crouched down in a resting position beside her and brushed his muzzle against her head fur as she sipped from her water vessel that she called her canteen and looked at her strange glowing device. He didn’t like it. It reminded him too much of the Shining Ones for his comfort. At his touch, however, her lips curled into a smile where they were pressed against her canteen’s opening and she took a swallow before tipping her head back to look over at him fondly. Reaching up, she rubbed her palm against his jaw and he leaned into her touch happily.

“What’s up, Thral?” she murmured.

“I don’t like our route,” he grumbled and immediately grimaced. As usual, he struggled to find the words to adequately explain his unease.

Her brows rose, but she didn’t scoff at him. Instead, she looked over him expectantly. She glanced around the forest as if trying to determine what he didn’t like and then smiled.

“The forest isn’t thinning yet. It’s actually a bit denser, so enjoy it while it lasts. I’m afraid it’s going to get thinner as we get closer to the mountains. I imagine you will start feeling a little exposed.”

He grunted in acknowledgment. He recalled that and didn’t look forward to it. He glanced down at her glowing device and tipped his head toward it.

“What is that?”

She smiled at his interest and held it up so that he could more clearly see it. “This is a map of this part of the northern continent. It shows us all the land around here,” she explained. “I have it zoomed in. One moment while I zoom out so you can see.” She did something with her fingers and the image shrank, showing a large stretch of what he assumed to be land that was surrounded with blue that he assumed to be the big water. “This is the entire Northern continent and the saltwater seas that surround it. We are up here.”

She tapped a finger at the top of the land image and then moved her fingers again, drawing it in close so quickly that his tail twitched with unease. She frowned a little and proceeded to move her finger along until she lay it at rest some distance from the blue marks that he took for running water. Her finger drifted south to trace along one smaller blue mark.

“I believe that this is the stream we were following.” She lifted her finger back to where it had briefly rested. “And I believe that we are currently here now. I could be off a little since this can’t triangulate our location, but that’s okay. We will just continue north until we run into the mountains and then follow them to the sea. Right here is where we are heading.” She tapped at a small circle carved out from the area. “This is the mining village where I need to talk to some people about what they saw.”

His gaze traced the edge of the mountains by the sea, and he swallowed as he rested his claw there. “This is a bad place. I don’t like that we are going there. That we will be taking you anywhere near there,” he growled.

A frown marred her brow as she glanced down at his claw before he pulled it away. “But, Thral, there is nothing there but trees and perhaps the buildings that are left from the abandoned settlement.” She paused, something flickering over her expression. “There are stories from the old miners about the whole area being cursed, but that’s just superstitious nonsense. Maybe it’s the old abandoned buildings that gave you that feeling. I know that they can make humans uneasy too.”

He grumbled, unconvinced. Her words made sense and he had felt uncomfortable around the empty wooden structures among the trees but that wasn’t everything.

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