Page 20 of Ragoru

Worry seized him, and he wanted to scoop her up against him. He would carry her across. He would be able to manage. As he turned to reach for her, the river stones beneath his feet skidded away, dropping from beneath his feet suddenly as if there were a dip in the riverbed just beside him. A strangled yelp escaped him as he twisted and then dropped. Icy water submerged over his head, and he clawed desperately at the wet bottom with all four of his hands, slowing his rapid drag across it only slightly. It felt like an eternity that he was under there, his lungs burning, but then two strong hands gripped his fur and yanked him above water and a third pulled him in close against a solid, warm body.

All sound was muffled by the water still in his ears, but as it drained out he slowly became aware of the distinct sounds of grief. He blinked all four of his eyes rapidly to clear the water that blurred his vision and coughed.

“Steady.” Thral’s chest rumbled against his ear. “You were only down there a moment and didn’t get far before I could snag you. Thank the Mother that there is some give in this odd rope.”

“Evie?” he rasped, suddenly worried that she might have been pulled down with him.

“Fine,” Thral assured him. “Frightened and upset, but Vrishna has her. See for yourself.”

He turned his head and was relieved to see their female held firmly against Vrishna’s chest. The male had a wild look to him as he stared back at Sabol with a starkness in his face that he’d never seen on the face of the calm male. Evie barely moved in the water now as Vrishna held her in a grip that he was certain was just shy of bruising.

“Vrishna is going to hurt her if he holds her any tighter,” he grumbled and coughed again to dislodge the remaining water from his lungs.

Thral chuffed and dragged him forward through the water, away from their female. “He won’t, but you scared him enough to shorten his life, I think. Scared of all of us,” he admitted, his voice turning gruff as he plodded forward, and Sabol was relieved to see that Vrishna was already closing the distance, holding a weeping Evie still tightly against him. “The moment you went under, he snatched her from the rope with a look of terror I won’t soon forget.”

His ears flattened. He should have just kept going. Vrishna had been there to watch for her. Instead, he almost caused a disaster.

“I endangered her,” he rasped sadly.

Thral grunted. “You nearly killed yourself. Be more worried about that. Evie is going to want to skin you, idiot.” He shot an angry look from his peripheral eye. “Don’t ever do that again. Learn to trust and lean on us more, especially with the care of our female. We are just as dedicated as you to her care and wellbeing. If you do this foolishness again, I will make sure you regret.” He expression eased slightly, and he sighed. “We can’t lose you, Sabol.”

“Because of Evie,” Sabol murmured.

“Not exactly,” Thral replied. “You are ours. All of ours. This family needs you.”

Sabol leaned into his lead as they powered through the water together. They were barely on the bank for more than a few heartbeats before Sabol began to shiver violently. Evie rushed to him with a concerned shout as his triad ushered him further up the bank. He was dimly aware of Evie retrieving her bag from Vrishna and starting a fire. He barely registered its heat at all. It was the press of warm bodies around him as his family held him tight that allowed him to drift off to sleep as warmth slowly returned, Thral’s words echoing through his mind.

They were family. He would learn to rely on them. This could never happen again.

CHAPTER17

Evie was surprised at how beautiful the forest was. Who knew thatthisexisted on the other side of that horrible river? She marveled at her surroundings as they walked. The entire northern forest had a beauty that few even knew about, but the forest here seemed set apart even from that. It was incredible. There was lush growth everywhere, and it was filled with all manner of flowers, berries, and wild fruits. Some of them looked as if they might have been planted there, but she couldn’t imagine by who, nor did she particularly care as she eagerly stuffed them into her mouth. Even her triad showed a distinct pleasure for them as they devoured them in large quantities and carefully dug up some flavorful roots that, once peeled, had a pleasantly sweet taste to them.

Despite that, she remained cautious. She was less familiar with the plant life of the area, which meant that she spent her breaks in their walks furiously scribbling notes and making sketches of the varieties she’d seen, many of which she was certain were quite dangerous based on the exotic beauty of the large blooms and brightly colored giant leaves on others. Those specimens aside, she was more interested in the animals that occupied it.

It was almost hard to believe that eventually this would thin out and disappear when they neared the mountains and coast. As beautiful as it was, however, crossing the Zagumouth had not been worth coming so close to losing Sabol. It had been far too close. It was because of her that he had nearly died. Thral had been angry, blaming Sabol’s lack of trust in Vrishna for what had happened, but Evie knew the truth, and deep down they all did.

She rapidly blinked her eyes, willing the tears to retreat before they had an opportunity to spill. There was no reason to cry. He was fine. But for a moment there she hadn’t been certain, though Thral and Vrishna had tried to reassure her. She glanced over at Sabol from under her lashes. The way he was keeping at a brisk pace at her left, it almost seemed impossible that he’d shivered long into the night before he had warmed enough to finally sleep peacefully between them. His tail flagged as he moved among the trees, keeping slightly behind her in a triangular formation with Vrishna on her right and Thral in the lead. It was hard to believe that he recovered so soon.

But hadn’t Thral said he would every time her anxiety climbed? She had felt nearly useless being so small and not having any fur, but Thral had been her rock as she struggled her sense of guilt and helplessness. At his urging, she’d stripped naked and pressed her body against Sabol’s, lying directly upon him while the other two males tucked in close on either side of him. She’d nearly cried at how icy his fur felt, but as cold as she was, he hugged her to him. And in doing so, she was surprised to discover that she dried and warmed faster than the males.

If she focused on the memory enough, Evie could almost hear the way Thral had whispered encouraging words to her. Telling her to remain still. Telling her how much she was helping him. And she hadn’t dared to move just in case he needed her. She’d never been more scared in her life than she had at the moment he went under, and she’d hated herself that she’d pushed them to cross the river when they’d clearly not wanted to go in.

More and more she was beginning to think that by being with her, she was endangering them, and she dwelled increasingly on how to bring up the suggestion that they separate. At least until she finished what she had to do. One thing was certain: she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if anything happened to any of them. Not only would it be safer for them to remain behind, but the distance would probably all give them space to really think about how much they were beginning to depend on each other and if that was wise. If they ought to just settle on the first female they came across. There was also the possibility that they could find someone else, though just thinking of being replaced made her want to hunt the imaginary female down and demand that she stay away from her males.

Evie choked back a humorless laugh. She was getting too possessive of the triad. And she hadn’t even shared her body with two of them. But that didn’t make them any less hers to the unreasonable part of her mind.

This is bad. Very, very bad.

Getting attached to them when there should be other thoughts occupying her mind was foolish at best. And it wasn’t fair to them either, as was proven more than adequately by what happened at the river. It wasn’t fair for her to drag them with her into potentially even more dangerous situations.

She glanced at Vrishna, who smiled at her sweetly, and then focused on Thral’s sleek, muscular back as he wove through the forest ahead of her. He was beautiful. They all were. Damn, she was going to miss them. She wouldn’t tell them now. Not yet. She would wait until they found a place to rest for the night and she would have their full attention with fewer distractions. She wouldn’t sideswipe them with it while they were trying to remain alert moving through the forest.

Lips pursuing, she neatly skirted a large cluster of leaves that looked like they belonged in a hot house with their bright splatter of pink and bright green on deep purple… except that they were nearly as tall as Vrishna and three times wider than any one of them. Even from where she stood, she could see that the edges were not only heavily serrated but there were fine spikes that covered every inch of the beautiful plant. She shuddered and gave it ample room as she eyed the long fronds that crept around its base. They flexed slightly but didn’t otherwise move. Vrishna noticed the direction of her gaze, and he moved in closer until his soft fur brushed her arm.

“What is it?” he rumbled curiously.

“Don’t get any closer to it,” she replied in a soft voice. She didn’t know why. None of her studies showed that the plants could hear, but she suspected that they picked up vibrations and she didn’t want the fronds to seek out the heavy vibration that could come from any loud talking. “Some sort of predatory plant. We have them all over the planet, but this particular species is new to me.” Her gaze followed the growth as he growled and nudged her away from it. “A lot of the plants on this side of the river are, actually, which is odd,” she added as she fell into step with him.

---