Page 5 of Ragoru

She didn’t have to search for long before large gray wings tipped in white flashed among the branches and the large bird dropped from the trees with another sharp, whooping cry. Possessing two sets of large feather tufts over its ears in the appearance of horns, a distinctive tri-tined tail that flowed with elegant feathers, and a long, curving neck and beak that gave the predatory bird incredible reach, it was a beautiful bird but a dangerous, opportunistic hunter. Well over half Evie’s size, she knew it would consider her a meal if it believed itself to be at advantage.

Instinctively, she dropped down lower against the log as it swept close overhead. Blasts of air rushed over her but nothing more as the enormous wings snapped above her. She watched them spread wide, the three long clawed “fingers” extending from each wing’s pollex appearing almost like daggers, before curling inward on the downbeat, carrying the creature past her and deep into the forest on the other side of the road. Lifting her head, she stared after it, her heart pulsing in her throat. A soft, nervous laugh left her as she slowly straightened.

What could have possibly scared it from its perch? She rarely even heard of gray engal abandoning its perch unless actively making a kill. Shaking her head, she pulled her canteen from her bag, uncapped it, and took a long drink from it, relishing the cool rush of liquid down her throat. Wetting her hand, she splashed a small amount of water on her face and rolled her neck to release some of the tension that had accumulated. Moaning softly at the pull of muscles, she massaged a tight spot at the base of her neck, loosening the muscles there as she dug her fingers in and worked them.

Another soft moan escaped her, and she dropped her head. Gods, that felt good. She considered stripping off her button-up field shirt to the camisole beneath to wet more of her skin with the cool water when the sound of something squealing in the near distance made her head shoot up. Freezing, her eyes flicked in an attempt to follow the sound until she was staring into the woods in the exact direction from which the gray engal had come. She panted as fear filled her. There was another squeal, this time much closer as bushes rustled and branches broke, and an echo of a snarl that had her shooting to her feet in alarm.

Whatever it was, it was coming right for her. Biting back the shout that rose to her lips, Evie dove from the road into the woods, her legs pumping as she hurried deeper into the growth and wiggled herself between a tight cluster of trees. Pressing her chest against the tree in front of her, she peered around it. The squeals were getting louder and more desperate. Her first impression had been that it was a wild hog, but there was something different to the sound that drew her curiosity. Pulling her sketchbook from her pack with a mind to capture the likeness of whatever manner of animal made that sound, her teeth sank into her bottom lip as her eyes darted among the trees in the distance ahead of her.

The bushes quaked wildly, leaves thrashing with loud cracks of branches breaking as something raced into them. A thick patch of the bushes burst forward with a rippling series of snaps as a short-bodied animal on spindly legs broke through. It was in a full-out run, its wedge-shaped head, one that brandished a wicked crown of horns that circled its head completely, was stretched out ahead of it on a long, graceful neck, its two long, fluffy tails whipping wildly behind it as it squealed again.

That high-pitched squealing scream of the animal made her wince as she scribbled its likeness in her book as it bounded among the trees and past her to disappear into the bushes just beyond where she was hidden, but it had nothing on the snarl that followed after it. Her pencil dropped from her numb fingers as the entire brush seemed to explode from within itself, leaves and bits of broken branches flying through the air as a true monster broke through the woods so suddenly that Evie was forced to bite her fist to keep her from screaming. Her eyes rounding, she tracked the movement of the beast surging forward that suddenly was a lot more noteworthy than the small prey animal.

Dropping down to a crouch, she blindly felt around for her pencil, seeking it out among the broken twigs and dry leaves until finally closing around it, her eyes never once leaving the creature that rushed forward, its burning yellow gaze hunting the animal that had preceded it. Turning to a clean page, Evie remained hunkered down among the brush as she made rapid sweeps of graphite on paper. It was enormous—terrifying—and yet striking in its predatory beauty.

The creature wasn’t any animal with which she was familiar. In fact, despite its monstrous appearance, it moved in many ways much like a man, its yellow eyes calculating as it scanned the bushes in search of its prey. It was far larger than a man was, however. Easily close to eight feet and packed with muscle beneath gray fur, it appeared primarily bipedal like any human, though it didn’t hesitate to drop down onto all four limbs to prowl as it slowed and begin to sniff the air.

It was hunting.

Evie drew in a breath and held it, her pulse racing as she continued to sketch. It slowly stood at its full height and peered around curiously, as if perplexed by something. Its nostrils expanded again as it drew in a deep breath, and her eyes shifted from its very lupine face to its two sets of eyes, and finally down a humanoid torso with a soft brush of fuzz there outlining the sculpted pectorals and abdominal muscles. A furred sheath rested between its legs just above a scrotum, and her cheeks heated, her eyes snapping back up tohisbelly as she swallowed nervously. There was too much intelligence in those eyes to be anything less than sapient as his eyes narrowed and he peered thoughtfully among the trees.

She stilled as his head turned toward her hiding spot, his nostrils flaring again. As if possessing a will of their own, her eyes dropped down his torso again , and she swallowed back a sound of surprise as a thick, veined cock with an angled head and a beaded appearance pushed out from his sheath. She stared at the appendage, quickly rendering its likeness—unable to help herself, all due to scientific curiosity and the thoroughness of a researcher, of course—to the side of the sketch that she’d begun. He growled low and deep, the sound carrying along her nerves, sending a shiver rushing over her.

Her mouth dropped open but not just because of the intensity of that feeling and the way she felt a shocking liquid heat in her belly, but because a second cock pushed out just below the first. The second was even more obviously beaded than the first and possessed numerous ridges along its length, terminating in a bulbous head with three small protrusions at the tip of it. Thick precum drooled off the upper cock, splattering the second one below, and he growled again, this time with a note of what sounded suspiciously like inquiry to it as he pressed closer to her hiding place.

That was enough to drive some sense into her. She clasped her field book close to her chest and quieted her breathing as much as she could as she stared back at the male as he drew closer. A sick feeling overcame her. Here she was studying the creature with rapt fascination as if she were in a lab at the Citadel and there was a very good chance that her scent had diverted him from his intended prey to her. The exposure of his sexual organs and the supposed sapiency didn’t mean that he wasn’t now hunting her with the full intention of eating her instead.

She whimpered quietly, fearfully in the back of her throat. “Please, don’t,” she mouthed in a soft prayer.

She didn’t want to die yet.

The creature tipped his head as he peered through the bushes, staring directly at her with all four of his eyes. Although the second pair was smaller and receded with the obvious intent of working peripherally, she still had a sense of those too being focused on her. His ears tipped toward her and he eased a step closer, but then stopped.

Evie stared at him, barely daring to breathe. Then he took his upper cock into his hand and began to stroke it repeatedly, his furred hand with the soft padding on the palm and fingers barely visible with the turn of his hand as he stroked himself. He grunted deeply and snarled just as a pearly substance splattered in long ropes all over her hiding spot and her. As she gaped at the mess, he continued to stroke himself, jettisoning more of his hot spend onto her, this time aiming a bit higher so that it not just coated her thighs and belly but also her chest and cheeks. Its musky smell filled her nose, and she was horrified when she felt her pussy cream in response.

She wasnotgetting turned on by being approached by a fucking creature that appeared like some bizarre nightmare form of an old Earth werewolf.

His muzzle suddenly gaped in what appeared like a silent laugh, but he spun away before she could be certain and took off into the bushes in the direction that the little horned beast had disappeared. Evie remained where she was, smeared with his cum, staring after him, almost afraid that he would return and this time tear her apart now that he was done playing with her. But he didn’t return, and before long there was an agonized squeal that screamed through the forest that had Evie rushing back through the forest for the road, praying that she hadn’t lost it.

A road that apparently did not want to be found.

It was in defeat hours later that she hunched down among some growth and made her camp. Come morning, she would reorient herself toward her destination. It wasn’t the end of the world. She spent most of her time in the wilderness around her post. This was nothing new to her. Just an unfamiliar area. It was no problem.

Setting her expandable tent pack on the ground, she initiated it and crept back as the tent popped open. Not even bothering with a fire, Evie slipped in and crawled into the bedding cocoon that inflated along the bottom of the tent.

Everything would look different in the morning.

CHAPTER6

Sabol crept closer to the small structure, freshly caught and cleaned prey clenched in his upper right hand. It was his peace offering for the small female that he could only guess was one of the humans of which the Shining Ones spoke. But it didn’t matter what she was. She was his, and he would take care of his mate. She would see that he was a fine male who provided well for her. He hoped that it would also make her more receptive to him after the abrupt way he had marked her. His own mother would have cuffed his ears for such a thing if she were still alive to see it. A male presented himself for mating to an unmated female. He never marked a claim without permission.

And he had claimed her by scent marking her. It was a small claim as it wasn’t mating, but it was a claim nonetheless.

That she wasn’t Ragoru had only given him a momentary pause. She had smelled so good that it sent a hunger twisting violently through him that he had completely forgotten about his prey. Her delicious fragrance had washed over him, calling to his instincts just as brutally as the scent of any receptive Ragoru female.

He was a simple male. That much was enough.

Though she looked small and fragile, and her appearance was strange with the flat features of her face, her single pair of eyes and arms, furless body, and disturbing lack of tail, that she called to him at all and incited his instincts satisfied his needs. His primary cock had emerged instinctively in reaction to his desire, and so he had done as he had been taught. He had proudly displayed for her, waiting eagerly for her to leave her little nest in the trees and come to him. But when she did not move at all in reaction to his display, he just… acted, claiming the small female as his own instead.

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