4

Serik

I didn't sleep a wink, despite my exhaustion. She whimpered about going home all night long. Her sweet voice stirred my cock while her words broke my heart. Why aren't I enough? What's so great about the shipping container or her southern home beyond it? I'll never measure up to her memories of what she had, so I have no choice but to destroy her alternative to my home…our home. If she has nowhere to go, she will give me the time and patience I need to win her heart.

She ate her ‘salad' last night. That's one small victory.

Her sleepy smile when I left another one at the foot of her bed this morning brightened my mood like a sunrise. My female asleep in my bed, happy to be fed by me, is my dream come true. Our relationship must keep progressing…so I can have the partner I've always wanted… Which means I must destroy that building!

When Patricika moved in with me last sun cycle, she brought a ‘potato gun' made by Sydney. One of the few days we got along was the day we fired it at geese. Roast goose is my favorite meal, so Patricka left the gun with me…when she stabbed me in the back and left me for that Squirrely Svoloch, Adam. We fired pinecones at the birds, but I have better ammunition today. This bag of flint chips, cotton scraps, used flashlight guts, and lighter fluid will make fire when they hit the rectangular building. Will it melt the metal or bend it? Will there be a wooden frame to burn and collapse the stupid thing?

I hope so.

My rage fuels my journey on foot to the human's dwelling. This better work. I want revenge on Adam by destroying his tie to the human world, as well as cutting Kaitlyn's lifeline. First, to cut a few thin trees to make a stand. If this stuff blows up in the plastic pipe, I don't want to be holding it. My hands shake with anticipation as giddiness builds in my belly. The home she whines for will be a pile of ash in minutes. Do I take her to see the ruins? If she cries, guilt will rot me from the inside out—if? When she cries, my heart will break. Maybe I'll try telling her first and if she calls me a liar, I'll punish her by bringing her to the rubble.

Where to aim? What the hell is that?

Slithering along the ground, Artyom rocks one of the human vehicles behind the building. My jaw hits the snow when he leaves the small machine behind to investigate a vehicle directly under where Holly climbed out. Liking this skidoo for some unknown reason, he drags it to an outcropping of trees to the east of the building. A long trench leads from the building to his hiding place because the idiot carved the snow with his belly. If anyone looks out the window, they will notice that they were robbed. If they find him, I'll have to rescue him and abandon my plan.

He's got that Squirrely Svoloch Adam with him in the trees! What are the pair up to? They should be hundreds of kilometers from here at the northern grounds. Did they bring Vera and Patricika down here to birth Patricika's kit? Has the entire clan returned? Has my time run out? I slam a bundle into the end of the potato gun and aim the tube above the building. With any luck, my ball will stick together until it hits the roof.

I snap the thin membrane at the bottom and the corresponding blast up the two-meter tube knocks me on my ass. Trees whip me as I roll across the snow. My tripod clatters to a pile of sticks, frightening the birds overhead. Even a guard as young as Gleb would stir at the racket I'm making. So much for sneaking up on the armed humans and destroying the building as they sleep.

My load of weapons bursts into flames as it crests the treetops. It flies in a beautiful arc, like a shooting star across the sunrise. The path is too flat, and my angle is too shallow, because I miss the building completely. I hit a rope holding men's clothing above the ground. The fabric ignites, and I clap my hands with glee as the fire travels up the line. The rope is tethered to the building. But the fates hate me, so the fire extinguishes before the building receives a spark. I load a second bundle of weapons into the launcher to try to hit the building again.

Reindeer storm through the trees as my second wad leaves the launcher. Were their ears notched or were they wild ones I frightened with my first attack? They came from the direction where I saw Adam and Artyom. Did they send reindeer to trample me? My temper glows hotter than the weapons sparking in the air…

Sparking over Kaitlyn's car…

Oh shit! I smear a hand down my face as a giant fireball consumes her black beast. Broken glass, black metal, and burning bits of vehicle litter the snow. Piles of trash ignite into small fires until the melting snow snuffs them out. A menacing black cloud hangs over the campsite. I had hoped Kaitlyn's vehicle would be an asset for the clan. Patricika drove Adam's vehicle to save Sergei's mate, Sydney, not too long ago. I secretly wished Kaitlyn would teach me to drive a vehicle, too.

Not happening now. I'm such a Svoloch.

How am I going to tell her I tried to blow up her home in a fit of rage and accidentally blew up her vehicle instead? She will hate me all over again. How could I be so stupid? I know. I'll make up a story. I came here to hunt geese… I witnessed her car exploding… Nobody can tell her the truth if I kill every human in the building, which was the plan anyway. No male steals the home of my dushevnayasvyaz…except maybe me.

"Serik?" Artyom's voice blows a fireball through my web of lies. He and the human, Adam, witnessed my mistake. Did Patricika and Vera see me blow up her car too?

"Human males hurt my mate. Human males took her dyla weturanya by force!" The words tumble from my mouth as my conscience fights to save me from humiliation. I load a third fabric sphere into the powder-rigged potato gun. Artyom points to my leather bag of weapons. My answering scowl can cut glass…until a brilliant idea strikes me. If they are part of the destruction, then I can blame blowing up Kaitlyn's car on them. "Help me aim. It doesn't place the bombs where I send them."

"It's a parabolic trajectory, not a hot air balloon," Artyom parrots words he obviously doesn't understand with his arms folded across his chest. What the hell is he trying to say? Adam nods in agreement while stifling laughter. Bashing their heads together would bring me so much satisfaction right now.

"Are Holly and Kaitlyn still inside?" Adam must sense my growing agitation by bringing up the females.

"The one who screams drove the large vehicle south a week ago when I rescued my mate," I proclaim with the pride of a newly mated male. Let them believe what they want about Kaitlyn's condition. By the time I allow them to see her, she will be happy to be mine…I hope.

"Thank God for that," Adam says with a sigh of relief. I glare at him. How dare he act as if he cares if Kaitlyn is safe when he abandoned two females in the wilderness? If I hadn't been watching them this zima season, they would have run out of supplies. Who restocked wood when they ran out? Who fixed their water source when it froze solid? All the nights I fought to stay awake to watch over them, I was alone. Who alerted Kaitlyn so she woke in time to escape when the evil men showed up? Not Adam.

Me.

"Who is the enemy?" he asks, oblivious to my internal temper tantrum.

"Male scum," I reply, firing another bomb with Artyom's steady hands aiming the tube. This one goes to the area beside Kaitlyn's burning vehicle and lights her water structure. Flames shoot higher than the car blowing up as the neighboring gas tank ignites. "They don't talk like Canadians. They form their words like you, but aren't kind to the forest like you."

"New Yorkers?"

"Just like you," I repeat, to push salt into the wound. I have no proof, but I know he lured those bad men to the females. Kaitlyn's home wasn't safe because of him…I know it in my bones. He knows it too because he helps aim the tube toward the metal box's back window. As the glass shatters, the bomb falls into the snow with a sizzle.

Idiot human missed! His dumb face smiles at my glare as four rough men emerge from the shipping container. They fight to clothe themselves in their jeans, leather jackets, and boots as the frigid breeze kisses them. One tries to recover his pants from the flaming clothesline while the other three laugh and point at his yellow boxers.

"You missed," I growl before I can shut my mouth. The more misses with Artyom and Adam aiming, the more believable my story they blew up Kaitlyn's car will be. Not that dushevnayasvyaz can lie to one another, but I can leave out the part where her car blew up before they started helping.

"This one won't," Adam snaps. The next bomb lands beside the clothesline and on the heads of two of the men. The unscathed men scatter for the shelter of nearby vehicles.

Why am I surprised? He made this weapon for Patricika. The pair excel at hunting, trapping, and teamwork. I didn't think I could envy them any more than I already did. But my insides rot green with how easy everything seems for him. A human leaves his species and rocks our clan to the core, steals the heart of our fiercest female, tricks me into helping him by offering me what I want more than anything else, and walks away. His female labors somewhere and the humans who counted on him for protection fled days ago, but he's here. How does he do it?

"Again!" His warning jolts me from my sour thoughts.

A second bomb falls on the man fumbling with the skidoo Artyom passed up. The fourth man starts the remaining jeep with a roar. His headlights temporarily blind us as he hastily backs away. With a screech of tires, he speeds south toward the humans' territory.

"I'm destroying the building," I sneer, jerking the tube out of their hands. The movement puffs a cloud of vanilla pheromones over our heads. My smug smile returns as their brains assemble my symptoms of dushevnayasvyaz. That's right. The female I stole is mine. "They can't have my mate back. She mustn't have a dyla weturanya to compete with mine."

"Come, Adam," Artyom says with a hand on Adam's shoulder. "This is his dushevnayasvyaz, and you have a new kit at home."

So the Svoloch abandoned Patricika to labor alone on the northern grounds! What a bastard! Vera must be with her. I'm not surprised Adam wouldn't know how to care for a Chuchunya female, but Artyom? I've never seen the Chuchunya without Vera since he introduced her to the clan. Adam needed Artyom to show him the way south—they don't call Artyom the Wanderer because he sits inside all zima season—but why were they traveling? Why now? Who is taking care of their females? Sergei and Timor?

Something isn't right. Something that is none of my business if they stay north.

"Congratulations," I shout, firing again. If I tell these two my plans, they will assume I made them with Kaitlyn. Maybe I can stall for time. "We are staying here for the niibin season. No reason to migrate north just to turn around and return south. My mate will love seeing your kit when you migrate to us. Maybe she will carry ours by then."

"Thanks," Adam mumbles as he follows Artyom's lead.

That's right. Chuchunya law says Kaitlyn is none of your concern. Just like I backed off Patricika when she declared her love for you, Adam, you must extend the same respect to me.

"Have fun with your blond bombshell!" Adam's words are light-hearted, but concern darkens his expression.

"Blond? My dushevnayasvyaz has hair as dark as night…" I can't say more because of the coughing of Adam's vehicle as it struggles to carry both Artyom and Adam. They exchange frowns as Adam discovers the switch in females. He told me about Holly but not Kaitlyn, so hopefully, he and my mate aren't close. I'd hate to allow my past to come between their friendship.

A past I'm willing to bury for a future with Kaitlyn…