Chapter 16

Varek

D raxel and I keep moving forward even as Paige falls behind. I’m sure she is angry with me—she is always angry with me, it seems—but I do not care. I don’t want her out here at all, but the troublemaker won’t give me a single moment of peace.

But there is something about Paige that stops me from telling her no.

The ship is in view, already becoming part of the harsh landscape as tanglethorns have started growing up the sides. It will only be a few weeks until the shiny, tough material of the ship that brought my mate is covered completely and crushed under the might of those nasty vines.

The harvesters burn them away every year to keep the glowhollows safe, but they have never stopped trying to get to us.

I slow to a walk and Draxel follows suit, a leather pack slung across his back. Paige gains on us quickly and before I know it, the female is at my side, doubling over and huffing.

She calls me something I don’t recognize. Ass. But I don’t mind.

A noise from beyond the ship snags my attention and my eyes snap to the source. A head bobs between the trees and emerges from the forest. My mane bristles as I get a good look.

“Oh, no,” I grit.

I grab Paige and sink to the ground, pushing her to her back beneath my body. She shoves against me but I shush her as Draxel hunches low next to us. My female wiggles and grunts trying to free herself from me, but I give her my entire body weight to keep her quiet.

“Silence, Mate,” I order.

“Let me go!” she squeaks.

I meet her gaze and cover her mouth, physically silencing her before she gives away our location. “Be quiet, now.”

Her brows knit.

Draxel stirs next to us. “Thachiens,” he grunts.

Paige’s eyes go wide, her face paling as she jerks underneath me. As if she knows how dangerous they are. As if she can sense the way my stomach hardens knowing they are just yards away. I hold my breath and raise my head enough to get a better look.

The gangly, green creatures stalk over the hilly marshes, hunched over and moving like beasts. Their arms are long and boney, all hard angles as they approach the ship.

“Ten of them, I count,” Draxel whispers.

I nod. A small groupling. The thing about Thachiens is that alone, they are easy to defeat. Their malformed and misshapen legs make them slow and any average Vrut male is faster. But Thachiens never travel alone.

And in packs, they rely on their brute strength to tear apart anything that gets in their way.

Paige heaves in deep breaths beneath me and I move my hand off her mouth, certain that she isn’t going to scream or shout and alert the Thachiens. I give her a little bit of room and she arches to see the evil creatures drawing closer and closer to her friends.

“We stay hidden,” I say.

“No,” Paige whispers back. “Those things are going right for the ship!”

She tries to shove me off, grunting as she pushes at my chest. I’m about to lose my mind. She has no idea what she’s getting herself into. I don’t care how much she wants to protect those other females—the one beneath me is mine and I’m not letting anything happen to her.

I wrap my hand around her throat and squeeze just enough for Paige’s eyes to go wide.

“Stop moving,” I command. I lean in close, nuzzling the side of her face and loosening my grip until I’m sure she can still breathe. “You are my mate, troublemaker. I will not play with your life and I will not let you play with it either.”

Her lips part as if she’s going to argue with me, but I capture her mouth instead. I devour her lips, forcing her to expel all that anger and desperation against mine. My body reacts immediately, my cock lengthening between my legs. It isn’t the best time to want to mate with her again, but it’s the only thing I can think of to distract her from trying to kill herself.

She groans as I plunge my tongue into her sweet mouth, tipping her chin to give me better access. Draxel clears his throat next to me and I finally let Paige breathe again. She’s a flushed mess, her lips swollen from the attention.

“They are inside,” Draxel whispers.

Paige sucks in a sharp breath but I shake my head. “Don’t make a sound,” I tell her.

She bites the inside of her cheek and all I want to do is throw her over my shoulder and take her to safety. She doesn’t belong here and the fact that she’s within eyeshot of the Thachiens makes me physically ill.

A piercing scream echoes through the misty air and Paige flinches.

I look up to see three Thachiens emerging from the ship, one of them dragging out their own female. The rest must still be inside.

Another scream and I cover Paige’s mouth again. She’s stirring something fierce, kicking at my legs to try to do something. I want to shake her.

Draxel’s grip tightens on his spear as it lays parallel to him, but neither of us makes a move.

My mane bristles as I watch the scene unfold. Two more Thachiens come out, carrying another kicking and screaming human. Five left inside by my count. The latest human is putting up a hell of a fight. Her fiery red hair spills out all around her and she thrashes around, shouting and snarling at the gangly creatures.

Draxel stirs beside me, a physical tremor through his body as if an instinct snapped into place.

The redhead gets a leg free and kicks one of the Thachiens hard, its leg snapping in half before it tumbles to the ground. The heinous wail that erupts from its throat sends a chill down my spine.

Visions flash across my mind.

My father.

My mother’s wail.

I couldn’t get to him either.

And I couldn’t save her.

The fiery redhead turns around to the other Thachien, not showing a lick of fear. She rears back and slaps the bony face before her, screaming out loud like a battle cry. In one powerful swoop, the Thachiens swings forward and punches the female hard, sending her flying off her feet before she thuds against the damp ground.

She lies still. Unmoving.

A snarling growl erupts from Draxel at my side. Both Paige and I look over at him as he rises. His eyes are narrowed, anger radiating off him like steam. In a flash, the left side of his chest lights up—lines tearing across his skin and down his left bicep. It flexes as he raises his spear.

“Mate,” he grunts.

Before I can stop him, he charges forward.