Chapter 15

Min-Ji

I didn't know what Corin saw or heard, but I could tell he was worried. One moment we'd been talking, the next he'd gone all tense and battle-ready. I wondered if he knew the scales along his shoulders seemed extra pointy and big when he got like that. It wasn't like he could really control them the way some animals could raise their fur to seem bigger, but it reminded me a little of that.

"We've got company," Corin hissed under his breath. His hands lowered the two-poled A-frame thing he had been pulling like a sled. Reid moaned and muttered as Corin settled him on the ground. "Stay close." I ducked to kneel at Reid's side, still searching the purple woods for any sign of this company that Corin had seen.

It wasn't long before I saw them, but that was only because the Naga watching us chose to leave his hiding place. I had never seen this guy before, and I had a hard time deciding which Clan he belonged to. Maybe he was from an entirely new Clan I didn't know about; we had traveled far from Haven on Sesethul yesterday. We couldn't even see the mountain peaks of Ahoshaga or the Bitter Storm mountain range any longer.

This Naga didn't have the pretty sheen to his scales that Corin and any other Naga I knew had. His scales were dull, matte, as if they absorbed light rather than reflected it. Their color was something between blue and purple, something dark that made him extremely difficult to spot against the purple and gray foliage on Serant.

Then, two more Naga slithered out from behind some bushes, spears in hand, and aimed in our direction. These two were clearly blue: one, a bright azure similar to Zathar, and the other a darker blue that was very common among the rest of our former Thunder Rock outcasts. That made them Thunder Rock hunters, but how had they gotten here? Or were there more blue Naga Clans?

"Khawla, what are you doing here?" Corin demanded, making it clear at once that he knew the strange Naga at the front. Corin had pulled his knives, but, seeing former Clansmales, he lowered his blades and lost some of his hostility. "You're far from home…"

The oddly camouflaged male tilted his head and frowned. "I could say the same about you, Corin. What are you doing here? Are you aware that you are getting perilously close to the Sacred Training Grounds? Only Shamans and Queens are allowed to continue in this direction." So we were getting close; that was good. Reid was on fire. I could feel how he was burning up now that I was kneeling right next to him.

Corin nodded. "I know. We are on our way to seek their aid. I am invited." Those final words seemed to do the trick for the three Thunder Rock Naga. The blue ones lowered their spears and offered friendly greetings, while Khawla approached to peer around Corin at the moaning Reid. I didn't miss how Corin carefully kept his body between me and the other males, not allowing them to get a good look or get close.

I kept looking at Khawla because he seemed to be the one in charge and was still suspicious of us. His eyes weren't a shade of blue or gray; they were a bright amethyst. That was an eye color only seen among the Copper Tooth Clan. Was this guy half of both? That seemed impossible because, while Thunder Rock and Copper Tooth weren't at war, they weren't allies. All the Clans were very strict about staying inside their own Clan and color—that's why we humans mating with their cast-out males was such a big deal.

"Hmm, are you sure about that?" Khawla murmured when he realized the patient Corin was transporting wasn't Naga. At least, I was pretty sure that's why he called Corin's invitation into question, but he'd done it quietly, so his buddies hadn't overheard. "Sazzie and the Queen are seeing them now. They're busy." Or maybe that's what he meant; this guy was hard to read.

"What do you mean?" Corin demanded upon hearing the news, but Khawla turned his back on my mate and slithered away. With a gesture of his hand, the other two disappeared into the bushes ahead of him, moving toward a small trail of smoke in the distance. Corin seemed frozen in place as he stared at their retreating backs until they were completely out of sight. "What do you mean, the Queen is here?"

Oh no. I knew what was about to happen. If the Queen was here, then he was going to refuse to let me come with him. A sliver of fear curled through my belly as I thought about what this meant, the implications. If she was nearby, if she was where we needed to go to save Reid, it would put me in great danger. Corin was going to have a meltdown about that. I knew it. But it wasn't like it was safe for me to hide in the woods for a few nights alone. I was the worst person for that. I was terrible at outdoor stuff.

He spun around, his mercury eyes blazing at me, and I braced myself for a passionate speech. He didn't disappoint. His words were a low, deep growl as he rushed them out. "You have to stay here and hide. If the Queen is at the Training Grounds, there's no way you can come with me. You have to stay safe." I knew he was speaking from fear, that this news had made him panic and think the worst, but he couldn't possibly think this was the right choice.

I got to my feet, my fists balled at my sides. A weird kind of desperation filled me. This was when I had to convince him of something that felt impossible. I felt like I'd just lost him, and we hadn't even faced her yet. Cosima said it was worth fighting for, that I couldn't give up. But these odds felt overwhelming. How could I ask him to take me where she'd see us—his biggest fear? And it made me so mad, too. Why did this Naga female I'd never even met get to dictate the rest of our lives? It wasn't right.

"Corin! Corin, listen to me," I said, but he was still talking rapidly, one word tumbling over the next as he tried to tell me what to do. He wasn't listening. He didn't even seem to see me right now. All he could see was the future he feared: my death at the hands of a female who had ruined his lifetime again and again. I had promised to hide our mating bond, to keep it from everyone so this damn Queen would never learn of it. But nobody was here to see us, just a delirious Reid who wouldn't remember.

I pressed my palms to his chest on either side of the vibrating pendant around his neck. Corin's mating marks flared to wild, exuberant life as I did so. They glowed so brightly that I had to blink against their strength, and they covered him from shoulder to the very tip of his tail. We'd touched before, but I'd never seen them this… feral, this present. As if his fear for me had made them more powerful.

"Corin! I can't hide in the woods for days. That would be just as dangerous!" His mouth snapped shut, and his quicksilver eyes lowered to mine. Finally, I had contact. I reached up one hand to cup his jaw. I had to stand on tiptoe to reach him, and I didn't miss how he lowered himself the rest of the way. "You can't leave me behind," I said, and then I kissed him.

Immediately, his arms closed around me, and he yanked me against his chest with a shudder. He kissed back, his mouth rough and possessive but his hands gentle as he clutched me close. That was my Corin. He'd come back to me, but was it enough? Our tongues tangled in a now familiar way, our breathing mingling, and his taste grounding me in the here and now. In his arms, I felt safe, like that threat he feared could never reach me, and I wished that I could do the same for him.

"You need to listen to your mate," a voice said. It took me a disorienting moment to figure out what had happened, but Corin was instantly back in battle mode. He hissed, his scales rattling along his spine, and his arms clutched me tighter. It was the weirdly muted Naga male, Khawla, again. This time, he was alone as he peered at us from beside a tree a little further away. I had a feeling that he'd never left, that he'd watched us the entire time to see what we'd do.

"There are Rakworms in the area," the male said, as he lifted a hand in the direction we needed to go. "At least three. You can't leave your female unprotected, Corin. And she wouldn't be safe at our camp, or I'd offer that." Corin hissed in response, and I had a feeling he wasn't really hearing Khawla; rather, he was sizing up the male as if he intended to attack.

"Corin," Khawla said calmly, and I had to give the guy points for remaining so unfazed while getting measured for a coffin by my mate. The kill vibes were off the charts. If Corin weren't holding me, he would have already attacked. "I will leave now, and I will forget we met. Do you understand? Now listen to your female. She's got the right of it." He backed up slowly, his hands held out at his sides with the palms facing toward us.

When he'd disappeared out of sight, it still didn't feel like we were alone, but it was the best it was going to get. That male had the most camouflaged scales I'd ever seen. If he wanted to spy on us, he could. I had to trust that he'd keep his word, though I didn't understand what would motivate him to do so. There was nothing in it for him except kindness. We had a truce with Thunder Rock, but we weren't friends…

Corin still hadn't moved, and he hadn't let me go. Actually, his tail had wound tighter around me, holding me closer and closer to him. "Honey, you understand what that guy said, right?" I asked him. Maybe, if I touched him more, he'd snap out of this weirdly protective mode he'd gone into. "Come back to me." My fingers trailed along his chest, then back up his neck and into the silky strands of dark blue hair.

It was very tempting to kiss him again, and I bit my lip as I gathered my courage to try. Sadly, his eyes suddenly snapped from the woods to my face, and I knew he'd managed to find his way back. "Min-Ji… I can't. We can't. If I lost you, it would kill me! I have to keep you safe."

He leaned into my hand, his eyes intense as he watched me shake my head. I knew he was going to protest, so I beat him to the punch. "No," I said firmly. "We can't avoid this forever. We can't even avoid her. I know I'm safer with you, and I know that leaving me out here with Rakworms is not an option. We have to confront this." It made my heart pound in my throat to think about it, but I was very tired of hearing about a threat without having anything tangible to face. Not that I really wanted to face an actual Naga Queen. Vera had done it, and it hadn't sounded fun.

The way he groaned and lowered his shoulders made it clear I'd won this round. We were going to the Sacred Training Grounds together. That meant I was about to see my first Naga Queen, and this one was supposed to want me dead if she knew I was Corin's mate. Which meant we were going to have to hide it until we could find a way to make her give up. Secretly, I also wondered if she even cared or if fear had blown this problem out of proportion.

Corin had been so young when she tampered with his chance to be a Shaman and tried to convince him to be her consort. But he wasn't a youngling anymore. Now, he was a fully trained hunter, with as much knowledge as he could gather on ancient relics. It might be different when he confronted her, and faced his demons. A girl could hope.

He tilted his head to search the surrounding woods, maybe for Khawla, or perhaps for the Rakworms. I'd never seen one in person, but Charlie had, and she'd described her experience in vivid detail. I wasn't keen on meeting one of the giant snakes with fangs as long as my arm.

"She can't find out," he said eventually, but he still didn't let go of me. He kept me tight against his chest, his tail pushing against my rear to raise me higher. This kiss was different when he bent his head to mine, slower, tender. He didn't rush it the way every kiss before this one had, exploding into passion as if it were the only moment we were going to have. No, this felt more like a promise for more, but I didn't dare hope for that.

When he set me back on my feet, the tip of his tail remained coiled around my wrist. That's how we continued our trek downhill and deeper into the strange, boggy woods. Reid was quiet now, barely moving and no longer moaning in pain. If you ignored the fine sheen of sweat on his forehead, you could almost pretend that he was sleeping peacefully.

The area started to change as the day progressed, no longer quite so wet in the valleys between the hills. That made traveling quicker, as we could now stay lower on the hillsides, avoiding all the steep climbs. We only took one brief pause mid-afternoon for food and water. Corin took out his healing device, the gold bands and odd gems fitting around his clawed hand like a glove.

He gave Reid a thorough check, and I loved watching him as he worked. I didn't think he realized it, but his tongue kept peeking out as he concentrated. It was cute, which was a funny word to associate with a Naga like Corin. He wasn't soft anywhere, and since he was built along slender lines compared to guys like Krashe and Iave, he looked even sharper. Lean and muscular, but refined—if that made any sense—but definitely not cute. Unless he was focused and did that unconscious gesture: pursed lips, the tip of his tongue sticking out. I loved it.

"He has stabilized a little. I didn't think he would," Corin said as he tucked the device away again. "His chances might actually be improving." That was hopeful, but it didn't look like he was going to get better soon; there was a gray hue to his face. He was breathing normally, but I would have preferred the rambling and muttering from before over this quietness.

The glow of Corin's mating marks suddenly dimmed when he jerked upright on the base of his tail and whipped the tip around. The loss of his touch had me focusing on the wrong thing at first, but then I caught the way he was tensely staring into the woods. "I think it's a Rakworm," he murmured. "I need to check it out. Stay with Reid. Shout if you see anything moving." Then he pulled his knives and hurried down the hill without a backward glance.