12. Chapter 12

"What happened?" I demanded of Szun-Var.

Szun-Var's eyes followed Sandra and her group's retreat toward a set of boulders, where they kept her in their middle and shielded from our sight.

"That one is trouble," Szun-Var said, instead of answering me.

I grunted in reply, having figured that part out already.

"Can you send her back?" Szun-Var asked, still staring daggers at the group of females.

"Each one of them is invaluable to us." I sighed. "She will find the right mate who will keep her in check."

Szun-Var's head turned back to me, a smirk spread his lips. "You might have to mate her just to keep an eye on her."

"I'm considering it." I nodded. "Now, what happened?"

"Bra-Tar tried to offer her water, and she claimed he touched her," Szun-Var filled me in.

"Did he?"

Szun-Var shrugged. "I wasn't there, but if he had…" He shrugged again in a what's to it way.

I knew Bra-Tar, like I knew the rest of the warriors I had handpicked for this journey. None of them would touch any of the females inappropriately. All of us had been taught from a young age to revere females and after our loss, each female was regarded with the utmost respect and reverence.

Either Sandra had been startled and misread his intentions, or she was lying. If she was lying, though, I had to wonder why. What could she possibly gain from accusing one of my males of inappropriately touching her?

Szun-Var was right; I needed to keep an eye on her, and she would need a strong male who would see through her schemes and keep tabs on them. I had already considered her as my khadahrshi, and now I would have to give it some more serious thought. She might be a liability, and since I was the one who had initiated the merging of our worlds, she had become my responsibility.

I wasn't keen on having a mate I had to keep a constant eye on, whose loyalty I could never fully count on, but right then, I was at a loss on who might do a better job. Sending her back wasn't an option. It would send the wrong message to the humans, as well as weaken my plan, a plan that was already precarious enough without needing any additional flames to add to the fire .

Involuntarily, my eyes searched for another black-haired female—Gwyn. She was now standing off to the side, talking to Dawn. I had observed those two together before and wondered why she had chosen to befriend her instead of the females in her group, to which she curiously didn't seem to fully belong.

Gwyn and Dawn looked like they were deep in a conversation, staring over at the human males. I narrowed my eyes. I didn't like the attention Gwyn was giving them, just as I hadn't liked seeing her talk and be friendly with Szun-Var.

Szun-Var was my friend, my First Blade; he was like a brother to me. But seeing him talking to her had sent a wave of rage through me I had been barely able to control.

"A word?" Commander Willis's sudden approach made me realize I had allowed my guard down for a few moments, and I growled at myself.

Willis shrunk back just a tad, probably thinking the growl was meant for him, but it might as well have been.

"What do you want?" I snapped, wanting to get this over with.

"My men need to eat. We brought rations, but they won't last forever," Willis came straight to the point. "I would appreciate it if you would share your food with us as promised."

"I promised no such thing," I retorted, regarding the male with derision.

"Well, you did, but let's not get into semantics. You have plenty of food, and I see no reason not to share our resources."

"And what resources do you offer in return?" I demanded.

"My men add protection," Willis argued .

"Protection we don't need and didn't ask for."

"Look—"

I interrupted him, "Your males, as you pointed out, are warriors. So use this time while the females rest and go hunting."

"Where?" Willis threw his arms up. "What?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Figure it out, warrior."

"This is not how you make friends with the humans as you claim your intent is. ICs will ask questions when we don't return."

I sighed. Unfortunately, he was right.

"Alright, from now on, I will give you one warrior to show you how and what to hunt. You may leave in the morning before we break camp, every time we stop for the females to rest, and two finger spans before the sun goes down while the scientists do their work," I offered.

"My men need breaks too," Willis argued like a petulant child.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "That's my offer. Take it or leave it, human."

"Fine! Have your tour guide ready two finger spans before the sun goes down," Willis retorted, rolling his eyes at the tour guide and finger spans before he once again turned his back to me.

I sighed in resignation. This would be a long day and an even longer journey than I had anticipated.

It was about time for us to get moving again when I watched Sandra and her group put their bags on one of the pallets holding our supplies. I ground my jaw at her audacity. The thought of easing the females' burdens had occurred to me, but I had thought it more prudent to get the females used to our harsher environment and to build up their obviously lacking strength. On the other hand, Sandra was proving herself adaptable in a different way by using obviously available resources.

Other females watched what Sandra did and followed her example, all but Gwyn, I noted.

I gave the signal to move on again, leading our convoy toward the Grednok Mountains, admitting to myself it would take a day longer than planned to reach them. I saw no sense in announcing it to the others yet, though. My warriors would come to their own conclusions, and I didn't want to dishearten the females by telling them our journey would take longer than the anticipated five days.

Now and then, I turned to look back. More often than not, my eyes searched for Gwyn. I found her, most of the time, farther away from the rest of the procession than I liked, digging for plants.

"Don't let her wander off too far," I grunted at Szun-Var.

"Sa, Khadahr," he acknowledged without having to be told who I was talking about, which should have disturbed me had I paid any attention.