From the tunnel, they entered the main room that was easily three times larger than any Daskh had ever seen before, and a third of it flooded with a deep pool filled with aquatic species of galthie. It was due to those that he could see the underwater tunnel leading out. Ehsash caught the direction of his gaze and nodded, his crests flicking.
“There are pools in most of the cells of the nest for my mother’s comfort.” His ear ridges shifted nervously before he let out a strange crooning vocalization that rose to a bark at the end.
Nothing happened at first, and Daskh stared at the male, unable to make any sense out of what was happening, but then he saw it. A flicker of light appeared at the mouth of the underwater tunnel, brightening for a moment as a graceful pale form slipped through.
Although no female could rival the beauty of his Lori, this female was like something he had never seen before and only ever heard whispers of. Even Hashal stilled in his arms despite the fact that he could not have possibly known what he was seeing.
“An Uralial,” he whispered.
“Yes, this is my mother, Ahanial.”
He suddenly understood the precautions Ehsash’s father took. If the shinara knew that she was there, they would not rest until she was expelled from the Aglatha or killed. Uralial were an aquatic species related to theirs. Daskh’s father believed that they were the same species as the Seshanamitesh who adapted to the deep cavern seas far to the west of the Aglatha. They had almost turned into something of a legend among their people, how they would eat Seshanamitesh and steal males as mates and nestlings for their own brood. How had she ended up there?
He stared as she emerged, her pale gray body striped with glowing marks down its length. Even her fins that ran down her tail glowed as brightly as any gavo. Glowing white eyes, darkened only by the slit of her pupil, blinked up at him. She smiled—and then that smile widened when her eyes landed on Hashal. Daskh’s hands tightened on the nestling, ridiculous superstitions charging to the fore with the worry that she was considering stealing the little male. His wings fanned out in surprise when her laughter filled the room, bright and sweet.
“Relax, hunter. I will not harm or steal your nestling,” she soothed in a sweet voice.
Shame flooded through him, and he glanced helplessly at Ehsash. The male smirked in amusement and shook his head before addressing his mother.
“Mother, I need to go. We suspect that the humans have acted toward one of their females. They are keeping her separated from her mates. I will be helping Daskh. We need to rally the males to mount an offense against the colony, so he can find her and his nest brothers, but it will be dangerous, and he needs someone to watch his nestling.”
The female tipped her head before slowly dragging it in imitation of his nod. “We have known this would happen. I like the human females, though their stories of their people make me sad. I will help,” she agreed, rising from the water to sit on a stone ledge, her arms outstretched.
Daskh was speechless, barely able to coherently mumble his thanks as he handed Hashal over. Surprisingly, it took little work to convince the small male to go. His tiny wings spread, flipping as he attempted to fly in his eagerness to get to her. The delight on Ahanial’s face as she curled the nestling close to her chest wore away the rest of the resistance against leaving the tiny male with her.
Ehsash gripped his arm in a friendly manner. Nothing more needed to be said as the female turned her full attention to playing with the nestling, leaving them free to depart. As they neared the ledge, however, Daskh glanced over at the male curiously.
“What did you mean when you said nest brothers? And mates?” he queried.
Ehsash laughed, his eyes shining with humor. “Is that not what you are? Many of the males who have acquired a human mate have fallen into a similar pattern at my mother’s suggestion. That is the way the Uralial live. The far western caves of Seshana are treacherous, and so they live in small family groups with several males caring for a single female. With the male population larger, it makes sense,” he added with a flash of a smile. “That you are already jointly caring for your female, you are already on your way in that direction.”
Daskh barked out a laugh. “Slengral would never allow other males to share his mate. He barely tolerates us in his nest.”
“Ah, but he does tolerate you,” Ehsash said with a sly look as they emerged from the tunnel. “If you are bonding with her, then it is not right for him to keep you from fulfilling your bond. You are all protecting and caring for her. You are all acting as her mates and as nest brothers. You merely need to insist that he see it.”
“I am sure he will appreciate that,” Daskh muttered, spreading his wings wide.
The male laughed and took off up into the shaft, his dark wings carrying him up high quickly, leaving Daskh to follow after him.
As expected, the upper northeastern caves were dreary at best, few having more than a scant amount of galthie growing within their terrible conditions. The eyes that stared out him at Ehsash’s summons were wary and some near hostile until the male explained their cause.
It took a little time and much discussion, but before the suns rose, Daskh had at his side a force of Seshanamitesh, two hundred and twenty males strong who churned and hissed with promised violence against the humans that had done their mates wrong. Even in the caves, they were an impressive sight. Outside, above ground, they would blot out the moons when they descended upon the human nest. Daskh could not wait.
Chapter 41
Kehtal moaned, his hips thrusting wildly. Despite the threats from the human male, Kehtal refused to cooperate. Thankfully, Lori was of the same mind and did not object to helping him every time the new dose of whatever poison they gave them raged through his blood. Each time they were given a few spans of peace, often broken up by food and sleep, before it was administered through the darts they shot into his throat and the base of his wings when they discovered those too yielded a vulnerable point.
He did not know how much time had passed since in the human nest his ethin failed to work. All he knew was that one span slipped into the next he noted the despair settling deep within him. Not just over his own lack of freedom, but most especially in seeing the way that Lori was treated. More than once he was forcibly sedated so that the humans could remove her from his protection. It was to run tests to examine her blood and skin, she told him later, but it did nothing to calm the fury building up within him.
If he had been able to find even the smallest space to escape from his confinement, he would have slipped out among them, killed each and every one of the humans, and carved out a blood path for their escape. He did not have the imposing strength of a male Daskh’s size, but he moved with more agility, silence, and deadliness than most other males of the Aglatha. He did not enjoy killing, but he would put all of his skills to use for Lori. He would do anything to spare her from having to assist him again and again.
As she was currently doing, her nimble human fingers sliding enticingly over his sant. He knew that she was uncomfortable with the aid she selflessly offered, but he could not find it within him to refuse her—nor could he quell the feeling of immense pleasure he received from it. Not just sexual gratification, which was such a new experience for him that it still surprised him to discover anything could feel so blissful. It brought him a warmth in his hearts and an increasingly deepening attachment for the sweet selfless female. When she was not assisting him through one of his episodes, she was happily curling up close with him to speak in soft voices about their pasts and the situation that they found themselves in.
He knew acceptance and affection in her arms. He wanted it, coveted it. And right now, he wanted desperately to be buried inside of her more than anything. Her hand was merciful, but he knew that it would pale to the feeling of her clutch around him. He had heard Slengral mating with Lori. He had listened to the wet slap of bodies and heard the unhinged vocalizations of the male as he rutted. He had not understood then wha
t he had heard, not entirely, but now he had a glimpse and he wanted it.
More than anything else, he could not give up Lori. Not now. Even if he never knew pleasure from her again, he could not give her up.
A grunt escaped, an electric pulse running through his tail and up his back. The end of his tail twisted up and around Lori, the minor sant there already half-extruded before he proceeded to flex his tail, rubbing it between her breasts in a way that evoked a soft chuckle and a coo of encouragement. A shiver ran through him, his groin tightening with the pressure from his seed rising. The eruption when it came bowed his back with its force and a guttural growl strangled out of him. He pumped his hips furiously as jets of his seed splashed over her hands, arms, and belly all over again. His tail fell away as he reluctantly released her so she could get up and walk to the watering device that she called a sink.
Sprawling on the bed, he accepted the cleansing cloth from her, grateful that with the exception of the first time he did not have to suffer the indignity of having her clean his body. If she would have permitted it, he would have cleansed hers reverently, but she was busily wiping herself down with her own cloth, ignorant of his desire to care for her.
And that is the way it should be.
The thought was depressing but not inaccurate. It was just as he had told Daskh a multitude of times whenever he caught the male mooning over Lori. She was Slengral’s mate, and no other male had the right to her. To even try would to be to lose a friend, and possibly one’s own life. But he was tempted, and a human mate was so small and vulnerable. How could one male alone adequately protect and care for her? The answer was that he obviously could not, and that was the whole reason that Daskh and Kehtal had been brought in to assist with her care. She required the care of multiple males.
And therefore… she required multiple mates.
He winced, expecting to the self-loathing to descend at even thinking such a thing. Strangely, and gratefully, his conscience was silent.
“You’re being all kinds of quiet and introspective,” Lori teased softly as she readjusted her coverings.
He hated that the sound of her amusement was strained, but he understood the reason just as he appreciated that she tried not to let the situation kill her spirit. Hearing it made him all the more determined to get her out of there. It needed to be done before the humans caught another Seshanamitesh. He knew that they were attempting to do so. He could see it in the eyes of the human who stared at them, speaking in a grating, ugly voice every time they defied him. Kehtal knew it was only a matter of time. The moment they had another male to replace him, he would no longer be able to protect her.
An angry hiss escaped him, and he shook his head, his ear ridges pinning back as he rose from the bed.
“I do not like this place. I do not like the way the humans speak and the way they watch us,” he growled. He silently joined her, his arms curling around her to drag her close to his chest. He buried his face in her head fur and breathed her in. “They will separate us.”
“Then we need to get out of here before they do,” Lori replied in a low voice, breath fanning against the scales of his chest. “I just wish I knew how.”
Kehtal closed his eyes, blocking out the view of their surrounding prison. It was the only escape he had at that moment, and it was the only one he could give her. He folded his wings around them, encompassing them in darkness as his body curled over her protectively. The end of his tail twined around her waist, anchoring her to him. He wanted to be all that she saw and felt. Together, they could pretend that nothing else existed.
A loud crack startled him as the faint light visible at the edge of his wings plunged into darkness. His body stiffened, his wings tightening around Lori as he lifted his head. His nostrils expanded and he opened his mouth to draw in the air, tasting it. There was no immediate threat that he could detect.
Lori shoved at his wings, fighting her way out until he conceded and dropped them from around her. He did not fold them against his back again but let them remain partially unfurled as they lay lax as their sides, the tips lightly scraping against the floor.
“What the hell?” Lori murmured, her body pressing closer to him as she stared sightlessly, looking left and right.
That was okay. He would be her eyes. His vision had already adjusted, everything sharpening to clarity though lacking color saturation. Shades of gray were broken up by a faint blush of reds and yellows from the heat of their bodies. His arms tightened around Lori nervously. He never liked being caught in one place in the dark. It was one thing when flying through the caves and he could orient himself by sonic location, but being caught on the ground with not even a single galthie made him vulnerable.
A loud click sounded overhead, and he winced as a dim green light filled the room. He peered up at the source, curious as to what caused the change in the light.
“Emergency lights,” Lori whispered. “Something must have happened to the power.”
Kehtal’s wings rose again, the edges fanning out defensively as his gavo rose. Humans were incapacitated even in faint light. If anyone tried to access their cell, he would take that opportunity to kill anyone standing between them and freedom.
His ears ridges rising, he could hear the sound of human feet running forward, the annoying clomp of their boots echoing. Not many people. Three.
He could kill three.
His coils tightened, a deadly hiss rattling in his chest as the end of his tail wrapped around her waist. He could pull her after him as he shredded his way through their enemy. His tail functioned better than another hand.
The door swung up so violently that he rose high onto his tail, turning his back to Lori. His eyes tracked the humans running to their cage. His heart leaped with excitement. They were coming right to them. One of the males pressed his hand on the flat surface beside the door, his face lined with tension. The two humans beside him, a male and a female looked around, but stopped when their finally caught sight of them. The female’s mouth rounded wide as the door slid open.
That was it!
Kehtal’s wings snapped open as he surged forward with a vicious shriek.
Chapter 42
Slengral snarled as he threw himself against the dome, his wings beating and scraping as he dug his claws against the surface. For two nights, he had accomplished nothing, and his failure made his blood rage. Nothing except giving the humans a regular target to attack.
Growling, he folded his wings and dodged another net, but barely changed directions in time to avoid the blast of red fire streaking through the sky. The heat of it singed his hip, sending agony through his tail. Clenching his jaw, he hissed and pushed back the pain. Pain was good, it kept him sharp and motivated, and it was a constant reminder that his mate could be somewhere within the dome suffering.
Another blast sent him winging further from the colony, a frustrated growl rising in his throat. Stretching his wings, he circled out to a safer distance to rest, his eyes narrowing on the rounded shell below him. It glittered as the last rays of the setting suns reflected off it. Lori would have found the sight pretty, even if the foolish humans were shooting at them. As usual, the thought of her produced a hard lump in his throat. His chest rattled with a low, mournful hum before he suppressed it. Humans shouting as they swarmed like barlisks outside their nest annoyed him.
Catching another current of air, he spread his wings wide, soaring higher as he began to circle in preparation for another strike. As his right wing dipped and his body curved in the air, a shadow rose at his flank. It rose so suddenly that he jerked from his flight path. His pulse shot up, his hearts hammering. He could not attack on two fronts!
With an angry shriek, he spun in midflight to face the potential threat.
The shadow rose higher, the continuous roll of thunder accompanying it as a large plume of a sand cloud churned toward him. Slengral’s eyes widened. The cloud sprayed up to great heights that seemed to match the furor of the thunder accompan
ying it. He had never heard anything of the sort, not even during the worst storms in the wet season, nor had he seen a sand cloud of such size. He craned his head toward it, his wings flapping just enough to keep him aloft as he eyed it apprehensively.
It was too big and too fast for him to outfly, that much he could determine immediately. It cut across the sand at speeds that could easily pace a rested Seshanamitesh. Against a worn male—there would be no chance. Nor was there a secure shelter anywhere nearby. All he had was the small outcropping of rocks where he had erroneously parted with Lori and allowed her to leave him.
Slengral detested the idea of returning to the rocks without her. He had refused to seek shelter there, even from the sun, preferring instead to burrow himself beneath the sand to escape it. Anything to avoid going back alone. It felt too much like surrender. Now, though it grieved him to admit it, he had no choice.
Shooting one last glare toward the colony, he felt a certain satisfaction in seeing the humans likewise forced to flee and seek shelter within their nest. Unable to resist, he let out a furious bark at them in a display of dominance before flattening his wings to speed toward the dark outcropping in the near distance. He could see the cloud roiling close to it, but he was certain that he could at least arrive there in time.
His protective inner lid descended over his eye, and he dropped low with the first touch of the outer sand plumes. These were sparse in sand, but it would be enough to irritate. Another plume rose, this with enough sand to score against his scales uncomfortably. He bit back a shriek of pain as the sand bit into his burn and angled his wings to drop down into the crevice within the rocks below him.
Serpents of the Abyss (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #2) Page 29
