Page 2 of The Hunter

Rekosh plucked up one of his stones with his long fingers. “Indeed they do, stoneskull.”

With a casual flick of his wrist, Rekosh threw his stone. It hit the floor, hopped, and collided with a pair of Urkot’s pebbles, sending both beyond the charcoal line.

Akalahn giggled, bouncing excitedly in place with a wide smile and bright purple eyes.

Growling, Urkot snapped his gaze to Rekosh and gnashed his mandible fangs. “What was that, needlelegs?”

“The stones speaking,” Telok offered.

Ketahn nudged Urkot’s foreleg with his own. “It seems you do not always care for what they say.”

He leaned down to choose a stone for his turn. Before he could, Akalahn reached out with two small, chubby, five-fingered hands, scooped up a pile of stones, and held them up to his sire.

With a gentle chitter and his mandibles raised in a smile, Ketahn accepted the offering and thanked his broodling, ruffling Akalahn’s gold-streaked black hair.

A strange pang pierced Telok’s chest. For a fleeting moment, he could almost see his own sire in his mind’s eye, but he thrust the image away before it could take shape. What Ketahn and Akalahn shared was pure, joyous, and hopeful. Telok’s view of it would only be tainted if he delved into his memories, because his recollection of his own sire was overshadowed by the final lesson passed from sire to son.

The Tangle devours all.

He forced his gaze up and back to roaming, to searching, to watching. The sunshine was bright today, making every color more vivid and enhancing the good spirit in the air. The scents of the gathered vrix and the food they were sharing mingled with Kaldarak’s other familiar smells—wood and growing plants, fragrant oils and dried flowers, leather and worked stone, sweet sap and smoke, refreshing mist.

Yet a particular scent was absent, the only one Telok both longed for and dreaded.

Lacey’s scent.

He clenched his jaw and drew his claspers tighter against his pelvis as something hot coiled low in his belly. Hunter grant him patience, but how could the mere thought of her fragrance rouse such a response in him?

His eyes halted on a group of humans who were crossing one of the rope bridges leading to this central platform. They walked one behind another, moving with confidence and surety that none of them had possessed when they’d first come to Kaldarak and contended with the long, swaying bridges.

They spread out as they reached the platform. Though their sizes and colorings seemed limited compared to those of vrix in many ways, the humans of Telok’s tribe were quite varied in appearance.

Ivy was in front. Her hair was long and golden, and her light skin had a pink undertone. Callie came next, slightly taller with warm brown skin and thick, curly hair. Ahmya was the smallest of the humans by half a head, with white skin, silken black hair and dark, expressive brown eyes. The two males behind them were taller and broader, though the difference between males and females was both reversed and far less prominent than it was amongst vrix. Will was the taller of the two, with short-cropped hair, dark brown eyes, and skin a similar shade to Callie’s. Diego’s skin was a lighter brown, as were his kind, perceptive eyes.

But there wasn’t even a hint of pale, freckled skin, red hair, or radiant green eyes.

No Lacey.

Telok’s mandibles drooped, and a weight sank in his chest.

Diego and Will broke away from the females, who continued toward Telok and the others.

Ketahn, Rekosh, and Urkot leapt up once they spotted their mates, rushing to meet them and sweeping them off their feet in huge embraces.

Callie laughed as she slipped her fingers into Urkot’s hair. “Miss me?”

“Always,” Urkot rumbled.

“I missed you too.”

“What the hell?” Cole demanded as he stood. He gestured at the abandoned stonetoss circle. “You can’t just stop without calling a timeout.”

“Timeout,” Rekosh said without looking away from Ahmya.

Smirking, Cole shook his head.

As the other vrix exchanged words and affection with their mates, another pang pierced Telok’s hearts, as sharp as any blade. How was it possible to feel alone while surrounded by his closest friends? How could the sight of his brothers with their mates, bursting with contentment, fill him with joy and a hollow ache at once?

Telok tore his attention away from them, his eyes once more roving.