Hannah's Hero - Ruby Dixon Page 0,6
happy. I feel a stab of resentment.
“Where is your mate?” I ask, moving to sit near his fire. My own cloak is back at the main fire and now I am feeling its lack. I tuck my four arms close around my torso, doing my best not to shudder against the bitter wind.
“She is with G’hail and V’za. They wanted to show her some good plants to gather for warm drinks.” He makes a face.
I do, too. I am still getting used to drinking hot things. Back on the island, nothing was better than a cool, crisp mouthful of water. Here, everything is cold so they drink hot things all day long and put leaves in them for flavor.
It is…not my favorite.
“Did you see R’jaal this morning?” K’thar asks me, his tone becoming tense. In his arms, Fat One squeaks a protest and bites at his thumb angrily, and K’thar hands him another bit of food. The flyer settles down in the crook of his arm once more, chittering an angry retort.
“R’jaal? No. I was not looking for him, though.”
“Mmm. What about M’tok or S’bren?” When I shrug again, he asks, “T’chai?”
I tilt my head at him, curious. “You know as well as I do that T’chai has been unable to leave his nest for a full turn of the moon.”
“But he can leave it now,” K’thar says, giving another bit to Fat One. “And he walks farther every day.”
“I have not seen him, or anyone else in Tall Horn. Should I have?”
K’thar is quiet for a moment. He feeds his flyer, then takes the last bite for himself and shoots a glance in my direction. “R’jaal visited my tent last night. He wanted to have words with me.”
“Words? About what?”
The hunter is silent for a moment, the only sound the scratch of Fat One’s claws as he digs into a pocket built on the front of K’thar’s tunic specifically for him to hide in and burrow away from the cold. K’thar rubs the bristle on his chin for a moment, and then finally speaks what is on his mind. “R’jaal and Tall Horn are not happy. Shadow Cat, either. No one from Shadow Cat has resonated at all. M’tok has resonated but his female will not mate with him. T’chai resonated to M’rsl but the healer silenced their song, and so now they do not sing at all.” He shakes his head. “They feel it is unfair that Strong Arm has all the females.”
“All the females?” I sputter with anger. “How do they think this?”
“Because I have L’ren and you have H’nah.”
Bitterness wells in my chest. “I do not have H’nah at all and they know this.”
“Yes, but they feel the way she treats you is different than the way C’lie treats M’tok. H’nah does her best to ignore you.” He shakes his head. “C’lie hates M’tok. She told him he will never be able to touch her, ever. And of course, A’tam is unhappy that his pleasure-mate no longer wants him.”
I spread my arms wide, frustrated. “How is this the problem of Strong Arm? Besides, it is not as if we have influenced things. Resonance chooses. We do not choose for it.”
He inclines his head, indicating he hears my words. “They feel because L’ren is bolder and because V’za and his mate have taken in Z’hren that we are with the females more than they are. That is what they think is unfair. They want us to back off from the females. They are certain, R’jaal says, that they will resonate if we remove ourselves from their vicinity.”
“Remove ourselves?” I echo, disgusted. “I have resonated to H’nah. N’dek is the only one that is left and—” I bite back the words before I can say them, because they are ugly and bitter. Resonance will not care if N’dek only has one leg, I remind myself. I shake my head at K’thar and bound to my feet, pacing. “This is nonsense, my brother. R’jaal says these things because he is jealous. You know he wants a female for himself.”
“Everyone does. Is it really so unreasonable?”
“To ask us to leave camp so they can prance around the females alone?” I explode. “Yes, it is unreasonable. They fear us as their competition. They always have. Strong Arm has always been known as the best clan with the most capable hunters. It is no different here on the frozen shore than it was on the island.”
K’thar just gives me a curious look.
His