There was a chest next to her that she’d snooped through the night before as Jaxor slept. Inside were supplies and rations…and weapons. Though, rummaging through it now, she saw that those were gone. Jaxor must’ve hidden them after the stunt she’d pulled last night.
There was, however, a skin of fresh water and strips of what she hoped was clean cloth. Rinsing her foot with the water, Erin gingerly wrapped her foot, knowing it was all she could do for it now.
She blew out a small breath, remembering the panel of the hovercraft console in her mind.
Far right is the map. Third from the left is a shield, she recited, swallowing.
Then, since there was nothing else to do, she waited for Jaxor to return.
Chapter Nine
When Jaxor returned to his base, something squeezed in his chest as he realized that the female was nowhere to be seen.
“Vrax,” he rasped, hauling himself out of the tunneled pit and throwing the sack of fire fuel onto the ground, some of the freshly dug-up contents spilling out. “Erin!”
He’d been gone a couple hours, at least. The twin suns had already descended and he was in a foul mood, considering all of his traps had been empty and one of the shield links he used to hide his base from prying eyes above needed replacing with parts he didn’t have.
Now, his female was nowhere to be seen and—
His eyes caught on something near the fire pit. A dribble of something red. Blood? Her blood.
Panic and fear shot through him, his Instinct roaring inside him that his mate was injured—hurt and gone. That sheer panic twisted in his chest, making it difficult to breathe, and when he saw another patch of blood, he damn near lost what little he possessed of his mind. His vision went dark, his claws curling into his flesh, and he tracked the trail all the way to his sleeping quarters.
“Erin!” he bellowed, tugging on the door. It was bolted from the inside, but he easily tore the heavy metal away. He heard a gasp and his nostrils flared when he scented her.
When his dilated pupils adjusted to the darkened space, relief made him dizzy as he saw Erin, blinking, dazed. She’d been sleeping, he realized, his heart pounding in his chest, his breath ragged, the door still hanging from his grip.
He scanned the cave. He saw nothing, no threat. A weird sense of disbelief went through him. A part of him had believed that he could dull his Instinct when it came to her. That he could fight the Fates’ pull, that he could fight her when the time came.
Dread pooled in his belly next, even as he dropped the door and approached her, still scenting the faint trace of metallic blood in his nostrils.
“Jaxor?” she questioned, her eyes going from the door, which he would now have to fix before nightfall, to him. “What in the world—”
She was laying underneath the furs, though she’d pushed up onto her elbow in alarm the moment he’d charged inside.
“Hey!” she cried in surprise when his hands delved underneath the furs, ripping them away from her body. “What are you doing?”
He lifted her tunic until she snatched it down, fighting him. He ignored her, pressing his hands to her, inspecting her. Where had the blood come from? Was she hurt? He flipped her over on her stomach, the tunic riding up until it displayed the bottom curve of her buttocks.
He growled, but ignored the way the sight of her bared flesh made him feel. His gaze ran down her legs and then, peeking up from the furs that bundled around her feet, he saw cloth wrapped around her left foot.
Jaxor moved closer and bent her leg up, bringing her impossibly small foot closer. She was still struggling to turn over, making little sounds of frustration, but he held her down with his other hand easily.
Unwrapping the bandage, he gritted his teeth when he saw a cut adorning the sole. It wasn’t deep enough to need stitching, but there was still blood. When he prodded the area around it gently, his female hissed and stilled on the furs.
“There was blood,” came Jaxor’s voice, deep from his chest, unrecognizable. Dark and changed. His own voice threaded with the beast’s inside him.
He heard Erin swallow. “I cut my foot by the fire. I didn’t realize I’d left a trail.”
Jaxor’s lips pressed together. His eyes flitted to the two chests he kept inside his