Hanna and the Hitman - Honey Phillips Page 0,67
the curtain of vegetation and followed her out into the rocky clearing. More Pardorians streamed out behind him until at least ten of them were gathered around.
Now that they were in direct moonlight, Trouble was clearly visible, and she heard more murmurs.
“You have a war beast?” one of the warriors asked, clearly shocked, and started to bend toward Trouble. Her pet snarled, revealing all those rows of teeth. The warrior immediately stepped back.
“He’s just a baby,” she said quickly. “He doesn’t mean any harm.”
Tanor laughed. “I see you know as little about war beasts as you do about my grandson.” When she glared at him again, he held up a hand. “I apologize. You have obviously been more successful in reaching either of them then I could ever be.”
The party began the journey up the riverbank. They appeared to be moving at no more than a fast walk, but she had to run to keep up. After the long run to get here and the confrontation with the villagers, her legs trembled, and she could feel exhaustion wearing her down. She began to drop behind, but Tanor immediately came back for her.
“I will carry you,” he announced, reaching for her. Trouble growled, and he stopped.
“I can make it,” she insisted.
“Don’t be a fool, girl. That boy will have my head if anything happens to you, and it’s easy to make mistakes when you’re tired.”
The horror of her encounters on the way to the village was still fresh in her mind. She nodded reluctantly, then bent down to scoop up Trouble.
“Can you carry both of us?”
He snorted a laugh as he scooped up both of them, carrying her as if she was a baby. Trouble growled again, but she patted him reassuringly, and he settled down in her arms.
If she thought they had been going quickly before, she now realized how much they must have slowed the pace for her. They practically flew down the river path. No one hesitated as they passed the dead lizard creature, its bones now shining in the moonlight, but Tanor looked down at her.
“Was that your handiwork?” he asked. He wasn’t even breathing heavily despite their speed.
She shuddered. “I shot him with one of my darts.”
“An adequate kill,” he admitted, then sighed. “I am too used to the habit of faint praise. The gurvel are tricky and difficult to kill despite their size. You did well, girl.”
A flash of warmth filled her at his words.
“Thank you, Tanor.”
“I find that I am glad that my grandson found you.”
“Even though I’m an offworlder?”
“I don’t care where you come from as long as you don’t leave him. You would destroy him as his mother destroyed his father. No male can exist without his mate.”
“I have no intention of ever leaving him,” she said firmly. “I’ve started eating the Pardorian fruit as well.”
His eyes gleamed with approval, but he didn’t say anything further. The rocking motion of the run and the night air breezing past her cheeks would have made her sleepy if it weren’t for her constant anxiety about Aidon. She replayed Tanor’s words in her mind and almost bolted upright as she realized what he had said.
“If Aidon bonded with me when he bit me on the ship, doesn’t that mean he would have died if he let me go?”
“Yes. That’s why I tried to feed you fruit that first day. I wanted you to be tied to him as well.”
“That idiot,” she muttered. “He was still planning on taking me somewhere ‘safe,’ even knowing what would happen.”
“Your happiness was more important to him than his own well-being. It’s why his father let his mother go.”
“Aidon went looking for her, you know. But she died trying to rescue a group of refugees.”
Tanor sighed. “She wasn’t a bad female, but she never accepted Pardor—she never belonged here.”
Silence fell for a few moments, then she peeped up at him. “What happened to your mate?”
“I didn’t form a mate bond. I cared for my female very much, but we weren’t truly bonded. I have always regretted that, but perhaps it was for the best. It meant that I was around to care for Aidon after she died from a wasting sickness.”
There was a sudden scuffle from up ahead, and Tanor stopped in his tracks. Hanna looked on in horror as three enormous tentacles reared up out of the river, trying to snatch the Pardorians off the path. The creature seized one of them, but before it could drag him away,