Stolen (Tribes #2) - Milana Jacks Page 0,45

cold, the water, the hunger. Perhaps Aoa helped her. Perhaps womankind are stronger than they appear.

Hart finds a better position for his footing, and I can hear his muscles straining as he drags Mas out. A moment later, the rope drops for me, and I tie it around my waist. Hart hauls me out, and I pat him on the chest as he pants, barely able to catch his breath.

“Tired?” I ask.

He narrows his eyes.

I smile. Gotta love fucking with Hart. He takes everything so seriously.

“Let’s get out of here.” Hart focuses somewhere behind me, and I turn. A male is pissing at the back of a tent. He can’t hear us because of the chattering of others inside the tent who are drunk on smoke and slurring their words, but if he turns his head even slightly, he’ll spot us. Hart picks up Mas and settles him over my back, and we move toward the portal, even though we both know it won’t be stable long enough for either of us to pass.

When we reach the portal, I throw Mas inside, landing him right on his bed. Sighing, I stare at Michelle, who’s looking up from near the bed.

“Well, come on,” she says.

Hart throws the sack into Mas’s room. I drop my clothes in there too.

“What are you doing?” Michelle asks, terror evident on her face.

Shouting comes from the camp. They saw us. It was inevitable.

“Stay,” I order her.

“No, Nar, you need to come back.”

The portal shimmers, and I shove Hart inside. His shout rings in my ears, but I can’t have the Kai of my people getting caught by two hundred and some hunters. He is a mighty fighter, but he’s not that mighty, and two fighting against two hundred, as Mas so eloquently put it, is stupid.

My hunter takes over as I sprint toward the forest portal, hoping against all hope that the Ra haven’t found it yet. At first, only a dozen males chase me, but as I sprint, the ground under my paws starts shaking as dozens more join the hunt.

I sense they’re spreading out. They’re gonna cut off my path to the forest, so they know where I’m going. I change direction and head for our border right across the river. It’s either the river or over River Stones, and that’s bad terrain to cross in the middle of the night.

As swiftly as I can, I gallop toward the river, Ra males closing in on me. I hear the water already, and I’m almost there. A hunter springs out of the river. It’s a Ra hunter, a massive one, and I skip to my left trying to avoid him, but he’s fast and runs right at me. I skip right, and he’s there too.

Blazing silver eyes.

Gray-white hunter.

Ark.

The Ra close in on me, and with Ark in the front and many males at my back, I’m trapped. I snarl, my hunter hating being cornered. Ark shakes off the water and sits back on his hind legs, and his body convulses as he becomes a male. With a smirk, he sits down as if he’s at a casual gathering. The conniving devious hookhole can’t be trusted, so even if he’s telling me he’s not a threat, I know better. I remain a hunter, crouching, eyeing his jugular.

“Gur is dead,” he says and remains sitting, even picking a piece of grass to stick in his mouth.

Lies. Mas said Gur lives, unless he’s died while Mas was in the hole. I don’t know, and I don’t trust Ark.

Lightning cracks the sky. The coming storm gathers the dark clouds the way the predators gather on an open field. I glance past the river to the top of the hill that’s controlled by the Ra. I almost made it. Our territory is right beyond it.

Ark looks up at the thunder flash, practically inviting me to rip out his throat. I am tempted. I am so tempted. Saliva gathers in my mouth, and I growl low in my throat.

“I hear the goddess has cursed Gur. The wound she inflicted festered and couldn’t heal.” Ark smirks. “You’re stupid enough to return to my territory, so I think you should take the fall, seeing as how you snatched her, and, if your brother and father are any indication, you’ve also marked her by now. For which you should die. On my land.”

He wanted Gur dead, but he can’t say that in front of his males. I get it. But Ark has a plan,