Serpents of the Abyss (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #2) Page 13

  He would teach his mate everything he knew.

  Chapter 17

  Lori watched avidly as Slengral carefully scraped out a niche from the side of the wall. On his left was a basket full of damp dirt. On his right, galthie plants sat in a basket waiting to be planted in the cavern wall of their sleeping cell. That turn of phrase still sounded strange, but she couldn’t dispute it. It kind of fit, since the room was designed to be small and cozy with just a little excess room around the bed sunk into the ground for ease of access.

  She just wouldn’t think of how the word made her imagine she was being imprisoned. Nor did she understand why, if galthie was so dangerous for her to take, why he filled his nest with them.

  “So what’s with the galthie anyway?” she asked curiously. “You seemed pretty adamant about it not being outside, and yet you bring more in.”

  Slengral glanced at her from the corner of his eye, not completely pulling his attention away from his work but making a fair compromise in dividing it. A low, thoughtful hum filled the room for only a second.

  “The galthie can be dangerous,” he conceded, “but hunters require them for our nests. We do not have access to the luxuries that the shinara has. A hunter must hurry into his nest when he is carrying them because their scent attracts the zarkulth.”

  Lori’s brow furrowed. Flowers attracted a predator? It seemed absurd.

  “Why? They’re just flowers, not vats of warm, living blood.”

  He gave a low, rumbling chuckle.

  “I would not advise taking that out of the nest either,” he replied, the hard corner of his mouth inching up with amusement.

  “Very funny,” she returned and tried not to giggle at the mental image that popped into her head. Okay, maybe it was funny.

  “The tunnels are too narrow for any but the smallest zarkulth hatchling to traverse, and those are easily destroyed. Fortunately, the way we carve our entrances for our caves and add slats of stone makes it nearly impossible for even them to enter our nest. It is for that reason we have few concerns about having the galthie inside.”

  “Okay, but why do they want it?”

  “Breeding,” he said simply.

  Lori gaped up at him. “Excuse me, did you just say that the giant bug wants these flowers… to breed?”

  Another wonderful chuckle rumbled out of him.

  “Not exactly,” he amended, his red eyes gleaming with humor. “They are attracted to these because they have to consume vast quantities in order to start their breeding season. It is a natural imperative for them. During the rainy season when the desert blooms, the caverns do as well. We have to mind not only flooding from above but also zarkulth, although many hunters do take the opportunity to gather the more plentiful galthie at this time. It is foolish, but understandable.”

  “So you’re telling me that this thing was wandering nearby, smelled my handful of galthie, and came up here after them only to find a nice snack waiting for it too?” She stared at him incredulously as he flicked his horn-like crests and reached down to pick up another cluster of ‘attract a nightmare tick’ flowers.

  Not only were ticks one of the insects that had managed to survive in abundance through the environmental devastation that occurred before Earth became unified, it seemed that she couldn’t get even escape them by going into space. Now they were just a thousand times worse and dangerously attracted to a plant that naturally grew in the cave system.

  “That is an accurate summarization,” Slengral agreed, his voice humming with amusement.

  He was teasing her. The realization made her blink, and a warm pleasure rush through her skin.

  She was blushing like a teenager in front of the popular boy—again—and it didn’t even make sense. Physically, there was no resemblance between the quiet alien and the boys she grew up with. Nor really in mannerisms either. That didn’t seem to matter because she was, beet red and unable to speak for a long moment.

  “Are you well, ashlava?”

  Lori noticed that Slengral had stopped what he was doing and had turned her way, concern demonstrated in his lowered brow and his fully unfolded ear ridges attentively pointing toward her.

  She somehow managed to unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth.

  “Fine, absolutely fine,” she said hurriedly, brushing off his concern with a broad smile. He looked far from convinced but let out another low, thoughtful hum that danced over her skin before returning to his work.

  She bent down and plucked up a plant, carefully untwining the leaves and vines caught on its neighbors before lifting it up to him. Slengral turned to reach for another plant and stopped, his eyes falling on the offered galthie. He paused, and Lori could feel the snap of energy in the air between them. Her breath caught as he leaned in closer, his red eyes meeting hers, staring intently into her. A shiver of something pleasant ran over her body, and a brightness flared in his eyes.

  With infinite gentleness, he took the small plant from her, another hum rolling from his chest, this one longer with a timbre that curled through her, as he turned back to the wall and nestled it within the hole that he had made for it.

  Lori was still shivering when he took a handful of damp dirt and packed it in firmly around the plant, her eyes glued to the corded muscle of his forearms and the hard strength of his hands.

  Something between them had shifted, and she didn’t know what to think about it.

  Chapter 18

  Slengral hissed in disgust, unable to escape the putrid scent seeping into the numerous scent receptacles of his nose. He knew the peace would not last, but he had hoped for a little longer before another calamity struck his nest. At his side, Lori pinched her fingers over her nose and gagged, her eyes watering as they stared at the putrid mess streaked around the mouth of the tunnel outside of their cavern.

  “Gods! What is that?” she choked out in a distorted voice.

  His fangs flashed in anger. He knew exactly what it was. It was a traditional enticement. If males discovered the presence of a female traveling through the upper caves, they would attempt to entice her into their reach by smearing the blood and innards of prey at their tunnel entrances. The bigger and more impressive the offering, the more likely she would be tempted to investigate. Normally, such a sight would not disturb him except for two things: one, there was no sign of a female having passed through the main shaft, and two, this was the entrance to his tunnel.

  A cold rage spread through him, making his gavo rise aggressively, the fans of flesh expanding and stiffening into a shimmering armor.

  Another male had scented the unmated female within and was attempting to lure her out even with Slengral’s spoors clinging everywhere. It was a blatant challenge to him as a male, against his ability to keep his mate and protect his nest. The only way he could have possibly been more offensive was if he had scent marked the area too. There were trace scent trails from the male, but he had not carried the insult as far as that.

  Slengral opened his mouth to draw more of the scent in so he could identify its source, but even then, he was not able to recognize the intruder. It was not one of the few males he regularly scented nesting off the main shaft.

  Although those within the cave systems used connecting tunnels to make their way through the main shaft to hunt, it was rare for a male to come close enough to an occupied tunnel scented by its hunter to catch the scent of other occupants. What had drawn the male near enough to his tunnel that he scented Lori within it?

  “It is an insult,” he growled, the tip of his tail herding his mate further back into the tunnel.

  He doubted that a male would make an attempt for her while he was present, but it was better to be cautious. Lori’s frown deepened, but she did not argue. Instead, she craned her neck to peer around him at the tunnel entrance.

  Her nose wrinkled above her hand. “It’s disgusting. Did something die right outside your home?”

  Slengral’s head tilted as his eyes roamed over the visible areas
of the shaft just outside of his tunnel.

  “No. It was not killed here,” he growled. “It was merely gutted here so that the scent from the blood and organs would serve their purpose.”

  “For fuck’s sake, what kind of purpose would that be?” she choked out, her hand tightening over her nose.

  He worried for a moment whether or not she could damage it. It protruded out from her face and was far narrower and daintier than his. When she showed no sign of discomfort from gripping it like she was, he pushed his concern back and focused on her question.

  “The purpose is you,” he stated bluntly.

  There was no reason to lie. This was the way of their world, and while she continued to decline mating with him, it would continue to be a danger. Her presence there was no longer a secret. Now that one male knew that she was there; it was only a matter of time before others also discovered her presence.

  He would have to bring her down to the shinara as soon as he could safely do so. The upper levels weren’t the only parts of the shaft that were a mess. The lower levels were in an even worse state, the massive obstructions visible even from his tunnel entrance.

  He let out a furious hiss. Of course they would seek to capture her now. Despite the hazards of the caverns, a male would be emboldened to try before Slengral would feel comfortable risking her safety to transport her to the lower caverns.

  That was if she would even go. She was determined to speak to her people on the surface first.

  “What? What do you mean I’m the purpose? For what?”

  She sounded so confused that he wanted to curl himself around her and hide her from the truths about his world. The upper tunnels were a bitter contest for survival, and the unmated males were loners by nature. That because of that she wasn’t safe. He doubted that anyone would actually go so far as to enter his nest, but they would attempt to lure her or frighten her out.

  He let out a hiss from between his teeth. He hated to make her more frightened than what she already was, but he needed her to be cautious. And to consider their position.

  She was his. He would let no other male claim her. Even if he had to fight them all and kill his own kind with his own claws to keep her.

  His eyes settled on his small alien mate, and she met his glowing gaze uncertainly.

  “For the purpose of mating and breeding,” he rasped, the tip of his tail twisting around her ankle. “You are unclaimed, and although my scent protects you to a degree, since no male will violate the nest of another without risking death, it will not stop them.” He rounded on her, his words coming out angrier as she gaped at him as if he were a monster who was inflicting all of this on her. And that just made him madder still as he slid closer to her. “They will watch, and they will wait. And the moment they have a chance where they can catch you vulnerable and unaware outside of my protection, they will strike.”

  Lori jerked back, yanking her foot out of his loose hold. “Wait, what? Didn’t you already tell me that I’m your mate?”

  “Make no mistake—you are mine, but it does not negate the fact that we have not mated,” he reminded her. “This means my scent has not mingled with yours beyond a surface level. This makes you potentially available to any male, worth the risk to lure.”

  His mate wiped her hands up and down her bare legs anxiously. Her uncovered body that was so pleasing to him was now displayed before any male watching nearby. All of her vulnerable flesh was on display, including her sex. While he enjoyed having her bared with him, he did not enjoy this. He did not enjoy the possibility of other males looking upon what was his. Now the idea of having his mate covered—at least while outside of their nest—appealed to him a lot more. His wings spread, blocking the tunnel so that no one watching would be able to see inside as he advanced closer.

  “You will stay in the nest and not leave it unless I am by your side. This will make certain of your safety until the shaft is cleared and I can take you to the shinara.”

  His mate’s eyes widened and then narrowed as she shook her head aggressively in a gesture, her golden head-fur slapping her jaw in the process, that he had begun to understand as her form of negative indicating. She certainly did it enough for that to become apparent. He bit back a snarl of frustration as her expression hardened with an obstinate look that seemed to be universal among their species.

  Surprisingly, although speaking in a tight, clipped manner, she seemed reasonably calm.

  “I think it would be best if we stick to the original plan and get me to the colony. If anything, I would be safer there. It might even work out better than if the Corp picked a male to serve as our representative.”

  Slengral barked out a raspy laugh in surprise. “You think the females in the shinara, who purposely keep away unfamiliar males, would allow an alien male into their territory to speak peace with them? Not only would there be a good chance of them killing any such invader, but it is also unlikely that they would accept any male as a representative of your people. That is not how our society works.”

  As for the other matter…

  He glanced uncomfortably back toward the entrance, the putrid smell disturbing him. There was something not right about it, and unfamiliar. His wings twitched anxiously as he began to examine the spilled remains closer. A disquiet settled over him when his eyes fell on something that was definitely not an internal organ.

  “As for the safety of your colony: I am not convinced that you will be as safe there as you think you will be,” he murmured.

  His mate frowned, her eyes following where he was looking. The soft glow of a few small clusters nearby weakly lit up that area. He hoped it was not enough for her to see what had been left there.

  “What…?” she murmured as she moved a little closer.

  He lifted his tail, blocking her from approaching any nearer, but it was not enough. Her horrified gasp told him that much.

  “Oh my gods. Oh fuck…is that? Is it…?”

  Lori spun away from him and bent in half, her small frame seizing as she heaved and her latest meal spilled out on the floor of the tunnel. He jerked his tail back so not to get any on himself even as he set a comforting hand on her back and rubbed in an attempt to comfort her. Glancing back at the dismembered human foot lying at the side of the tunnel, he flicked his tail, the tip of it sending the foot off the edge.

  Lifting his tail, he grimaced, his thin lips pulling back from his teeth. He was going to have to thoroughly cleanse that. The entire tunnel would need to be doused as well with water from the hot spring. It would deplete it enough that it would take the pool a few days to return to normal, but at least he would remove the unpleasant stench of the human remains.

  “That… that was supposed to lure me?” Lori choked out around.

  “Or frighten you out,” he reminded her. “Remains of your brethren left close by may have been meant to drive you from the safety you have within my nest.”

  “That’s so fucked up,” she said in a ragged whisper. “Do you think it was perhaps just from a body that was found? Maybe they didn’t kill him.”

  “The blood is fresh,” he said apologetically.

  “The patrols,” she moaned, her eyes deadening as they stared out at the darkness of the main shaft. “They picked off guards the night before. The Corp decided just to continue as usual. Oh, I’m sure they doubled the patrolling units—and just gave your people more prey.”

  Slengral grunted, unable to deny or confirm it. So he contented himself with comforting her. He hummed low in his throat, allowing the vibration to wash over her. Gradually, she relaxed enough that she turned into his chest and buried her face there. His hum caught in a low vibration before he was able to pick the rhythm up once more. He gathered his mate into his arms and was grateful when she curled further into his embrace. There was something so tender and trusting—and so vulnerable—in the gesture that it awakened something within him.

  Something beyond his need to defend what was his. Something stronger than
a desire to mate and breed. It was something so distinctly her that it called to a part of himself buried deep within him to answer. He wanted to care for her in every way and keep her within his coils—not to possess but to demonstrate the greatest affection that was roused within him. She called to a softer part of his nature that he did not even know he possessed.

  She needed him and he would answer. In due time, he would see to it that the mess on the tunnel floor was cleaned—the remains left by his unknown rival and the sickness from his mate, but first he would see to Lori. It could all wait until she had bathed and been cleaned first.

  Turning toward the front of the tunnel, he rattled his jaw in warning, a low sound rumbling from deep within his chest, vibrating through the air to carry it. It was deep and thrumming, so much more so than the warning rattle given by the male he had encountered the day before. There was no doubt that every male nesting nearby would hear the violence within it and steer clear if they were wise.

  Several barks rose up in acknowledgment. Once he was satisfied that his warning was received, he turned away, drawing his female tighter into his arms.

  “Come along, little ashlava. I will see you cleansed and comfortable.”

  “What about the mess? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to throw up…” she mumbled again his chest, the soft vibration of her words making his scales quake with desire that he tamped down.

  His female was not feeling amorous and would not appreciate such overtures after such a shock.

  A darkness settled deep within him. He was going to find the male responsible and rip his wings from his body right before sending him falling into the depths of the main shaft.

  Barely able to control the quaking of his rage at the affront to his mate—mostly because she was shivering so hard he could not bring himself to frighten her more—he carried Lori back through the tunnel to their nest. Bypassing the central room, he headed directly to the hot spring at the back. It was a source of pride for him, since few of the upper caves had hot springs fed directly into them. He was especially glad now that he had when his mate needed its soothing touch.