Enthralled by Tiffany Roberts
Chapter 4
Thunder shook the den.Its wood creaked and groaned, and the cloth at the opening billowed and flapped despite being secured at all four corners. Ivy started and curled up tighter in the shelter of Ketahn’s body, burying her face against his chest. Her blunt nails dug into the hide of his sides.
He petted her hair with one hand, tucked the blanket around her with another, and strengthened his embrace further. She lay atop him, just as she always did when they slept—but the time for sleep had not yet come. Despite the thick shadows imposed by the storm, midday was not long past.
It felt as though a full eightday had passed since Ahnset’s visit that morning.
The thunder boomed again, vibrating into Ketahn’s bones and swallowing all other sounds, even those of the hammering rain and howling wind. He felt air flow over his hide as Ivy gasped, felt the small, frightened sound she released. And he felt her trembling even after the thunder had faded.
“You are safe, my heartsthread,” he said, wrapping a third arm around her as he continued to smooth her hair.
She relaxed, easing the bite of her nails. “I know. Sorry.”
Ketahn brushed his knuckles across her cheek and tucked wild strands of her hair behind her ear. “Do not be sorry. I understand.”
His mate did not care for thunderstorms. He could not blame her for that; unsettling at best, storms were displays of the raw power of the Eight. Or…were they simply displays of the power of the Tangle? Perhaps he would ask Ivy what her people thought caused such storms. He doubted there could truly be so many monsters in the sky for the gods to battle them so often.
But he spent little time on such thoughts, and he had not allowed himself to wonder if the gentle rain having given way to this fierce storm was a sign of things to come—a sign that the peace he and Ivy had enjoyed was at an end. A spiritspeaker might have said so, as they were ever eager to see the will of the Eight in all things, but Ketahn would not concern himself with that now.
He and Ivy had spent the day together in the den. They’d completed the few minor tasks that had been available, had shared two meals, and had talked, but much of their time had been spent in quiet. In contemplation.
Not even his beautiful, alluring Ivy had been enough to distract Ketahn from his thoughts.
Idly, he slipped his fingers into her hair, grazing her scalp with his claws in slow, tender strokes.
Ahnset had been correct. He could not hide, and he could not hide Ivy. At least not while they remained so close to Takarahl. Yet the problem wasn’t that they were unable to hide forever—it was that they could not hide for now. Even the queen had her limits, and her Claw had lost their best tracker in Durax. There were many places in the Tangle even some of the bravest vrix refused to go.
Ketahn would brave any place, any danger, for his mate.
The true challenge was that he’d be traveling not only with Ivy but an entire pack of humans. Clumsy, small, weak, inexperienced humans. Ketahn’s thoughts had returned to that fact over and over again. Remaining here was dangerous, venturing deeper into the Tangle was dangerous, but only the first option guaranteed eventual conflict.
Moving the humans beyond Zurvashi’s reach would require preparation and supplies that would take Ketahn two or three moon cycles to gather. But with the flood season looming just ahead—or perhaps just overhead, were this storm its start—he didn’t have that much time. The pit could flood in a matter of eightdays, if not far sooner.
Ivy was competent and determined, a fast learner, and it would be a great boon if the other humans were similar, but it still would not be enough to travel as quickly as was necessary.
He tucked his chin against his chest, looking down at his golden-haired mate, and raised his mandibles in a smile.
Yes, Ahnset was right…but so was Ivy. Ketahn was not alone. And the time for reluctance had long since passed. The time for secrets had passed. If his trust in his friends and his sister had been shaken, it was not the fault of the queen or anyone else—only Ketahn was to blame. He alone had lost sight of their bonds. He had allowed those threads to go untended for too long.
And he could not deny that he wanted his kind to become acquainted with Ivy’s. He wanted vrix and human to come together in peace, so that both could find happiness and fulfillment. Some part of him, practical and cold, didn’t think it was possible or worth the trouble, but he had to believe otherwise.
He didn’t want to sever his remaining ties to the vrix. He didn’t want to leave everything he’d known behind forever. Ketahn would do so for Ivy without hesitation, but if there was another way…he had to try it, didn’t he?
And Ketahn was weary of hiding his mate from the world. He was weary of keeping her tucked away like some secret treasure, like something to be hoarded. He wanted others to see her—to see her radiance, her otherworldly beauty, her kindness.
He wanted the world to see that he’d been blessed by the gods themselves with a mate beyond compare.
If not the world…then at least the vrix he cared about.
Fresh thunder cracked across the sky, and the den swayed and dipped in a strong gust of wind. Ivy released a shaky breath. Its warmth bloomed over his chest. She turned her head and rested her cheek against him, maintaining her solid grip on him. Ketahn’s claspers extended around her hips, anchoring her to him.
As the thunder’s echoes died, he said, “I have thought upon it, my heartsthread.”
“Thought on what?” she asked. “How to make the den more secure?”
Ketahn’s mandibles fell, and a low growl sounded in his chest. “Our den is secure, female.”
“You sure? That web was looking pretty thin in some spots.”
“You are welcome to spin fresh strands to repair it, my nyleea.”
“Sorry. Humans don’t spit webs out of our butts.”
“A flaw I will overlook considering how good a handhold your butt makes,” Ketahn said, dropping a hand to her backside and squeezing the plump, rounded flesh.
Ivy giggled and lifted her head to look at him. Her eyes still held a glimmer of fear, but it had softened considerably. He knew she was seeking a distraction, something to keep her mind off the raging storm.
She slid her hands up from his sides and smoothed her palms over his chest, tracing the planes and ridges of his hide with her fingers. “You do like my butt…among other things.”
He cupped the back of her head in one hand. “There is no part of you I do not like, Ivy.”
Pink stained her cheek. She smiled softly and looked down, settling her palms over his hearts. “So if you were not thinking about how to keep us from falling to our deaths, what were you thinking about?”
“How to protect and provide for all your humans.”
Ivy’s breath hitched, and her wide eyes snapped up to meet his. “Does that mean…we’re going to wake them?”
“Yes, but before that…” Something constricted in his chest. He knew what he had to do, but the weight of it, the risk of it, had not fully hit him. He placed a hand on each of her cheeks, stroking his thumbs just beneath her lips. “Do you trust me, my heartsthread?”
She covered one of his hands with her own and pressed her cheek more firmly into his palm. “With my life, Ketahn.”
His mandibles twitched as a deep, powerful warmth flooded him from within, combating the tightness in his chest. “To do what you asked, I must ask my friends to help. Perhaps…to join us, if they will, when we leave this place. That will mean showing you to other vrix, my heartsthread.”
“If you trust them, then so do I.” The corners of her lips curled up. “I mean, you haven’t eaten me yet, so…”
Ketahn squeezed her backside once more as his claspers skimmed down to curl around her thighs. “No, but I will always drink my fill of my sweet mate.”
Her cheeks darkened further, and it didn’t take long for the scent of her arousal to reach him. It was proof of how much his mate enjoyed his attentions. His stem stirred behind his slit, thrumming with that now familiar ache, and he released a long, low purr.
But this was not yet the time. Not until she knew what he meant to do.
Ketahn smoothed her hair back with one hand. “Ivy, to do this, to help the humans…I must go to Takarahl.”
In an instant, the color that had blossomed on her cheeks disappeared, and her grip on his hand strengthened. “But that…that…” Her breath quickened as fear returned to her eyes. “What about the queen, Ketahn? You can’t go back to her.”
Her expression pained him like nothing else could have. “I must, Ivy. She will keep searching if I do not, and that will make it much harder to gather supplies and make ready for travel. If they are like you, the other humans will be weak when they first wake. They will need time to gain their strength and adjust to this world. We cannot do as we must if the Queen’s Claw is raking the jungle. We need time.”
Ivy released his hand and reached out to cradle his jaw. “What about Durax? And what will the queen do to you when she sees you?”
Ketahn removed his hand from her backside and slowly ran it up and down her back. “They will not know of Durax. He is in a place no vrix will go. As for the queen…” He released a huff. “I cannot know what she will do. But I am familiar with Zurvashi, and I think she will be…interested in my bold return. That will give us time. I will be sure to inform my friends of what is to come.”
She frowned down at him, and her eyes, alight with concern, flicked between his. “You’ll be okay?”
“Nothing will keep me from returning to you, my heartsthread.”
Ivy stroked her thumb along his jaw. “And she won’t…force you?”
It took him a few moments to decipher her meaning; for all the very specific words in Ivy’s language, she often spoke in ways that barely suggested her true meaning. Her question made his hide prickle with an unpleasant tingling. The thought of Zurvashi attempting to claim him…
With a snarl, he rolled aside, flipping Ivy onto her back atop the bed of furs and fluffed silk. He positioned himself over her, caging her in with his arms and pressing his bulging slit between her thighs.
“I will never let that happen,” he growled, rubbing his face along her neck and drawing in her sweet scent. His claspers clutched her close.
She shivered and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I am yours alone, my Ivy. No other may claim me.”
Ivy turned her face toward him and pressed her lips to his headcrest. “Just be careful. Please.”
Ketahn lifted his head and brushed his mouth across hers, sampling the faintest taste of those plump, pink lips. Being careful would mean not going at all. It would mean abandoning Ivy’s kind and his own to carry her off into the Tangle where they could never be found. It would mean being selfish, taking what he had conquered. It would mean keeping her like the pet he’d briefly thought her to be.
But he could not do that to her. He could not let his mate’s tender heart be filled with such grief and guilt, which surely would take root and grow into resentment. No, there would be no fleeing now. This was the time to turn and face his enemy directly. A path was laid before him, the strands were clear, and he knew how to protect his mate and her people.
All he had to accomplish was the near impossible—appease the queen without submitting to her until the humans were ready to travel.