Page 87 of Feast

“Is that what you want?”

Ika suddenly felt a great weight on her shoulders, as if everything now rested on her decision. Part of her was apprehensive. She had gotten what she had wanted. Rolf was free again and safe. They could simply go back to their den and return to the safe, simple life they had known.

But deep in her heart, Ika knew that life was gone now. Their future lay to the south. She looked around at the other humans. They were strange reflections of herself, like when she would see her own image in the surface of the river, her features distorted by the ripples. They were her and not her.

“Yes,” she said. “I want to find out who I really am.”

Rolf nodded.

“I understand. I will come too.”

Ika looked up at him again, blinking away her tears while her hand unconsciously fidgeted with her ring necklace.

“What about the den, Rolf? What about all of your belongings?”

He brushed her cheek with the back of his shackled hand.

“I will leave it all behind. None of that stuff matters anymore, Ika. The only thing that matters is you.”

CHAPTER 28

Soft warm lips brushed Ika’s earlobe. Hard, sharp tusks grazed her lightly. Hands roved, tracing smooth ovals over her belly, each lap delving closer and closer between her thighs.

“Open for me, Ika. I need you.” The words tickled her ear, and goosebumps erupted across her skin.

“Thusar, not now,” Ika whimpered. “Someone might catch us.”

The someone she was most worried about was Rolf, who was sleeping just a few feet away on the ground.

They were deep below the earth, in a network of caves that Ika had never known were there. Even the nith had barely mapped these underground networks, having deemed them useless due to a lack of mineral resources to be mined. The rebel ukkur, however, had learned how to use these miles upon miles of warrens to journey vast distances without being discovered. This was how the ukkur army was transporting the human survivors from the slaughterhouse to their main camp in the southern territories.

Traveling on their own, the ukkur could have gone for days without resting, but with hundreds of scared humans in tow, it was necessary to stop and give the refugees a chance to rest.

For this reason, they had stopped to sleep for the night.

It was strange to think of things in terms of night and day in this sunless place, but Ika’s internal clock confirmed that it was in fact nighttime.

Right now, however, Thusar seemed to have little interest in sleeping.

By the soft green glow of the bioluminescent moss and fungi that grew here, Ika could see the group of ukkur and humans were scattered all about this place, which was the shore of a vast, subterranean sea beneath a sky of dripping stalactites.

It was a beautiful place, romantic even. Thusar was certainly feeling the mood. Or maybe it was just the fact that they had not done it in the past two days. In all the excitement and trekking, it had been impossible to find a private moment.

Whatever the reason, Thusar was feeling randy now. That much was clear from his hard, hot pole nudging against Ika’s backside.

And Thusar’s fingers were doing a good job of persuading Ika.

But Rolf was sleeping right there. If he were to wake up and catch Ika doing all of those dirty things with Thusar, she would be mortified. At least their bodies were hidden beneath a fur covering to keep warm, but still…

Then again, it was not as if Rolf was above a bit of naughtiness himself. He had taken a liking to one of the human refugees, a woman by the name of Kate with curly red hair. It had started with him bringing her food and extra clothing, and soon they had become quite attached. Ika had even caught them sneaking off alone behind a rock formation, and the echoing acoustics of the cave had given Ika way too much information about what they had been doing back there.

As a matter of fact, the woman Kate was sleeping next to Rolf now. It made Ika happy to see Rolf coming out of his shell and finding new happiness.

He had also grown friendlier with Ika’s four ukkur mates, and that made her happy too. But he still harbored some of that old protectiveness, still saw her as his little Ika. He would surely be none too pleased if he knew where Thusar’s inquisitive fingers were at the moment.

Ika bit her lip to stifle what would have been a very shameful moan.

“Thusar,” she hissed once her body stopped shaking. “Not…now.”