Page 87 of The Huntmaster

"Master," one of the older warriors from the lower gate stepped forward, his arm wrapped in bloody hide. "We have never ventured that far into Vakra territory. The deep crusts are a labyrinth of scrap and poison. To send our forces down there after a..." He hesitated, swallowing hard under my stare. "...after the human, while our own walls are still smoking? It puts the entire clan at risk."

Murmurs of reluctant agreement rippled through the crowd. Some of the younger males leaned forward, their faces hardened by the battle they had just fought, nodding tightly. They loved the Nest, and the fear of losing it to a secondary ambush hung heavy over their heads. But as they looked at the raw, volatile power radiating from my dark red skin, the true weight of the alpha's bond pressed down upon them. They recognised the desperate, suffocating fury rolling off my body. They knew the ancient law. A mate was not a choice; it was the marrow in our bones.

"She is the Huntmaster's mate," Toren countered, his voice booming over the whispers, grounding the crowd. "Human or not, the Vakra breached our sanctuary and took what belongs to the alpha. If we allow them to keep her, we show them we are weak. We show them the Oru-ka can be robbed with impunity."

Slowly, the tension broke into a grim, unyielding understanding. Heads began to nod. Some of the warriors slammed their fists against their chests, their reluctance giving way to the fundamental respect for the mate bond.

"We will ride with you, Kaelen-Thul!" a fierce young tracker shouted, stepping forward with his bone-spear raised. "Let us hunt them into the deep! Let us seek revenge for the dead at the gates and bring the star-woman back!"

Several others stepped out of the crowd, volunteering their blades, their eyes hungry for Vakra blood.

"No," I snapped, my voice cutting them down instantly. "Your fury is noted, but your place is here. You are needed to rebuild our home, to fortify the perimeter, and to aid the wounded. I am taking only half the vanguard with me. The rest of you stay at the Nest. The Vakra want us fractured and scattered. I will not leave our sanctuary defenceless while I am gone."

From the shadows of the main communal hut, one of the male elders stepped forward, leaning heavily on his gnarled walking staff. His sharp, clear eyes locked onto mine—the very same elder who had fiercely opposed Lyra's presence when she first arrived on our planet. He looked at the blood on the ground, then back to me, his chest rising with a heavy sigh.

"The alpha speaks with wisdom," the old male rasped, his voice carrying the weight of generations. "The mountain must be preserved first. We agree with your judgment, Huntmaster."

"I would have done this regardless of your voice, Elder," I growled softly, not even turning my head to look at him. My focus was a razor-thin wire, snapping with a possessive urgency that left no room for politics. "We have never ventured far enough into Vakra territory. We have tolerated their existence in the waste for too long. But by the Alu'un, I will go now. And I will burn every last one of them to ash for this. For my mate. For our home."

"Kaelen, wait," Toren said, his hand resting heavily on my shoulder. He looked past me toward the sprawling, dark ocean of leaves that fell away into the canyon below. "If they have reached the roots, we must split the tracker lines. Let me take the western branch paths—we can cut off the lower hollows before they can clear the brush."

"I am taking the eastern descent," Mara injected quickly, stepping forward into the light of the dying fires. Her hands were clenched into tight, soot-covered fists, her sharp features set into a mask of righteous fury. "I know the old hollow paths better than anyone. I spent seasons tracking near the deep crust openings. Let me take the weeping tunnels to the east."

I looked at Mara, my mind completely consumed by the hollow crater in my own sternum where Lyra’s thoughts should have been. I didn't care about anything other than the fact that she was offering a path to my mate.

"Take the eastern hollows, Mara," I growled, the gold on my chest pulsing aggressively against my red skin. "But if you find her, you do not engage their main line. You signal me."

Sora tried to push herself away from the stone terrace wall, her hand still pressed against the nasty, purple swelling on her temple. Her steps were erratic, her amber eyes straining to focus through the smoke. "I can... I can still track, Toren. I want to go with Mara. I won't sit in the dark while⁠—"

"No, Sora," Toren barked, his voice dropping into an absolute, unyielding brotherly command that brooked no argument. He grabbed her forearms, forcing her back against the solid wood of the main trunk. "Look at your eyes. You can barely focus on my face. If a Vakra hits you from the shadows again, you are dead before you can swing your blade. You will stay here. The elders are panicked, and the nurseries need a warrior to guard the remaining younglings. You do a better job keeping the Nest standing while we hunt."

Sora’s jaw clenched, a tear of sheer frustration and sorrow cutting through the soot on her cheek, but she didn't argue further.

I stepped closer, my amber eyes locking onto hers with a stark, desperate intensity. "Toren is right, Sora. But I need you here for another reason. With the warriors divided, the clan will look for strength. I trust you the most to keep the peace within these walls while I am gone. Do not let the panic tear the Nest apart from the inside."

Sora looked up at me, the heavy grief for our broken home and for the missing star-woman visible in her posture, but she squared her shoulders and nodded tightly. "I will keep the peace, Kaelen. Bring her back home."

I didn't answer. I didn't need to give a promise for something that was as vital to my existence as the blood in my veins.

I turned back to the edge of the wooden platform, the wind whipping my hair wildly across my face. I closed my eyes for a single, desperate second, forcing my consciousness to plunge down through the layers of the forest, through the massive, twisted trunks and into the cold, damp soil below. The silver thread of the Alu'un-ka was a dead, frozen weight, pulling me toward the northern face of the dead valley, plunging deeper into the crust than I had ever dared to hunt.

They were already beneath the roots. They were taking her into the sunless deep.

"Toren, take the west canopy lines. Move like the shadow-beasts," I commanded, my claws extending, slicing into the bark beneath my feet. "Mara, the eastern hollows. The rest of you, clear the remaining filth from the terraces and secure the young."

I didn't wait to see them move. I coiled my tail tightly around the heavy, reinforced guide-rope of the upper platform, using the leverage to pull my torso back and tensioned my muscles like a drawn bowstring.

With a ferocious, echoing roar that shook the very leaves of the high canopy, I launched myself off the terrace and into the black abyss of the forest descent.

The wind screamed in my ears as I free-fell through the upper layers of the jungle, my bare feet slicing through the thick mountain mist. I caught a massive, sweeping branch with my hands, my palms burning against the rough moss, and used my whip-like tail to lash around a secondary vine. The momentum swung me forward with a frantic, bone-snapping velocity, propelling my body through the dense, dark foliage like a streak of white-gold lightning.

My markings exploded into a terrifying, unyielding brilliance, illuminating the ancient, massive trunks as I dove deeper and deeper toward the forest floor.

They had taken the only part of this world that kept the monster in my blood asleep. And as the dark crust of the earth loomed up to meet my bare feet, I knew the deep pits of this planet would fucking burn before I let them keep her.

Chapter 57

Lyra