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You want to tell me why I have a stinging pain in my neck, kitten?came Niyx’s voice.And why I haven’t been able to reach you for the last ten minutes?

Alex deliberated a moment as she thought about how she’d let her guard down, resulting in her now being strung over a smelly beast in the least dignified position imaginable.Honestly? I’d rather not.

As if he sensed her embarrassment through their bond, Niyx just sighed and said,Whatever you’re doing, just don’t get us killed.And he left it at that, disappearing from her mind.

Groaning quietly when the beast heaved them over a fallen log and the movement jarred against her stomach, Alex heard a rustling sound from the Jarnock closest to her and then a coarse-sounding voice.

“Chaga shisa chugot.”

The second Jarnock responded instantly, “Chig chock eh.”

Xiraxus must have known the language of the Jarnocks because Alex found herself understanding the bristly words: ‘This one’s awake,’ followed by, ‘Not for long.’

And that was all the warning she received before she heard the whistle sound and felt the accompanying sting of another dart, this one piercing her jeans and biting into the cheek of her buttocks.

She didn’t have time to feel indignant—or respond to Niyx’s annoyed,Aeylia!—before she was once again drifting into unconsciousness.

The next time Alex awoke, she was on solid ground again, now tied back-to-back with Bear. Their feet remained bound, as did their hands behind their backs, but additional vines were around their torsos, securing them to a wooden beam.

Taking stock of their surroundings, all Alex could tell was that they were in a circular room the likes of which could have been fashioned by the jungle itself. The floor was made of dark, irregular wooden boards, the walls like rough tree bark and the ceiling some kind of thatched mix of earthy vegetation. There were open gaps in place of windows and a door, but from Alex’s position, she couldn’t get a good view outside.

What she needed was to be rid of her bonds. But aside from summoning A’enara—and likely slicing or burning Bear in the process, since her hands were pressed against him and the beam—there was little she could do to escape her trussed up state.

“Bear?” she whispered after another scan confirmed they were alone in the room. “You awake?”

He didn’t respond, so she rocked back against the beam, trying to jostle him.

“Bear!” she hissed, louder this time.

“Wah… Huh?” came his slurred response.

“Wake up!” Alex told him.

“’m ’wake, ’lex,” he said, before she heard the distinct sound of renewed snoring.

“Bear!” she cried, loud enough to startle a jump out of him, which yanked the vines tightly at her ribs. “Ouch! Don’t move so much.”

“What’s going on?” he asked, wriggling against their bonds before processing her words and stopping. “Where are we?”

“Not sure,” she replied. “Can you see anything from your side? Other than the room we’re in?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Just a massive tree trunk.”

“Tree trunk?”

“Looks like this house thing is attached to the side of a tree,” he said. “As in, moulded into it.”

Before Alex could respond, she picked up the sound of footsteps coming their way, along with hushed murmurs in the foreign Jarnock language.

“Any chance you have an escape plan?” Bear asked. “Because I’m fresh out of—”

“Shhhh!” Alex whispered her warning, cutting him off. “They’re coming.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth before three Jarnocks entered the room. Two males and a female. Each of them reached no higher than Alex’s hip if she’d been standing. All three wore skirt-like loincloths, made from some kind of leathery hide tied to their hips, with the female wearing the same material scantily positioned across her chest. Woven bands were around their biceps securing their hollowed dart pipes, and they had charcoal-like tribal markings painted onto their arms, legs and faces, as well as across the bare torsos of the males.

“With us, come you,” said one of the males in broken words of the common tongue, his bald head differentiating him from the other.

The second male, who sported hair long enough to be tied at his nape, moved forward. He drew a weapon from his belt—a rudimentary dagger of sharpened stone tethered to a wooden hilt—and used it to cut through the bindings securing Alex and Bear around the pole. He then did the same to the vines trapping their hands and feet and motioned for them to stand.