Page 47 of Blood Fist

Sliding his bow onto his back, Ridan hopped down and punched Jonen in the shoulder hard enough to send him wobbling. He didn’t seem to mind, reaching into the bag and offering the biggest egg to Corric.

Ridan rolled his eyes, snatching the bag from him and bringing it over to Brune. He ignored Jonen’s plaintive pleading for Corric to let him get him more eggs.

The smell of eggs was slightly off putting. Something rich and musty, and Brune wrinkled his nose when Ridan offered one to him.

“You know they’re unfertilized when they’re still soft like this, see?” he palmed the egg, pressing his fingers into the soft, leathery shell. His fingers dimpled the shell. Brune poked it.

“When they’re fertilized, they get hard and are nearly impossible to break from the outside. I threw one a Jonen once, and he whined about the bruise for a week.”

Brune huffed, stepping closer to get a better look at the egg. “And how do you eat them?”

“What? You telling me those teeth are just for show?” Ridan asked, smirking. “Just take a bite.”

The slightly oblong egg was the size of his hand,from palm to fingertips. Ridan bit into the tapered top like an apple. Getting through the shell took some pressure, but when the leathery sac broke, the insides exploded across his tongue in a sweet froth. Still warm from the baked mud, Ridan groaned in pleasure. It had been months since he’d last had one.

Brune watched him eat in fascination, his eyes narrowing in on the egg slipping past his lips to drool down his chin. Ridan licked it up, not wanting to waste a single bite. He pulled another egg out and handed it to Brune.

The big alpha stared at it, delicately holding it in two hands. He poked at it a few times before tentatively taking a bite out of it. He used more power than Ridan, jerking in surprise when the egg popped in his mouth. Brune tried to keep it in his mouth, but it was too unexpected, and he had to slurp some from the broken sac.

“Ish good,” he mumbled through a full mouth, exaggerating his chewing to make sure he got it all.

Ridan finished his egg, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He didn’t think watching someone eat could be entertaining, but seeing the emotions flickering across Brune’s face was thrilling. The wonder, surprise, acceptance, and eventually enjoyment had his sticky lips curling.

“I do feel full!” the big alpha exclaimed.

Between the four of them, they ate most of their haul. A frequent hazard of collecting. It was Corric who saw the second nest and suggested collecting it, too.

This nest was further out. Much like the first, it was on top of one of the small islands. Guarded by some sleepy looking turtles on a floating log, it wouldn’t be a bad swim. Shucking his sword, Ridan prepared to go after them when Brune slipped a hand around his arm.

“Let me,” he offered with a toothy grin.

“Thinkyou’re ready, Foreigner?”

Brune’s eyes sparkled, and he squeezed Ridan’s arm before nodding. Without another word, he pulled off his boots and shirt. Just before he stepped in, Ridan handed him his hunting knife.

“Don’t lose it.”

Wrapping his fingers around the hilt, Brune stepped into the swamp. He was taller than Jonen, the water only coming to his abdomen. Unused to swimming, he splashed more than Jonen had. Still, he seemed to be enjoying himself, if his stupid grin was any indication. He tripped once or twice when the mud on the bottom sucked his feet down. He had to pinwheel his arms to keep himself upright. The others snickered at him.

With the bag clenched in his teeth, he collected the eggs quickly. This nest was bigger than the last, a solid ten eggs.Must be a bigger female,Ridan mused.

Looking around, he saw the turtles on the log had slipped into the water. Even the frogs had gone quiet. The hair on the back of his neck pricked, and he yanked his bow off his back, hopping onto the root.

“Brune,” he hissed, unwilling to yell just yet. “Move your ass!”

The redhead looked over his shoulder, expression goofy with the bag dangling from his teeth. Jonen, noticing his alarm, climbed a small tree nearby to help keep a better lookout. He was the first person who saw it.

“Ridan!” he called, pointing to the reeds on the opposite bank. “There!”

Nocking an arrow, he scanned the water. It took him a moment to see the small bubbles burbling along the surface. It could easily be a turtle or a fish. Or even just the muddy bank settling. But Ridan’s instincts were screaming, and he was unwilling to take the risk.Drawing back on his bow, he felt the pull in his muscles for a moment while he aimed, then let it fly.

The arrow cut the surface just ahead of the bubbles, sluicing through the water easily. Just as the feathered end disappeared, the water erupted as the big female Snap Jaw flung herself off the bottom.

Hissing, with her jaws open, Ridan could see his arrow had lodged itself in the plating behind her right eye. It probably wasn’t deep, but it clearly pissed her off.

Tossing her open maw through the water, she propelled herself forward, snapping her jaws with thunderous clacks. Brune was halfway back to the shore, frozen as he saw a Snap Jaw for the first time.

Swimming right at him.