Page 11

Juk

S omething transpired on the sheep’s roof between the alpha’s mate and Leesa, and the tension between them carries throughout the day. I did not catch all that was spoken between them, their words too fast and sharp. Leesa’s face was angry when she descended from the roof, and she stormed back into the sheep to assist Kay-tee with readying the language beam.

It is not my place to pry into matters that do not concern me, but an ache in my chest squeezes every time I see Leesa and her unhappy face. Something dark and angry clouds her—something that sets my intuition on edge. I want to ask what ails her, how I can help to make it right and wash the unease from her. But from the glare she gives me, I keep my distance.

It is not long before there is enough energy from the sunlight to fuel the language beam. Tabros is nervous to receive the beam, but excited. He is fidgety as the spindly spear points at him, and Leesa snaps at him to stay still. My stomach clenches at her anger. It is different than the roiling darkness that stinks around the sullen one left at the den.

“How bad is it?” Tabros asks, glancing over at me as Kay-tee presses small knobs on the strange rock in front of her. Lights blink on the reflective wall in front.

I pat Tabros on the shoulder firmly. My intuition tells me nothing will go wrong for him or Hazen. “No worse than getting scraped by a drackyr’s claw. It will be over before you know it.”

Moments later, the spear fires into Tabros’s head and he collapses on the ground. Hazen tenses behind me, but I give him a reassuring nod. The quiet Celetan watches, waiting for Tabros to awaken. He does so a minute later, groaning as he sits up.

“I do not remember a drackyr leaving such a headache,” Tabros winces as he rubs the side of his head.

“Then you have never fallen into a nest of them and had them all squawk at you at once,” Hazen murmurs. Tabros laughs, and Kay-tee glances between the two of them, Hazen’s words lost as he cannot yet speak Teeran. His eyes flicker to her briefly before he takes the spot before the spear, Tabros moving out of the way.

With a quick zap to the head, Hazen takes the language beam and falls to the floor.

Later in the evening, we settle by a fire outside. Tabros and Hazen have both recovered from the language transfer, and amuse themselves by testing out the Teeran words. Kay-tee smiles as Tabros tells a joke, and Hazen quietly offers her some charred meat.

“How come you like it burnt so?” Tabros asks. He is fascinated by the hoo-mans and their strange ways.

“Our stomachs digest it better when it is cooked,” Ee-vee explains. She sits next to the alpha, an obvious distance between her and Leesa. Leesa sits quietly next to Kay-tee across the fire. I long to sit with her, but she has purposely distanced herself from the Celetans. Kay-tee sits closer, Hazen only an arm’s length away, while the rest of us sit on the other side of the fire.

“Tastes better too,” Kay-tee says quietly. “The idea of raw meat is unnerving to most humans.”

“We shall smoke the rest and add it to our travel rations,” the alpha says, as he nods to the leope carcass next to Baz. “Tomorrow will be the first of long days of travel. Let us get a good rest tonight.”

The conversation around the fire grows quiet as we finish our meal. I steal glances over at Leesa every few moments, but she stares into the fire, her thoughts far away. I want to know what occurred between her and the alpha’s mate to cause such tension. Kay-tee is quiet too. She glances at Leesa, but does not speak to her.

Once the meal is done, Leesa and Kay-tee retire inside the sheep. Ee-vee chooses to sleep outside with the rest of us, curled up next to the alpha in his celestial form by the fire. Further indication there has been a rift between her and the other females. A rift between their two packs.

Hazen and Tabros take the first shift for watch, Tabros in celestial and Hazen in ancestral form.

And while I attempt to get sleep before it is time to switch off guard, I find all I can think about is Leesa and the pull Vekao has given me towards her.

Both moons are bright this night, the dark of clouds off in the distance. Tomorrow they shall cloud Vekao and Jaci’s light, but not this night. My intuition tingles every so lightly with something. But whether it has to do with my mate and her reluctance to be with the pack or as an omen towards our journey to save the rest of her people, I do not know.