Page 30 of The Delver (The Vrix #2)

After eating and drinking from the waterskin, Urkot and Callie packed her belongings—the blanket, her clothes, and her boots—into her bag.

Though he knew they had to press on, to find their way out, to find their way home, he could not deny his reluctance to leave the grotto.

It was a special place, just for the two of them.

He would remember what they shared here forever.

Pausing on the ledge, he studied the statues one last time. What hands had crafted them? How many years had their stone faces seen pass, how many generations of vrix had hatched, lived, and died while these monuments to the Eight endured in this dark, peaceful place?

Could Urkot’s kind have once lived here?

Callie’s gentle touch on his arm drew him back to what mattered—the present. His mate. She peered up at him with a smile, one that revealed those endearing dimples in her cheeks. She’d tied her mass of curls atop her head to keep her hair from getting wet.

“Ready?” she asked.

He raised his mandibles. “Yes.”

Urkot stooped so she could climb onto his back, then descended the cliff and entered the water. Callie hissed, her hold on him tightening as curses spilled from her in muttered breaths.

Yes, it was cold, and he would’ve spared her from it had he been able. But he did enjoy the way it made her press her body more firmly against his.

Urkot held Callie’s bag above the surface as he swam across the lake.

Should have done the same when we first swam to the grotto.

Fortunately, the only cost of that mistake had been some minor discomfort.

The little food she’d been carrying had been wrapped well enough to keep out the moisture.

That she had food at all was a point of pride for him.

She’d taken the lessons she’d been taught to heart and had brought her bag, packed with necessities, even for what should’ve been a short trip to the cave.

Another tunnel came into view at the far end of the lake, accessible at the top of a rocky incline. Urkot drew himself out of the water there, and, keeping Callie on his hindquarters, picked a path up to the flatter ground at the tunnel’s mouth.

Shivering, she climbed down and accepted her bag, ripping it open and tugging out the blanket, which she used to briskly dry herself.

Urkot stepped away from her to shake excess water from his limbs. He felt the chill too, now that his damp hide was exposed to the cool air—and he felt the air current from the tunnel, faint but unmistakable.

“F-Fuck that water is cold. I d-don’t know if I’ll ever c-complain about the heat and humidity again,” she said.

He chittered. “You will.”

Callie snickered. “You know me s-so well.”

After taking out her boots and clothing and stuffing the blanket back inside, she closed her pack.

His gaze fixated on her as she dressed. He mourned the loss of her dark nipples as she drew the fabric of her top over her breasts and relaced the front.

Hunger stirred low in his belly, and his fingers flexed.

Urkot had not had nearly enough time to explore her body, to appreciate its curves, its softness, to carve its every tiny detail into his memory.

Her flesh was so unlike his hide. He could spend eternity caressing it, feeling its gentle give beneath his touch.

And right now, he found himself wondering how it would feel under his palms after it had been warmed by the sun.

His gaze dipped to her slit. A shudder rippled through him. Her pussy had wrapped around his cock so tightly, had accepted it so readily, had taken all of him as he’d buried himself deep in the wet heat of her core.

The memory had his stem pulsing and pressing against the inside of his slit. He drew his claspers in to keep his cock from extruding, barely suppressing a groan at the ache caused by his own restraint.

This was no longer the time, and they’d left their sanctuary behind. They were exposed again. Vulnerable.

But by the Eight, he yearned to take her again, danger be damned.

Callie lifted her skirt and wrapped it around her hips, shielding her pussy from his eyes. The urge to grab her, tear off her clothing, and rut her right here swelled within Urkot. In a moment, he could be inside her, could lose himself in her heat again.

Instead, he watched as she tied off the skirt and stepped into her boots.

“Ugh.” She scrunched her face, lifting and setting down her feet to produce a soft squelching sound. “You’d think with how advanced HWI was, they would’ve invented boots that didn’t retain water inside.”

“It is like when we strode to Kaldarak.” Urkot removed a crystal from his pouch, pushing back the darkness in the tunnel with its blue light.

She slung her bag over her shoulders. “Yeah. Those were some miserable days. At least it’s not muddy and raining here.”

He placed a hand on the small of her back, guiding her forward as he walked along the tunnel. “I learned much in those days. Learned much of humans. Much of you.”

And Urkot would learn much more about her now that she was his.

The sound of their steps, though quiet, echoed on the tunnel walls, broken only by the falling of water droplets to the floor. Moisture glistened on the stone and hung in the air.

Moss appeared on the walls as they traveled, first in little clumps, then in larger and larger patches.

Soon, it was accompanied by mushrooms growing from cracks and crevices and leafy plants clinging to the rock.

Much of the vegetation gave off its own dim light, which was amplified as glowworms and their strands of glowing silk became more prevalent along the ceiling.

The dampness in the air increased, and Urkot became aware of a faint vibration in the ground. It was nothing like what had preceded the collapse; this was steady, consistent, and did not seem to run deep.

Something scuttled out of the vegetation in front of them, something white and nearly a segment long, with jointed legs all along its thin body. It moved straight toward Callie.

Her screech was loud and sharp as she leapt back and climbed atop Urkot.

“Get it away! Get it away!” she cried, her blunt claws biting into his hindquarters as she draped herself over him, feet raised and kicking. “Ew, ew, ew!”

Chittering, Urkot glanced down at the creature, which wound between his legs. “It is an akreel. They do not harm.”

“It’s a fucking giant sentipeed !”

“No, it is an akreel,” Urkot corrected, lifting his left leg foreleg as the creature climbed onto it. “They taste much good.”

Callie yelped and scrambled farther away from the insect, clutching Urkot’s right arms. “Oh my God, Urkot! Get it away!”

“It will not eat humans.” He plucked it off his leg before it could reach his hindquarters, holding it by its neck. Its segmented body curled around his arm and wriggled, legs flailing in the air.

Callie shuddered violently atop him. “God, it’s disgusting.”

Raising the insect, he examined it. The pincers on its head were snapping, seeking something to latch onto, something to attack.

The creatures weren’t usually aggressive unless they felt threatened—like this one certainly felt now.

Urkot had come across many akreels in his time as a delver, and he and his companions had always treated them as harmless nuisances at worst and filling snacks at best.

Yet unlike vrix hide, human skin was fragile. It was thin and easily broken. As he watched those pincers moving, he knew they would be able to pierce human flesh and inflict pain, even if they were unlikely to do serious damage. It was no wonder humans were unsettled by such creatures.

Urkot looked at Callie, who stared at the creature with her nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Am I not spider?” he asked.

She flicked her gaze to him. “Huh?”

He raised his foreleg and curled it. “Do I not have legs like the akreel?”

“I mean, kind of?”

“Am I disgusting?”

Callie laughed as she slapped his hindquarters. A spank. “No, you’re not. Now get rid of it!”

Mandibles rising, Urkot lifted the akreel high, tipped his head back, and opened his mouth.

“Don’t you dare ,” Callie warned.

He lowered the insect by a thread’s width.

“Urkot!”

Chittering, he closed his mouth, straightened, and tossed the creature into the vegetation on the side of the tunnel. It thrashed for a moment to right itself before scurrying away.

“Is it gone?” she asked.

“It is gone. This male has protected his female.”

Callie shifted on his hindquarters until her legs were on either side of his waist, feet dangling. “Well, this male can continue to protect his female by carrying her in case there are more of those things.”

She smoothed her hands up his back, and her lips caressed his hide between his shoulders. “You have a sexy back, so I’ll just enjoy the view from here.”

His fine hairs rose in delight, and he trilled, again forced to draw his claspers in tighter. “Behave, Callie.”

Her chuckle was husky as she slipped her hands around him, her fingers teasing his abdomen above his slit. “Urkot, you’re just begging for me to do the opposite.”

He covered her hands with one of his and growled, pressing her palms firmly against his hide as he strode forward. “It is not safe.”

She flicked her tongue over his back, making him shudder. “A little danger is exciting.”

He groaned.

Impossible female.

She was making it difficult to resist, difficult to stop himself from binding her in silk and punishing her in a way that would pleasure both of them.

His core ached from keeping his stem contained, and his instincts roared with the need to rut her.

He needed to end this before she pushed too far. Before he lost control.

There was one way to put a stop to her teasing.

His mandibles twitched with humor. “Then I will claim you here, amongst the akreels.”

“Ugh!” She drew back and settled her hands on his shoulders. “You sure know how to ruin the moment.”

“We will find more moments,” he replied, clutching her leg above her knee. “If we do not, we will make them.”