Page 33 of The Delver (The Vrix #2)

Only a few segments of empty air and formless shadow separated the spiritstriders from Urkot and Callie.

He wished he could spare his mate from witnessing this.

Wished he could become one with the darkness, like Ketahn and Telok seemed to do, and slip past the spiritstriders, carrying his female to safety.

But he knew he would not get past them without being noticed. Just like he knew he’d be at a severe disadvantage if he chose to fight, even if he were to catch them by surprise while the female was restrained.

He could not fight two spiritstriders while ensuring Callie was shielded from harm.

The only thing he could do was hold his little human, letting her know through his presence that she was not alone, that he was here for her, that he would protect her.

Pace faltering, the male spiritstrider thrust once more, pushing his knot deep within the female, and spasmed with a low growl. “Mine.”

He bent forward and bit the female’s upper arm. The silk rope he’d held taut slackened.

Snarling, the female spiritstrider tore an arm free. She clamped her hand over the top of the male’s head and wrenched it back, making his teeth tear off a chunk of her flesh and exposing his neck.

Before the male could react, the female opened her mouth wide and sank her fangs into his throat. Her mandibles latched onto the surrounding hide.

Callie flinched.

A startled, gurgling cry escaped the male, combining with the sound of liquid spattering the floor.

When the female spiritstrider yanked upward, flesh and muscle shredded and broke, and bone popped.

The coil of silk fell from the male’s limp hands as his head, attached to his neck only by a few strings of mangled hide and sinew, fell back to dangle between his shoulders.

His black eyes stared blankly at Urkot and Callie.

The female shrugged off her bindings and stretched her long limbs, ripping the male’s claspers off her body and yanking his stem free of her slit.

A gush of glowing seed spilled from her as she dropped the male onto the chamber floor and positioned herself over him.

Blood was smeared across her fanged mouth and chin, trickling down her neck and chest, dark against her pale hide.

Already, the smell of that blood saturated the air.

Crouching low, the female stabbed her claws into the male’s abdomen and hindquarters, tore them open, and began to eat.

Callie stiffened, her fingers clutching the long strands of Urkot’s hair.

Of all the things he had overcome, endured, and survived, of all the bloodshed and death he’d seen, this was the most unsettling.

And he could do nothing but remain hunkered down, holding his mate, his senses in a heightened state of awareness so he could react if the female discovered their presence.

Callie drew in a shuddering breath and buried her face against his chest. But hiding her eyes would not stop the sounds. The squelching, the chewing, the bones snapping and cracking, the labored breaths taken around mouthfuls of bloody flesh.

Much as he wanted to, Urkot could not look away. He had to watch the threat. Had to be prepared to fight.

After what seemed an eternity, the female pushed herself up. Her slit opened, and more of the male’s seed was expelled from it, falling onto his remains.

She snarled as she ripped away a silk rope still clinging to her leg before slamming the same leg heavily on the corpse before her. Bone crunched under the blow.

The female growled furious, unfamiliar words, bloody mandible claws snapping the air.

Urkot’s own mandibles twitched, and his fingers flexed. His hearts beat hard but steady, and his muscles thrummed with readiness. The female would look up. She would see Urkot and Callie. And she would attack.

The female spiritstrider did look up.

But her black eyes did not focus or linger upon Urkot and Callie.

She muttered something in her guttural language and jabbed her leg down into the male’s body once more. Striding strode over it, she ducked through the entryway without giving the male another glance. Before she was out of sight, Urkot saw her turn and move in the direction from which she’d come.

He did not ease his hold on Callie as he listened to the female striding away, as he listened to her unsettling clicks echoing along the tunnel. Even when the female’s sounds had faded, it was many heartbeats before his tension started to ease.

“She is gone,” he rumbled quietly.

Callie shoved away from him and scrambled to her feet, stumbling until she threw out a hand to catch herself against the wall.

Her shoulders rose and fell rapidly as she stared at the spiritstrider’s mutilated remains lying in the center of a bloody pool.

The whites of her beautiful, alien eyes were prominent.

She slapped a hand over her mouth and turned her face away from the corpse as she retched.

Urkot rose and stepped to her, flattening his palm on her back. He whispered, “Easy, Callie.”

“ What . The . Fuck ,” she rasped. “Urkot, what the fuck was that?”

“She told him no.”

“So he raypd her?”

“I do not know that word. He claimed her by force, without her want.”

“Is that common for vrix? Is it…normal?”

He smoothed his hand up and down her back, soothing himself through that touch as much as he hoped to soothe her.

“It was, much years ago. A male would show interest in claiming a female as his mate, and if she denied him, he could prove he was worthy, could prove his strength, by conquering her. By taking her and planting his seed. It is instinct. But even if the male won, the female did not always accept. Males would get hurt. Sometimes get dead.”

Callie thrust a finger at the dead spiritstrider. “And then this happens?”

Urkot followed her gesture with his gaze and let out a huff. “This male did not take care in his hunger. And she…had a different hunger.”

“I can’t say he didn’t deserve it, but ugh.” She shuddered. “I really, really could’ve gone my entire life without seeing that.”

“I am sorry I could not shield you,” he said, turning his eyes back to her. “And when I said I would eat you, it was a joke. I will not eat you, female.”

She let out a small laugh. “Not in this way, no.”

Blinking, he cocked his head. “There is another way to eat?”

“I am so not explaining that after what we just saw.”

He could only stare at her, mandibles twitching as though unable to decide whether they wanted to rise or fall.

Callie ran a hand through her curls, pulling them back as she said, “I can’t believe I’m joking about this while there’s a mutilated, half-eaten corpse in front of us.”

“What are you joking about?”

“I’ll explain it later. When we’re not…you know. Here .”

The way she’d talked about this—whatever it was—had him intensely curious despite the situation. What could she possibly mean by there being another way to eat her? And why had she laughed about it?

“You will,” he said firmly.

When Callie nodded with the tiniest smile curling her lips, Urkot forced himself to lower his hand and crept to the doorway. She kept close behind him, giving the body a wide berth. He peered into the tunnel and checked both directions. There was no sign of the female spiritstrider.

“We will go back and take the other path,” he said to her, keeping his voice low. “This one may lead to the spiritstriders’ dens.”

Callie placed her hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze. “Lead the way, big guy.”