𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐂 || 18+ 𝚢𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚡 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙵𝙼𝙲

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Charlie woke up with a jolt. Her heart was pounding against her ribs, but she didn't know why. She couldn't recall her dream.

She took slow breaths, looking to her side to see that Stacy was cuddled up beside her in the same place she'd fallen asleep after eating dinner. She lifted a hand, fingers brushing featherlight along the dark veins at her temple, careful not to wake her. There was an ache in her chest that wouldn't go away as her eyes traced across her friend's features, softened in blissful repose.

It was quiet in the cavern, most every creature asleep—no doubt influenced by their queen's deep slumber. Save for Dekar, of course. She turned her head and saw him sitting nearby, awake and alert. Figures he wouldn't feel comfortable letting his guard down in an Etja hive.

Her body was heavy with the remnants of sleep, longing to lay back down and let her eyes fall closed. She had no reason not to. But as she looked around in the softly glowing cavern and listened to the silence, a tension settled over her that warned of danger. Something wasn't right.

Dekar stood abruptly.

Her heart jumped in alarm at the movement. "What's wrong?" she whispered to him.

He remained silent, eyes trained on the main opening that led up to the surface. Everything about his posture was tense, expectant—ready to spring into action. If only she had his ears, or even just his superior sense of smell, so she wouldn't be in the dark about what was going on. There was no telling the level of danger he sensed.

Though she regretted to disturb her heavily pregnant friend's much needed rest, she had no choice. After a few gentle shakes to her shoulder, Stacy gradually woke up with a soft groan. Etja around them were beginning to stir as well, many seeming to pick up on the unseen threat from the cavern entrance.

That's when she heard the footsteps, distant and echoing off the walls. They were deliberate, slow, as if whoever it was intended for their approach to be heard. When the figure at last emerged into view and stopped just at the mouth of the tunnel, Charlie's eyes widened in apprehensive recognition.

Caveman from the forest. He stood there alone with his gnarly club strapped to his back, but something told her there were more of his kind lying in wait. Smirking cockily, his sharp, silver gaze drifted over the growling Etja before landing on her. There was a shift in his expression then, with the way his eyes narrowed and his smirk turned predatory.

Dekar did not like that.

The dark guard was in front of her in the next second, blocking her from view. She heard him speak Daki to Caveman. It sounded threatening, with how it came out snarled and low.

His words were met with a mocking laugh. Charlie had never wanted to wring someone's neck as badly as she did then—which was surprising, considering the worst that'd been done to her. Maybe her higher level of rage came from the way those Daki tribe women were treated, passed around like objects and made to hide away. She found rage came easiest when it was for others.

"I've come for what you owe me."

Did Caveman just speak English?

Dekar froze at the gruff words. Then his hands curled into fists and his tail lashed in agitation, narrowly avoiding the women where they sat.

"I owe you nothing," he spat. "How do you speak this language? Who taught you?"

Caveman went on with that annoying, arrogant drawl, "I did not realize, when I allowed you to pass through, what great treasure you carried with you. I have been cheated."