Book3. Ulrus - The brusk 1

Book3. Ulrus - The brusk 1
After I had taken Samantha to Driann and Lexi’s house, I had gone to visit Nick.
Nick, Driann, and I had become quite good friends after he had moved to the farm. Once Lexi had had her young, Driann had stopped hanging out with us, but that had been to be expected, since his female had always come first.
One of the reasons why I had wanted to speak with Nick was because I had wanted to get some insight into how I could conquer my mate.
As a Raaxian, my first instinct had been to conquer her totem—to show her that I was worthy of her—but during a conversation with Lexi, I had learned that human females didn’t have totems. That had made conquering Samantha a challenge I had happily accepted.
But I had been sure Nick would have some good advice on how I could win my mate over.
As expected, Nick had had some good advice for me. He had revealed that human females preferred to receive gifts—I had already started working on a mental list of things I wanted to give her—to be taken out—I hadn’t quite understood this one and had known that I needed to ask for clarification—and to be cooked for—this had been my favorite one, since I had loved cooking.
So, we had decided to go hunting, and since Nick had also wanted to restock his meat supply, we had gone to Sleepy Falls Mountain, where the Uqrozes usually hunted brusks and other large animals.
Tracking down a brusk hadn’t been easy, as they lived in the rocky parts of the mountain, but they usually came down from the nearly impossible-to-climb cliffs during mating season. As it so happened, we had been there at the right time of year, when the brusks came closer to the falls.
It had taken Nick and me quite some time to spot a male brusk.
Males were usually harder to kill than females, thanks to the thick, curly fur covering almost their entire bodies, but they also tasted better, making the extra effort worth it.
The large, spiraled horns on top of their heads and their six long legs made them particularly dangerous. When they sensed danger, they would charge toward the threat at incredible speed, horns first. I had once seen one crush the sternum of a norvak.
We had managed to get close enough to wound it, but it had gotten away before we could deal the fatal blow. We had been chasing after it for almost two hours when it headed toward Sleepy Falls, getting itself into a trap of its own making. Once there, it would have had almost nowhere to go unless it jumped into the water, which I highly doubted it would do.
We had been right behind it when it disappeared behind a bush with a loud growl, making Nick and me shout in reply.
Seconds later, a cry of fear rose through the air. Someone was in trouble–most likely a Uqroze, since they were the only ones who usually came all the way up here to hunt–probably on the verge of being killed by the brusk.
“We have to hurry,” I told Nick as I forced my tired legs to move faster.
Nick was right behind me as I pushed my way through the bushes and reached the cliff.
And there, right at the edge, was Avu, with the brusk standing before him, its head lowered almost to the ground, ready to charge.
Avu was visibly terrified, but what caught my attention was that he was lying flat on his stomach, his arms stretched over the edge of the cliff as if he were holding on to something. Instead of trying to get away from the terrifying brusk, he remained exactly where he was.
“You need to get away,” I told Avu in a low voice, but he shook his head in refusal.
Something was going on that I wasn’t aware of, and something inside me was screaming at me to get to Avu right away. But first, I had to get rid of the creature standing between him and me, one that was seconds away from killing him.
I raised my laser rifle and aimed at the huge beast as it scraped the ground with two of its six legs.
While I wasn’t a skilled hunter like most Raaxians, I was decent enough, and I was confident that I could kill the animal before it reached Avu.
A moment later, I had a clear view of its head, and I pulled the trigger.
The laser bolt struck the brusk in the shoulder.
Fleck!
Instead of dropping, the beast let out an ear-splitting roar that echoed through the mountain, the new injury enraging it to murderous levels.
“Shit,” Nick muttered beside me.
The animal slowly turned toward us.
Blood seeped through its thick, curly fur, but the injury didn’t seem to slow it down. If anything, it only made the creature angrier. Its six legs dug into the ground as it lowered its massive head, the large, spiraled horns pointing directly at Nick and me.
“I think you pissed it off,” Nick pointed out.
“You think?” I grumbled.
The brusk scraped the ground with two of its front legs before suddenly charging toward us.
I barely had time to react.
Nick slammed into my side, knocking me out of the creature’s path just as one of the brusk’s horns swept past us.
We hit the ground hard, and for a brief moment, I thought we had both managed to get out of its way.
Then Nick cried out in pain and fear.
I turned just in time to see one of the brusk’s horns catch him in the side and throw him several feet away.
“Nick!”
He landed hard against the rocky ground, the crack of bone following. Fear rushed through me as he remained motionless.
I pushed myself to my feet, ready to run to him, when another sound caught my attention.
“Sssamantha!”
My entire body froze. 

I should have an update in a couple of days.