Ensnared (The Spider's Mate, #1)

by Tiffany Roberts

to reach the dais

The base of the dais ✨

Prime Fang Jalar tes Unei’ani Ul’okari,

My brain cannot comprehend how to pronounce this

“Kahlohnist Ayvee Foztor, numburr too wun oh. Normul vytalz. Kunfurm eemur jensee uh waykening see kwens.”

“Eemur jensee uh waykening ee nih shiated,”

“Suhb jekt beeng uh waykened wih thout rehk omended uh justmant peer eeyod. Maye suhferr tempor eree lethargee, nawzhuh, dih zeeness, disoree entashun, fuh teeg, end difi kultee konsen trayting. Pleeze kon sult uh mehdikal tek nishun too ree port eh nee ish yoos.”

“Naht gunna luhk,” she whispered, raking his hide with her blunt claws. “Naht reel. Eetz naht reel. Oh gahd, aym gunna bee sik. Pleez bee uh dreem.”

She’d been taken by a spider monster to its nest, where it was tickling her feet.

I’m caught in a spider’s web.

“Allow me to accompany you. I will gladly teach you to hunt properly.” Ketahn chittered. “Have you forgotten already, Telok, that you are the one who taught me all those years ago? All my failed methods were learned from you.”

“Pleez, Ay dih dunt noe. Aym sahree.”

How could one bad choice I made as a dumb teenager lead me to this?

“I am not a stupid fish!”

“Now you’re just showing off.” Ketahn grasped the fish with his left hands, pulled them off the spear, and twisted to toss them into the basket waiting atop a nearby rock, where they joined the first fish he’d caught. When he turned back to Ivy, he held the spear toward her. “Yes, I show. Show you to do it.”

“Unless she were to convince me to track you, you’d never be found.” “I would scent your arrogance from a thousand segments away, Telok. You would never catch me.”

He’d simply failed to inform her that it had all been a ruse.

She’d never ridden a horse before, but she imagined this was a similar experience. The corner of her mouth curled up. She was bareback riding an arachnotaur.

“So what does zirkita mean then?” she asked. His eyes narrowed, and that fire was replaced with humor. Those deadly mandibles lifted to the sides in a smile. “It is a male’s…” He gestured toward his pelvis. “Spear.”

Wheeze out loud

like laughing at me while I say zirkita instead of zirkita.” “You said cock both times again. Maybe we will not talk about dirt from now on?”

“You are such a…a…an asshole!” She spun and stalked away from him, toward the trees. “You say I am what poop comes out of?” he growled from behind her. “Yes! Stinky, yucky poop!”

“I can’t even with you. You make it so I don’t want to be mad, but I do want to be mad, and I should be mad, so I am mad.” He tilted his head to the side. “You are a confusing female.” “And you are a stubborn male.” “I do not know this word.”

“No more going alone. You only pee with me.” “What?” “Ivy stay with Ketahn,” he said, hissing on the s just like he used to. Oh, he’s mad.

“Wait! Are you…are you putting webs inside me?” “It will bind the cuts. The hurt will go away fast.” Ketahn tilted his head, and his mandibles twitched uncertainly. “Do humans just…leave wounds to bleed until they stop?”

“I’m sorry. Sorry I yelled at you and called you spider man.” His eyes narrowed, and his mandibles rose. “I know.” Ivy smirked and shook her head. Arrogant jerk.

are we going to spend a lazy day in the nest?” “It is not lazy to rest, “Ketahn said. Ivy lifted her other foot and poked him in the chest with her big toe. “I like the way you think.”

She didn’t think now was a good time to explain the saying curiosity killed the cat; she was sure Ketahn wouldn’t take it very well.

“Are we almost there?” Ivy asked. It wasn’t the first time. “Yes,” Ketahn answered. It also wasn’t the first time.

“Oh my God, did we just fall?” she asked breathlessly. “I…intended to do that,” Ketahn replied. “I really hope that hesitation was because you had to think of the right word.”

Overhead, a large swath of the sky was visible, scattered with more stars than she’d ever seen and painted with the purples and blues of distant nebulas. Two moons hung nearby each other amidst those stars. The larger one was almost pure white, marked by only hints of gray and blue. The other, much smaller, shone a faint pink.

“Ketahn, this is beautiful,” Ivy said. “It is.” She looked up at Ketahn to find him staring down at her,

“It took me a long time to realize it”—he brushed a finger along her jaw, stopping it on her chin—“but it is very beautiful.”

“You have taught me, Ivy. Not every moment in the Tangle must be a struggle.”

And this fabric was perfect for Ivy. Despite appearing thin and delicate, it was resilient and durable. Like his little human, it was far stronger than it looked.

Ketahn’s mandibles twitched upward, but he stopped them before they could rise more than a finger’s span; he’d been about to smile. Smiles were only for Ivy. Other vrix would not understand.

Ketahn will come home. Home. Was this nest she shared with Ketahn her home? Despite the conditions in which she lived, despite having to fight and work for everything in order to survive, Ivy’s time with Ketahn had been the happiest of her life.

“Home.” The word felt true. It felt right. But it wasn’t really the nest, was it? It was Ketahn. It was he who made this cozy nest a home, it was he who made her feel safe, who made her feel…cared for.

“I’m happier in a spider’s nest than I was surrounded by modern conveniences. I’m crazy.”

“My nyleea,”

“Now you are mine, my nyleea. My mate.” He smoothed a hand over her hair. “My heartsthread.”

Literally crashing out

I had sex with a spider man.

my nyleea.”

“The Eight willed that I find you,” he growled. “And from the moment I saw you, touched you, scented you, I knew you were mine. None have gone to that dark place but me. None could have found you but me. Because you were always meant to be mine, Ivy. All my searching has been for you, though I did not know it. And all your waiting was for me.”

Couple goals lmao

“My nyleea.”

it was different. Now Ketahn and Ivy were mates, they were bound, they were ensnared by one another.

When the title of the book is in the book >>>

He felt the heartsthread that bound them together coil tighter and tighter inside him, felt their bond deepening with each passing moment, and knew without a doubt that it would never be severed—that he would make war against the Eight themselves if it meant keeping Ivy.

Couple goals >>>

He felt Durax’s neck giving way to his crushing grasp but did not ease his hold. All Ketahn could perceive at that moment was red. The world, his body, his thoughts; all red.