Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“He loves his mate. I can’t be mad over something like that. Of course he’s fretting over her. I’m sure she’ll be fine because there are two healers now, and Harlow didn’t have a hard time when she was pregnant with Daya. But I understand the fussing.” Her expression grows wistful. “It’s lovely that they’ve been mated for twelve years now and he still dotes on her.”
“Why would it change over the years? A beloved mate is a beloved mate.” Does she think my affection for her will fade once she is with kit? My kit? If anything, it will grow. I imagine a future where I am unable to keep my hands off of her full body and rounded belly and it fills me with such aching longing that I cannot bear it.
She swings her legs over the ledge and then leans over, gazing down. “So what do we do now? Gather some fruit and head back in the morning for us? Or are we staying for a few days?”
I have not decided exactly. My plan was to teach her hunting, but it was quickly adjusted when R’kh and R’khar showed up. I glance over at D’see. To her, we have done a lot of walking in the last few days. She would probably like to rest. “Are you sore?”
“My legs are a little, yes.”
“Between your legs?” It is the hungry mate in me that has to ask. I have breathed in the scent she left upon my hand all day long. I have re-lived every moment of our interlude and the look in her eyes as her cunt clenched around my fingers. I am more than ready to toss her down to the stone floor and mount her, but not if she is aching.
Her face flushes. “Not there, no.”
“Good.”
“Are you going to make me sore there later?” She nudges my shoulder with hers.
My breath quickens at her flirty words and I give her an incredulous look. D’see smiles at me, an invitation in her eyes. Is this her trying to get me to practice so we can approach the healer sooner? Or does she truly want my touch? I honestly do not know what to think. “Rest your legs,” I tell her, and get to my feet. “I am going to go for a swim.”
I leave her behind on the ledge to see if she will follow me down and join me, or if she will remain above.
And when she remains above, I tell myself I am not disappointed.
CHAPTER 14
DAISY
I never thought of myself as having a fear of heights, but the ledges here in the fruit cave are steep and a little alarming. After O’jek abruptly shrugs off my flirting, I decide to stay up top while he swims down below. It’s a combination of being worried about the climb and the fact that he seems to not want me around. Did I say something to make him angry at me, I wonder. Or am I not doing enough to prove that I want him?
I thought my invitation was pretty clear. And I thought he wanted me, too. But as I watch him swim in the pool below, his long hair fluttering behind him like a curtain, I wonder if perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. Maybe I should approach him and show him just what I want. I think about his fingers pushing into me and the way he grabbed my hair and held me still and commanded me to be silent. I never realized just how much I enjoyed him taking charge and commanding me to have pleasure.
Gods, that was incredibly sexy. I squeeze my thighs tightly together, but it doesn’t feel quite the same as when he touched me, and when he gets out of the glimmering pool below and lays down on the flat rocks for what looks like a nap, I decide maybe I need to take charge, too. I eye his naked body below and then eye the ledges again. Biting my lip, I untie my boots and abandon them at the top. Hopefully I can grip better with bare toes.
Hopefully I don’t fall down and splatter on the rocks.
Luckily for me, the vines are sturdy and make a good handhold. I climb down slowly, making sure my feet are placed properly each time, and as I do, I contemplate how to wake O’jek up. With my mouth, obviously. The idea makes me breathe faster, and by the time I finally get down to the level he’s on, I can practically feel heat slicking between my thighs. Why is it that I’ve been content to go years without anyone touching me, waiting patiently for resonance, and yet in the space of a few days I’m already obsessed with touching O’jek?
He doesn’t even open an eye when I approach. O’jek is sprawled out, his arms behind his head, cushioning it and leaving his glorious body on display for my eyes. It’s a good thing Rukh and his young son are gone, because I’m itching to put my hands all over him, and not in particularly chaste ways. I sit down next to him, my fingers twitching at all that bare skin.