Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“I’m going to talk to him, and then we’ll be along, too. Tell the others we’ll be back shortly.” And she smiles at him. “Thanks for the help today. You’re a good friend.”
R’jaal flinches, and I can tell from his expression that he understands her words. She is telling him she does not want his kisses. She is telling him she does not want his attentions now that he has decided he is tired of waiting for resonance. She is done with him.
I shoot him a triumphant glance.
Again, he eyes me with a quizzical stare, as if he cannot quite figure me out. “I will tell the others you will be along soon, yes.” He pauses as if he wishes to say more to F’lor, but then shakes his head, and the infinitely sad look returns to his face. “I know you are safe with him.”
“I’m safe anyhow,” F’lor calls out, puzzled, as R’jaal leaves.
I watch as he goes, and there’s a strange slump to his shoulders that wasn’t there before. A defeated slump. When I first arrived, he was bristling, as if he would indeed fight me, but something has changed and now he acts as if he has lost everything. Is it because F’lor said she would not kiss him?
If so…good.
“Weird,” she says after he disappears from sight. She turns and eyeballs me, her expression skeptical. “Now do you want to explain to me what the fuck that was all about?”
I do not like that she’s mad at me. I would much rather have her smiling. “I did not like that he was here with you,” I say, and the sulky note is back in my voice. “He was trying to get you to kiss him!”
“Yes, and I said no.” She puts her hands on her hips, gazing up at me like she will fight me for daring to argue with her. “You’re in a strange mood today.”
“I am,” I agree, rubbing my chest where she touched me. “My head feels as if it is full of fire. Every time I see him, his face fills me with rage. I do not like the thought of him bothering you.”
She clucks her tongue and then moves forward, rubbing my arm. “Are you all messed up because of Tia?”
I grunt. Truthfully, I am not thinking of T’ia right now. F’lor’s hand is on my arm and it is very…distracting.
“Well, look.” F’lor squeezes my upper arm, and her hand stays there. “I know R’jaal gets on your nerves, but you can’t fight him. No one fights in the tribe. That’s a sure way to get kicked out.” Her gaze goes to her hand on my arm, and she squeezes my muscle again, as if feeling it. Then, as if realizing what she is doing, she jerks her hand away. “Just…if you want to fight him, promise me you’ll come talk to me instead.”
“I do not like that he thinks he can get you. That now he has decided maybe now he would like your kisses.”
She smiles up at me. “So grumpy.”
“I want to protect you from him,” I tell her, and it is the truth. She deserves so much better than R’jaal. Someone like…me. The moment the thought bursts into my head, I shove it aside. “What did he say to you?”
F’lor makes a face, her pretty features screwing up as she pats her leathers, looking for something. “He had a talk with O’jek and it made him realize that he shouldn’t have turned me down. I kind of wanted to scream ‘duh’ in his face, but that seemed childish. It’s weird, though. Today’s the first day I wasn’t angry at him, though. Normally when he starts talking about him and me, I get upset. But today I just…didn’t care. Like it felt a thousand years too late.” She shrugs.
Her words please me far more than they should. I am glad that she is done with him. Glad that she is tired of his games. R’jaal desperately wants a mate, but one was standing right in front of him and he turned her away. He does not deserve her. If my mate was standing right in front of me, I would claim her in a heartbeat.
In front of me, F’lor lowers her hood and then pulls at her long hair. It is stuck in the collar of her leather poncho, and so I reach over and absently pull it free for her, brushing the strands away from her neck. My fingers skim over her neck and the heat of it shocks me, jolting me all the way to my cock.
She stares up at me, her eyes wide.
I cannot stop looking at her. At her dainty form, at the warm shade of her skin, at the silky length of dark hair that flows through my fingers. R’jaal is a fool, I think again. How can he possibly walk away from this?