After that, much to my relief, I was assisted into the hover sled with the kids and checked over by the shaman, who had a handheld scanner and healing device to do so. It was very reassuring to be told that I would be just fine; I just needed some rest. I closed my eyes then, certain that, finally, everything was going to be all right.
Chapter 18
Khawla
After everything that had happened—the harrowing few days, the terrifying way we’d fled town—it was no wonder I had a hard time settling down. I kept thinking my young were still in danger: out of my reach, scared and alone. I’d go into their room at Artek’s mountain home and see them all soundly, even peacefully, asleep, only to start worrying about Jolene. She was human, small and fragile, constantly at risk from the cold temperatures. She kept saying she used to live in a desert, that she’d adjust over time. I didn’t believe that for a minute.
She’d been an exhausted, nearly unconscious little pile aboard Artek’s hover vehicle. It was not the same one he’d once used to get me back home while I was still injured. This one was bigger and more shielded. It had easily carried my two sleeping little ones, a nearly-asleep Rasho, and both humans. Nala was so close to giving birth that she’d only been able to waddle—and still, that had looked moreenergetic than how Jolene had been dragging herself forward during that last half hour before they found us.
Leaving the room with my younglings, I’d peer into the adjacent chamber, where my mate was curled up in a nest piled high with soft furs and blankets. I’d asked Artek a dozen times if he was certain she was okay, and each time, the Shaman had indulged me by checking her again with his healing device. No frostbite, no injuries, just tired was his verdict every time. Still, I didn’t believe it. I’d almost lost it all, and knowing how pale a reflection of true mating my bond to Kusha had been, the thought of losing it now was paralyzing. Now I knew what mating was truly about—what it felt like to have that warmth and care given back as easily as I gave it. With Jolene, I never had to wonder what she was thinking, or if she wanted me near.
“Come to bed,” she sighed sleepily, when I hovered by the open door yet again, staring but not approaching. Her hand uncurled from the fur to pat the nest at her side, and my belly clenched with more than just worry and caring. Heat was always quick to rise to the surface, but her sleepy, sultry smile was like setting a fire in my belly. My cock twitched and rose, pressing against the slit of my pouch.
Approaching slowly, I circled the nest to her side and watched carefully to see what her expression did. “Are you feeling a little better, Jolene?” I asked as I shrugged out of my weapon belt before sliding into the nest with her. Perhaps if I lay down, I would find peace the same way the little ones had in their exhaustion. Jolene had been asleep when I carried her in here, and a heavily pregnant Nala had helped me tuck in my younglings before quietly leaving us alone. I hadn’t tried the nest at all yet, certain I’d wake my mate with my tension.
She was awake now, anyhow, smiling warmly at me when I lay down at her side. Itwascalming to have her press her hand over my chest and nuzzle her head against my shoulder. “Mmm, you’re nice and warm,” she murmured. Twisting to face her, I found myself winding coil after coil around herlegs, higher and higher, hugging her tight. This was not something I would have dared to try with Kusha—wouldn’t want to—but it was extremely pleasing to have her so solidly in my grasp, surrounded by my scales, my body.
“Khawla, are we really mates? Is that what you want of me? It’s a rather permanent situation, right? You don’t think we’re ill-matched?” I was caught so completely by surprise by those words that I struggled for a moment to read the expression on her pale face. Maybe the dark circles beneath her pretty blue eyes—almost edging toward purple in hue—were what distracted me. My Jolene was uncertain; she sounded like she expected, at any moment, formeto rejecther.It was such a baffling concept that, for too long, I was silent as I struggled to figure out what I thought of that.
Her fist clenched over my chest, then her spine went stiff. She would have retreated, but I held on tight and refused to let her go. “No,” I said in a rush. “No, never. You’re perfect, Jolene. Utterly perfect. I have never wanted—nor will I ever want—another the way I want you.” She froze, staring at me with wide eyes, like she couldn’t believe I’d said that.
“I’m opinionated,” she pointed out, as if this were her greatest flaw. I shrugged, and she frowned, as if that wasn’t the right response. “I’m not the mother of your children,” she added, and I nodded vehemently, very relieved about that. Kusha had become so different in those last years that I’d stopped believing she’d ever find it in her heart to care for Nisha and the boys—especially not my precious baby girl, as if she saw her as a faulty rival, not a tiny youngling to protect.
“Exactly,” I said when she stopped voicing supposed objections. “You’re nothing like Kusha. You’re amazing with my younglings. You’re not a Naga female, and for that, I’m beyond grateful. Jolene, you’re you, and you were made to be exactly right for me.” This was why I’d been so surprised that she was the one feeling insecure. After all, I was the abnormal, cast-out male—the one with neither blue norpurple scales, but something oddly in between. I was the male who didn’t belong, but now I did, with her.
“Ah, Khawla, that sounds… well, too good to be true, really. Do you know the story of how we humans got here? Did anyone tell you?” When I shook my head, Jolene sighed, and her gaze turned away from mine to look at the pale white ceiling above our heads. Artek’s home was as different from mine as night was from day: clean and warm, without smoke or fire, and lit with crystals embedded in the ceiling. There was functioning technology—relics—everywhere. It was a little daunting, if I were honest.
“We’re all people who, in the eyes of our leaders, committed a crime. I believe some of them are minor things, Jasmine was convicted for trespassing, for example. But some are pretty big,” she said. Crimes. I knew a thing or two about that. After all, I’d just been accused and condemned for my own crime. Being stamped a traitor after all the years I’d faithfully served the Clan stung, and something in Jolene’s solemn tone rang the same.
“What did you do?” I asked quietly, not for a minute believing that any crime she’d committed could be a bad one. Jolene was too caring, too nurturing, and too passionate. She believed in her causes with all her heart. She had never forgotten about her friend, Jasmine, and before she’d been captured by Thunder Rock, she’d talked constantly of finding a way to save the humans on the skywreck, too. Then she’d gone against every preconceived notion I’d had about how a female acted around younglings and won my heart, my soul. There was nothing she could say that would turn me against her now, nothing.
I tightened my coils around her in a gentle squeeze when she was silent for a while, as if she were hesitating to answer that question. Since she’d bared an unexpectedly raw nerve of uncertainty of her own moments ago, I thought she still feared that. When I tipped her chin up to gaze into her pretty blue eyes, I discovered nothing of the sort. There was asimmering anger there, and her small fist balled against my scales and pressed, though she did not seem aware of the feisty gesture.
“They were withholding medicine, Khawla. There were poor, sick kids dying! I had to do something.” She shook her small fist. “The UAR is a corrupt, disgusting excuse for leadership— a poorly disguised veil for the power-hungry. And I couldn’t stand by idly and let them die.” No, of course she couldn’t. I might not understand all the nuances, or know what a UAR was, but I knew enough about corrupt leadership. I most definitely knew that my Jolene was always going to advocate for those weaker than she was.
Dipping my head, I pressed my mouth to her lips and kissed her anger away. My free hand found her balled fist and smoothed out the fingers until she went soft and limp against me. “I am not in the least surprised. You tried to do the right thing. It’s no wonder my younglings like you.”
She blinked hazily at me and then smiled softly. “They do?” I nodded, and then I set out to show her how much I liked her too. Kissing her—the thing humans had brought to our world—was one of my favorite pastimes. She tasted like fire and heat, the way only my sweet, passionate mate could. Her skin was just as much a delight: soft and smooth. I dragged my lips along the column of her throat, nibbled with the slightest hint of fang, and lapped at the hollow between the gentle rise of her breasts.
In bed, she wore only her panties and a shirt that Nala had lent her. It was not much, but still more than I would have liked, so I set about carefully divesting her of each layer. Soon, I had her naked and writhing beneath me, my fingers stroking along every inch of her skin until I found the folds between her thighs. So sweet, so responsive, and nothing was a battle. She surrendered to me in the sweetest way, and it set my blood on fire.
I could not keep my cock from slipping free, even before she was ready to receive me, but she did not mind, she mightnot even have noticed. As I lapped at her folds, I made sure she could not accidentally consume my seed by pressing my hips into the bedding, far away from her. I worried that spilling inside her would set off her heat as well. It was impossible to resist that temptation, though. I needed to have her. I’d asked Artek about it in a hushed whisper earlier, and he told me only consuming the seed of a Naga inflamed a human female. I hoped he was right.
When she shattered with a soft moan on my fingers, I felt her snug heat contract and grow tight, but also slick. It was too much, the way her inner muscles gripped me. Rising above her, I waited until she blinked open her eyes and met my gaze. Her expression was sleepy but welcoming, and then it dropped to my hips to stare at my cock, and she licked her lips. It twitched, pleasure shooting down my spine. Her cheeks were pink now, and her nipples were tight peaks—not from cold, but from desire.
“Yes, Khawla, please,” she said. Not so bold this time—shy, even. It was all the encouragement I needed. Fisting my cock, I brought the eagerly writhing tip to her slick opening and fed her the first few inches with a deep, slow thrust. She trembled, her legs widening as her heels dug into my hips. I sank a little deeper, then withdrew, and her walls clung to me, dragging along my nerves with sweet pleasure. We trembled together, and when I filled her anew, she moaned my name.
It was too much, it was perfect. I sank into her again and again, and together we flew. Each move brought us closer, until I found myself gripping the bedding tightly to stave off the spilling of my seed. Not until she’d tipped over the precipice first, but that didn’t take long. When I came, it felt more like a true seeding than our previous rounds had. Because this time, she knew she belonged to me. With a growl, I shuddered until each drop was spent, and then I curled around her and held her tight, our foreheads pressed together, gazes tangled and warm.
“I need to admit something, Khawla,” Jolene murmured sleepily, her breath ghosting over my face. Her fingers stroked along my cheekbone, touched the leather strap keeping my eye patch in place, and then slipped into my hair. I waited, and she continued, “I’ve never been very good at dating. But it feels so easy to be with you. Is that really the mate bond thing? It doesn’t seem so daunting or scary when it’s with you.”
I shrugged because I didn’t know. It was a first for me too, and I was very happy about that. “We’ll find out together,” I said, and that seemed to be enough for her. She was nearly falling asleep, but we’d made a sticky mess, and I knew she’d be uncomfortable if we didn’t clean that up now. She protested sleepily when I withdrew from her heat, then moaned in pleasure as if that act already stirred her again. My seed in her core had not caused her to ignite into a mating heat, though, and for that I was glad. She needed her rest.
I carried her into the bathing room and floundered at the sight of unfamiliar relics. She roused just enough to explain the controls, and once I’d cleaned her sensitive folds, it was the work of a moment to toss out the soiled fur and curl up on the clean ones. Jolene was asleep in moments, and this time I discovered it wasn’t difficult to follow her into slumber myself.
Chapter 19
Jolene
