Page 13 of The Naga Outcast’s Unwanted Mate

The door locking behind me felt ominous, like it was final and I was now locked inside my own tomb or something. I was shivering, not from the cold but from the fear that took hold of me. For the first time since I’d woken up on this planet, I was without Zathar nearby. I hadn’t realized how much I’d relied on his strength and his steadying presence. I had never had that before, and the sudden absence made me keenly aware of how lonely it was. How lonely I had been all my life.

The house was completely dark, I couldn’t see anything and I didn’t know if they’d put Reid and Cosima in here too. I was actually scared to call out and find out, what if they were somewhere else? What if I was really alone?

No, I couldn’t think like that. I promised Zathar I would be brave, and I had to do that as much for him as for myself. Focus on nice things, like that mind-blowing kiss a moment ago. That was hands down the best kiss I’d ever had. Impressive, considering Zathar hadn’t even known what kissing was until I’d shown him just now. His first foray had been rough but my God, he’d caught on quick, and that thing he’d done with his tongue…

Remembering the wetness I thought I’d sensed on my belly, I lifted my shirt a little and pressed my palm against my skin. I gasped in surprise when I felt a bit of sticky wetness at the edge just above my pants. I raised my now coated fingers to my nose for a sniff and the spicy, hot scent that swirled into my nose was unmistakably Zathar’s. His nest in those caves had smelled exactly like this, only not quite as intensely.

He’d leaked precum on me, somehow. Where had it even come from? I hadn’t seen his cock, I definitely hadn’t felt it. My thoughts were immediately filled with questions and fantasies. Was it hidden? Could it pop out of a hidden pocket, like a marine animal? What if he was more snake than man? What if he didn’t even have one?

Thoroughly distracted from how scared I was only moments ago, I tried to make myself refocus. This was the least appropriate time to get turned on, I needed to figure out what was in this place, and where Reid and Cosima were. The noises from the village outside were still loud in here, voices talked in guttural growls and hisses, and I heard the higher-pitched shrieks and shouts of children. I was pretty sure there was some kind of animal mooing in the background too.

Now that my eyes were starting to adjust to this dark interior I was starting to make out shapes. Stacks of crates rose to my left, shelves with baskets on my right, and from the rafters hung many swaying shapes that looked suspiciously like drying sausage. Then I noticed the lumpy pile a few steps ahead of me. Was that a pair of legs?

Hurrying to him, I dropped to my knees and gently put my hand where I thought his shoulder was. “Reid? Are you alright?” He didn’t respond but I was pretty sure his chest was moving up and down beneath my hand; alive at least. “Cosima, are you in here?”

The shivery noise I heard was all the answer I needed, but I was relieved anyway when she crawled out from between two big barrels. “He fought when one of them grabbed my uh… boob,” she said. She sounded a little husky but she wasn’t crying, which I counted as a huge improvement.

“I’m pretty sure that while extremely rude, you shouldn’t consider it sexual. Have you seen their females? Their chests are all as flat as a pancake. It might have been curiosity.” I could well imagine that to be the case, but it was boundary-crossing and awful regardless. Even if we were prisoners, we deserved to be treated with more respect than that.

“I figured as much,” she said, “Do you think we’ll get out of here?” That was the big question, wasn’t it? I had no clue, but for the first time in my life, I felt like I actually had someone in my camp.

Chapter 9

Vera

Two days. That’s how long we’d been stuck inside this damn storage building. I had not seen hide nor scale of Zathar during that time but Corin had come in a few times, with several Naga with spears as an escort. He only came to treat the pilot lady and the goose egg on Reid’s noggin. We had a bucket to do our thing in that was emptied once a day, and twice a day someone brought us a meal. The rest of the time was spent in perpetual twilight, with nothing to occupy any of us except to talk or sleep on the hard-packed dirt floor.

I was starting to have this niggling doubt that Zathar was going to get us out of this mess. His mother was the Queen of this whole Clan, why couldn’t he get us out of here, surely he had some kind of clout? I had been a pawn in many high-stakes games before, mostly maneuvered around by my own mother or the men she’d wanted me to date. Was this just another game like that and we were collateral?

“I saw the way he looked at you,” Reid said from somewhere to my left. He was rummaging through the many crates, always searching in the hope that he could find something useful. So far all we had been able to conclude was that we wouldn’t grow hungry, but that was it.

“And what was that? I thought you didn’t trust him, or me for trusting him,” I said. Nobody asked which ‘he’ Reid was talking about, we all knew he meant Zathar. Zathar was the only he my mind was filled with, and I’d asked for him each time our guards or Corin showed up.

Reid’s head popped out of the crate he was leaning over to look at me, his voice gentle when he replied. “I owe you an apology for that, I was just… reacting you know? To this whole situation, and I took it out on you. I could see that Corin and Zathar were trying to help us just as you did.”

I sucked in a breath and then nibbled on my bottom lip as I thought back to that evening. What a chain reaction of anger that had been, and Zathar deserved any of that anger the least, he had just been trying to help. And also trying to get into my pants at the same time.

From spying through one of the tiny gaps in the wall, we’d managed to observe the Naga as they moved about their day. I had a better understanding of the relationships between the males and females, even if I still had many questions. The females were very easily angered, they often fought with the other women. While the males seemed to manage to work in a much more cohesive manner.

What had fascinated me was the pairings. The males and females that formed couples were very sweet together, which was shocking considering how harsh the women seemed, even lacking much of a maternal instinct. They let their male dote on them, which they did happily. That’s what Zathar indicated he wanted with me, a mate, a bond. If he wasn’t lying about that because I was starting to have doubts, considering how long I’d gone without seeing him.

“Apology accepted,” I told Reid, and I got up to pace around the shelves to stretch my legs and ease some of my nerves. If I didn’t get out of here soon, I’d go absolutely stir-crazy. I hated sitting still for so long, I wanted to do something, but we’d tried our best at the back wall to make a hole and all it had resulted in was a few gaps that barely fit my arm. We had no tools to work with, and the clay and straw walls were much tougher than they had any right to be.

All of us froze when we heard the door to our prison rattle, the telltale sign that they were lifting the bar to unlock it. I sat down with Cosima and put my arm around her shoulders, while Reid took up a place protectively in front of us. Corin led the way though, and we all relaxed a little at the sight of the pale, silvery Naga.

He was carrying a flat basket with bread and fruit in it, the healing device he always used on the pilot dangling from his belt. He had no weapons on him, and I suspected he was made to leave them outside. His silver eyes were kind, as was the smile he offered us. Reid accepted the food and Corin immediately bee-lined for the pilot.

She still hadn’t woken up, and Corin was very careful with her as he took care of all her needs. That alone assured me that he was solidly on our side, you weren’t that gentle with a prisoner, even if they were unconscious and unlikely to ever wake up.

Since the Naga that Cosima most feared wasn’t with the two guards watching us, I let go of her with a reassuring smile. I sat down on the pilot’s other side so I could pretend to assist Corin with her care. “Please, do you have any word of Zathar?” I asked him under my breath like I always did. So far, he’d always responded with a minute shake of his head and a down-turning of his eyes. He might not understand the question word for word, but he recognized the name of his friend and my intonation enough to catch my meaning.

Today, his eyes lingered on my face instead of dropping to his patient. Then they flicked to the back of the storage shed, to the wall where we’d been fruitlessly trying to create a hole to escape from. Did he know about that? No, that wasn’t what he meant. “Zathar,” he whispered, and his eyes flicked to the back wall a second time.

Excitement rushed through me, did he mean Zathar was on the other side? Could we finally talk? Was something happening at last? I wanted to rush over immediately but I forced myself to stay put and simply work on the pilot like I always did. I couldn’t draw any suspicion from the guards or this was all over before it even started.

Once Corin and the guards left, and the sounds of the bar sliding in place had faded, I got up and raced for the back of the shed. Dropping to my knees next to the wall, I shoved away the crate and basket we’d piled in front to hide what we were doing. “Zathar?” I whispered, peering out through the highest of the four holes we’d managed to create.

The palisade rose up in the distance, and three more houses were situated along it. Daylight still brightened everything outside, the roofs of the buildings were nearly black but glinted dark purple in the light. As I watched, at least three Naga males, armed with spears and blades passed right in front of me, packs with supplies weighing down their broad backs.