Page 16 of The Naga Maverick’s Determined Mate

“Now what?” I said quietly. I wasn’t sure if I was talking about this thing between us, this step toward a relationship; toward intimacy and closeness with another being. Or if I just meant right now, how to get out of these caves.

Zsekhet smiled, exposing a hint of fang at the corner of his mouth. His golden eyes were warm and tender as they lingered on my face. “Now, I take care of your injuries, and then we will find the exit.” He moved to the door, stretching out his long body so I didn’t need to drop the piece of tail I was holding. He snatched up a satchel of things from just beyond the portal, hauling it inside to bring toward me.

Following his lead, I sat down on the edge of the nest and with the tip of his tail cradled between my hands in my lap, watched as he pulled out a healing device. It was a type of bracelet with a glowing crystal that centered over the palm of his hand when he pulled it on. I wouldn’t have recognized it if not for the fact that I’d seen it in action at the Shaman’s home and I’d seen Corin use one just like it on Min-Ji and Vera when we first got here.

He skimmed the stone over my bruised arms, a soft light emitting from the stone that eased the bruises and removed any pain or superficial marks. In a matter of minutes, not a single blemish on my skin remained. I felt better, stronger, and even the hints of cold seeped from my skin. “Thank you, Zsekhet.” I was pretty sure I was thanking him for more than just the healing. That was a thank you for the rescue, and for how patient he was with me. Maybe I was even thanking him for purposely pushing my buttons before.

“I will always rescue you,” Zsekhet said solemnly, then he turned to pack away the device and pulled out a sack of Exar berries instead. I laughed, amused at the sight of what was pretty much the main staple of every one of my meals. At this point, I was starting to get a little sick of them but it was thoughtful. Zsekhet had never offered me any meat to eat, it was always vegetables or fruit. He’d observed me and knew I didn’t like the protein part of most meals, he knew what I liked.

As if he’d been reading my thoughts, his mouth lifted into another of his signature playful smiles. “Yeah, not much variation. Is there? I’m sorry, us Naga just don’t need to supplement our meat that much. Seems we didn’t bother to find out what else is good eating, huh?” He didn’t say it, but I could hear the unspoken promise that he’d try to remedy this situation.

I munched on berries as I followed Zsekhet out of the room, his satchel slung over one shoulder. He’d packed the heat source device out of all the things Scar’at had stashed here but nothing else. I couldn’t say I blamed him, this was a damp cave and everything smelled a bit like mildew in here. It was cold, and my short, sleeveless dress wasn’t exactly the warmest, and still I didn’t even consider taking one of the furs from the nest.

“Do you know the way out?” I asked quietly, frantically trying to remember if it was two lefts or two rights first. Zsekhet rolled a shoulder but nodded with what looked like confidence. Maybe he could follow our scent trail back out or something, they had a good sense of smell, hadn’t they? As we started traversing the tunnels, I held his tail. Holding hands was probably more practical but it felt too intimate, that was a couples thing to do. He didn’t seem to mind, his movements sure and elegant as he kept pace next to me.

“That was clever, the charcoal marks. That’s how I found you as fast as I did,” Zsekhet sounded proud as he said it and I felt myself blush from how much I liked that. We spotted the first mark on the wall, guided by the light of a little oil lamp that Zsekhet had lit. Sharing a pleased look, we hurried forward to search for the next.

At first, I thought we were doing well, retracing our steps. But when we struggled to find a mark my heart started pounding. This was okay, I hadn’t always had a choice on where to put a mark, I just tried to space them as best as I could whenever Scar’at had brought me close enough to the rock. When we finally found it, we’d retraced our steps twice and I was shivering from the cold.

“Here, I think Artek might have packed a fur in here,” Zsekhet paused to dig it out of the satchel and then carefully draped it around my shoulders. The gesture reminded me of that night we’d run into each other while I had been staring at the greenhouse ruins at Haven. This time I wasn’t nearly as troubled by his nearness.

He was radiating heat in front of me, his body somehow still warm despite the cool temperatures inside and the fact that he wore no clothing. I shuffled a little closer, daring to reach out and press my free hand to his chest and trace one of the sigils still slightly glowing along his skin. He hissed, his tongue flicking out, and his muscles clenched beneath my fingers. I glanced up and caught the heated look in his eyes, the banked passion that was flaring to life with every delicate stroke of my fingers. I was mimicking the feather’s movement he’d used on me before.

“Cosima,” he sighed, his hand dropped from the fur he pressed against my shoulders to clasp my hand against his chest. “Your touch, it drives me crazy. Please, will you do that thing? The ‘kiss’ you humans use. I want to know what that’s like.” A girl could think he just wanted a kiss—from anyone—because all he wanted was to find out what that felt like. I knew better, I could see it in his eyes, he wanted this, but only with me. That’s how these mate bonds worked. It had been explained to me in detail several times over as if the girls back home thought they needed to soften me up to the idea of a mate.

Tilting my chin toward him, I raised on tiptoe. He did the rest, dipping his body down to meet me halfway, his lips eagerly bumping into mine. I giggled because it was clumsy and weird and if he would just hold still I could show him what to do. His tail slipped from my fingers when I reached up with both hands to clasp the set of horns arching from his forehead.

He gasped when I angled his head the way I wanted with those convenient handholds, and I took advantage and darted my tongue out to brush it against his. His taste flooded my senses, spicy, sweet. Then his long tongue tangled with mine, stroking inside of me in a mimicry of sex. It felt good, my body heating, my flesh tingling. It was different, his lips were not exactly the same shape as mine, a little rougher with texture and his tongue especially strange. There was nothing I could compare this experience to, and I loved every second.

Imagining what he could do to me with that tongue was like catnip to a cat, the thoughts making me soak my panties. Zsekhet groaned, lifting me in his arms and moving until I was pressed with my back against the wall. My legs automatically shifted to hook around his hips and I groaned when that brought his fully extruded cock right up against my pussy. “Oh, fuck! Zsekhet!” I moaned as I pressed against him, seeking the right friction so I could find nirvana.

He hissed, his golden eyes glowing with heat and passion as he shifted his hips and pushed back in. He was fucking me between my thighs, the slight barrier of my thin, worn panties the only thing keeping us separated. I wanted to glance down and see how it looked, see the dual head of his cock as he pressed it up between my legs and across my belly. I couldn’t, because he wouldn’t let me up from the kiss, nibbling, licking, always drawing my taste into his mouth.

I shuddered, my pleasure spiraling into a tight orgasm. I shouted in pleasure, the loud sound shocking me. I had never been a screamer, but it seemed that Zsekhet knew exactly how to wind me up until I could do nothing but burst apart in his arms. My shout was followed by a deep growl from Zsekhet and then his hot seed splashed across my front, coating the leather of my dress with droplet after droplet of pearly white fluid.

Our eyes remained locked when he pulled away from my mouth, finally letting me catch my breath. “I believe I like this kissing very much with you, Cosima,” he said with a boyish grin that made my heart flutter in my chest. He was devastatingly handsome with the black horns, shimmering golden scales, and his long black hair. And I was starting to adore every single one of his smiles.

“Me too,” I said, a blush finally heating my cheeks when I realize how carried away we’d gotten. I’d let him rub himself against me and it had made both of us come. It was just like with the feather before, once I let myself touch him, passion just exploded.

With a twinge of pain near my heart, I realized it hadn’t been quite like that with Caleb. Did that mean that what was happening with Zsekhet and me was stronger? Better? That felt horrible to think. Caleb had been my childhood sweetheart; we’d planned to marry as soon as we both finished our architecture degrees.

“Where’d you go, Cosima?” Zsekhet asked gently. He sounded concerned and he was already rummaging in his satchel, quickly coming up with a piece of fur that he used to wipe down my front, cleaning up his mess. I didn’t want to answer his question when I had no answers myself. It wouldn’t be fair to him, or to me. I felt a little confused and fragile and I was afraid I’d snap at him if I tried to explain what was happening in my head.

“Let’s just get out of here,” I told him. Taking the piece of fur I took over on the clean up and he let me, watching me through hooded eyes the entire time. Once I was clean, he pulled the furs around my shoulders once more, making sure I was warm before we resumed our journey. I held the tip of his tail as we went, not wanting to lose sight of the soft glow of his sigils. That was the only thing that was obvious and undeniably clear. I was his mate. The rest of my feelings I’d figure out, later.

Chapter 10

Zsekhet

Cosima was feeling conflicted, which I didn’t like, but still elation was the biggest emotion that currently filled my chest. She had reached out and taken my tail, she’d finally confronted what we both knew, that we were mates. With her taste on my tongue and her aroused scent still perfuming the air, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d just conquered the world.

We were in search of the next charcoal mark but I was starting to get worried that we wouldn’t find it. Pausing again, I pulled free the map that Artek had brought. I peered at the drawn warren of tunnels but could not figure out where we were, and what the exit was that we were supposed to head to. Cosima was staring at the map with more optimism, taking it from my hand when she realized I had no clue how to read it. “I’m more used to aerial maps of the above-ground,” I said in defense.

She laughed, the sound warming my heart, “Sure you are. I think this is the room where that asshole held me.” She pointed a finger at a circular spot on the map and I hissed, wishing I’d made that bastard suffer longer for what he’d done to my mate. I should have made him pay twofold for every bruise he’d left on her flesh.

Cosima traced her finger along the suede surface of the leather map, following several tunnel lines. “I think we went like this first, that means this is probably the exit we want, don’t you think?” She hesitated and glanced up at me, her soft gray eyes made me want to lean in and flick my tongue along her cheek. I wanted to pick up where we left off a moment ago, and pin her against the wall so I could give her more pleasure with my mouth and my cock.

She smirked and patted my shoulder, “It’s okay, I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about it.” She might very well be insulting me with that last comment, questioning my map-reading skills like that. I couldn’t care less, I loved how confident she was about her own ability, and how she didn’t hesitate to speak her mind. She felt at ease with me.