Page 8 of The Naga Maverick’s Determined Mate

Min-Ji and Naomi shared a look with each other before the former pilot finally said mysteriously, “Your secret admirer of course. Naomi and I aren’t spilling the beans, you are going to have to guess.” She crossed her arms over her chest, sharing a conspiratorial look with Naomi, and mimed zipping her lips.

My eyes flashed from their grinning faces to scan across the purple clearing inside the palisade. They lingered briefly on the sad remains of the greenhouse ruins next to the entrance, then I skipped over the empty training fields to take in the males working once again on the meat-curing shed they were building. Zsekhet was right there at the front, seemingly effortlessly holding up a massive wooden beam on his own as the others secured it onto the wooden A-frame.

In my belly, I felt that pesky spark of arousal as I watched his muscles strain. He was using his arms to hold up one end above his head, a coil of his tail rising at the other end to hold the whole beam level in a horizontal fashion. Everywhere along his body I could see his muscles bulge as he worked, his expression cheerful as he talked with the others. Was it him? I really hoped not. But what other options were there?

Plenty, I realized, but were any of them males that Naomi and Min-Ji would stay quiet about? I tried to remember the names of the two other males who had already been accepted into our new Clan. A blue one and a purple one, Aks and Xorare. But there were even more hopefuls down the hill, in the camp. If it was Corin, Min-Ji wouldn’t be looking so happy so at least he was excluded.

When darkness started falling and my fingers were bruised and bloody from all the garment-making, I was still mulling over who it could be. I realized as everyone gathered for the evening meal that it had kept me from feeling sad all afternoon. I hadn’t even felt upset about that asshole grabbing me earlier. I felt… good.

But when I crawled into bed that night alone in my dark apartment, I couldn’t get my mind to quit. I felt all confused and like I was betraying Caleb for being excited over an admirer. I felt like I was vain and shallow for liking it so much that someone had noticed how much I liked those berries. Was this what it meant to start moving on? Was I ready for that? Was it wrong that it had only been a year since Caleb’s death?

Then my mind got trapped in the memories of my time as a captive with the Scrakoids. For a year, longer even, I’d been trapped in that hellhole with them, while they tried to bargain with the UAR over my release, demanding the UAR relinquish all claim to their lands. They had killed Caleb the very first day we were there but they’d kept me in a cell for so long I had covered the wall in scratches that marked the days.

I couldn’t sleep, not with all that swirling through my mind so I rose and left. Maybe proving to myself that I was no longer trapped in that cell would help. I needed fresh air.

Chapter 5

Zsekhet

Winging back over the dark forest that blanketed Ahoshaga I was furious. Somehow, that bastard had managed to escape, disappearing into underground tunnels where he’d covered his tracks. I was not used to tracking my targets over hard stone inside the deep dark below ground. In a place where Sesethul couldn’t follow me and everything felt cold and wet.

I didn’t like the thought that Scar’at was still a free male after what he’d done to my mate. He needed to pay, one way or another. I just had to be more patient for my revenge but I’d get it, because I always got what I wanted in the end. Biding my time was not my strong suit, but I would do it, and I would keep a close watch on my mate until I knew he was eliminated. That was no hardship, and just thinking of spending more time in her presence lifted my spirits.

Ses landed on the rocky cliff that flanked the entrance to the Outcast Haven caves. For a big beast like him, he landed quietly, his wing beats nearly silent when he angled them just right. I unhooked my riding harness from the loops Ses wore around his neck and chest. Sliding my body coil by coil onto the rock at his side.

Rubbing his flank, I circled him to make sure he was in top shape, my eyes easily piercing the near dark as the moon was currently hidden behind a pack of clouds. I was working on unstrapping his harness when a sound caught my attention. Both dragon and I turned to look at the entrance to the caves, watching curiously as a small form walked outside.

“Huh, would you look at that, Ses? My mate, out for a midnight stroll. Think she’ll fancy some company?” As I softly asked that of my friend, I cursed my inability to understand her language. I hated that so much. The temptation to reach out and touch her was great, it would solve our language barrier in a heartbeat, as mates always knew what the other said. To do so was to lose her though, I was sure of it.

The dragon lowered his snout, huge nostrils flaring, and his own split tongue flicking out to taste the air. Yeah, buddy, I wanted to have her scent on my tongue all the time too. I wanted to lick her skin, taste her between her soft thighs, and I wanted to bury my aching cock in her depths. More than anything, I wanted to curl her safely in my coils and assure her that she was safe now that she had me; nothing would ever harm her again.

I finished undoing the last straps on Ses’ harness quietly, my eyes constantly on Cosima’s pale, tiny shape just outside the entrance to the caves. She was standing near where the campfire usually burned, her hands on her hips, and her face tilted to the starless sky. I shivered when I made the climb down the cliff via the rope I’d hung there before, the walls otherwise too steep for much purchase. I had a feeling I knew what she was doing and I hated that so much for her, I wished I could go back into her past and protect her from all the bad things that had happened.

She didn’t even notice me when I approached but when I got closer, I was relieved to notice that her focus on the sky had shifted. Now she was staring at the ruins next to the entrance. A strange, macabre skeleton of metal, curved into a dome with all these triangular gaps in between. In the dark, it looked like some kind of misshapen beast squatting on the land. It looked wrong, like the ruins at Serqethos when sandstorms had laid them bare.

What was it about this strange ruin that had her so fascinated? As I got closer, I tried to figure it out, but all I saw were strange metal shapes, overgrown by weeds and climbing vines. I had never seen a shape quite like this before either, I couldn’t even begin to guess what it was supposed to have been.

Flicking out my tongue, I focused on my mate instead, drawing her taste deep into my lungs and letting it settle my restlessness. She was frowning at the frame, her hands on her hips, and her pale but curiously spotted skin was raised in thousands of little bumps. She was cold. I immediately scanned around the nearby logs to see if anyone left a fur behind, grinning when I spotted one not far away. The dying embers of the fire had kept the beginnings of dew off the skin, leaving it still pleasantly warm to my touch.

“My mate, you are cold,” I said quietly from near the fire pit. She hadn’t realized I was there, and I didn’t want to spook her any more than necessary. Still, she whirled around, her blue eyes growing huge in her dainty face. Her hands went up in front of her chest, fists balled, and her muscles tensed; a fighting pose.

The words rapidly tumbling from her mouth were a frantic but melodic waterfall I couldn’t understand. I still loved hearing her voice, sweet and high, feminine. Even better, I loved how she looked me straight in the eye without flinching tonight. Her eyes were sharp with warning. She was already showing more of her true self, the brave, fierce fighter I knew was hidden behind her invisible scars.

“You are cold,” I said again, “And you should never have to fear me. Don’t you know that I’d do anything for you?” The bold words were easy to say when I knew she couldn’t understand them but she still lowered her brows in an impressive manner, frowning at me like she knew I’d been up to something.

Holding out the fur, I approached slowly. I even lowered myself a little on my tail so I wouldn’t tower over her, arms outstretched so she knew that all I wanted to do was fold that fur around her shoulders. She stood in place, watching me approach but not moving away, her fists still up in front of her chest, it was adorable.

The grin that wanted to pull on my mouth was hard to smother but I valiantly tried. This was like trying to approach an Arazal and touch its rump, a game young hunters played to test their prowess. At any moment, my mate could spook and make a run for it. I wasn’t quite sure what would happen if she did, would I have to battle the instinct to chase her?

I didn’t have to find out, she let me drape the fur around her shoulders, and I made absolutely certain I never touched her skin. Then I backed up some and gestured at the ruins, “What are you doing here? Why are you staring at the past?” Then I couldn’t help myself, worry for her still too fresh in my mind, especially since the threat was not eliminated. “You shouldn’t be out here alone, go to bed. You need to sleep. It’s not safe.”

Her eyes darted from my hand still pointing at the ruins to my face. She was frowning again, but at least she had clutched the fur around her body and seemed less cold. Now my only goal was to make sure she returned safe and sound to her apartment inside the mountain. Then I’d take up my post near the exit, it was one of the reasons I’d claimed a room only just inside the gate, the other reason that I disliked being far from the open sky.

I was no longer feeling playful, taking pleasure in saying things to her that she couldn’t understand and wasn’t ready to hear. I was exhausted after that fruitless hunt, and I knew tomorrow I needed to start to come up with some answers. It meant I’d get little sleep tonight as I plotted. Cosima needed to return to her room and go to sleep if I wanted to get any rest myself but I hesitated when I moved to start directing her back inside.

She had come out here for a reason, a reason I understood very well. She had been looking up at the clouded sky with such a forlorn expression, reassuring herself that she was free, that she was able to move outside at will. I’d seen that kind of behavior in a warrior back home who had ended up trapped in a collapsed ruin for several days before we’d been able to locate him and dig him out. Where had she been buried or trapped?

We stood in silence for a long time, just gazing at each other and then her glance dropped again to the ruin, turning thoughtful. “Come on, go to bed, Cosima,” I said when that happened. I didn’t mean to snap, but this was getting ridiculous, there was nothing in those ruins worth salvaging. They were just bent shapes of metal.