Page 11 of The Naga Scavenger’s Precious Mate

He had me pinned, my legs spread with his tail, one leg wrapped up in several coils of it. My arms were above my head, held by one fist, while the other hand was on my neck, holding me in place with gentle pressure. I felt cared for, protected, when he held me so precisely, but I also really wanted to tilt my head and peer down so I could see that monster of a cock.

As if he heard my thoughts his head suddenly lifted, his green eyes piercing me with a heated stare. A stare that said so many things, but especially: you are mine. Then his arms shifted, his body raised and I got my wish, staring down between my flushed breasts, along the ridges of his abdominal muscles, and straight to the large cock rising between us. Yup, split tip. They twined together, then moved apart and my core spasmed as I pictured how that would feel inside of me.

Green like the rest of him, but flushed darker, like moss or evergreens. He glowed there too, lines and slashes that curled around his erection, they seemed to pulse with his excitement. Thick as my wrist, easily, I knew that wasn’t going to work on the first attempt, but he was so dang pretty I was willing to try. The exhaustion, the weakness of my body was almost entirely forgotten at that moment.

His eyes flashed to mine, a smirk curling his mouth. I saw just a hint of a pearly white fang at the corner of his lip, denting it with soft pressure in the sexiest way. When he released my wrists, when he slid his hand down my neck across my chest, I wasn’t expecting it. I thought he’d notch the head of that cock against my opening and would slide home; I thought I wanted that. But he lowered himself along my body, his hands caressing my breasts, my belly, the curve of my waist.

His head dipped between my thighs and his long, agile, tongue slid out and arrowed for my folds. I didn’t think about things like that, the last time I had a man go down on me had been awkward and rushed. This, I definitely thought I didn’t want, and then he made me want it so badly.

Zeidon’s growl rumbled through my body, vibrated through my clit, and there I was, back on the precipice. I was even closer to tumbling over it this time, and I groaned, my fingers shooting down to clutch his luscious blue-green hair. He tongued my folds, zeroed in on my clit, and started licking in a steady rhythm when that made me moan and writhe.

My thighs pinned open for him, my core weeping, I hurled over that edge with a shout. My toes curled into the sand on one side, against his scales on the other. He held me, his groan deep and low as it echoed the desire I felt. I knew as I tumbled through the pleasure, that he had me, that he held me safe, and that I could trust him to catch me as I fell.

I fought to steady my breathing as the last twitches started to fade, and still, he nuzzled against me, his tongue lapping up my juices. His eyes glowed at me, all the markings on his long, serpentine body glowed. It was evident in his every move, touch, that he loved what he was doing. I didn’t recall a single encounter in my life where I knew so absolutely that the man I was with enjoyed my pleasure as much as his own.

His head jerked up so suddenly that my vision spun, disoriented and confused. The growl he emitted wasn’t the lusty, excited one from before, this one was filled with aggression. “I hear another Naga, we must leave.” I had trouble switching from the languorous post-orgasm haziness to this sudden aggression and urgency.

I heard nothing, no approaching people at all. The woods that surrounded the little lake were quiet, swaying gently in the breeze. There was even a weird bird-like creature with a crooked bill chirping away on a branch. But both Srazz and Buzz were pacing in circles and sniffing the air. Buzz fluttered his wings anxiously and then alighted clumsily to land on Zeidon’s shoulder.

In that moment, I knew that I should just trust my companion’s instincts, all three of them. I expected Zeidon to at least help me up so I could get dressed; not that I knew where my wet clothing had gone off to. He didn’t let me do anything of the sort. He dragged me into his arms, cradling me against his chest, snatched up his satchel and trident, and then raced into the woods.

Srazz made angry grumbling noises the entire trek back home, but Buzz was soon chirp-kee-kee-ing happily as if he enjoyed the ride. I never saw any sign we were followed, or not alone, but Zeidon’s urgency was very real. I wondered why he was hiding me from these Naga supposedly out there in the woods. Struck by the thought that maybe he was doing something illegal by healing me, something his kind would not approve of.

Ducking into the dark tunnel, my skin broke out in a gazillion goosebumps, and not just because I was naked and cold. I didn’t like that we were going back into the dark, into a confined space. Then we reached the room with the fire and I was extremely grateful to get warm again. I blushed a little when Zeidon blatantly stared as I shrugged into my leggings and sweatshirt, but then he held out a fur to me and the feeling faded.

He just wanted to take care of me, for some crazy, insane reason. “Farah,” he said, “Show me the kiss again.” It wasn’t a question but a demand and it made me forget all about our mad rush home. I let him settle me on one of his coils near the fire and tilted my head up to do what he wanted. I was still reeling from the earlier pleasure, from how fast things had escalated, but kissing I could do.

Chapter 8

Zeidon

Farah was still sleeping in my nest, curled beneath a pile of thick furs to ward off the early morning chill. The fire had gone out during the night after I’d safely banked the coals, and with the Arazal male back in the wild, that meant it was far colder. She needed more clothes come winter, too, and I needed bigger food stores if we were to stay here.

My thoughts whirled with all the things I needed to do to help us survive the coming winter in this cave. I tried to get started by making breakfast and tidying up, the Arazal’s pen needed to be dismantled and cleaned. As I was lugging soiled straw in a basket outside, the thought struck me that I should hunt for meat. A big, juicy Vakarsa steak would help my mate regain her strength. If I swam, it wouldn’t take me more than a few hours to reach a clearing I knew they frequented.

She was awake when I returned with the basket, now filled to the brim with firewood I intended to store along one interior wall of the tunnel. “Morning, Zeidon,” she said as soon as I curled my tail around her ankle. During her long slumber, she had gotten thinner but after only a week of being awake, she was starting to fill out a little; the roundness of her cheeks coming back.

Last night, after she’d let me experience more of that ‘kiss’, I had curled up around her in the nest. I wanted to pleasure her more between her soft thighs as I had on the shore of the lake, but I restrained my urges this time. She was too tired, I had exhausted her, and that panic attack worried me. She’d let me hold her all night long, where I knew she was safe and warm. It was the best sleep I had in months, and I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure she’d let me into the nest again tonight.

I offered her the bowl of sweetened grain stew I’d made her, filled with nuts and Exar berries to make it more to her liking. As she dug into the food with a pleased smile, I settled down next to the fire, as close to her side as possible without actually slithering into the nest with her. “I am going hunting,” I said to her, my mind made up that Varkasa meat was what she needed now.

She paused with the spoon halfway to her mouth, her dark brown curls tousled around her shoulders in the most adorable fashion. “You are? How long will you be gone?” she asked. She tilted her head and glanced over my shoulder in the direction of the now mostly empty animal pens. I flicked out my tongue to test her scent when I thought I detected the mildest hint of unease on her features. Nothing, I had to be mistaken.

“All day, but I will bring you the tastiest evening meal, Farah,” I assured her. Then I indicated the by-now dried dress she had made for herself. “There are more fabrics there.” I pulled a basket free from one of my shelves to show her and she exclaimed happily. The orange fabric had been bold and exciting, it had looked beautiful with the tan her skin carried, but there were many more swatches of color in the basket. She held up a blue piece with a smile and I nodded, it made me think of my hair against her skin and I liked that idea very much.

“Alright, I’ll keep myself occupied with these. You don’t mind if I use some of this?” Mind? I had collected these fabrics for my mate, keeping the best ones for myself while I traded the rest. It was not technically something we should do, but I knew each Water Weaver male had his own hoard of things to woo a female with should he ever have the chance.

I shook my head and she smiled again, then started to whistle cheerfully while pulling more and more fabrics from the basket. “I will try to make pants next, and a tunic shirt,” she mused out loud. I listened for a while as I prepared for my hunt, enjoying her happy chatter. It brought so much life to the cave, her presence. It did exactly what I always dreamed a mate would do, it filled a void inside of me; it fulfilled my desire for company.

She paused what she was doing when she saw me tuck the baby Ayala into a clean and empty satchel. “You’re not going to use those as bait, are you?” she said sharply, her voice rising. The purple Sleara made an angry chittering noise in response, regaling me with a warning glare and raised spikes along his back. He was perched on the edge of my nest at her side, his wing brushing her arm possessively.

I laughed, the sound still strange to my own ears. I rarely laughed, not out loud. Maybe when I was sharing my campfire with other hunters, which was almost never. “No. They go to an Ayala mom with an empty nest.” I’d checked on the female’s location again early this morning when I went out with the straw. She was still desolate and still unwilling to go far from her burrow.

“Oh, good. I’ll miss them even if they take a lot of work…” Farah said, leaning closer as if she intended to peer into the bag with the six wiggling babies. I dipped lower and held open the top of the bag so she could see. Their stripes were darkening and their pelt growing, but they still lacked the spines on their rump.

Srazz raised himself on his hind legs from her other side and leaned closer, sniffing the air while he mimicked my mate’s posture and looked into the bag too. He was not very interested in little babies, not even those of his own species, but he liked to do whatever Farah did—the little traitor. It was going to be a small miracle if he decided to come with me for the hunt.

I was ready to go, but I lingered a little longer in the doorway while I struggled to make my tail release from around Farah’s ankle. She was perfectly safe in this cave, predators would not enter, nor would any other Naga. She had food and water, I’d set it out for her and she’d already assured me she knew how to heat things if she wanted to. So why was it hard to go?