Page 24 of The Naga Princess's Soldier Mate

I began to rise, propping myself up on my elbows, but she caught me with a palm on my chest. “No, wait,” she said, then averted her eyes, glancing down. Acting shy, was she? Instantly intrigued, I froze, waiting to see what she’d do. My reward took a minute, but then she slipped down my body and brushed her fingers over my belt buckle. I helped her undo it, hissing with pleasure as she gently freed my hard cock. “Can I… Is it…” She trailed off, looking embarrassed, and that was so freaking hot that I couldn’t speak for a moment.

“You want to lick my cock, angel? You want to suck my dick into your warm, wet mouth? Is that what you want?” I said, mouth dry and voice raw with desire. If she said yes, I was going to combust on the spot. Her azure eyes glowed when they met mine, her mouth dropping open. My cock twitched in her hand, responding to that look. Then she licked her bottom lip and nodded, dark blue coloring her cheekbones in dramatic stripes. Yes, the battle flush—definitely also simply a blush or a sign of arousal. I knew my girl now. Naughty angel. She wanted to do exactly as I said, but she was too shy to move.

Inhaling deeply, I drew her hot, aroused scent into my lungs. “Do it, take me in your mouth, Sazzie,” I said, and the command jerked her into motion. Oh, yeah, she was perfect for me. She loved it when I got bossy. She ducked, and her mouth closed around the thick, mushroom-shaped head of my cock. I saw stars when she sucked and shouted when I felt the press of her dainty fangs and the long curl of her tongue around my shaft. “Fuck! That’s so good, angel.”

My hips bucked toward her—a reflex I barely managed to restrain before I risked choking her. She mewled, as if she liked it, sinking deeper down on my shaft with her mouth. I stared,entranced, because holy crap, Sazzie could take way more of me into her warm mouth than I had expected. No gag reflex, just pure heat and tight warmth. I came so fast and so hard that I had no time to warn her, my seed shooting down her throat in thick spurts, her name shouted so loudly it could probably be heard miles away.

When the pleasure began to ebb, she raised her head from my cock with a sucking noise, her wide grin so pleased. “Ah, I love you, Sazzie,” I told her fervently. Then I dragged her into my arms and returned the favor, eagerly rewarding her for the pleasure she’d given me.

Chapter 20

Sazzie

We’d been traveling most of the day, but moving downhill made the trek go fast, and Reid had endless endurance, even though he was pulling Khawla’s heavy body on an improvised sled. The air was getting a little warmer as we descended, but it was clear that autumn was coming; summer was over. A brisk wind had set in from the south, and though I was not easily cold, I was starting to feel it. Reid, on the other hand, seemed completely unbothered by the temperature, and he had lost his shirt.

Throughout the day, we’d talked, and I’d learned more strange things about the world that Reid came from than I could have ever imagined. But it was all light-hearted things—like the differences between his trees and mine, and the color of the sky. Blue? That was so strange; I could not imagine looking up at the sky on a bright day and seeing anything but Serant’s gentle violet. It was fascinating.

“What about gold?” I dared to ask, a smile stretching across my mouth. I still liked shiny gold and gems, even though I’d shed all of my pieces after I had killed my mother. When Reid glanced over his shoulder at me from beneath a hank of shiny black hair, his warm brown eyes twinkled with laughter. It felt as if he were letting me in on a joke with that look, and warmth bloomed in my chest. I felt included, part of something.

“Ah, all things that glitter,” he said. “Yes, Earth has gold. It is valuable everywhere I’ve been.” He paused to readjust hisgrip on the makeshift sled before crossing a particularly rocky stretch. Several large boulders made it tricky to pass without dumping poor, still-unconscious Khawla onto the ground. “And human girls tend to like gold and diamonds, just like Naga ladies do.”

Diamonds? I considered the super-tough, white or translucent gems that were set in some of the more intricate pieces of jewelry from Serqethos. Yes, I liked diamonds, but I was beginning to be much more partial to warmer tones—brown, like Reid’s eyes. Was there a gem that could match his eyes—the warmth and love I saw there every time he looked my way?

“Humans have a custom,” Reid said, pausing again, but this time not to readjust the sled. He put it down and smoothed his hands along his thighs. The gesture seemed oddly nervous when I caught it. Why would my brave, confident protector be nervous? Gesturing at him with my hand, I urged him to continue, and his mouth twitched into a smile. I had to be mistaken; now he looked happy, relaxed—not nervous at all.

“It’s called marriage. It’s pretty much the same as mating. Humans don’t have mating marks, though, so we came up with something else: a ring.” He tapped one of the fingers on his hand, then reached out a hand to one of mine. Without hesitation, I placed my fingers in his. He pointed to my second-smallest finger. “Ring finger. That’s where a man or a woman wears a band to indicate they belong to one another. Usually, it’s a gold band with a diamond.”

Naga did not wear rings—at least, not at Thunder Rock. Rings got in the way of daily tasks, could be a hazard on hunts, or were easy to lose. But I knew Artek wore them; I’d seen the glitter ofgold or silver on the Shaman’s fingers more than once. I eyed my own hand, tried to picture a ring with a cool, glittering diamond on it—and struggled.

“Would you like that? If I got you a ring? Zsekhet could help me make it; he’s from Serqethos.” Reid’s fingers twitched around mine before sliding away, and with them, his gaze dropped to the ground. Nervous again? I loved the way he looked in the late afternoon sun: his skin gleamed golden, and the ink stood out dramatically along his arms. I even loved how the geometric shapes of his nanobots pressed beneath his skin. So pretty.

“Yes,” I said, even though I did not like the idea of a diamond. If he wanted to make itforme, that would mean everything, and I would wear it proudly. And aid from a Serqethos male? It was so very tempting, because the Serqethos Clan was the very best at jewelry-making. They were artisans, true craftsmen. All my mother’s best pieces came from their Clan. They were expensive and worn with great pride.

My answer made him beam a bright smile, his brown eyes glowing. I reached out and cupped the side of his face, my thumb brushing his cheek just below his eye. “I want a stone like your eyes, Reid. I love your eyes.” His smile grew so wide it was radiant, and I felt proud to have caused that kind of happiness. He swept me into his arms, holding me close and gently rocking us back and forth as if we were dancing.

“As you wish, princess,” he said, pressing his mouth to my hair with a warm, quick kiss. “That sounds even better.” We kissed then, but Reid jerked back so suddenly that it made my head spin. His chin rose, his eyes sharp and focused as they searched the trees around us. He sensed something, so I did the same,searching for any sign of life. My tongue flicked out to taste the air, and instantly, I knew it was all right. The scent I drew into my lungs was a familiar one, and we had nothing to worry about.

Reid seemed to conclude that at the same time; his shoulders relaxed, his arms growing soft around me. “Artek! Are you there, my friend?” I held my breath as I waited to see from which direction the Shaman would come. I thought he would come from below, where his home was located, so it was a surprise when he appeared from above us. His white scales gleamed with hints of blue, green, and pink in the late Serant sunlight, shimmering like a pearl.

Artek did not look as polished and refined as he usually did when visiting Thunder Rock Village, which caught me off guard. His long, golden hair was slightly disheveled, his colorful sash conspicuously absent, and a twig was lodged beneath the gold-and-blue chain around his neck. His sapphire eyes widened in surprise as he ducked under a branch to reach us. “Reid? Sazzie? What are you two doing here? I thought you were at the Training Grounds.”

He did not say a word about how close Reid and I were standing; my mate still had his arms around my waist, casually resting his hands against my spine. “I could say the same about you,” I told Artek. “Isn’t your home down there?” I asked, pointing down the ridge of a mountain flank we’d been following to reach the caves he lived in.

Immediately, the Shaman nodded, seemed to finally become aware of the twig caught in his necklace and hurried to remove it. “Yes, well, I was at Haven because Vera is almost due, but then the skyship crashed, and I needed to return home to checkon things.” His eyes finally left Reid and me, dropping down to the sled at our feet, and they went huge again. “Oh stars, what happened?”

He raced forward, coiling at Khawla’s side to inspect the unconscious scout. Already, he was pulling a handheld device from his satchel, slipping it over his fingers so he could take care of the male. “We had a bit of a run-in with Bitter Storm on our way home,” Reid said, then proceeded to explain what we’d gone through and what had happened to Khawla. He left very little out, even boldly declaring that I was his mate and that my mating marks had glowed for him.

Artek did not seem the least surprised. “Yes, that’s good. I always did think your potential was wasted in the shadow of the Queen, Sazzie.” He glanced up at me, his blue eyes friendly, though he also appeared distracted, focusing more on his patient than on us.

“Shall we help you get him down to your home?” Reid asked, sounding a little grumpy. I smiled behind my hand at the sight of his sour expression. Did he expect something else from the Shaman? Congratulations? A Shaman with a patient was single-minded, so Artek’s behavior did not surprise me.

No, I took that back. When the Shaman quickly shook his head, something felt off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “No, no need! I can take Khawla home myself. It’s close. I’m sure the two of you wish to hurry to the pass so you can get to Haven. Everyone has been very worried about you, Reid.” While all those things were true—and Reid looked pleased again—they still didn’t make sense to me. Khawla would reach his healing chamber faster if we helped. And, truly, we could use a fewsupplies. Artek was normally quick to offer those, but not today. Why?

“If you are sure,” Reid agreed slowly and dubiously. That reassured me—I was not alone in feeling a little suspicious. There was not much we could do, though; Khawla would be in good hands with Artek, even if he was up to something. The Shaman would never harm anyone; he didn’t have an evil bone in him. I had seen that as a child, back when he was still an apprentice with another Shaman. I had wanted to bring that injured Ayala to him because he was the only person I knew who would help me.

As if my thoughts of the Ayala I’d once tried to save had summoned it, the bushes rustled below us on the mountain flank. Then, they parted to reveal a black-and-white-striped snout, and a sturdy but slow-moving Ayala trundled out. All its quills bristled along its rump, making it look shaggy and big. A gold band around its chubby neck marked it as something other than prey. It couldn’t be… How old did an Ayala even get?

I flicked my eyes from the more-white-than-black snout to Artek and was trapped in a suddenly, very kind blue gaze. “Yes,” he said to me, his mouth tilting in a smile. “That’s Zap. She’s been with me for nearly twenty years…” He did not say more, but he didn’t need to. This Ayala came a little closer, and now I could see the slight limp she had; her back leg was a little crooked. It was her—the little baby I’d tried to save so long ago.

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