Page 54 of The Demon's Fire
Skyler flicked her eyes to Kole as he pleaded her case before the elder. He cleared his throat. “I am her mate. It was a foolish human error on her part. She begs understanding from the firstborn.” He bent toward Skyler. “Take off your scarf.” Then he continued talking to the elder. “She offers him a gift in exchange.”
When Kole jerked his chin several times in the direction of the young man, she seized on the clue. Skyler unknotted the scarf binding her hair in a ponytail. She pushed it toward their guide.
Rather than accept the gift, he shook his head vigorously. “I demand the offer of mating in its place.”
Kole looped a heavy arm over her shoulders. “Not an option since this foolish human is mated to me.”
Skyler let a cool expression wash over her face, accepting Kole’s ridicule. Anything to get out of this mess.
He waved his hand the length of her body. “As you can see, she is skinny. Not much to look at.”
Skyler’s gaze swept from Kole to their guide.
“She offered herself as my mate. I accept.” The firstborn appealed to his father.
Kole dropped his arm from Skyler’s shoulders to step into the young man’s space. The Yeti was taller than him by four or five inches but not as muscular. “The offer was not hers to make. It was mine. I will not share the female.” Demon fire sparked on his fingertips as the Yeti widened his stance in preparation for Kole’s attack.
The elder rose, his voice a bellow which surely could be heard at the edge of the village. “Halt. We will talk. My firstborn, advisors, and I will discuss the matter. Only deficiencies in her nature would make her unfit.”
Kole glanced at Skyler, his lips inching into a devious grin. “This female is riddled with deficiencies.”
With a meaty hand on each of Skyler’s hips, Kole thrust her forward, her back to his chest. “She is narrow hipped, too scrawny to bear a male of much worth. And these. Well.”
Skyler swatted at him when he actually squeezed each breast as though testing melons at a grocery store.
He grabbed her hands, turning them palm up. “Look. These are small and without callouses.” He fisted Skyler’s bicep. “Her muscles are underdeveloped, making her unable to carry buckets of water from the river to the village. You can tell she is unaccustomed to hard work. She lacks kitchen skills. If I want an edible meal, I must prepare it myself. All in all, she’s useless.”
The young man blurted, “I want her only for my bed.”
Skyler pinched her lips tight when Kole continued.
“Alas, her faults there are many. When I bed her, she has trouble making me erect because she lies still, unresponsive to my more than ample charms. Better to dip my wick in a tree hole than in this female.”
Over her shoulder, Skyler shot an if-looks-could-kill stare at Kole. Though he was trying to get them out of the trouble she had created, he was having far too much fun concocting her shortcomings.
When the elder entered a hut, followed by his son and advisors, Kole obviously read Skyler’s frown. “If I had praised you, you’d be keeping the kid’s feet and other appendages warm tonight. I can take him, but once I do, his tribesmen will attack. I can’t beat them all.” He gave her his lopsided grin, his eyes sparking with amusement.
“I’m sorry, Kole.”
“May I say, Chief, I am getting tired of claiming to be your fuckbuddy. It’s becoming a dangerous occupation. First the Genesis Rite. Now the Yeti camp. Maybe you could get your fiancé to travel with you. He can fight for your honor. You seem to require a full-time hero. I don’t think I’m fit for the task.”
“I’m in no mood for jokes, Commander.”
“Who says I’m joking?”
The elder returned to the throne, his son and advisors flanking him. “The firstborn will accept the gift instead of the mating.”
Skyler clamped a hand over her lip, stifling a loud exhale. She walked up to the young man and, pinching the scarf between her thumb and a forefinger, offered it to him, avoiding any chance of physical contact. He took his time accepting it, his lips a wide unhappy slash, his dark eyes brooding.
“Ah,” sighed the elder, “we are friends again. Let us eat.”
Kole tsked. “I do wish we could. The sand leech steaks, the harpy wings, and the pine root salad make my tastebuds water, but we must decline because we fed before our arrival. Had I known you would offer food, we would have waited.”
The elder waved an understanding hand.
Before they left, Kole approached the throned leader, leaning in to speak in his ear. When Kole finished, the elder threw back his head and roared with laughter.
Skyler shot a narrow-eyed glare at an unrepentant Kole. He shrugged. Any admiration she had developed for the commander disappeared.
