Mari's Mistake - Ruby Dixon Page 0,18

night. The earthshake filled her with unease, and after that, she did not want to be touched. I suspect she has lived through the same type of tragedy that Tall Horn has. Did she lose her tribe in a similar shake? Is that why she panicked? I want to tell her that it is nothing, that our island shivers and shakes all the time, but I do not have the words for her.

I stroke her mane as she sleeps and watch over her instead.

I am greedy, though. Even as I watch her dream, I want to touch her again. My khui hums in my chest, full of need. It wants me to claim my mate now-now-now, but M’rsl needs more time. I will not push her past what she is ready to give. My body aches with her nearness, and I want to sleep beside her, but I do not trust myself. My cock demands to burrow into her warmth, and I settle for licking my fingers, as if I can still taste her juices.

I did not understand what she was asking for until she showed me. That she must be wet and slippery to take my length inside her. Of course it makes sense, and now I am fascinated with the thought of making her cunt grow wet once more. Perhaps if a female had survived Tall Horn’s destruction, I would know more about mating practices. I would know how to get her cunt slick and ready, but she had to show me. M’rsl knew, though.

It is not her first time to mate, then.

The thought does not bother me. It is clear she has no mate, or she would not have resonated to me. If anything, I am relieved. She can teach me all that she knows, and I can make her cunt so wet that she comes running to my arms when I touch her.

I like that thought. A lot. I lick my fingers again, trying to remember her taste, but it is gone. I glance over at her, wondering if I can wake her with more mouth on mouth, more touches between her thighs, or if she is still upset over the earthshake. Awaken, I encourage silently. Look at me and let me touch you, M’rsl. I am ready to be your mate. Let me pleasure you. I will put my hands and tongue anywhere that pleases you.

That idea will not leave my head the moment it enters, and I think of all the different ways I can lick my mate’s body. Her teats—the tips of which I learned were sensitive. Her soft stomach. Her equally soft thighs. Her cunt. My mouth waters at the realization that I can put my lips there and tongue her directly, and I groan with need.

Now I really want that.

At my side, M’rsl shifts, her teats swaying as she rolls onto her back, her eyes closed. My gaze locks onto those rounded swells, so very different from the females I remember. The tips are dark and inviting, and I wonder what they would feel like on my mouth—

The earth shakes again, violently this time.

M’rsl awakens with a scream, her eyes wide, as the ground shivers and bucks underneath her.

“I have you,” I call out, snagging her and pulling her body against mine. “I will not let you come to harm.”

She clings to me, terrified, as the world rattles around us. I stroke her mane and hold her tight, whispering words of comfort that I wish I believed. All the while, I wait for the shaking to end…and I wonder if it ever will.

What if I have acquired my mate just to lose her? The death of the Great Smoking Mountain cost me my family last time…but a mountain cannot die twice, can it?

I do not want to find out. I do not want to lose M’rsl or my clansmates.

Please stop, I implore it. If the ancestors are listening, if the spirits are aware—make it stop.

There’s a low, dreadful rumble…and then things subside. The world returns to silence, no sound but the angry cries of nightflyers in the jungle awoken from their sleep. I let out a sigh of relief.

“T’chai!” My mate says my name in that curious way of hers, and there is alarm on her face as she gestures around us. “Snotsafe! Wehaftageddouda hir!”

“I think it is done for now,” I reassure her, wishing I understood the sounds she slings in my direction. “We will go fishing and see if