Savage King: New Worlds - Milly Taiden Page 0,20

day.

Holding her hand as they walked through the trees, he’d not felt this content in a long time. His soul no longer ached with memories and guilt. For the moment, he was relieved of the weight. Just looking at her filled him with positive energy and, dare he say, hope?

But she didn’t belong on his planet. She lived in some other universe. They couldn’t even talk to each other. He wanted to ask her why she suddenly became afraid. Her heart would beat wildly, her body shook, the sour smell of fear rolled off her. What scared her so?

When he went to her, she calmed. Her friend noticed the change in his mate and helped her. He wondered if this was a normal thing in her life. It couldn’t have been good. Was there something he could help her with? Not that he could ask her.

It took damnation near forever just to get them to sit.

But now was his chance to prove to his mate that he could take care of her, that he could at least feed her. There were many good things the Mother had gifted the land with for them to eat.

The poison berry, the female with the bigger hips almost ate, was not one of them. He’d told them it would make them sick to their stomachs, but a few berries would make them ill out the other end of the body. He did not want to try to explain that with actions.

Now, alone with her, walking through the woods, all the bad things in the world were gone. She did that for him. She was so beautiful, her hair and eyes so dark. So mysterious. He wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her till she couldn’t kiss any longer. Her hand in his, he kissed the back. Tasting her.

Her little gasp sent a shock through him. Had no male ever kissed her before. The thought of other males around her bothered him, but here, he would protect her from others who would do her harm.

Her voice was so soothing. She talked away, asking him questions he could answer with yes and no. Some of her words he didn’t understand, but that was to be expected when two different species came together. There was a lot he didn’t know about her, but that was part of the fun of getting to know a mate.

He was so wrapped up in her, that he almost missed the tree with the best fruit. After making sure she was secure, he leapt onto a branch and dropped a piece for each of them to her. She was skittish at first, but by the time he released the last fruit, she caught it with one hand.

As he pushed off the stem, his foot dragged against the trunk, throwing his balance off. He corrected himself while in the air, but he landed much closer to her than he intended. She startled but didn’t step back. She stood up to him, and damnation, if that wasn’t the sexiest thing about his woman.

She looked up at him with those big eyes of hers melting him on the spot. The color was a shade that didn’t exist on his planet. It was so unique, just like her. And her smell was light and fresh like the air during a cold moon night.

His tigron growled for him to take their mate and make her theirs right then. No one was around to create danger, and it didn’t want to wait.

No, he wouldn’t do that until he knew she cared for him. Xenos refused to be that type of male with his mate, and his tigron backed off. The courting ritual was to be followed and he would comply. Starting now.

With his mate standing before him, hands holding the fruit, he dipped his head to gently brush his lips over hers. The simple kiss rocked him to his core. His heart wanted to jump from his chest, his legs would’ve dropped his ass to the ground if he hadn’t been standing over her. His tigron kept him up. He stood straight, gauging her reaction.

She didn’t move with her head tilted back, eyes closed. She licked her lips and mumbled he was the best thing she’d ever tasted. He smiled. Then her head snapped down and her eyes flew open. She stared at him as if she expected him to say something.

“I didn’t say that out loud did I?”

He continued to smile and took two