Savage King: New Worlds - Milly Taiden Page 0,27

and he quickly changed his head’s movement to side to side. Dragon shit, he’d never remember which was which. He laid his hand in the small of her back and guided her toward the creek. When the two females came in sight, Wren called out to them.

“It’s about damn time,” Lilah said, “Y’all could’ve done it twice by now.”

“Lilah,” Wren snapped, “don’t be a biddy. We brought food so that should make you happy.”

The female’s brows raised. “Depends. Do you have Ding Dongs and Oreos? Double stuff?” Both women’s eyes studied his mate carefully as he and she approached. He sensed tension between them—the two girls, and both of them against his mate. His body tensed, ready to snatch his mate and run if danger presented itself.

When he and Wren reached where the women were sitting, Daphne smiled and smacked the bigger girl’s arm. “You owe me ten bucks. I told you.”

Lilah sighed. “Fine. I’ll give it to you when we get home.”

Wren stopped and stared at them, anger and humor scenting from her. “What were you betting on this time, losers.”

Daphne pointed at Lilah. “She didn’t think you two would hook up, even partially.”

Wren huffed. “We didn’t hook up. Give me a break. I’m not like you, Lilah.”

“Hey,” she griped, “I’d like you to know I haven’t had sex for two weeks.”

“Ooh, two whole weeks?” Wren said as she knelt and dumped the items from her shirt. “Try months. We didn’t do anything.” She glanced at him with an unreadable expression. He had no idea what they were talking about.

“Oh yeah,” Daphne said. “Then why are your shorts cockeyed, your lips red, and leaves in your hair?”

“Shit,” his mate said, running her hand over the back of her head.

“Hey,” the other girl said, “couldn’t y’all have done the deed before you picked the berries. They’re all smashed. Eww.”

Daphne sucked in a loud breath. “Wren, look at your shirt. Those stains will never come out.”

His mate held out the bottom of her shirt, and he saw how the berries had been smashed. Dragon balls. That was completely his fault. He took her hand and led her to the creek.

“What are we doing, Zee?” she asked him. He pointed to the colored splotches on her top. “Oh, it’s okay. I’ll just wear this around the house.”

“No,” he said again. That wasn’t right. He’d caused the problem and now he would fix it. He stopped at the creek’s edge and splashed water onto the dirt bank. His mate turned and bickered with the other two. Something about calling him a nickname.

When he’d mixed enough mud, he sank his fingers in and called forth a bit of his magic. He wanted the dirt to cleanse the material of any non-native material. Ideally, the dirt would eat anything that wasn’t part of the original fibers.

Then he filled both hands with the mud and called out for his mate to turn back around. When she did, he slapped the mud onto her shirt, patting it to make it stay, while he scooped up another handful for a section he missed.

As he bent over the bank, Daphne and Lilah screamed out laughter. For a moment, he thought they were being injured, but their smell was happy. Now his mate’s smell wasn’t quite as fresh. She stood with her mouth open and arms in the air. Sounds came from her, but nothing else. Since she wasn’t saying anything, he smeared mud on the section he missed. That should do it.

He stepped a few steps closer to the current to wash his hands. The water was warmer than it was earlier, heated by the sun. He stood and shook his hands to get water off then turned back. Before he saw where his mate had gone to, a cold, solid lump hit his arm, quickly followed by another to his chest. He glanced down to see globs of mud on him.

“There,” his mate said, “how do you like that, butthead?”

His eyes met hers. There was no anger in her voice or smell even though her face was scrunched. After a moment of staring at her, she grinned, scooped up more mud and threw it at him.

He couldn’t believe it. Why would she do that? He didn’t have berry juice on himself. When all three females laughed loudly, he understood his mate was playing. Tricky, she was.

Maybe keeping her was a better decision. Or maybe not.

Chapter Twelve

Wren stood by the creek and spoke with her cousins, while Zee did