Savage King: New Worlds - Milly Taiden Page 0,40
of dirt between him and his mate and the two girls. Next, he brought up the light algae in the ground that cast a faint glow in the smaller space. For a moment, neither of them spoke. He didn’t know what to say to excuse his actions. There was no excuse.
Wren doodled with her finger in the dirt, eyes down. “I thought we had something going. I guess I was wrong.”
He grabbed her, setting her on his lap to straddle his legs. “I feel it too. I didn’t want to leave you when my tribe came, but I knew they wouldn’t accept you as friendly with me.”
“How do you know that?” she asked.
He sighed. “I just do. How would you feel if someone was the cause of your family being killed?” He stared at her lips, which he wanted a taste of. “I never let you leave my sight but for a moment at the beginning.”
“What do you mean?”
“I followed from a distance to make sure you weren’t harmed. When you reached the village, I climbed the trees to watch over you. If anyone threatened you, I would’ve sliced their throats.”
Her watery eyes met his. “Really? You never left me?”
“Never.” He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her with every bit of himself. “I won’t ever leave you,” he managed between kisses. “You’re my mate.”
From her position straddling his thighs, Wren pushed on his chest, breaking his hold on her. “What?”
Oh, kappy shit. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her. He should’ve waited to learn her culture and way of things. He wasn’t following the courting ritual, skipping ahead.
An unwanted familiar smell made him cringe inside. His mate’s face paled, and her pulse jumped up. She choked. He didn’t know what was happening, but he wouldn’t let her get worse. He needed her to know this was a good thing.
He took her shaking hands in his. “Wren, I knew the moment I smelled you, that you were the one for me. Never had I been affected by a female until you stepped through the portal.” Her breathing slowed. “I will always cherish you.”
Her luscious lips turned down. “Wait,” she said, “you saw us come through the portal?”
“I did. And I followed you. . .” he wasn’t going to admit that, at first, he thought about eating them, and that now, he only wanted to eat her.
Her smile grew wide. “That’s how you saved me from that damn flower.”
“Among a few other things, yes.”
Her brows drew down. “What do you mean?”
He laughed and pulled her to him. She was back to normal. Her heartbeat was steady. “Those stories are for another time. But you are my mate, and I won’t ever leave you.”
“I know all about mates,” Wren said, excitement and hesitation in her smell, “that is if they are the same as in human lore.”
“What are your mates?”
“Mates are born to be together; meant to find each other. The Fates separated them, so they would grow and become the mate they needed to be, before they could come together as one. Once they met, each would know. Well, the shifter knows because of a smell. The human is always dumb, because they usually refuse to acknowledge what their hearts are telling them. They are afraid of rejection.”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “What does your heart say?” Her eyes widened. A sour tang hit his nose. “I cannot reject you, Wren. No matter what you do or where you go, I will be with you. Whether you want me or not.”
She laughed. “Yup, that’s what our shifters are like too. Seems some things are universal even across dimensions.”
“Mother created us. She didn’t invent a totally new species. She had a good model already created.”
“I think she reached the top of the line here. I don’t want to be anywhere but with you.”
Chapter Eighteen
Wren bit her lip and stared into the eyes of her mate as she straddled his lap. Damn, that’s something she never expected to find when she came to visit her cousins. It was strange enough landing on a different planet, then finding out about magic and that shifters were real! Now she had one of her very own. She couldn’t make this shit up if she tried…. Well, that wasn’t true, she did that in her books all the time, but still!
“Wren, are you ok? Did I say something wrong?” Zee’s worried gaze trailed across her face, and she smiled at him.
“You’re perfect, I was just thinking how perfect