Warrior King New Worlds (Crystal Kingdom #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,1
whooping guffaw. Oh god! Her stomach hurt from laughing so hard. It felt good to release what she’d pent up the past few days. She wiped tears off her cheek.
Face still resembling a tomato, Wren stomped to her mate and smacked him on the arm. “You’re not supposed to say stuff like that,” Wren whispered.
Zee glanced at Lilah, then back at Wren, and smiled. “Sorry, love. I forgot your culture is strange about sex and your bodies.” Wren smacked him again and mumbled about men.
Lilah stepped over a downed log. Let the love birds have their time together. At least someone was happy and having sex. She sure as hell wasn’t on either account.
All right. Enough of the fucking pity party already. Lilah was getting disgusted with her own mental whining. McClure women were strong and independent, no matter how sad the situation.
She snapped her fingers a couple times. “Come on, scary as hell kitty,” she said, referring to Xenos’s sabretooth tiger form. “You’re the leader here.” The couple passed by her.
That was something else she couldn’t believe. Her cousin’s mate was a shifter who turned into a tiger with fangs the length of her arm. Not to mention the whole clan’s magical ability with the land. Seeing dirt rise into a mound to sit on and watching seedlings grow before your eyes was freaky.
She wondered if there were dragon shifters on the planet. That would be over the top. She’d been hung up on dragons forever; she still had her stuffed animal from childhood. One eye was missing, and an arm had been chewed off by the dog, but she still loved it.
After a while, they finally reached the base of the mountainside, where the trees couldn’t take root. The group stopped and looked over the forest they had just left. Lilah hadn’t realized they had been hiking uphill. Her extra-thick thighs and ass handled it better than she would’ve thought.
The beauty was breathtaking. There was nothing but trees and sky for miles both ways. They had to be really high up to see so far. Squinting, she noticed far in the distance where the forest looked like hell had come to the planet. All burned; nothing but scarred tree trunks.
Her heart sank at seeing the devastation. She hoped that one day the creatures who set fire to the trees would get their asses kicked. They could’ve burned down half the planet with the dark magic fire.
Zee pulled Wren to him. She was staring in the same direction. He whispered, “In time, the land will heal.” He kissed Wren on the head. Lilah turned away before jealous tears sprouted.
Zee led them along a dusty trail that zigzagged up to the dip between two peaks. Thank god the pathway wasn’t over one of the higher locations. Hell, a couple of mountains topped out above the clouds. If that was the case, she would’ve turned around and become a permanent gnoleon tree villager. They sure as shit had some drool-worthy men, but none who struck her fancy.
Not having heard Daph in a long time, Lilah looked over her shoulder to make sure her cousin was okay. Guilt rolled through her. She shouldn’t have been so mean to her cousin. She should apologize, but her pride couldn’t take the shame of seeming weak.
Something at the edge of the woods moved. Something larger than a critter. “What’s that?” she asked, tilting her head toward the spot. Zee narrowed his eyes in that direction.
He suddenly tugged on her and Wren. “Come, we need to keep climbing. We have to get to the other side.”
“What,” Lilah asked. “What do you see?”
“A couple of kappy scouts. Black magic surrounds them. Something I’ve not seen before.”
“Oh my god,” Wren whispered, “they’re the ones who set the wildfire. They’re still looking for us?” Zee squatted, the girls doing the same.
“I’m not sure,” he answered. “Over there,” he pointed to an opening in the rocks. “It could be a cave we can hide in until they’re gone.”
Keeping low to the ground, they made their way to the opening in the rock and slipped inside. Lilah peeked out. “I don’t think they saw us. They’re walking along the edge of the woods. When they’re out of sight, we can go.”
“Ow.” Zee smacked his bicep, pulled out a toothpick-like stick from his muscle, then fell to the ground. Wren was beside him in an instant.
The sound of pebbles sliding over rock turned her head. A huge male came out from farther