Warrior King New Worlds (Crystal Kingdom #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,49

and yanked him away from the village. Dragon balls, she was angry. Even though she was adorable with the heightened pink in her face, not to mention that as she dragged him forward, he got a great look at her ass, he didn’t want his mate upset.

She stopped and turned to him, arms crossing under her plump breasts, lifting them, ready to suck on. What was it about this woman that narrowed his mind to one path? No one had ever enticed him like she did.

“Up here, mate,” She pointed to her face. Yes, her beautiful face. He clasped her lips with his and backed her against a tree. He pressed his body against her softness. Every part of her welcomed him. His hand slid down her hip to the back of her thigh, lifting her leg to his waist. The other leg copied the motioned then her ankles were crossed on his back.

His hard cock rubbed over her heat; she was so hot, she radiated through both their garments, keeping him from being buried in her. He could remedy that with a few rips.

“Ferrus,” his mate mumbled, “you’re not changing my mind about this, no matter how much I want to have you right now.”

Damnation. That wasn’t his intention, but that proved how dedicated she was to her beliefs. She stood to defend those who couldn’t. No one would make her back down. He was so proud of her. She would be a worthy queen of a warrior race.

He let her feet touch the ground. “You are right. I am sorry. I didn’t mean to distract you. I need to learn to control myself.” Control himself. How many times had his mate said his men had to learn self-control? He never thought himself a part of that group. He had always considered himself above all the physical and mental needs.

Now he understood why his men risked so much to meet their mates in a dark corner or a secluded tunnel. Why it was so hard to wait until the sun disappeared to go to their mates. How could he have been so wrong? His father. The grieving king had taught his son that love wasn’t important and even wrong.

“Ferrus?” his mate said in an unsure way. “You okay?”

He chuckled. “I am happy, love. You have changed my life and made me see things I had chosen to ignore. I am ready to talk with the king. I will be with you the entire way.” With new understanding and conviction, he would stand by his mate for equality and fairness for all. “Let’s gather the females and go home.” He took her hand, but she pulled back.

“Wait, we can’t all go yet. We haven’t started talks.”

He didn’t understand. His mate’s ways would take a while to learn. “But the king has agreed to talk while eating.”

“He’s agreed, Ferrus. That doesn’t mean he’ll give us all we want. We have to hold out till everything is settled.”

“All will be settled shortly afterward, my mate. There is no reason to stay here any longer. Besides, the king and my men are starving. It seems they ate everything they could yesterday and now don’t know what to do.”

Lilah rolled her eyes. “Of course, they did.” She stood a moment, studying the ground. “Do you trust your king will be in good faith about all this? I mean, if we go back and he refuses to budge, we’ll have to leave again.”

He had to be honest with her. Lying would not ever come in between his mate and him. “He may balk at the mates being together, but that issue is minor since mates are together all night. During the day, everyone is working and apart.” But he knew by watching the tree fae that being separated wasn’t necessary or even ideal.

“I guess that’s something we can work on after we get the bigger things worked out.”

After a short meeting with the elders and her cousins—where it was decided Daph and Wren with Zee would remain in the village—the females collected bags of food. Ferrus escorted his mate and the others along the path toward his people and a place that no longer felt like home. On the walk there, his mate was quiet. She was lost in her mind as she thought over her plan. He didn’t want to break her concentration.

As they approached the main entrance, something felt wrong. Only one of the guards was in their normal positions overlooking the mountainside.