Druidess Found (Druidess Trilogy Book 1) Machelle Hanleigh (best ebook reader under 100 .TXT) 📖

"I wish you would stop saying that," she said. She lifted her eyes to meet his.

"It's true, little one. I wish you were. It would make everything so much easier. You would have grown up understanding what was happening to you and none of this would have happened. You would have grown up knowing and learning control over years instead of having to learn it over days."

She shook her head and looked away. "If you would stop treating my like I'm not Kahoali, maybe I would understand and then maybe all this," she stood and waved her hand to encompass the clearing, "would have been easier." She looked down at him with her hands on her hips.

He stood to loom over her. "You want to be treated like a Kahoali woman?"

"Yes!"

"Fine!" He picked her up and tossed her in the pool clothes and all.

She surfaced sputter and spitting out water. "What was that for?"

"That was for throwing me the first time." He stood at the edge of the pool with his hands on his hips.

She splashed water at him. "Jerk!"

He watched as she tried to pull herself out of the pool. The water logged clothes and boots, and her exhaustion made it nearly impossible. Amusement surfaced to slowly replace his anger as he watched her struggle. "Here let me help you out." Moto held out his hand towards her.

Kaily glared up at him and then slowly took his hand.

He felt a small surge of energy before she pulled hard on his hand and sent him sprawling into the pool. He surfaced ready to retaliate. She held the side of the pool and laughed. A smile crossed his lips as he closed the distance between them. "Better control, I'll give you that one as a reward." He brushed her wet hair back from her face. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Love me." She replied. "I'm scared, Moto."

Her words caught him off guard. He drew her into his arms. "I feel so much more than mere love for you, Kaily."

"Please, Moto, just love me." Her hands went to the fasteners on his trousers.

He stayed her efforts to disrobe him. "You're not ready to be my bonded mate, and I'm at the end of my control over my desire to take you and curse the consequences. So, I propose we get dried off, have a repast and pass a pleasant day enjoying each other's company."

She gave him a sad smile and nodded.

Moto helped her out of the pool and then pulled himself out. They walked back to the cave each lost in their own thoughts. He cursed to himself. He hurt her, again. He hated that he couldn't seem to stop hurting her. He would not consummate their bonding until she understood what it meant to become his bonded mate.

How was he going to make her understand?

Chapter Eighteen

Kaily woke from yet another night fraught with nightmares. Ever since Moto took her to that damn training room, she started having nightmares, and if that weren't enough, Moto tried his damnedest to pound her into the ground each and every day since then. She knew in her heart, that had not been his intention. He was in fact trying to help her. Although, she didn't know how killing her in the process was going to help. She took a deep breath and tried not to move too much. She didn't want to wake Moto. She was surprised he was still on the sleeping pallets with her. She could have sworn he got up some time ago, but maybe she dreamt it as well. She sighed. The dreams worsened. At first, they were vague impressions of something terrible that was happening to her or someone else. She couldn't tell for sure, but it felt like it had been her and not her at the same time. Dreams were a tricky thing and seldom made any sense to her.

This morning was the first morning that she could remember the dream that she woke up from. The other mornings, she knew she dreamt and that they were not good dreams, but the details faded upon waking. The details of this particular dream stuck with her and she was having difficulty getting the image and events out of her mind. She was in a room and someone was hurting her. She almost felt like she was a child in the dream, but so much of the details were fuzzy. What she could remember was a cloaked figure standing over her, hitting her repeatedly with some kind of energy and yelling at her. She felt more than saw that she was curled in a ball with her hands over her head, and her back was taking the brunt of the assault. Upon waking she couldn't remember what he said or what he looked like. She just remembered crying and begging for him to stop hurting her, but he hadn't. The harder she cried and begged for him to stop the more he hurt her. She woke with fear and panic lodged in her chest, and a chill that she couldn't shake. She kept telling herself that it was just a dream.

She tried reaching for Moto in her mind for comfort, but his mind was once again closed to her. She didn't know what to do to reach him. He was there physically with her, but mentally he felt so far away. She wanted him to finish whatever he needed to in order to complete the bond between them, but he refused her advance the previous day. She kept him at a distance while her cycle finished, but now she was afraid she pushed him away by doing that. He said he cared for her more than any love could be felt, and yet he refused to make love to her. She suspected that coming together sexually had something to do with completing the bonding, but neither of them talked in great detail what was required