Sohut's Protection: A Sci-fi Alien Romance (Riv's Sanctuary Book 2) A.G. Wilde (best way to read an ebook TXT) 📖

try to wound me with that crude weapon I know you’re still holding,” he said, “I’ll have to restrain you again.”

He paused, making sure his words sunk in.

“When I release you,” he continued, “you need to take me to your nest.”

She blinked at him, her brows furrowing.

“My what?” She blinked again. Then, realization dawned. “You mean my cave.” Her eyes nictated some more. “My cave,” she murmured, her gaze falling as if she was contemplating something.

“There’s no way I can bring you to my cave.”

Sohut raised an eyebrow but luckily she wasn’t looking at him to see.

“I can’t bring you to my cave…” her voice was almost a whisper now.

When she looked at him again, there was worry hiding behind her eyes.

As he removed the restraints, Sohut’s muscles primed, ready to grab her arms if she decided to try and stab him again.

But she didn’t.

As a matter of fact, she did nothing.

There was a twinkle in her eyes as she watched him now, almost as if she’d come up with some plan, and he wondered exactly what she was thinking.

Something told him he’d find out soon enough.

13

The light-cycle was coming in as he crouched, still staring at the female.

She was rubbing her wrists as if the restraints had irritated them.

He’d taken care not to place them tightly but her skin looked so…delicate. There was still a good chance the restraints had irritated her.

Grabbing his satchel, he stood and put it over his back.

“Let’s go.”

Pale eyes looked up at him.

“Ok,” she smiled and beckoned to him. “Follow me.”

As Clee-yo stood and began walking to the undergrowth, he was sure she would suddenly make a mad dash for cover to get rid of him.

But she didn’t.

With him walking behind her, her steps were hesitant, but she didn’t run.

Instead, she walked as if she wasn’t quite sure where she was going and his previous thought that she was hatching some sort of plan returned.

As they got into the cover of the bushes, the warmth of the undergrowth was welcoming. In front of him, the female bat away stray vines that hung in their path, and now and again, she’d glance behind her as if she was checking whether he was still there.

“I don’t know how you manage to walk so quietly in a place like this,” he heard her murmur as she swat at an insect that decided to land on her shoulder.

The question was, how did she manage to walk so noisily in a place like this?

Gaze falling to her feet, he recognized why.

Her feet were flat like his but unlike his four-toed feet, she had five bony toes and it didn’t look like she had any footpads.

Again, he wondered how she’d survived this long in the jungle all alone.

His gaze rose slowly, moving up her naked legs to stop at the piece of fabric covering her buttocks.

It was ripped and torn in many places but it still covered enough that she was modest. He couldn’t see anything and he realized belatedly that he was staring as if mesmerized at the sway of her hips as she walked.

As if she could read his thoughts, she turned and looked back at him, her gaze lingering on his chest a little too long before she suddenly stopped walking.

Where she’d stopped was at the edge of a cliff.

Frowning, Sohut walked close to the edge and looked over.

It was a sharp drop. All he could see were the tops of trees below.

When he turned his confused stare to the female, the mischief in her eyes was unsettling.

Hatching a plan, she was.

He’d told her to bring him to her hideout.

This definitely was not it.

“Your camp? Where is it?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as a smirk appeared on her face.

Beautiful little trickster.

In the light of Hudo III’s star as it rose, she was even more striking than he’d thought before. The female was standing before him, her palms clenching and unclenching and her shoulders were set in the way he’d seen the long-legged grazing animals of the north stand before they would spring into action and dart off into the high fields.

Everything about her stance, from the way she was standing to the look in her eyes spelled that she was about to do something…something to him.

Yet, for the life of him, he couldn’t find the propensity to care. All he could feel was intrigue.

Instead of trying to stop her scheme, he was curious to find out what she was planning.

He must have inhaled an atri insect that’d made him go stupid.

Glancing over the edge of the cliff once more, Sohut narrowed his eyes.

Was she planning on trying to push him off?

He doubted she could but, just in case, he planted his feet firmly on the ground.

If that was her plan, he’d like to see her try.

“This isn’t your camp.” He cast his gaze to hers, still reading the deception simmering underneath her skin.

Her eyes twinkled as she raised an eyebrow and pointed upward.

Sohut’s frown deepened.

Up?

Stepping dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, he leaned out just enough to see above.

Sure enough, there was a small hole in the rock wall there. So small, it was almost imperceptible among the vines and hanging branches.

“You live there?” He pointed up before turning his surprised gaze her way.

The female smiled—one of triumph and pride.

No wonder the Gori’s hadn’t been able to locate her.

It was a cave and it was high enough for the tracker they’d given him to not work. Even if they’d come to stand directly below her nest, the tracker wouldn’t have been able to send a signal through the rock to so far above where they currently stood.

And if that was really her nest, she was smart to have found it.

It was the perfect hideout. The only thing was, it was right beside a treacherous fall.

“How do you get up there?”

There was that twinkle again before she moved toward the side where the rock wall met the level they were standing