Saving Verakko: The Clecanian Series Book 3 Victoria Aveline (best book club books .TXT) 📖

If that was the case, then did that mean she was smelling his arousal too? How could that be? She hadn’t even known that was something people could smell. He wasn’t exactly “people,” though, was he.

He’d said her brain was choosing what he smelled like. Could that be true? Her mind wandered back to a memory she’d thought about often over the years, and she knew why her subconscious had chosen crisp, burning cedar.

She’d been fifteen or maybe sixteen and camping in Turkey. Her parents had decided they’d wanted to hike the Carian Trail, and as always, they’d brought her along. Unlike many of their trips, this one was like a vacation for Lily. They’d followed a cleared path, slept in a tent, and packed food. They’d even brought a lighter with them that time. A real lighter, not a fire starter or a bow drill, but an easy-to-use one-click lighter.

Looking back, she suspected they’d done it because of her incessant whining. When you’ve been dragged around the world practicing primitive bushcraft survival techniques and hunting for all your food and water, even a bag of trail mix seems luxurious. There was another reason that trip had been so special to Lily too. There’d been people.

One handsome, tall teenage boy in particular.

His family and hers had both been headed in the same direction and had decided to hike together. The family was from New Zealand, and the boy’s parents had been fascinated by her parents’ descriptions of truly living and thriving in the wilderness. To her utter embarrassment, her parents had forced Lily to demonstrate flint knapping and point out all the edible plants she saw as they’d walked, claiming the education she’d received from them was far better than any she could’ve gotten from traditional schools.

When she’d gutted and fileted a fish without batting a lash, the boy had given her such a bewildered look. As if she’d had two heads. Looking back, she understood she hadn’t been a normal teenage girl.

She was so wrapped up in the past that she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings and walked directly into Verakko, who stood staring at her with an odd expression. Just like the boy had.

Panic swamped her, and she glanced up to see the sun was shining high in the sky, peeking through the surrounding dark clouds. How long had they been walking for? “We need to go back!” she yelled, already heading in the opposite direction on the verge of tears. “I was thinking about something else, and I didn’t watch for signs of Alex. I could’ve missed her.”

Verakko wrapped a large palm around her arm and swung her around. “Calm down. I kept watch. There was no sign of her.”

Lily could still hear the blood rushing in her ears, but there was something else. Verakko’s voice echoed in her head again, trying to find somewhere to stick. Instead of pushing his words out like before, she listened and, despite herself, she calmed. “Really?”

“Really.” He ran his palms down her arms and gave her a lopsided grin. “I want to find her as much as you do.”

How could she have been so careless?

She eyed Verakko, and the last of her panic faded. He’d done something to calm her down with his voice. She knew that for sure, even if she was unclear as to how he’d done it. But he looked sincere, and regardless of their constant bickering, she trusted him not to lie about something as important as a missing person.

“Here, drink some water.” He held the canteen out to her expectantly.

“You first.” An anxious edge still lingered in her tone, and she amended, “I mean, you need to drink too. You haven’t had anything for almost two days.”

Verakko took a long breath and ran a hand through his somehow flawless hair. “How long can a human survive without water?”

Lily shrugged. “About three days, but it depends on myriad other things.”

Verakko’s eyes widened and concern creased his brow. “Goddess…three days? You only have two canteens. Why didn’t you…” He paused at the warning look Lily gave him and held the canteen back out to her with raised brows. “I can go two weeks.”

Two whole weeks with no water? “How?”

He shook the canteen at her when she didn’t move to take it. “I’m not a doctor. Do you know how you can go one day with no water?”

“Yes,” she said instantly, earning her a frown. Her parents had made it a point to teach her exactly how her body worked. If she were on her way to death, she’d know specifically which organs were failing and why. Lucky me. So far, her two butternut-squash-sized canteens had managed to stave off the warning signs of dehydration.

“Well, I don’t. We don’t have as many sweat glands as some of the other Clecanian races. Or humans.” He eyed her damp forehead and her lower chest, where she was sure a lovely line of underboob sweat was present. “That has a lot to do with it, I think. Our kidneys are different too. And our skin helps regulate temperature.”

Lily took a large gulp of water. She’d been holding back, wanting to make sure they both had enough, but now she felt okay about truly quenching her thirst. “At least you know some stuff, I guess. They don’t teach you about your own anatomy in husbandry school?”

Verakko pinned her with a dark look. “I can assure you, we were all more interested in learning the ins and outs of female anatomy to waste time on studying our kidneys.” He let his gaze roam down her body again, and she stifled a shiver.

“We’re probably very different. I mean, human women and your women.”

“As I explained before, we’re the same species.” He held her gaze. “You’re similar enough. I bet I could find my way around.”

Butterflies flapped