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

It only made her cheeks grow warmer.

The deeper into the jungle they went, the denser it seemed to get and she soon realized that where she’d been staying was nowhere like the rest of this Koznia Jungle, as Sohut called it.

Every now and again, she’d see bits of animals she had never seen before peeking through the undergrowth at them.

The first time she’d seen two yellow eyes staring back at them, she’d moved so close to Sohut, she’d bumped into him.

He’d assured her that he wouldn’t let anything dangerous get close and that Wawa was also doing the same with his “high alarming body odor.”

It didn’t take her long to realize just how much she trusted him when she almost forgot there were animals around them at all, her mind instead replaying what happened at the water hole over and over again.

And he was thinking about it too.

She could see it in his eyes every time he looked back at her.

As night crept in, Sohut stopped by a humongous tree and looked up into its branches.

“We sleep here this dark-cycle,” he said.

Cleo looked up into the branches high above.

She could climb trees. She was skilled at it, but this one had no notches she could get a hold of and the trunk was too big to wrap her arms and legs around. Not to mention, the lowest branches were at least thirty feet above her.

“Up there?” She gave Sohut an incredulous glance.

“Yup,” he said and crouched before her. “Hop on.”

“What?” She looked back at the tree. “You’re going to climb that? And with me on your back?”

Sohut glanced back at her. “Why not?”

He sounded so confident in his abilities, the argument died on her lips.

Shrugging, she climbed awkwardly onto his back, feeling like a child doing so.

“Hold on,” was all the warning she got before she heard his claws protract and he leapt unto the tree trunk.

Up he went, much quicker than was humanly possible, reminding her once more that he was no man.

He skipped the lowest branches and went higher before he stopped at a section where two branches crossed over each other.

“Can you climb off on your own?” he asked.

“C—can I what?” Cleo sputtered.

Sohut chuckled before turning so her ass was firmly against the junction of the tree’s branch and its trunk. Then, he set her down, prying her hands from his shoulders for she’d held on to him tightly without realizing.

Looking everywhere but down, Cleo gulped.

“Why up here?”

“It’s safer. This deep into the jungle, creatures will be curious. I don’t want any of them dragging you away when we’re sleeping.”

Cleo’s eyes widened a little.

“What about snakes that live in trees?”

Granted, she hadn’t seen any snakes since she’d been in the jungle but that didn’t mean there were none.

“Nayks? I don’t know what those are.”

“Long, cold-blooded, fanged beasts. Some are venomous. Some aren’t. Some wrap themselves around you so tight they kill you then they eat you.”

Sohut stopped searching in his satchel and gave her a funny look.

“I’m long…fanged…” His gaze fell to her lips then moved to her chest. “I want to wrap myself around you…” His gaze fell lower. “But I’d probably eat you first.”

Cleo almost fell out of the tree and he had to reach for her to steady her.

A deep warmth spread over her cheeks.

“Well,” she said when she found her voice. “Snakes aren’t creatures to play around with.”

“And you want to play around with me?” There was a heat in his gaze that made her choke on air.

No, she wanted to answer. I don’t want to play. I want you for more than that.

That answer stunned her and they fell into silence as he searched for something in his satchel.

“How will we sleep?” She broke the silence. Glancing around, still trying not to look down, she tried to predict what he was thinking of doing. “I’m scared to close my eyes so high up and fall to my death.”

Sohut chuckled again. “I wouldn’t allow that to happen.”

Finally, he pulled something from his bag. It looked like a carpenter’s measuring tape with a cord coming from inside it.

Sohut pressed the cord onto one section of the branch and somehow it attached to the wood.

Making a wide circle over the crisscrossing branches, he stopped when the cord completed the revolution.

Then, he pressed the center of the device.

Right in front of her eyes, the device began moving across the outline of the circle, creating a pattern like a spider’s web. It was absolutely fascinating to see and she couldn’t take her eyes off it till it stopped working.

As Sohut grabbed the device, he smiled at her.

“You’ve never seen something like this before, have you?”

Cleo shook her head.

“We don’t have anything like that on Earth.”

Sohut studied her a bit before he set the device back into his satchel and stretched out over the “web”. The web hardly reacted to his weight.

“Come. Lie with me.” His eyes were on hers and they moved to her lips so slowly, she felt a slight shiver.

Sohut watched the movement of her tongue as she licked her lips and climbed hesitantly onto the web.

It felt like very strong yarn and she tested it for a few moments before putting her whole body weight on it.

Sitting beside him, she put her pack of things near her feet and looked up into the leaves above.

She could feel his eyes on her. It was a feeling like silk moving over her skin.

“Tell me about your planet. I didn’t get to ask Larn about it.”

“Larn?” She turned to face him.

Sohut blinked.

“There is another of your species at the Sanctuary.”

The news sent a shock through her.

“What?”

“I met her before I came on the mission to find you. She is staying with my brother.”

She’d always known, deep down, that there was no chance she was alone…but to hear it as a fact…

“Are you sure?”

Sohut nodded, studying her. “Does this make you…happy?”

Cleo blinked. “Yes…and no. I wouldn’t wish this experience on