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

It was as if he’d considered all this before.

“I am prepared for that.”

No.

The last thing she wanted was to bring trouble to him and his brother.

“I can go farther into the jungle with Wawa,” she blurted, her heart rate picking up. “I can leave. And you can go back to those orcs, tell them you didn’t find me. Tell them I died?”

“No.” It was said so quickly and with so much conviction that something deep inside her ached.

“You expect me to leave you here after I found you, gnora?”

“Gnora?”

His eyes lit up a little as she repeated the word, but he didn’t indulge her with the meaning.

“I’m not leaving you here. You’re coming home with me.”

Home.

A word that made an unexpected pang hurt the muscles in her belly.

“Home.”

“To the Sanctuary.”

Cleo blinked back what felt suspiciously like tears from her eyes.

She wasn’t the emotional kind.

“I’ve found you, Clee-yo. I’m not letting you go. Ever.”

25

Sohut grunted as he walked through the brush, swatting away some of the long vines that hung down to brush the ground, careful that they didn’t swing and hit the load on his back.

His gnora.

He’d called her that, but he was sure she didn’t know what it meant.

It’s why he’d said it.

He wasn’t sure he could face her denying what he was sure was the bond in his soul.

The thought made him both nervous and elated.

He’d found the one to make him whole.

It wasn’t a hunch or a presumption. It was intuition and for the past few days at the camp, he’d had to face that fact.

He’d found her.

Of all the Merssi to be blessed, he was.

“I can walk, you know.” Clee-yo, his Clee-yo, murmured against his neck, her breath brushing against his skin to awaken something down below almost instantly.

It was hard focusing on his task when the one thing he wanted to do was stop among some of the soft vegetation and show her repeatedly just how much she made him feel.

“You hurt yourself.” In an effort to protect me.

“My hand. I hurt my hand.” The sound of her laughter was like water crystals sliding down gheuf leaves. It was a sound he was finding he could listen to till the end of time.

Holding her thighs tighter against his sides, he hurried on through the undergrowth back toward the Torian camp.

The Gori had sent a spined creature after him. Why?

He wasn’t sure.

They hadn’t communicated that Clee-yo was worth many credits. But the fact they’d spent an entire orbit and were still looking for her had told him that she was worth a lot to them for some reason.

So much so they were willing to kill him to get to her.

There was more to this than the Gori had communicated and there was no way he was going to let her fall into their hands.

He could no longer take any chances.

He needed to head through the other side of the jungle, through the arid lands, and toward the edge of the plains. It’d be a trek but once he got her to the Sanctuary, she’d be safe.

And she was going to be safe.

He would make sure of it.

Movement above them had him looking above and he locked eyes with Wawa.

“She’s safe,” he muttered and the animal blinked at him before focusing on Clee-yo.

He must have heard or smelled the spined creature and had rushed toward the sound.

“Who are you speaking to?”

“Wawa.” He motioned to the slizz with his head.

“Oh.” Clee-yo looked up and he could almost feel her relief. “Thank God he’s okay.”

She still didn’t believe he was as dangerous as everyone said, apparently.

“The little rhag is sturdier than you think.”

Clee-yo laughed again and her teats moved against the hardness of his back. He liked being the reason for her laughter—only, despite how good it made him feel, there was still that underlying feeling of dread.

As he headed back to the Torian camp, the smell of Clee-yo’s blood slowly drifted away as his healing serum worked.

She’d gotten hurt to protect him.

Flashing images of his bloodied brother returning to the depths of the mines with his tail removed came flooding into his mind.

He wouldn’t allow the people he cared about to be hurt because of him anymore.

It was the last time her blood would be spilled for him.

The last time anyone’s blood would be spilled for him.

Saying goodbye to the Torians was more emotional than she thought it would be.

“One last dance!” Senrit announced and Nupak pulled her toward the center of the camp.

Music filled the air as the celebration began, their feet moving in the soft dirt in time to the beat.

But it wasn’t like the other times they’d danced.

There was a sense of uncertainty that had settled over the camp and even though the Torians pretended all was well, she could see their worried looks.

Whenever she wasn’t looking directly at them, she could see their four eyes darting in her direction.

As they danced, Sohut smiled but the smile didn’t reach his eyes, and when the celebration ended and they were loaded up with rice cakes, a sort of resolve had settled over his features.

Walking back into the jungle felt different this time.

She was suddenly very aware of the real danger that roamed these parts.

They traveled without speaking for the most part and it was only when they were deep in the jungle, far away from the Torian camp, that Sohut paused.

Tilting his nose to the air, he sniffed.

“Water,” he said.

“You can smell it?”

Sohut glanced at her and nodded. Looking into the undergrowth around them, he sniffed again.

“Stay here.” His gaze moved from her then to Wawa. “Stay here. I’ll scout the area. We could rest there this dark cycle.”

Glancing upward, she realized what she could see of the sky was slowly turning purple. Night was coming.

She hadn’t realized they’d walked for that long.

“Okay,” she nodded. “Hurry.”

Sohut pulled her into him and planted a kiss on her head. “I will.”

He disappeared in the bushes in the next second and Cleo stood,