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I glance back at her. Even in her anger and frustration, she’s lovely. And her spirit isn’t exactly lacking.We could certainly do worse in a partner.
Mating, in my opinion, doesn’t soundallbad. As a matter of fact, it’s been a while since I “mated” with anyone. So, to me,matingsounds damned nice. Even with the irritating light fae.
But I try to keep my back to her and stay silent.
She lays her hand on my shoulder, and I stop and look at her. My breath hitches but I cover it with a cough I can’t hear. Damn. She’s beautiful.
Her mouth says, “Can wepleasetake a break for a few minutes?” but her hands say “Buy me a seat.” A few of the other words she’s trying to sign are wrong, but I’m barely paying attention to them. I’m reading her mouth.
I do, however, appreciate that she’s trying.
Sighing, I stop. I guess we’ve madeokaytime. Not how quickly I could go on my own, but we’re getting close. So, we stop, and I lean against a tree, shuffling the leather-wrapped package under my arm, and watch her.
“What?” she asks.
I just lift a brow. What does she think? Does she think it’s easy to babysit her and go so slowly that a quick trip cuts through far too much of our daylight hours?
She shoots me a glare, and I shake my head and roll my eyes. Women hate that. As a matter of fact, everyone universally hates the go-to-hell eyeroll. It’s why I use it with a degree of undeniable success.
When she walks in front of me, she pops her hands onto her hips. “I know, okay? I know you think I’m selfish, and that I don’t care, but I can’t bond or mate or whatever this stupid idea of that old guy’s is.”
Stupid old guy?This woman is arrogant. And I’ll just say it. She’s high maintenance. Not that she’s asked for anything much over the last couple days besides food and warmth, but shehaswhined a lot. Even when I showed her the clothes that Imara, the only female shadow beast in this world, had lent her, Ann had simply wrinkled her nose at them. I’d still brought them, tucked under one arm, but I wanted to toss them back to Imara and tell her the female didn’t appreciate them, so didn’t deserve them.
With my hands, I tell her she’s selfish and that because of her children will die. This planet will die. I add the appropriate grimaces and scowls as I sign. It’s chicken shit to say these things to her this way because she can’t understand them but she understands the anger, maybe even the disappointment.
Not because she won’t mate with us, but because…just because.
She hasn’t said a word, probably hasn’t deciphered the signs I’ve used to insult her. But she turns and stomps off like she has a fucking clue where she’s going. At least she’s going in the right direction, so I follow. But this time I stay a couple of steps behind her.
It’s daytime and shadow creatures will all be fast asleep right now since they can only wreak their havoc in the dark of night. And knowing what she can do, I’m not a hundred percent certain she would need me or that I could even be more effective than she could. Still, it isn’t in my nature to leave her to flounder on her own, even if I’m only backup.
We come to the river by our cave. She stops at the edge of it, then looks back at me.
I lift a brow. It’s a river, so what?
She mouths, “I want to wash up.”
Wash up?An image of her naked makes my mouth run dry. My gaze sweeps from her toes all the way up, and I feel my cock hardening with every inch of her body I imagine. When I come to her face, she’s staring at me, one brow lifted.
I straighten, then toss the bag containing the spare clothes at her.
She takes it, nibbles her bottom lip, then looks back at me. “How about some privacy?”
Privacy?Our women prefer safety to privacy. Even in the large cave, our shadow beast female bathes in the center of the cavern. The men do their best to be respectful, and the female is not left out in the open for any attacks.
I start to shake my head, but her entire frame goes rigid.
“I am not letting you see me naked,” her mouth says, as she draws out each word.
Damn it. The stubborn woman does need to bathe.
I give a curt nod, then turn around and walk a few steps to a tree at the edge of the woods. A sudden instinct has me turning back, just to be sure she isn’t running for it. But she’s still standing in the same position, glaring at me.
When our eyes meet, she points to my eyes, then at the forest behind me.
Okay, yes, I’ll look away.She asked for privacy, so I will give it to her.
She reaches for the hem of her shirt, and I forget to breathe. She snaps her fingers in front of her, and I remember that I’m supposed to be turned around, and do so. I only subtly glance back once to see her toss her shirt on the ground, to be sure this isn’t all some ploy of hers.
