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She pulled apart the little bag, tipping it over into her palm. From the short distance between us, it looked like a coiled string, until she held it in the air with two fingers.
A polished green amulet hung proudly on a black woven string, picking up the low light from Kinetica’s oil lamps.
“What is it?”
I took a step closer, peering into the cloudy green stone.
“It is for protection,” she explained, touching a finger to the middle. “This is my insignia. Anyone who sees this will know that you are under my care.”
I glanced up at her in surprise, my lips parting as I scrambled for a response.
“You will wear this at all times,” she continued.
I blinked, peering closely at the insignia, taking in the outline of the lower mountains with the boxy Twill letters in the background. I recalled the agreement I’d signed with Kinetica, the round insignia at the top encasing the inverted vee of the mountainside without any words in place. There was a subtle difference.
“This is your insignia,” I said, touching a fingertip to the warm stone.
“That is what I said.”
“No.” I brushed the text behind the image of the mountains. “This is not Clovend’s insignia. It’s your own. Your family’s.”
I caught the surprise in her scent, sharp against my nose.
“You are correct.”
I glanced up, trying to see past the masked indifference shadowed in her dark gaze.
“Why are you offering me your personal protection, Chief?”
In the silence of the old cottage, I thought I heard the click of her throat.
“These lands are dangerous, Lady Zanny. I do what I must to keep my charges safe. As a guest in our tribe, you will be under my protection.”
Hmm.The curious scientist in me wanted to push a little more. Prod a little deeper.
But the omega purring to life in my chest overrode all cautious instincts.
Holding her gaze for just a moment, I turned, gathering my hair over one shoulder and presenting her with my bare nape.
“Would you like to put it on me?”
The rasp in my voice was a surprise, my breaths speeding up to shudders as I waited for her skin to brush mine. When she didn’t move, I turned my head, glancing over my shoulder at her still form.
It was futile to try and read her expression, but I couldn’t help myself, tracing over the distinct cheekbones and arched brows. When her chest heaved with a large breath, her lips parted and my gaze dropped to the generous curves—the only soft feature in her otherwise sculpted face.
Goddess, how would it feel to step close and bury my face against her mating gland on the way to that soft mouth? It had been so long since my last short-lived courtship that I could barely remember the way it felt to have someone pressed against me, their breath tangled with my own.
I was staring.
I knew I was, yet I couldn’t bring myself to stop. My lips tingled fiercely, needing attention, and I wet them with my tongue, trying to tell my overheated body to calm down.
The scent of dark citrus intensified, crisp and intoxicating, and my next breath almost made me dizzy with longing.
I watched a muscle twitch in her jaw as she moved, two fingers undoing the simple knot on the string necklace.
“Turn.”
I gave her my back again, clasping my hands together so they wouldn’t tremble tellingly.
