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His gaze remained fixed on her as he carried his pumpkin past, admiring the way her teats swayed rhythmically beneath her upper covering and the rosy tint to her skin as she worked. His cocks pressed uncomfortably against the seam of his sheath, and he bit back a growl. Efru take him! The sweet scent of her sweat and the fresh scent of earth and vegetation emanated from her was making him want to rub his body against hers so that their scents would mingle, too. Because she made his life feel full and he clung to it. Skal frowned as he set the pumpkin in the wagon at the edge of the tree line. If he were honest with himself that was part of the reason that he hadn’t wished for her to go to town without him. As much as he feared for her being out there alone, some small part of him had also panicked at the idea of suddenly being alone again. Not just alone physically but with all of the despair and loneliness that he’d felt before. It would have been as if he’d lost his mate and family all over again.
Oh. His ears twitched in shock. That was unexpected. Although the male Ragoru’s ability to bond quickly to a female they denned with was part of what allowed them bond deeply with a female who had chosen them, he had not believed it would happen. He had not believed that his instincts had recovered enough from his loss to lock onto another female. He shook his head in wry amusement. He should have recognized the signs. His desire to nest should have been his first warning. But even if he had missed that he still managed to ignore the fact that he had instinctively endeavored to keep her within range of his senses whenever she was not in the den.
He groaned softly to himself as he stalked over to the next pumpkin and snapped it off its vine. He had mated himself to a female with whom he was not mated. Even without the physical mating to tie them together, he was feeling all of the effects of being a mated male. It was no wonder that his cocks were priming for her and his seed sack swelling. His body was recognizing all the signs of being a dominant alpha denning with a fertile female who accepted him in her company. Now how was he to explain it to Eve? It was clear that she had no idea either what they had done, either.
He had not wished to be mated again but now that it was done… any human who wanted to take her from him would quickly become a very dead human. Eve was his but he was lost as to how to go forward from that. He had not paid attention at all when it came to the instructions on human courting rituals for mating and had no idea of how to even convince his mate to accept him. Bayda, the dark father of desire, assuredly hated him.
ChapterEight
Skal circled the wagon, giving it a last-minute check. He gripped the shafts and pulled experimentally, grunting with approval when it rolled forward. Eve couldn’t help but notice that he moved it far easier than her mule had ever managed with even a quarter less of a load. His head ducked as he peered at the end of one of the shafts and tapped a claw on the metal attaching piece toward the end. His brow lowered, his muzzle wrinkling faintly with his confusion.
“You said that this attached to your animal? How?”
“Oh, that just attaches to a harness. Thanks for the reminder,” she sighed as she turned toward the barn. “We would need that for the return trip.”
He made a dismissive sound and Eve rolled her eyes, her lips twitching a little as she stepped inside the dark barn. Normally she would take a lantern in with her, but she knew her way around by memory and was able to locate the leather harness and straps quickly. Piling them over one arm, Eve returned to the wagon. Skal’s ears tipped toward her as his eyes fastened on them. She’d planned to just put them in the back of the fore wagon but found herself quickly relieved of her burden by the Ragoru.
Draping the straps over the front of the wagon, Skal held the harness out in front of him and peered at it with interest. Eve coughed and quickly pointed out the straps of the harness.
“This would go around the mule like… Oh!” She was startled as he removed the lower straps and swung the remaining straps of the harness over his body. “You don’t want to wear that. You’re not a mule,” she said firmly as she reached for it to take it from him.
He immediately shifted out of her reach and pinned her with an annoyed look. “Why would not wish to make use of this? It appears that it would distribute the weight of the wagon nicely as I pull it.”
She could feel her cheeks heating. “But you’re not a mule,” she repeated. “If people saw you hitched the wagon like one that would think that you are no better than an animal. Beside you can pull it just fine without it.” She did not mention the way that they would laugh and whisper. She was used to it, but it bothered her that they would do that to Skal when he didn’t see it that way. She made another attempt to grab only for the male to skitter out of her reach again his ears twitching and pricking at her in a way that seemed adorably playful. The rotten male was laughing at her! She swallowed back her own laugh and scowled at him. “Really Skal, you look silly. Give it back!”
She lunged and he yipped in amusement, the sound drawing a giggle from her. He was really too ridiculous. His jaw hung lax in a lupine grin and a deep, sonorous chuckle rose from his chest. Shaking his head, he snorted and proceeded to tighten up the loose strap over his back, puncturing new holes in the leather with his claws to get it to fit close against his body. “I do not care what humans think,” he pointed out. “It makes sense to use it this way while I’m pulling it if it makes the task easier.”
Eve couldn’t argue with that, so she groaned quietly to herself in exasperation and watched silently as he quickly worked out how to hitch himself to the wagon. She could feel the heat rushing into her face as she watched him. It was just so wrong. But more than that, it was mortifying because it teased her with daydreams of having hold of his harness and having complete control over him as he pleasured her. There was plenty of space along that thick collar strap where she could just loop her hand through and hold on to him while she rode him.
Blessed Mother! Where had that thought even come from?
She fanned her face rapidly with her hand. She prayed that the ground which just open up beneath her and swallow her whole if there was so much as the slightest indication of which she was thinking of on her face. Her eyes turned toward Skal and she groaned inwardly. He was watching her. His head was cocked and there was a look of concern on his face as he regarded her.
“Are you ill?”
Gods, yes. There was definitely something wrong with her to be fantasizing about a male who just days ago intimidated her and tried to kick her out of her own home. That he immediately yielded and had been great company since was rather beside the point.
“No! No, I’m fine,” she amended with a nervous laugh. “Just a little hot out here don’t you think?”
His expression turned skeptical, and he glanced over a tree that suddenly rippled with a burst of cool air. His gaze returned to her.
“No,” he replied flatly. “If you become ill, you will be seeing your… what do you call it?” he grumbled, scratching his jaw pensively with his claws. His expression suddenly brightened. “Ah. You will go see your doctor.”
Her mouth curled in spite of herself. “I will, huh?”
He nodded, his attention returning to the wagon as he resumed checking over the straps. “You will,” he affirmed. “I will not allow you to become sick. So if you are ill at all you will see this doctor and do whatever is required to get well.” His gaze lifted, his eyes piercing her with an authority that made her shiver.
Oh, she was in trouble! She didn’t know if she wanted to harness him or for him to leash her. At the moment both options suddenly seemed far too appealing.
“I’m fine. Really,” she assured him.
Skal eyed her for a long moment but then nodded. Giving the straps one last experimental tug, he turned forward, placed all four of his hands on the shafts and took several steps forward. His jaw dropped in another one of his grins and he nodded happily to himself.
“This will work! Climb in female and we will depart.”
Pulling a thick blanket out of a compartment behind the seat, she wrapped it around herself and climbed onto her perch. It felt a little weird not having reins to hold onto, but she wasn’t about to ask him to strap anything else to himself just to make herself more comfortable. She certainly didn’t need to encourage any more inappropriate fantasies about her Ragoru housemate. At a loss as to what to do, and without anything to hold onto, she put her hands firmly in her lap.
“Uhm, I’m ready,” she called to him, hating how it came out sounding like a question.
