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The wagon lurched as he sprung forward and Eve yelped as she promptly tipped and nearly fell backward out of the seat, and then promptly fell forward when it all came to a crashing stop.
“Eve! Are you injured?”
She could hear the frantic jingle of the straps and waved a hand. “Fine! I’m all right,” she laughed as she pushed herself back into a sitting position and brushed her hair out of her face. Skal stared back at her, one hand on a tether as he watched her with a look of shock and uncertainty on his face. “Really. The male never starts up that fast and you just caught me by surprise,” she teased. “I’ve got it now.”
She gave him a bright smile as she curled her fingers around the edge of the seat. He didn’t look entirely convinced but he nodded.
“Start slower,” he grumbled to himself as he once again gave her his back and Eve bit her lip to stifle her laughter at the self-disgust in his voice.
The wagon creaked and this time rolled forward as he began to walk and then gradually built up to an easy lope as they traveled along the little path that led out of her valley and onto the main route through the forest to town.
Skal hadn’t been overexaggerating on his ability to pull the cart. He barely seemed to feel the strain at all as he pulled the wagon at a brisk pace though the muscles in his shoulders and back bulged. Judging by the way his tail swayed as he ran, she could almost believe that he was enjoying himself. She couldn’t imagine why anyone would be so masochist as to be happy pulling a wagon with a hitched secondary wagon full of produce to the market with one human woman added to the weight. She resolved to get the best mule she could find so that he wouldn’t feel obligated to do this again. She didn’t know why he felt so protective of her that he would volunteer for something so degrading and exhausting but whatever the reason she was incredibly grateful to have been spared the walk.
She would have to do something nice for him. Perhaps dinner in town. The small hotel there had a restaurant and tavern on the main floor. Perhaps steak. The hybrid steer was said to be some of the best eating on the continent. As the day wore on, however, and he continued to pull at the same ground-eating pace, she revised her offering to two steaks before finally deciding that she would treat himself to anything he wanted to show her appreciation. Although they stopped for several breaks to relieve themselves and to share food and drink between them before continuing on again, Skal pulled the cart all day at a ground-eating pace without complaint or showing any sign of exhaustion or annoyance with the task. It was a bit of a bumpy ride for her since she was accustomed to the more sedate pace of a mule but once they shifted things around a bit after the first stop and Skal fashioned a sort of padded bed for her with the bedding she’d brought, she found the experience exciting.
Without the heavy blanket of fog everywhere, the forest was vivid with color from the changing autumnal leaves. The entire forest was awash in color in which Skal, who practically disappeared if she wasn’t focusing on him in her valley, stood out boldly with his pale gray coloring. When he finally drew to a stop again, the sun was low on the horizon, making the entire forest appear almost as if it were burning. The beautiful sight captivated her. It would soon be dark. Time to make a quick meal and set up get a bed made up around the fire.
Even stood and stretched, her eyes catching on a crimson leaf that dropped from the branches above and tangled in his thick fur. There were several others that had accumulated during their various stops that were beginning to get matted in. Although he regularly ran his claws through his fur to remove the large bits of them that he could reach, the smaller fragments dusted him like the bio-confetti that dropped over the town on Foundation Day. Perhaps she should get him a good grooming brush. Would she let her brush his shiny coat in the places he could reach so well? Cozy winter evenings of running a brush through his thick fur and then perhaps changing places while he used a more human appropriate brush on her hair invaded her thoughts as she climbed from the wagon.
By the time she was firmly on the ground Skal was already unstrapped and pulling the bedding and camping supplies from behind the driver’s seat before she even had the opportunity to go back and help him. She frowned at him, feeling bit a useless and as if she was taking advantage of him but the Ragoru simply grinned at her as he stepped past her with his last armload and carried it to a small clearing of ground. She half expected him to just dump it with everything else and leave it for her to sort through and set up like Victor always did. Skal’s neat piles were surprising but even more so was the sharp look he gave her when she stepped away to gather firewood.
“Where are you going, Eve?” he rumbled, his yellow eyes gleaming in a shade not unlike the burnished fire of the sky as they bore into her from where he was crouched over the bedding he’d just unrolled and straightened.
“Wood,” she squeaked and immediately gave a nervous laugh. “Firewood. We’re going to need some for the campfire.”
He shook his head and pointed at the sleep roll. “Sit here. The woods are getting dark. Better that you stay here where it is more comfortable and safer within the clearing. I will get the wood,” he rumbled as he straightened.
Her mouth went dry as her eyes fastened on the single bed roll. Would he sleep beside her? Ever since he showed up at her house, they’d always had a door between them with Eve on the bed and Skal sprawled in front of the hearth. He was probably accustomed to sleeping on the ground but the thought of him doing so while she was comfortable wrapped up in blankets on the bedroll didn’t sit well with her. The nights got chilly after all.
She nodded when he continued to watch her expectantly and made her way over to her makeshift bed. He remained standing in place as she lowered herself upon the blanket and she became uncomfortably aware of how close his thick thighs and bulge were to her face as she dropped to the ground. She blushed furiously, barely daring to breathe as hot arousal curled within her belly. From the corner of her eye, she watched as Skal’s tail lifted slightly and stiffened in an alert position. He chuffed then and turned away, leaving her alone on the blankets as he loped into the thicker trees.
Curling her legs up against her body to preserve warmth, Eve stared at the woods as she pulled out dried meat, bread, cheese, and some of the fruit she’d dried over the summer. She’d just laid it out neatly when Skal returned with not only a large amount of wood tucked under his arms but also large hybrid rabbits, for lack of a better word, that had rapidly spread over the continent along with the human colonists. He lowered the rabbits to the ground a couple of feet from her, his eyes flicking to the food spread out before ignoring it completely in favor of watching her guardedly.
“I would feed you,” he rumbled with a pointed look to the rabbits.
He wanted to feed her? He’d hunted for fresh meat for the table before but somehow that sounded a lot more intimate. She had to just be projecting.
“Oh. I would actually like that, thank you,” she murmured and quickly wrapped the dried meat back up, leaving the rest for them to enjoy with the meal.
Skal gave an approving nod, his ears flicking before he crouched and got to work. His two sets of hands worked quickly as he meticulously built the fire, spit the rabbits, and set them over the flames to cook. He watched her a lot as he cooked, his gaze lingering on her only to drop occasionally to the rabbits as he rotated them over the flames. That focused look didn’t waver when he eventually removed them from the fire, crouched at her side, and carefully, with the tips of his claws, pealed sizzling meat from them and held the bite-sized morsels in front of her lips.
Eve felt her blush climb hotter but leaned forward and ate the offered meat. The corner of his mouth inching up as if pleased persuaded her to take another bite, and then another. He ate in between the bites he fed her, his demeanor growing increasingly comfortable and, if she wasn’t mistaken, happy. She was almost sad when the last bite of meat finally was eaten. She pulled out the large water bottle to rinse their hands, certain that was the end of whatever closeness that they’d been enjoying. His large body crowding hers on the bed roll minutes later was both a surprise and incredibly endearing with how eagerly he wiggled into the bedding her with, happily snuffing and rumbling to himself. That it also made her uncomfortably aroused was something she chose to ignore as she smiled and snuggled into his embrace as his large body curled around her.
It meant nothing. They were just two bodies sharing heat on a cool autumn night. As far as she observed, he didn’t even appear to be interested in humans or anyone that way. But she fell asleep with a smile on her face because in her dreams she could at least pretend that just maybe it was something more.
ChapterNine
Skal did not care for the human town. It was loud and there were too many sights and sounds that threatened to swallow up his mate the moment his back was turned. There were also the strong smells that made him want to gag. It reminded him of when he was being transported from his home world and all the Ragoru were being held in large containment areas where they were provided food, water, and beds but little else—and no escape from the stench of so many bodies living in such a small, contained place. He shuddered with revulsion but kept his expression perfectly blank as he followed his mate on a winding path filled with various small structures.
The only thing worse than the smell was the busy swarm of humans everywhere. Although there were a number of humans who appeared to be curious of him, many appeared to be distrustful, wary, or even afraid of him. He had little patience for the latter, especially since he did nothing to earn that reaction except follow after his mate with the wagon, but at least they kept well out of his way. If they were not terrified, it seemed that humans had a tendency to mill about in a disordered fashion, many of them walking far too close to him and the wagon for his comfort. Or far too close to Eve. That annoyed him far more than any human accidentally touching him or stepping into his path, and it started happening the moment he had lifted her down from the wagon. Ever since, he wanted nothing more than to pick her up and set her right back in it again.
He didn’t like her being on the ground where she could easily get lost among them. It was an uncomfortable reminder of how small she was, especially compared the males of her species who easily had a head over her. They ambled past her, often cutting her off briefly from Skal, providing him with a moment of panic before she came within view again. It made him uncomfortably aware of just how easily she could be separated from him before he could prevent it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it was clear that the other humans in the town didn’t seem to mind bumping into her or pushing past her as if she were invisible. In fact, most didn’t even seem to notice when they collided with her, much to his irritation.
His ears flattened as he eyed a pair of males walking up on her left as they talked, unaware of anything else going on around them. Skal’s fur prickled as he eyed them, tension coiling through his shoulders. They were going to cut him off from Eve—again. A growl rumbled in his throat, just loud enough to bring the males’ attention back to their surroundings abruptly enough that they stumbled into each other in their attempt to avoid coming anywhere near him or Eve. Skal chuffed softly to himself as they immediately collided with a larger male who promptly began shouting, causing the males to hurry off with a flurry of apologies. He quickly bit back his amusement and silenced it, however, when his mate glanced over her shoulder at him curiously.
Skal gave her a blank look of complete innocence, his pricking attentively. His Eve was not so easily fooled. Her brows rose speculatively as she quietly regarded him. The corner of her mouth twitched, and she shook her head as she faced forward once more and resumed leading him through the area that she called “the market.”
“I know it looks pretty chaotic but be happy that this is a small town on the northern-most outskirts of the Habitable Zone. I’ve heard that the markets in the citadel are utter madness,” she commented as she looked around. A smile suddenly broke out across her face. “Oh good! It looks like we are here early enough to pick out one of the better spots for our stall!”
