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She moved again, her legs shifting on mine. If she got any closer, she’d feel my erection. What would she do? We couldn’t afford for her to flinch or pull away.
“Be still,” I growled, worry and frustration harshening my tone. “The shuttle could come back for another pass.”
“Oh, sorry.” She froze.
Brute that I was, I enjoyed this interlude. It was the sweetest torture to have her so close, to want to rip her clothes away and bury myself in her wet heat. Everything remained quiet for long enough that I thought the lizards aliens were gone. Yet I said nothing, unable to give up having my fated mate so close.
Then the kreecat shoved her head into the slit in the fabric, using her horns to part the seam.
Zo-Fee jerked backward. “Lila says she can’t hear the engines any more.”
I grunted my agreement and let the fabric fall.
Sunlight dazzled my eyes as my mate scrambled quickly from my lap. Had she felt my erection? Had it horrified her?
I stood, shaking out my arms, as she leaned over to pet the kreecat, her expression hidden from me.
When I handed her a can of water, she offered me a grateful smile.
Thank the Goddess. She didn’t look upset.
I checked the map on my comp. “It’s not far now. If we hurry, we should arrive at the perfect time.”
“Where are we going?” Zo-Fee asked while pulling a piece of the stealth fabric around her.
I fastened the pack to my back and shrugged into my own cloak. “It’s a surprise.”
“I love a good surprise!” She beamed at me.
Her joy lightened my steps as we continued our climb.
An hour later, we crested the ridge of the low mountain we’d just climbed. A valley spread below us, a river snaking a curving path through the center. We’d left behind the last of the jungle’s spicy scent, and the wind carried the smell of green, growing things. The gentle banks widened into lush fields on either side, covered with dark-green, knee-high grass. Ambling grazers spread across the surface. The broad, placid reptiles walked on four legs and had long necks so they could reach down and crop the grass. Their scales matched the color of the grass—and the Tula who were their distant cousins—but they had tiny tails in comparison.
“It’s really pretty,” Zo-Fee said, her tone teasing, “but I’m not sure I consider cow-lizards much of a surprise.”
A bark of laughter escaped me. “Don’t worry. They’re not the surprise.” They were dinner for the surprise.
I grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, pointing past her to one of the peaks next to us.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Keep watching.”
A group of golden boulders moved, changing instantly into a creature instead.
Zo-Fee flung a hand forward, her voice filled with awe. “Is that a…?”
“A dragon? Yes.”
The great beast sat up, lifting its long head. A huge pair of wings rose from its back, accordioning outward to fan at the air with deep whooshes audible even from here.
“That really is a surprise!”
“No, that’s still not it.”
She glanced over her shoulder at me, her expression puzzled.
“The surprise is we’re going to ride one of them.”
