Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
I set the bowl aside.
Some time later, a sated Vali is sprawled across my stomach, her flanks framing my face as we both pant for breath. My seed is in her hair and on her face and hands, and when I stroke her buttocks, she quivers in the aftermath of our pleasuring.
She is right. That was nice. Even if my leg doesn’t heal up as well as it should, we can still enjoy a great deal of pleasure.
But I won’t be able to provide for her, to hunt for her, or to protect her. And I’ve learned that human females need protecting, most especially from human males. I need my leg better, and soon. “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Vali scrambles off of me, wiping her face and breasts with a towel even as she turns to look at me. “What did you just say?”
I blurted out the wrong thing, as I often do, and I curse my tongue for not letting my head catch up. “You are coming with me.”
She relaxes a bit at that, the hurt disappearing from her face. “Oh?”
“I would not leave you,” I reassure her, embarrassed at my words. “I misspoke.”
Vali brightens, scrubbing at her skin with the towel. “I just…thought maybe you were tired of me.”
“You are my wife. There is no tiring of you.”
“You haven’t been around a lot of married people, then,” she jokes.
“My parents have been married for a very long time and they are quite content. The more you tell me about human men, the more convinced I am that they are worthless.”
“Not all of them. Just…a lot of them.” Vali rubs some of my seed out of her hair. “Gods, you sprayed everywhere that time.”
I like that she sounds proud of my lack of control. “So I did.”
She grins, toweling her thick, dark hair. “Regardless, we can’t go anywhere yet. You’re not ready to travel.”
“No, I am as ready as I can be. We leave in the morning. Together.”
Her mouth falls open in surprise. “But your leg—”
“We will be on Akara’s back. I am no longer bleeding, so there is no concern about leaving a blood trail. She will take us safely to the flotilla, and I will have the healer there examine my leg.”
“But—”
“Vali,” I say gently. “I promise you, if I am well enough to pleasure you several times a day, I am well enough to ride upon a turtle’s back.”
My wife still seems uncertain about this. She gnaws on her lip, considering, and then wads up the fabric in her hands. “I still don’t know how to swim. You said I needed to know how.”
“Neither of us will be swimming for a while.” Especially not now, considering there is a sea dragon lurking all too close nearby. Just the thought of Vali dog-paddling in the water to try and catch a fish and wandering directly into its territory fills me with terror. “We leave first thing in the morning. Pack what you will need.”
“What I need?” She sputters. “You’re the injured one. Tell me what we should bring for you.”
But I am already quite familiar with traveling upon Akara. I know what to bring—my trident, my makeshift tent, my drying rack, the dried pufferfish…but no, I will not need all of that, will I? I will need different things this time. “Blankets. Dried food.”
She jumps to her feet, eyeing the cave. “I don’t know if we have enough. We should stay for a while longer, at least a day or two, and make sure we have everything we need.”
“Are you stalling so you don’t have to meet my family?”
Vali scoffs at my suggestion. “No, of course not.”
“Lies.” How did I miss the cagey look she gets on her face whenever she’s not telling the truth? It’s rather charming, the way her gaze darts around even as she curves her mouth in a too-sweet smile. “Tell me the truth.”
“Why? Are you gonna spank me yet?” She tosses her hair defiantly. “Or have you come around to thinking my lying is cute?”
A slow grin curves my mouth, because she’s figured me out. I actually am starting to find her lying charming. That’s a new one for me.
She points a finger at my face triumphantly. “I see you grinning. I’m glad I can make you smile.”
“You will like the flotilla, Valessa. It’s very safe and my family will like you. I promise.” Once they stop being hurt that I am not returning to the flotilla permanently, that is. My family will not understand at first. They will expect me to eventually settle with them once Akara is through her wild phase. They will expect me to mate someone from another flotilla to bring fresh blood to our clan, because our flotilla is closely related and cannot mate one another.
Well…Valessa is fresh blood, that is for certain. It is simply human blood.