Page 96 of Theirs to Crave
I folded my arms, mirroring his stance, and held his gaze. “You want to protect your sister. I respect that. But it is her choice, not yours.”
His head tilted. There was a pause as he seemed to work through my words, then he jerked his chin up, sharply. “Did Estrella agree toervang?”
My ears flicked in surprise. Things must be going very well between him and Kurz, for Naryanuh to be familiar with courtship.
“Yes.” I raised my chin, pride warm in my chest. “She honors me. Litha and Zaf, also.”
His jaw tightened.
I waited, outwardly stoic. Inwardly, claws raked me with the need to shake him until he told me what I wanted to know. Rushing Naryanuh wouldn’t help. He needed to make up his own mind.
Across theerralaytuh, Litha, Estrayuh, Roosa, and Cass huddled together, looking over something with interest. Svixa bounced beside them, her still healing leg outstretched.
My ears tipped forward affectionately. I’d seen Estrayuh’s growing tension as we neared the village, known she worried about people’s reactions to the news of ourervang. Litha and Zaf had, as well, but since we all knew the fears were well-founded, there was little we could do to comfort her.
Svixa’s excited response to the embrace we’d shared before parting ways at the edge of theerralaytuhhad done much to return the brightness to myLelesha’seyes again.
As I watched, Litha’s tail twined around Estrayuh’s leg, golden flesh gleaming through the cascade of silky purple fur.
My eyelids lowered as pride and satisfaction rumbled in my chest. Mine.
Almost.
I shifted my gaze back to Naryanuh. He was watching me, an expression I couldn’t read twisting his lips. When our eyes met he blew out a breath and finally—reluctantly—nodded.
“What you want?”
???
I was alight with ideas. The tool Naryanuh described was fairly simple—not to mention clever. Several ways something like that could be used had flown immediately to mind, but experimenting would come later. For now, I would focus onbringing a piece of Estrayuh’s lost home to her new life. Here. With us.
Figuring out what to use for the mix would be the hardest part. From what I could understand, it was a mash, like thecasacakes. But not knowing what it was meant to taste like...
A flicker of white and red caught my eye and I turned, eager to ask Zaf’s opinion.
My mate was deep in conversation with Aretoi, the shy girl animated as she only ever was when she talked of their shared passion—medicinal plants. She was growing into a skilled healer under Zaf’s encouraging eye.
The astringent scent of numbing oil made my nose wrinkle. They must have just come from Aksha’s den. Out of all the storm-touched, she felt the press of the Spirits’ wrath most sharply—the painful swelling of her joints increasing with each deluge until she hardly resembled herself, and split her days between her sleeping cushion and thejavuh. It was good we approachedilot va’heth, the dry season. Aksha took pride in the responsibility placed upon her—and we were all safer thanks to the storm-touched’s ability to predict when we needed to take shelter in our dens—but I did not like to think of her suffering.
Zaf stopped as if ava’grevhad appeared in the middle of theerralaytuh.
Alarmed, I followed his gaze and groaned, my sheath suddenly feeling too tight.
Estrayuh was bent over, inspecting a pair of strange things strapped to her feet. Her wide, delectable ass pressed against the cloth covering her. My lust-filled eyes traced every bump and curve, remembering the sight of her splayed open and glistening.
I would have her like this—bent over, with no cloth to hide behind.
Estrayuh stood, did a sort of bouncy dance that added jiggling flesh to my fantasy, and squealed. She threw her arms around Cass—who laughed and hugged her back—then turned and did the same to Litha.
With Litha squatting, they were nearly the same height. Estrayuh took advantage, pressing close-mouthedkissehsall over her face.
Litha’s eyes were mere slits as she tilted her head to give Estrayuh better access, cupping her hand over the plump ass I dreamed of fucking.
Zaf appeared at their side, greeting them with slow, possessive caresses that swept the length of their spines.
I looked around and found Aretoi standing alone, looking bemused where Zaf must have abandoned her. My grin faded when I looked back to my mates and found Arvel lurking nearby, his attention fixed on them.
I stepped forward, growling low. There was a look in his eyes I didn’t like.