Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Just thinking about it fills me with a strange sense of joy.
My hut.
The hut that Skarr built for me. A private hut with the door facing the inside wall of the cliff so I can be as isolated as possible while still being in the village. It’s just so thoughtful of him and it makes my heart warm to realize he spent so much time and effort on this to please me.
He’s a good guy, even if he’s a little loud and overly in love with himself. Thinking about his boasting just makes me smile as if it’s a charming quirk, which means the khui is definitely doing a number on me. How have I gone from wanting him to fall off a cliff into finding everything he does adorable and sweet? I’m a little disgusted at myself, and amused, too. Is this all because he gave me a hut and I got a few orgasms? Or is it because we’re finally starting to understand one another?
I hurry past the fire and then pause, slowing down. Veronica—Ashtar’s mate—is there with her two small children. She’s talking to Penny, her hand on her arm, and one baby in her lap while her older son sits nearby, spooning breakfast into his mouth. There are others by the fire, of course, but I’m interested in Veronica’s children.
This might be a good time to test how Skarr is with kids.
Returning to the hut, I duck inside. Immediately, Skarr grabs me by the waist and pulls me against him, kissing me. “Mmm, you were gone a long time.”
“I was not.” I slide out of his arms, crossing the hut. “Get dressed. I want to go sit by the fire with the others for a bit.”
“You…do? That does not sound like you.” He puts his hands on his hips and regards me, a skeptical eyebrow raised. “Is something wrong?”
I pick up his tunic and shake it out, then hold it up for him. “Not at all. Just trust me. You’ll see what I mean when we get to the fire.”
He makes a few grumbling noises and it’s obvious he’d rather crawl back into the furs and let me sit on his face again. Okay, I might like that, too, but I also need answers. I need to know if this strange bond between us is going to work or if we’re going to have to take more drastic plans. “How many children are in this camp, do you think?” I ask casually. “Nearly every family seems to have at least one young child.”
“Do they? I hadn’t noticed.” Skarr folds his tunic over and then belts it.
I immediately grab another fur wrap and stuff it under his tunic, around his neck, to add warmth. Am I fussing? Absolutely. I haven’t forgotten what it felt like to find him limp and unresponsive in the hut, his skin ice-cold. “Bundle up just in case.”
“Bossy,” he says, but his eyes gleam and I can tell he likes it.
Getting dressed to go out into the frigid air is a production, but when I’m convinced that Skarr is warm enough and that the only part of him that’s exposed is his face and his tail—I need to make him a tail wrap of some kind, I realize—I toss a warm cloak over his shoulders and then lead him out of the hut.
Veronica is gone by the time we get to the fire, which is disappointing. Another woman is there, though. Her name is Steph, and she’s breastfeeding an infant while she chats with Penny and S’bren. Others are coming and going by the fire, but they look as if they’re sitting for a few. Good.
I take Skarr by the hand and all but drag him across the encampment, toward the fire.
“You must be quite hungry,” he comments, letting me lead him.
“Famished,” I agree. We make it to the fire circle just as Steph puts her baby on her shoulder, burping her. I point at the open seat next to Steph. “You sit there. I’ll get food.”
He does as I ask, and I grab a few bowls of “breakfast”—which just looks like a warm fish stew—from Lauren, who’s on food-and-fire duty today. I watch Skarr out of the corner of my eye as I do, and I’m a little worried to see that he barely glances over at Steph and her baby. If anything, he seems as if he’s avoiding looking in their direction at all.
“Can Skarr hold your baby, Steph? He was curious about infants,” I call out, deciding to take the bull by the horns.
Skarr sits upright, his eyes widening. He seems to notice Steph and her baby for the first time and stares.
Steph just grins at us, fixing the neck of her tunic and wiping the baby’s face. “I would love that. My mate’s off with our son practicing their traps, and I would love a break.” She holds the baby out to Skarr, watching him. “Have you ever held a baby before?”