Page 145 of Sohut's Protection

A warm feeling bloomed inside her at those words.

He’d said it before but hearing him say it again after all this time they’d spent apart felt like a new proclamation.

She wanted to be his woman, now and forever.

At the sound of his name, Wawa popped his head out from under the hood and this close to Sohut, she was sure he was going to try and bite him. She was beginning to pull away to avoid that but Sohut held her closer and surprisingly, Wawa only rubbed his head against Sohut’s chest.

They must have been embracing for a while because Geblit’s voice broke the calmness in her mind.

“Don’t mind me or the fact I just helped two beings wanted by the phekking TASQALS,” he said, “but you still need to get out of here.”

Sohut groaned a little as he inhaled again. “Give me the key code for your cruiser.”

In her peripheral vision, a big balloon-head was shaking vehemently.

“Nope. No way. My hover car is the finest in this district. There is no way—”

* * *

As they sped across a plain filled with tall yellow-orange grass in a hover car that gave her the impression it was like a luxury vehicle in these parts, Cleo let the hood of the robe fall from her head.

“This is…beautiful,” she breathed. Off in the distance, large animals that reminded her of cows were grazing and by the side of her face, Wawa rubbed his head appreciatively, liking the cool breeze.

“Very beautiful…”

Sohut murmured and when her gaze cut to his, he was looking at her with such heavy emotions in his eyes, it made her breath catch in her throat.

He’d come to save her. He’d freed her.

It was hard imagining that her life wasn’t going to be living as a fugitive in an alien jungle anymore. Or that she’d narrowly escaped being raped by a giant toad.

“You came for me.” A smile came over her lips as she looked at him. “You could have left me.”

The hover car slowed down as Sohut decelerated.

“Of course, I came for you. After they took you, I—”

She launched herself against his side, wrapping her arms around him as something wet ran down her cheek.

“Sohut. They almost killed you.”

It felt like they were no longer moving and she realized the hover car stopped, and was slowly descending to the ground below, nestling within the tall yellow-orange grass.

“And I would have died if it meant protecting you. I couldn’t—” he stopped talking, the emotions on his face receding.

“You couldn’t what?” Her voice sounded thick and she knew the wetness on her face was coming from her eyes.

The events of the past few weeks were all being processed at once and even though her eyes were betraying her with tears, she was slowly acknowledging that it had been a lot.

It had been a helluva lot to go through.

“I couldn’t let someone else get hurt because of my failure. I—”

His gaze fell and she touched his chin lightly.

A breath shuddered through his body and she realized that he too was processing all that had happened between them recently.

“If I know anything about you, Sohut, it’s that you’re one of the strongest people I know.”

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