Page 91 of Sohut's Protection

It was a long walk and Sohut offered to carry her several times, but Cleo refused.

Instead, she tried to keep up and not slow him down, which she managed, but her entire body argued about it.

For two more days, they traveled. In the nights they rested in trees high in the canopy and in the days they took few breaks as they made their way through.

It was not until darkness began to fall on the third day that Sohut suddenly stopped walking and looked back at her.

“We’re here,” he said.

Cleo’s gaze darted to the bushes around them. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“The camp is just beyond these trees,” Sohut said. “I’ll go ahead and announce our arrival. These Torians are a bit…”

“A bit what?”

Sohut smiled a little and shrugged. “You’ll see.”

With that, he looked at Wawa, who was at his spot on her shoulder.

“You,” he said to the slizz, “don’t let anything happen to her.”

Wawa frowned. She was sure he did.

He locked gazes with Sohut, his eyes slowly bleeding black and she was sure he was going to attack. She reached for him, but his eyes slowly bled back to their usual brown.

Cleo’s mouth fell open.

Was Wawa…was he beginning to tolerate Sohut?

He still didn’t like the blue stranger, but he was no longer trying to kill him all the time.

Moving toward her, Sohut clasped the back of her neck and tilted her head up to him.

His kiss was sensual, slow, and Cleo’s eyes fluttered as he let her go.

“I won’t be long,” he said. “Don’t move.”

Nodding, she watched him leave.

It was getting dark. Dark enough for the shadows of the trees to begin to look ominous and she hoped he wouldn’t be gone too long.

Just in case, she took hold of her piece of shrapnel that hadn’t failed her yet.

If anything came out of the bushes while Sohut was away, she’d have something with which to defend herself.

Settling on the stump of a fallen tree, she looked around, trying to see any signs of life.

She had no idea what the aliens they were coming upon were like, but she trusted Sohut.

She trusted him enough to believe he wouldn’t willingly put them in danger.

That thought was jarring.

She’d gone from thinking he was her enemy to sleeping with him then to trusting him with her future, her life…not in that order.

The jungle here was a lot less dense than the jungle they’d been traveling through for the past few days, but she still didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Rolling her shoulders, she released a sigh.

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