Page 40 of Bela's Bounty
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Treto
My eyes snap open, and I blink up at the … Why am I looking up at the ceiling?
A blurry face suddenly appears above me. Her dark brows are knit tightly together, and her full pink lips are pursed. She looks worried.
“Oh, thank God,” she breathes.
I wince at the ache radiating through the back of my head. What happened? Why am I on the ground?
Another figure comes into my periphery: a small female with her arms wrapped around herself, chewing on her thumbnail. And everything comes rushing back.
My female in my arms. Her hands on me. Her mouth.Someone hurt her!Then…
“You!” I growl, pushing myself up, despite my female’s protests. My vision swims, and I breathe deeply through my nose, trying to steady myself.
“Whoa, big guy,” I hear Bela say before her weight settles on my lap. “It was an accident.”
“That was noaccident,” I growl. The little cur hit metwice!
After I’ve blinked my vision clear, I have to remind myself I’m angry at the small female because the look on Bela’s face is gutting me.
“She didn’t mean to. Please don’t be angry; she was just scared,” she pleads, then bites down on her plump bottom lip as she reaches out to the pronounced lump at the back of my head. Over her shoulder, she narrows her eyes at the young. “And none of this would have happened if you’d stayed hidden like I asked.”
“I thought he was attacking you!” The girl throws her hands up. “He was yelling. How was I supposed to know he—that you—” Her cheeks grow steadily pinker, and she can’t seem to finish what she’s trying to say.
All the ire I feel toward her bleeds out of me as I understand what really happened. I reach back, prodding at where the back of my head aches, mildly surprised my fingers don’t come away coated with blood. She did a thorough job of taking me out, especially considering her size.
“Are you alright?” my Bela asks, scrunching her nose. Suddenly I have the urge to lean forward and kiss the turned-up tip of it. “How’s your head?”
“My head…” For a moment I don’t understand what she’s asking me, and then her fingers gently brush over the knot forming. The motion shifts her weight, which brings my attention to the fact that she’s straddling my lap, therefore also touching a very different, and no less sensitive part of me. “My head will be fine. No thanks to your assassin.”
The young’s mouth drops open, but then she … giggles, and I’m no longer angry at her. On the contrary.
“I owe you my thanks,” I say to her.
“Me?” she sputters. “What for?”
“For defending my—your—mistress and acting on your instincts to take out what you saw as a threat. Effectively, I might add.”
While the young preens at my praise, my focus goes back to Bela. Her hands rest lightly on my shoulders, and she’s looking at me curiously.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” she asks me again. “That was a lot of words just now.”
A smile tugs at my lips, and I nod, circling her waist with my hands. Ah, Fates, the dress she’s wearing is cut so that one hip is entirely bared to my touch. My eyes drop down, and my breath stills in my lungs as I admire the sight of her. The heat of her skin radiates through my hand, and my cocks twitch in their pouch. Her eyes lift to mine at the same time, and she sucks in a sharp breath as a pink blush rushes up her neck and into her face.
Should I apologize? Perhaps, except I’m not sorry. It’s what she does to me every time she looks at me, or I look at her, or I think of her. So I hold her gaze for as long she’ll let me, before she finally looks away. I don’t miss the smile that paints her lips though. She’s not sorry either, I don’t think.
When she looks back at me I see… curiosity. I can’t help but wonder at what her reaction would be if I were to bare myself to her. My species is one of the few who inherited a hemipenis from our ancient ancestors—a trait, I’ve discovered, that is met with a wide range of reactions.
What might my Bela’s be?
“Okay, are you alright to stand?” She taps my shoulder, reminding me we have a limited amount of time.
With her help, I amble to my feet, where my vision tilts, and I sway for a moment before Bela reaches out and steadies me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I give my head a shake, as if that will shake the dizziness away. And, surprisingly, it does. Mostly.
