Sohut's Protection: A Sci-fi Alien Romance (Riv's Sanctuary Book 2), A.G. Wilde [13 ebook reader TXT] 📗

He’d come too close to seeing her.

If he found her cave, she would do him worse than bitch-bird did.

A breath shuddered through her as the sun rose farther into the sky, lightening the dark purple to a soft pink hue.

Her eyes were tired but she didn’t dare close them.

The moment she closed them, she’d be ambushed. She was sure.

Glancing behind her, she spotted the tuft of grass that was Wawa’s bedding.

He hadn’t returned yet and she was beginning to fear for his life.

It wasn’t the first time he’d left for a few days, but she couldn’t help feeling that the blue alien had something to do with her pet’s disappearance.

What if more blue aliens were roaming the jungle, looking for her? She shuddered at the thought.

There was a possibility this was true. She hadn’t had the chance to do her daily perimeter check.

It was a possibility she didn’t want to face.

Swallowing hard, Cleo glanced at the makeshift bowl in which she kept her drinking water.

She needed to refill it.

She’d do it now because it seemed she’d have to spend a few days hiding so she didn’t get caught.

She only had one dried morsel left too, so she’d have to ration.

Good grief…

But she could do this.

Exhausted, she stood on shaky legs before casting a glance back at Wawa’s bed.

She wished he was with her.

Not having him around now made her realize just how accustomed to each other and codependent they’d become.

Where she helped him by removing burs and insects from his coat, he traveled on her shoulder and alerted her whenever danger was close.

Where she made sure he had enough water in his bowl and a warm place to sleep, he would be the one to help scare the little jungle penguins from their hiding places when it was time to hunt for food.

She missed Wawa.

With a huge sigh, she gripped her water bowl, grabbed a few spikes she’d sharpened, and took a step forward.

God help her, she’d go alone and hope she was smart enough to not get caught.

Close by, the sound of the running spring cascading over the rocky mountainside filled the air. Hidden, Cleo paused in the bushes.

And it was a good thing she’d paused.

The entire trek to the water, she’d crept through the undergrowth as if she was scared of her own shadow.

She didn’t want to miss anything or end up walking right into the hunter.

Luckily, she’d made it without any incidents but now she was faced with another dilemma because, not far from the water, there he frickin’ was.

Of all the places, she hadn’t expected him to dwell at the water hole.

How he’d found it, she had no idea, and the fact that he’d found it so easily only caused her anxiety to rise.

But it made sense.

He must drink water like every other thing that was alive.

Bright sunlight hit blue alien skin as the tall alien inclined his head a little.

He paused, and she saw his nostrils move.

He was sniffing.

Motherfucker.

As he glanced around, she could feel the hairs at the back of her neck rise, their pitchforks raised.

She didn’t know how to describe it, but it felt as if he knew she was there.

She was crouching low, so low she was flat on her stomach, her chin pressed into the ground below.

Alarm bells began ringing as the alien turned his nose to the air, this time inhaling deeply.

A chill traveled down her spine like a train on a track even as the golf ball bobbed up to her throat once more.

She hadn’t considered it before now. But…what if he could smell her?

He looked so…human-like, she hadn’t even thought about it before now.

Fuckity fuck fuck.

As the alien exhaled slowly, a rumble echoed through the air, loud enough to catch her ear.

… and it’d come from him.

She didn’t know what that sound meant, but she’d been wrong about forgetting he wasn’t human.

That sound was anything but human.

Suddenly she felt like making a run for it.

Forget the water. She’d die of thirst.

The alien inhaled and groaned again, but this time, it sounded like a groan of annoyance and frustration.

Fuck.

Had he scented her?

Despite the cover of leaves she was hiding under, she’d daubed a fresh layer of mud over every inch of her skin. It was in her hair, caking it so much it felt like she was carrying a heavy hat on her head, and on every visible inch of her body.

She’d put extra under her arms as well.

The only place there was no mud was over her naked private parts because, well, her alien captors hadn’t got the memo that bulk panties were cheap—so she had none.

Surely, he couldn’t sniff her when she was covered from head to toe with that metallic dirt caked to her skin.

…Unless he was smelling the one place there was no mud.

The gold ball that formed in her throat forced its way down.

He couldn’t be.

Sheesh. She didn’t have soap to wash with, but she kept down there relatively clean.

If he could smell her most private of spaces…

She could feel her cheeks grow warm at the thought even as she bit hard into her lip.

As her insides cracked into several pieces by the weight of this new anxiety, the blue male stood and moved to the water.

She watched him move closer and it took everything within her not to retreat. If she moved now, he’d definitely hear her in her haste.

The alien moved close enough to where she was for her to see his face and Cleo had to blink several times, her mouth falling open as she stared at him.

He was even more good-looking than she’d realized.

He was definitely not a hunter. Which hunter looked like that?

It would also explain why he hadn’t chased after her after she’d bolted.

She’d run so fast, she hadn’t even stopped when her lungs had threatened to collapse.

But she hadn’t been chased.

The alien hadn’t come after her.

Still studying him, she noted the dissimilarities she could see.

Down his septum ran a