Page 18 of 20% Stud 80% Muffin
“Coach, I can’t get my helmet off,” I murmured.
A soft purr answered me. “Geo.”
The low timbre of his voice soothed the wild parts of me.
“Geo, you had a fall.” A velvety thumb stroked my temple.
Pain racked my leg as I attempted to twist my body. “Shit, that hurts.” Sweat broke out acrossmy forehead.
“Stay still. Let me help.”
“Makir?”
His gentle rumble settled me, cocooning me in its warm embrace. The beats of my heart were slow and syrupy.
“Yes, it’s me. I’m going to help with the pain, and then you can sleep.”
Am I hallucinating?
Something fluffy brushed over my forehead and gently sucked. The tingly sucking kisses spread down my leg, and a whisper of silk circled my ankle. Then darkness.
I dragged a knuckle over my eye and groaned. The remnants of a strange dream about a hockey game and a basket of purring kittens lingered as I woke.
“Ah, you’re awake.” A low, soothing voice, the loveliest I’d ever heard, came from slightly behind me. “I filled your container with the morning dew. You’re going to be very thirsty after your accident.”
Inch by inch, I propped myself up on one elbow. My body came alive with aches, and my sleeping bag crinkled and shifted beneath me. Makir passed me my water bottle and I gulped it down.
“What happened?” Something smelled delicious, like juniper and ginger snaps, and my mouth watered.
“Well, I believe we may have found the solution I was looking for to keep the enforcers’ hands warm.” Makir chuckled, dodging the question.
“Huh?”
Makir pointed to a line of glossy white pelts hanging in the early sun. They looked like beavers. Wow, he’d been busy last night. Then it came back to me—the squeal, Makir’s shout, my stumbling around…
“Did I fall?” I turned toward Makir, slopping water all over his shirt. “Hey, are you okay? Why did you yell out last night?”
“I’m fine, but you fell a long way.”
Makir’s tail skimmed over my ankle and arousal swamped my gut, heating my groin. What was happening?
“And it felt even longer getting you over here.” He flexed his biceps, teasing.
Damn, he carried me all that way?
I sucked in my big belly and mentally scanned my body. Everything appeared intact for a guy who had essentially dropped from a second-story window. Although I was sore and scraped raw from the jagged concrete, my head was clear, and I could get on with my day.
Makir pointed to one of the white pelts. “They may look cute and cuddly now, but those things have sharp teeth.”
Makir’s ears twitched. I’d never noticed them before, but with his face curled toward me from above, his long mane parted and his velvety blue ear peeked out in the same place as mine. It had a small, pointed tip I longed to touch, just out of reach as he tipped back on his haunches.
“Hey.” I reached out to cover his hand with mine, the blue fur silky against my palm. “About last night…”
The small clearing where we’d stacked the lamar filled with the buzz of hoverbikes and as they quieted, Sisip shouted, “Makir! Geo!” Two other enforcers followed closely behind.
“Looks like we’ve been rescued.” Makir’s eyes met mine, and the silver shifted to lavender, then back again.
Something was different.
