Page 20 of 20% Stud 80% Muffin
My appetite was off, so I turned down dinner with my crew. I needed something to ease the restlessness crawling through my body, though.
I peeled myself out of bed and walked outside to the space in front of my office, widening my stance and clearing my head for some tai chi. Sparse vegetation pricked my ankles as I flowed into a twist, and I wished for the shelter of the oak tree I was so used to practicing under. I’d never thought about trees creating privacy before, but the distinct lack of personal space ruling my current life left me yearning for trees.
Before I finished my set, a gentle tug compelled me to move. The hit to my head must have messed me up more than I’d realized. I pressed my fingers to mytemple, trying to dull the thrum. I tried to force myself to work through my tai chi set and refocus my energy, but after the fourth repetition of the same brush knee sequence, I wrote it off as a lost cause. The compulsion to follow the tug was too much to ignore, so I walked instead.
The warm evening sky, painted a liquid gold, provided an idyllic playground for the woodskies strange squawking. Pink dust kicked up over my boots. I waved to the Rowtees as they passed, and we firmed up plans for their youngling’s naming ceremony.
I wandered the paths of Yurstille and followed the persuasive tug while mentally designing plans for the Rowtees’ nursery.If I incorporated the lamar into a series of tiny round sunlights, they’d create a pretty honeycomb pattern.
The tug increased in strength, and so did my pace. When I rounded the corner and saw Makir, the urge to run to him grew so intense I had to force my heels into the dry earth.
A Lizzard invaded his space. Its long, taloned fingers pinned Makir to the side of a ramshackle building. Makir’s head was down, and his tail whipped ferociously around him. His short blue fur stuck straight out on his arms as if he held a static electricity ball.
Makir’s whine immediately dislodged my heels from where they were planted. The Lizzard loomed even closer to Makir, and I short-circuited. He ran one of his talons up and down Makir’s chest, his forked tongue slithering too close to Makir’s ear.
Possessiveness burned through me like a lit fuse. Alligator lips dares to touch what’s mine?
A gust of warm wind sandblasted everything pink, and a panel dislodged from the shack Makir was pinned against, rattling through the air like shrapnel.
Instinctively, I pulled in my gut and stood taller. “Makir,” I barked, jogging toward him. His silver eyes met mine, briefly flashing lavender, and my heart galloped when his tail reached for me.
“Geo, what are you doing here?” The relief in his voice was palpable as Makir took advantage of the distraction and ducked out of reach of the scaled arms trapping him.
My name on his tongue was like melted chocolate. “Is there a problem here?” I growled at the Lizzard. Testosterone pumped through my body, and I glared at the much larger man encroaching on Makir’s space.
A rational thought tried to fight its way through my testosterone-fueled rage but fled when Makir pressed his long, lean body to my side. Why wasn’t he wearing a shirt? The fever subsided to a simmer, and the persistent tug was gone.
Instead, what was there was a sense of rightness so complete I’d never known the likes of it before. His scent flooded my nose, like my favorite ginger snaps mixed with crisp juniper needles. I was wide awake and on full alert.
“There’s-s-s no problem, right Mak?”
Makir cringed at the pet name Lizard Lips called him.
When Scaly moved toward us, Makir clung closer, his lavender eyes asking me for something I couldn’t quite decipher. Was he aware of his tail wrapped around my ankle like a coil and what it was doing to my aching dick?
My fists yearned to show this creep a lesson.
“S-s-simply a friendly neighborly conversation.” His wide mouth opened in a razor-toothed smile, the opposite of friendly.
Ah, so this was Raz, the neighbor who’d alerted the enforcers to our absence. I changed my plans about thanking him.
“In fact, Mak was-s-s about to come over for a late evening dinner, weren’t you, Mak?” Raz eyeballed Makir as if he were dessert.
I stepped between Makir and Raz. “Unfortunately, I’ve discovered some last-minute changes to Makir’s hovery I must go over with him before tomorrow.” My voice bristled with forced politeness as I dismissed him.
I placed one firm palm on Makir’s bare lower back, and warmth spread through my fingertips.
Shirtless, the defined muscles of his arms and the dips and gullies of his abs begged to be traced. His torso was longer than mine and covered in the same fur as the backs of his hands. The color blended and matched the sky blue of his face when it reached his stomach. My fingers wiggled, and I yearned to smooth my palms over his velvety skin.
“Where’s your house? I mean, dwelling?”
When he nodded toward the heap of lashed-together trash he’d been pinned against, my neck flushed and my fists clenched. I led him through his pieced-together doorway, Raz’s deflating hiss lingering behind us. Raz was just as I suspected—all bully and no bite.
“Makir, this isn’t secure,” I snapped. Urgency itched over my muscles as they pulsed, and my skin grew taut. I had to keep him safe.
With a hand on Makir’s shoulder, I turned him to face me. I smoothed my hands down his bare arms, over his hips, and patted his legs, ignoring the sparks igniting along my skin where it met his.
“Are you okay?” My voice was so deep I was surprised Makir understood it enough to nod.
