“But she’s not the only one that can handle you.” A lopsided smirk crossed his thick, black lips at her teasing wink, “Is that jealousy, Ada?” His voice, though husky, sounded amused at her implications and reminder that she had been the first to handle his fury in the plains. The first to stand before the raging Elephant General and shove an inconvenient truth down his throat—the man had the cheetah to thank for the vengeful justice he had brought on Dorobo.
Though the grin on his lips faded slightly as her muzzle returned to his sliced hide, her hot breath spreading across the tender skin there. And just as she was about to finally touch her velvet muzzle to him, she pulled away again. Silently, his thick jaw clenched, navy eyes slightly narrowing on her lips as she claimed victory on having him alone.
He studied her golden eyes and black-lined face for a few, long moments, finally ended his uncomfortable shifting in the cool liquid—it wasn’t helping in the proximity of her rounded haunches and slender flanks, anyhow. Gaze drifted once down her speckled neck and traced the darkened line of skin that the water left on her golden coat, before his voiced rumbled once again, but this time it was quiet and deep, “You have me alone and I’m the one wounded—so different from our past…” he paused, sweeping his gaze to her eyes as he leaned in despite their closeness, “And, now, I don’t have to send you away bruised and bloody.” The relief that sparked in both in eyes and voice was palpable.
@Adaeze