Mating Rights by Jaide Fox Read Free Book Online Page A

could have her out of his safekeeping,
the better.
    Without realizing it,
he stared long and hard at her as the thoughts piled up in his head. She looked
up, as if sensing his eyes greedily taking in every inch of her and the dirty
things he imagined doing to her willing flesh. She smiled, almost shyly, and
looked down at her bare feet.
    Damn women and their
wiles . He sucked in a harsh breath.
    She tucked her thick
bottom lip under her teeth. The corners of her mouth begged a nibble.
    Blood throbbed low and
dull in his belly.
    “Jaxon?” Adolpho said,
ripping him out of a daze.
    Jaxon grunted. “What?”
    “Stop looking at the
girl like you want to eat her, boyo,” Adolpho said.
    “I feel like I haven’t
eaten in years,” Jaxon muttered.
    Adolpho chuckled and
pushed a bowl of soup in his hands. “Eat this and get your mind on more
important matters. Like keeping us all alive.”
    “Aye,” he said before
walking off to drink his soup. Soft potato chunks slipped down his throat. He
studiously ignored the dark temptress until he noticed her approach from the
corner of his eye. She had a natural sway in her walk that the skirt
agonizingly accentuated. Jaxon snapped his mouth shut so he didn’t look the
fool. “Where you going?” he asked her.
    Mali stopped and looked
at him. “To wash my bowl of course.”
    “Let one of the men
take that,” he said. He didn’t need anyone making themselves a target by
wandering off alone right now.
    She laughed a throaty
chuckle. “I’ve never known a man willing to wash dishes when there’s women
around. I can do it myself. I don’t mind.”
    “I’ll come with you.
Let me grab the other bowls in that basket. We’ll make one trip.” He tipped his
bowl up and finished his soup.
    “Are you afraid I’ll
try to escape? Is that why you’re coming with me?”
    Jaxon stepped around
the issue. No sense in scaring the girl without reason. “You’re not a prisoner,
Mali, just an unmated female of breeding age. Your parents should have told you
clan law before now.”
    “They did. Papa’s very
protective,” she said, casting her eyes down at the ground as she walked beside
him.
    He couldn’t help but
notice the way she walked, gingerly picking her path to protect her bare soles.
Her small brown toes looked ripe for nibbling. She stumbled and grabbed his
arm.
    “Ow. Sorry. I caught a
stone in my heel. I’m not normally tender-footed,” she said, letting go of his
bicep, which felt branded by the heat of her hand.
    “We should have looked
for your shoes. Let you get your things before leaving. I dunna what I was
thinking.”
    “I didn’t know you had
an accent,” she said.
    He swore she…purred.
“I’ve lost most of it over the years. Livin’ here in the area, town life can
change you given enough time.”
    She sighed. “I suppose
it’s just as well we didn’t collect my things. Mama and Papa probably would
have been waiting on you at the house and fed you to the pigs…if we’d gone
back.”
    Jaxon choked on a
laugh. “Good to know I escaped an early demise.”
    She nodded. “I thought
so. It would’ve been a shame to see you brought down in your prime.”
    “I’m far from my prime,
gel. You don’t get a face like this and a limp from being a young man.”
    Much as he tried to
hide the limp, it had bothered him since he’d gotten the scars across his face.
The two were entwined, sealing his fate as an undesirable mate. Not that he’d
been interested in finding a new woman after losing Jen to the Ursine.
    He cleared his throat,
uncomfortable with the discussion being focused on him. “So you’re ready to do
your duty and commit to finding a mate now?” he said, setting the basket by the
riverbank.
    “No,” she said,
squatting by the river to wash bowls.
    The simplicity of the scene
caused a twinge in his gut, a longing for something more for himself. He
scowled inwardly. Such was not his lot in life. Soldier, guardian, loner—that
was more in