17. Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Years of practice and exhaustion from the last few days let Angela drop off to sleep just as the plane was taking off. With Zoric next to her, his leg tangled with hers, she was warmer and more comfortable than she'd been for most of her trips in planes like this.
His presence in the back of her mind should have been invasive and weird but she found it comforting. The voice in the back of her head was strangely silent about his presence and the silence was nice.
She couldn't say when she became aware she was dreaming, something that happened now and then, but the first person she was, was Zoric. While she liked the white button up shirt and kilt he wore to fit in with the rest of the human world, the clothes he wore in her dream made her grin. A Roman style kilt, made of strips of leather that moved with his legs and tail as he walked, and an open vest across his broad shoulders, which served only to highlight his muscular chest and abs, made her salivate.
A year ago, the idea that she'd be attracted to a lizardman would have been ridiculous. Now, she was trying to figure out how to get him out of his clothes. She already knew they were physically compatible but she didn't know how. Even with the images Zoric had sent her, Angela wanted a hands on explanation of how they would work.
Her first obstacle was not being able to kiss him without hurting herself. So, since this was a dream, she figured she could try that first.
"Well, hello there, handsome. Come here often?" She could feel the smile on her face turn downright predatory when he startled. He hadn't expected her to see him or talk to him if she did. That's okay, they didn't have to talk. There had been too much talking already.
As was the way in dreams, the room around them changed while she walked toward him. The living room from an old apartment melted away to become a cozy underground cave, with walls that had been carved out to remove jagged rocks and lights that flickered like torches.
The torchlight danced across his scales, making the colors shift and sparkle. They were beautiful in a way she couldn't describe and all she wanted to do was touch them.
She reached out and ran a hand down his chest, reveling in the deep breath he took when her skin touched his. It wasn't the first time she'd touched his bare skin, but it was the first time she'd done it with so much intimacy. His claws scraped along the floor as he struggled to stay still for her perusal.
She marveled again at how soft his skin felt, his tiny scales shifting as he flexed. He was hot to the touch, and she remembered the heat she'd felt while he held her. Her fingers moved to his arms, the ones he'd carried her with all day, and they felt solid beneath her touch.
"You're so strong," she said, her voice breathy. He was staring at her, his fingers clenching as he tried to stand still for her to explore, but she knew she was making it difficult to restrain from touching her back.
That she knew it was a struggle, and that it was her who made it that way, sent a little thrill through her spine. There were few things that made her feel feminine and delicate. Zoric's very obvious reactions to her did both.
"You're strong, too," he said, voice choked until it was almost a growl.
She let her lips twitch up in a small smile. Her brows had fallen when she'd started focusing on him and her lips had straightened out. Not because she was angry but because she wanted to focus all of her attention on him, and she tended to look upset when she was focused.
"I am," she agreed with him. "But not all the time. For instance, when I think about your arms around me, I get weak in the knees."
Zoric moved, his arms wrapping around her to pull her into his chest. "Like this?" he asked. His hot breath teased across her ear and she shivered.
"Yes," she answered. "Just like this."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Her lips ached to kiss him so she started at the base of his jaw and peppered little, gentle kisses down this throat to his shoulders.
The tip of his tail wrapped around her ankle and started working its way up the inside of her pants. It couldn't go far but the feeling of it against her skin made her shiver.
"I want to touch you," he said, his voice shaking with contained desire. "I want to peel you out of these clothes and taste your skin."
She bit on the muscle in his neck, his scales creating a shield so her teeth didn't do damage, and he spasmed against her. His hands clutched at her, his body bowed, until she was pressed against every possible inch.
"Please do," she whispered against his skin.
His hands came up her back and his claws raked downward on her shirt, shredding it into pieces around her body. She stepped back to let it all fall away and realized it was her uniform with her rank picked out in red thread, like a scarlet letter.
Her belt was next, followed by her trousers. He stared at her boots for a long moment, his breath coming hard, and he licked his lips.
"I kinda like the boots," he admitted.
Angela laughed and turned to unlace them. "We can indulge that little fantasy later," she told him. "Right now, I don't want any barriers between us."
His hand slid across her back and down her backside while she dealt with her boots. The touch on such delicate parts while she was in such a vulnerable position made her shiver with anticipation.
The sound of their breathing echoed against the stone walls. The scent of the mutual desire mixed with the mineral tang of the rocks surrounding them. Their Bond sang with the electric pulse of their desire, pushing her need higher in response to his.
"I didn't think you'd be so open to this so soon," he told her, his hands moving reverently across her skin.
She knew how he felt, what each of his touches meant, and it melted her a little more inside.
"It's a dream," she told him. "There are fewer inhibitions in dreams."
"I'm awake," he told her.
"And wearing far too many clothes," she said, walking back into his embrace, her feet bare. "But I'll allow it for now. Because this is my dream and I get to be vulnerable this time. When it's your dream, you can be as naked as you want."
"What if all I want in my dream is for you to be naked?" he teased.
His arms felt so good around her. The rough leather of the strange kilt contrasted with the soft feel of his skin, abrading her gently and making her aware of his every movement.
"Then I'll be naked," she answered. "As long as you keep touching me like this, I'll be as naked as you want."
Zoric's eyes sparked with desire and his tongue darted out to run along her neck, then her collarbone. Swift, gentle strokes that sent shivers of delight through her. Every lick stoked her desire until she could swear she was going to combust. Fire danced through her veins to settle as liquid heat in her core, as he worked his way down her body, setting every nerve alight.
He worked his way around the part of her that wept for him, down her thighs, to the backs of her knees. When they gave out, he caught her, arms around her waist and tail around her calves. He laid her down in front of him, legs spread wide, while he licked his way down her calf and around her ankle.
When he nipped gently at her achilles, her toes curled, and she started to writhe. The reaction startled both of them but she caught the pleased grin that crossed his face before he placed a long, delicate lick across the top of her toes.
She squeaked and covered her mouth in sudden embarrassment. He moved up her body to her face with a speed she couldn't quite process, until he was covering her entire body with his own.
"Don't hide from me," he demanded. "Every sound you make, whether from pleasure or pain, belongs to me now. I want to hear everything."
His intensity shocked her, and sent another bolt of heat to her core, until she was certain she was a moment from exploding.
"Why?" she asked. Her body screamed at her that this was the worst possible time to have this conversation but she needed to hear him.
"Because you are my Mate. You were made for me and I for you, and by some miracle we have found each other. I may not know you as well as I'd like to, yet, but I will spend the rest of our lives learning every inch of your body, mind, and soul. Because they are mine to protect, to cherish, and to love. Every inch."
Angela ached for the beautiful man who was holding himself so carefully on top of her. She wanted everything about him, wanted to know everything there was to know, and she felt a tear slip from her right eye. It didn't match the flood of desire that had already leaked from her but it felt like she was letting him in to more than her body.
His tail was still curled around her right ankle, so she lifted her left and wrapped it around his waist, her heel resting just above the base of his tail. He squirmed against her and she grinned with the discovery of a sensitive spot.
"Then know me, Zoric," she demanded. The feel of the leather kilt disappeared from against her skin, and something hard and solid smacked against her clit.
She moaned with pleasure when his hips moved back, dragging that hard length against her weeping pussy. The tip was at her entrance, and he started to push, gently at first to give her time to adjust, then faster.
Angela was more than ready for him, her body fairly aching to be filled, and she sighed with relief as he slipped deeper inside. Her arms were wrapped around him and her fingers dug into the muscles of his shoulders as an anchor when he started to move.
His emotions spilled across their bond and she could feel his desire to taste her pleasure. She relaxed into the moment, allowing herself to enjoy every stroke, every clench of her body, until she was balancing on edge, waiting for the next hard breath that would push her over.
Between one breath and the next, her anticipation rose - then a metallic taste flooded her mouth, sharp and wrong like copper pennies mixed with battery acid. A sharp pain in her shoulder yanked her away from the moment. Her body screamed with the failed orgasm and she reached across to grab whatever had knocked her from the peak.
A slippery, snake-like thing had bitten her, its scales feeling oily and unnatural against her fingers. The air in the cave grew thick and heavy, the previously comforting mineral scent turning acrid and chemical. She could see toxic, green liquid oozing from its mouth like mercury, only to be stopped by a very thin layer of Zoric's scales. They'd grown under her flesh with a sensation like ice crystallizing, spreading in a protective shield. The snake-thing reared back to try again, its presence creating static interference in their Bond like a badly tuned radio, but Angela grabbed hold of it behind the head.
The creature's flesh felt wrong under her fingers - not like a real snake's smooth scales, but something artificial and cold, like wet plastic. It writhed in her grip, sending waves of wrongness through their connection that made her stomach turn. Each time it moved, the natural atmosphere of the cave seemed to warp around it, torch flames flickering and shadows twisting unnaturally.
Zoric slipped out of her and she allowed a brief thought to mourn the loss of his body in hers, the sudden absence of his heat making her shiver. Their Bond crackled with interference as she focused her attention on the intruder, the creature's presence creating discordant notes in their mental harmony.
"Do you recognize it?" he asked, and she looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
"Why would I recognize it?" she demanded and he shrugged.
"We should have Ae-cha look at it," he said. "It feel like the triggers she's trying to pull from your body."
Angela looked up at him in horror, then down at her body. "Not like this," she said.
"No," he agreed. "This is just for me. Can you keep holding it?"
She nodded and tightened her grip on the squirming snake-thing. It was thrashing in her hands, trying to connect with its head or its tail. Something told her that, if it did, it would burrow even deeper into her mind and she wouldn't be able to pull it out again.
Suddenly, she was clean, with a flowy summer dress covering her. Then Ae-cha was there, her presence a discordant note in an otherwise harmonious place. Angela didn't want her there and she didn't want to be there.
The lizardwoman placed her hand over the head of the snake thing and crushed it. Angela dropped to the floor of the cave and Zoric wrapped his arms around her. Ae-cha took the corpse of the snake-thing and sifted through it as it crumbled to ash.
"This one is newer than the others," she announced. "And placed deliberately to keep you from strengthening your Bond."
"What do you mean?" Angela asked, shaken.
"I mean, it was designed to make itself known when you attempted to consummate your relationship with Zoric. I don't think they expected you to do it while you were asleep."
"Are you saying that you can tell when-"
"Everybody with five working senses could tell what was going on," Ae-cha said. She sounded angry and Angela wasn't sure she could blame her.
"Get some rest, we'll talk when you wake up."
Ae-cha did something that sent Angela deeper into sleep and she was grateful for the comforting darkness that surrounded her.