Chapter 5
Chapter Five
He settled on the stool, his knees almost touching hers. It felt so intimate, and Ellie’s anxiety rose from having him so close, though oddly enough her fear didn’t. The situation had been terrifying, but the moment he’d appeared, she’d felt… safe. Maybe it was because he’d saved her life.
Her glance slid over to the fireplace, and she shuddered, thinking about what would have happened if he hadn’t caught her.
“Before I start, maybe we could exchange names? I’m Galium, but most people call me Lium.”
She turned her attention back to him. “Galium? I’ve never met anyone named that before. Is it Latin? Greek?”
“It’s—I’m not actually sure. It’s a plant. Around here we mostly go for natural names. And your name?”
Ellie started to answer and then stopped. Should she really be telling this guy her name? He already knew more about her than she was comfortable with, including her bra size. And even though she wasn’t panicking in his presence, she couldn’t really forget about the fact that he had kidnapped her.
On the other hand, refusing to answer could cause problems. He might not be as safe as he seemed to be. Lying seemed like a fair compromise. “It’s Rose.”
His eyebrows went up. “Rose? Really? I wouldn’t have thought they’d have named you after your aunt.” There was a note of surprise in his voice, and maybe a little skepticism.
“Yeah, I—wait. You knew my aunt?” Ellie narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. Every word out of his mouth raised more questions in her mind.
“No, well, not really. I knew about her. Our community is small enough that you hear about everyone. Even the ones who disperse, but we’re getting off track.
This isn’t the best place to start the story.
” He took a deep breath. “How about I just call you Rose for now, and then, if it turns out you made a mistake”—deep blue eyes narrowed at her—“you can correct it later.”
So… not fooled then.
She shouldn’t have felt guilt over lying.
She had every reason to keep the truth from him, and she wasn’t going to admit it now, so she folded her arms over her chest and lifted her chin.
“So, about this long story? I’m really hoping some of it explains why you stole my clothes and then kidnapped me. ”
“It does.” He sighed and rolled his shoulders. “I’m just not sure where to start. I have a feeling you don’t even know the basics, and if I start there, we’ll be at this for hours.”
Ellie stared at him. None of it made sense. What basics? What was she supposed to know? An inarticulate growl of frustration filled her throat, and then, “Just tell me!” burst from her.
“You’re cute when you’re annoyed,” he said, as his mouth curved into a slight smirk.
She was still trying to decide if she was mad about being called cute, when he began to tell her the weirdest story she’d ever heard.
It fully topped the most insane mystery gang cartoons and there wasn’t even a dog involved.
All she could do was stare as he talked, and he didn’t get very far before she realized he was absolutely insane.
He had to be, and accepting that had her shifting a little further away from him. She shook her head and cut him off in mid-word. “You’re trying to tell me you’re some kind of cryptid who lives in the woods? Like… what… Bigfoot?”
He cleared his throat and blew out a long breath.
“Mothman actually. Listen, Rose, I know it sounds crazy. I normally would never have brought you here this soon. I always meant for you to learn the story slowly, over time, so that you could adjust. To be honest, you startled me and my instincts kicked in.”
“Instincts?” she repeated in a faint voice.
“Shining a bright light in my face tends to have unpredictable results. Besides, I could tell that what you saw was… scary. I didn’t know how you’d react.” He settled a hand on her knee. “Please, just listen, okay?”
As if she had a choice, trapped in a room with a crazy dude who thought he was Mothman. She’d just have to pretend. “Okay.”
“I assume you’ve heard the stories, right? I mean you can’t live around here without hearing them.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. The billboard on the highway announcing the Mothman museum had caught her attention before she’d even made it into town.
Then she’d been thoroughly filled in on the legends by her nosy neighbor on the second day.
“Yes. I drove over to Point Pleasant one weekend after I moved here. Just to check it out. Nice uh, statue.”
His mouth twisted. “Yeah, it’s popular, but that’s not me. I mean the story everything is built around wasn’t me. Before my time.”
‘So not a senior citizen then?” Despite the situation, she couldn’t help smirking.
“Not even close. I’m probably not much older than you, Rose.” Every time he said the name, there was a tone to it, making it clear he knew it wasn’t hers.
“What you need to realize is that the whole Mothman cryptid thing is based on a misunderstanding. Confused kids telling stories about things they couldn’t comprehend—but there are much older stories, and those are based on, well, us. My people. We’ve been living in hiding for centuries.”
She was going to have to play along. “How is that possible? I didn’t think there were any unexplored places left. How could an entire group of… people hide from the world? Especially if you look like giant moths?”
“You’d be surprised at how many secrets are hidden here in the Appalachian Mountains. There are still places here that no human has ever been, or could even get to. Besides, do I look like a big moth right now?”
He didn’t, which was a major plot hole. Now that he’d brought up Mothman though, she realized why the red eyes had seemed familiar. The museum had been full of artistic imaginings of Mothman, and many of them had the same round red eyes.
“No. You look like a male model, pretending to be a lumberjack.” She hadn’t meant to say it like that, like she found him sexy. Wincing, she tried to correct herself, “I mean, you look like a regular man.”
“The key phrase here is ‘look like’.” He started to say something, stopped, took a deep breath, and tried again. “My people are like humans in most ways. I guess we are human when it comes down to it, at least, close enough to interbreed.”
Her heart lurched in her chest. “Interbreed?” Did that mean… had he brought her here to…
“Yes. We are a divergent human strain that is close enough to mate, but even though we’re evolutionarily very close, our people have some characteristics that are… well, unusual.”
“Like the red eyes?”
“Yes, and wings, and there are a few other physical things that are different.” He waved that off with a hand gesture.
“But we have an ability to camouflage. Like moths, we can blend into our surroundings, but the ability is a lot more pronounced in us. When we’re around humans we tend to appear human.
Often, we are hidden in plain sight, and no one knows we’re anything different.
I’ve even been to the Mothman museum, and I assure you no one noticed a thing. ”
“But in the yard… I saw—”
“Ah, so… there are certain circumstances that tend to break through the illusion. I assume you were scared? Your heart was racing when you heard the noise?”
“Yes.” The tin cans clattering, the sight of a hulking shadow by the clothesline—of course she’d been terrified.
“Adrenaline can push your senses into the heightened range, and allow you to see past our camouflage. And once you’ve seen what’s behind the mask, well, it’s easier to see it again.”
Ellie thought about it for a second, trying to decide if any of this sounded plausible. “That’s why you told me not to freak out?”
“Yeah, I wasn’t sure what you’d see when you looked at me.”
“So I see you as human, but you really look like—like that? Like a moth?”
“Not exactly like a moth, but yes, and not exactly like that statue either.” He snorted and shook his head. “Some liberties were taken on that thing.”
“I guess I won’t need to find some quarters then.” The moment the words left her mouth, she couldn’t believe she’d said it. She’d have taken them back if she could have, but it was too late.
His brows dipped down, and his mouth thinned. “Rude.”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “You kidnapped me, and you’re telling me the most unbelievable fairy tale ever, so I think I get to make the occasional joke.”
A laugh burst from him. “Fair enough, Rose. You’re right, you deserve some leeway, but if you try sticking quarters in the crack of my ass, we’re going to have a discussion.”
A discussion? Why did that sound like a threat? Not that she’d actually planned on getting close to his ass, with quarters or without, but for some reason, the way he’d said it made her curious to find out what would happen if she did.
She hastily changed the subject. “Okay, what about my laundry? And this?” She lifted one corner of the quilt and waved it at him. “You made it out of my clothes, didn’t you?”
“I’ll get to that. This is going to go faster if you let me tell—”
“No, listen, It’s a great story. I love a good cryptid legend as much as anyone, but I want to know about the real stuff. You keep—”
“Ellie.”
“What? It’s… wait.” Her mouth snapped shut and her eyes narrowed as she stared at him for a long moment. “You-you knew my name the whole time?”
“Of course I did.”
“Then why did you even ask?”
“Because we were introducing ourselves. It seemed polite.”
She could feel heat rising up her neck to color her face. It felt like he’d tricked her. “There’s nothing wrong with me lying to a stranger. Especially a man who kidnapped me.” There was a snap in her tone.
“I’m not going to argue that. Though… I’m hoping you will feel comfortable being honest with me once you understand the whole story.” He had a kind voice. It was oddly deep, but there was a deliberate softness there, and she could tell he was making an effort to be patient with her.
“Fine. I guess you might as well call me Ellie then.” She was aware that she sounded pouty, but she couldn’t really help it.
“Thank you, Ellie.” He offered her a slight smile. “And I understand you want those questions answered, but the problem is you aren’t going to understand the answers until you believe the ‘fairy tale’ I’m telling you. I’ll try to sum it all up, okay?”
She hesitated and then jerked her head in a quick nod.
“As I said, my people have been here for a long time. I can’t tell you how we first evolved, or where we originally came from.
A lot of our history has been lost. This is what I do know,” He paused, as if making sure she was ready to hear it, and then continued, “We can interbreed with humans successfully. The children are either like us, or completely human in appearance.”
“Just in appearance?”
“I’m not really qualified to get deep into the science stuff. There are people who can answer more thoroughly, but yes, they look human. They don’t have our physical features, but they’re still crossbreeds so they aren’t entirely human.”
Ellie, with her degree in biology, knew that. You couldn’t have an offspring that received DNA from only one parent. Not outside of a lab anyway. It just wasn’t how genetics worked. “I get that, what I mean is… you specified appearance for a reason. So, what are the differences?”
He hesitated. “Well, there’s—” He stopped and shifted on the stool. “It’s a little complicated, and it has to do with mating.”
“Mating, interbreeding—” She snorted and shook her head. “Like barn animals? Don’t you have relationships? Date? Get married? Is sex all you care about?”
“Mating isn’t about having sex!” He sounded almost insulted when the words burst from him, but a second later his tone was calm.
“Not just about sex anyway, obviously that’s part of it too, but it’s more than that.
It’s more like a soulmate thing. Mating is when you find the person who is meant to be yours, and you bond with them permanently. ”
She couldn’t help laughing. “Oh god… this isn’t one of those mate bond Alpha bullshit story lines, is it? Because I went through a phase where I read a ton of those books and—”
“Ellie.”
“It is! C’mon Lium, if you’re going to make up a story at least—”
He cut her off smoothly by grabbing her by the hips and dragging her forward so he could plant his mouth on hers. Whatever she was going to say was lost as a giddy rush of pure bliss rolled through her body and set every nerve on fire.
She’d been kissed before. She was no teenage virgin, but she’d never been kissed like this.
It was as though there was a straight line through her body, from the place where their lips met, to her clit, which pulsed hard in response.
Her skin felt suddenly tight and the nearly invisible hairs on her arms prickled as they stood to attention.
It felt like they were on the cusp of something momentous.
She wanted to pull back, to break the connection before it was too late, but her body refused to obey.
Instead she leaned in, mouth opening, tongue seeking his.
Ellie, who normally didn’t even kiss on the first date, felt like she’d die if she didn’t get more of him.
Despite his crazy stories, her stolen laundry, and her own kidnapping, her hands were pulling at his shirt to draw him closer.
The physical response she could have handled, but it was the visceral reaction that controlled her.
She had never felt so protected and desired in her entire life, though she had no idea why he had raised those feelings in her.
She barely knew him, and what she did know should have sent her screaming. Yet…