Chapter 5
five
. . .
Kex
I forced myself to leave my Emily at the pool and enter the forest. I didn’t want to leave her, not because she was in any kind of danger near the pool, but because every part of my soul craved closeness with her.
I wanted her in my arms, her flesh against my flesh, my cock inside of her body.
But it was too soon. When I touched her soft flesh, squeezed her luscious breast and nipped at her neck, she responded to me so beautifully.
At that moment, I knew Monai had chosen well for me.
My Emily was my fate, and I couldn’t be more delighted to taste it.
But I had to wait. She had been through something traumatic, and though I could suspect what, I didn’t yet know the details.
Her external injuries were enough to know it wasn’t the right time, and I knew enough about trauma to understand the unseen injuries were sometimes the worst. Bathing my Emily had been the greatest experience of my life.
I felt bad for my relief on learning my mate wasn’t a slime creature and that, once clean, her skin would not continue to self-lubricate.
But the soft expanse of creamy flesh was so tempting, I wanted to take a bite, sate my hunger between her thighs, and breathe in the intoxicating scent of her arousal.
But not yet. I could be a patient hunter.
I had provided her sanitary needs, I’d provided water, and would provide shelter before nightfall, but now I needed to provide for her hunger.
I had been out hunting when I found her and had not yet eaten today.
After her ordeal, she was likely just as hungry, especially as her body worked to heal itself.
I stalked carefully through the mighty trunks of the aloon, deliberate with every step to remain silent.
With the river so close, this was certain to be a plentiful hunting ground, and in no time, I caught the soft rustle of a ninx digging for the roots of a fern.
With my spear in hand, I felled the creature swiftly.
Kneeling over the small creature, I thanked Monai for its life and moved on.
I had two more ninx, all skinned and cleaned before I returned to the pool where my Emily continued scrubbing her coverings.
The soap bar I had carried was nearly gone, but I could make more when we returned to my hut in another day or so.
I paused at the edge of the tree line. My Emily had not yet seen me, and I needed a moment to think.
Could I truly take her back to my hut and hide away for the remaining months of my sojourn?
It would be delightful for me, but it would be a hard life, and my Emily did not deserve a hard life she had not chosen.
And how could she choose when we couldn’t properly communicate?
And then there were her wounds. While thankfully shallow, the ranook bite could become infected.
I knew some of the basic healing plants, but my Emily would be safer if I took her to the village for proper care.
The village could provide my Emily many things that I and my hut could not.
Perhaps we would leave the deep forest long enough to take care of her healing and settle whatever business was needed, and then we could return to my hut for an extended mating trip. Yes, that would be delightful.
Decided, I exited the trees and returned to my mate.
She looked delighted to see me, if not a little bashful, once more covering her lovely breasts with her small hands, then she caught sight of my catch and grimaced.
Did she not eat meat? I had also found some tubers that would add a nice starch to dinner, but perhaps I should have foraged more.
I stopped next to her, and held up the cleaned ninx, then showed her the tubers.
She smiled and nodded, a gesture I was learning meant acceptance, but it did not seem genuine.
I crouched next to her, trying to think how best to communicate. “Emily, eat meat?” I asked, pointing at her, then making a chewing motion with my hand near my mouth and pointing at the ninx.
Emily nodded and gestured at her mouth, making a similar hand motion. “Eat,” she said in her language, nodding.
“Eat,” I repeated, and she kept nodding.
Then she made a gesture at the ground in front of her and lifted her fingers, wiggling them in the air near the ground, and made a motion as if warming her hands.
“Ouch!” she said comically, pulling her hands away from the imaginary space.
“Fire,” she said, wiggling her fingers in the air near the ground.
“Fire.” She pretended to hurt herself on the empty air again.
“Fire,” she said again, and pointed at the ninx, then pointed at her mouth. “Fire, eat.”
“Fire,” I repeated, and my Emily’s eyes widened and she nodded.
“Yes! Fire! Youneedtocookwhateverthefuckthatisin fire orimnotgonna eat it.”
I nodded to her, using her sign of yes, hoping I understood correctly. I believed she was asking me to cook the ninx first, but that seemed too obvious. I always intended to cook the ninx. Maybe I would start cooking it, then see if she seemed distressed about any other part of the preparation.
Setting down my hunt, I returned to the tree line and collected a few dry branches.
I didn’t have an axe on me, having only planned to be away from my hut for a short trip, but these branches were small enough I could break by hand.
Carefully, I built a fire close to the rise of the cliff with enough shelter from the falls that we would not be continually soaked all night.
Once lit, I worked on shaping a small frame for the skewered meat.
I seasoned the food as best I could with my travel supplies and glanced up at my Emily as I set it over the flame, but she was not watching, focused on scrubbing her foot covering.
A little disappointed, I buried the tubers in the embers.
Once the food was cooking, I set to work building a small nest of soft plants near the fire for a bed.
I worried over it for a short time, wondering if my Emily would resist sharing a space, or if I should build two nests, but stayed with one.
If she argued, I could make a show of making a separate nest for myself after it got dark, and perhaps she would choose to share.
With our soft space set, I returned to my project, weaving coverings for my mate, who still wasn’t watching me. While I appreciated her attempts to clean her clothes, I suspected she wouldn’t be eager to dress in wet garments in the morning, and having an alternative just in case would be prudent.
Eventually, my Emily finished up with her scrubbing, laying her garments out on a rock, and carefully came to sit across the fire from me.
She was clearly still shy about her nudity, and I longed for the words to reassure her.
She was stunning, everything I could have dreamed of and more, but I wasn’t a monster.
I would give her the time she needed to heal and accept me.
I finished a section of my weaving, then rose and slowly approached her with my offering.
She tensed, and I reached a hand down and patiently waited for her to take it.
Eventually she did, letting me help her stand, one arm clasped tightly around her breasts, barely covering the sizable globes, much to my delight.
As soon as she was on her feet, she dropped my hand and used it to cover the patch of hair at the top of her legs.
I held up my weavings to show her what I’d made, then held one against her chest.
“Ohmygoddidyoumakemeclothes?” she said, in what I hoped was an approving tone.
I set the sarong on the ground and gestured for her to raise her arms. She did so slowly.
I ignored the throb in my cock at the sight of her lovely breasts and puckered nipples and firmly wrapped the covering around her chest. I closed the weaving at the side and gestured for her to lower her arms. She did, then wiggled her arms, and did a little bounce that did wonderful things to her breasts and made it increasingly hard for me to breathe.
“Wellitmightnotstayupforeverbutitsbetterthannothing,” she said with a grin, and glanced down at the remaining piece.
I forced my lungs to expand and picked up the sarong.
It was the wrong frond to be flexible and soft against her skin, but it would hold for our journey tomorrow.
Kneeling, I wrapped my arms around my Emily, resisting the temptation to press my face against her soft middle, and pulled the sarong around her waist, fastening it securely.
I made myself stand without rubbing my body against hers, and she did a little dance and wiggle in her new clothes, grinning wildly.
I wanted to reach out and pull her into me, but instead I stood still, waiting for her judgment.
She stopped wiggling and smiled up at me, that look alone filling my chest to bursting.
“Thankyousomuch, Kex,” she said, and even if it was a curse, it made me feel like I was on top of a mountain.
She took my hand in hers, brought it to her mouth, and pressed her lips to the back of it.
Fire raced through me and my cock stirred against my covering.
I only just stopped myself from pulling her to the ground and smothering her body with mine.
Instead, I stood there, staring into her eyes as she smiled gently up at me.
I lifted my hand from hers and ran it over her cheek and down her jaw before letting it fall to my side.
A glance down at her wounds, covered in healing herbs but still raw and tender, was all I needed to force myself to step away.
I moved back to the fire, where I would clean out the gourd I’d found, and then work on scraping the furs I’d gathered from the ninx, not wanting any of the creatures to go to waste.
Life in the deep forest was always one more task that needed doing than there were hours in the day.
It could be bone-weary and exhausting, but this was what I wanted, was it not?
A hard life that made sleep come easily even if my mind didn’t allow it to be peaceful.
A life of isolation, with no responsibility except my own survival.
But even that expectation had shifted. My isolation was no longer complete, for my Emily would forever be with me.
I was not a man willing to live apart from my mate.
I had come on this sojourn to make a choice, but now, with my mate before me, that decision was infinitely more complex.