Chapter 11 #2
I woke up warm, my head pillowed on a slowly rising and falling shoulder.
My arms were trapped between my body and Krashe’s, one of his arms a heavy weight across my waist. I wasn’t used to getting this many cuddles but I really wanted to; I liked waking up like this.
If not for the burning need to go I would probably want to stay there for as long as I could.
Yesterday morning, Krashe had been gone before I woke up.
Wriggling out of his grip was hard, especially because it turned out he’d wrapped several loops of his tail around my legs.
My feet were warm to the touch when I pulled them free, which was a nice change from normal.
The blood flow wasn’t the greatest in my legs and feet because I couldn’t move them; they were always cold.
Kiwi was curled up near the exit of the tiny tent we were in.
He lifted his head when I scooted myself through the flap, cracking the biggest of yawns.
When I crawled over the rocky terrain outside in the pre-dawn light, he followed sleepily.
Then he scuttled off into some nearby bushes, tail wagging.
Fine, that gave me some privacy to quickly take care of business.
When I was done, I tossed some dirt over the mess and then located a nearby clean-looking patch of sand to rub my skin clean with.
Then the gurgle of water caught my attention and I couldn’t resist the temptation.
I carefully picked my way over the gray rock, scooting along the ground that looked the flattest and least covered with pointy pebbles and edges.
A small pool of clear water had gathered, a natural spring.
I cupped my hands and shivered at how damn cold it was, drinking a few quick sips and daring to quickly wash up.
I was shaking, my teeth clattering together when I was done but I felt much better now that I was clean.
I crawled back to the tent, just in time to catch Kiwi’s proud return, some small feathered thing in his maw that he was still trying to swallow.
“No,” I said when he tried to follow me inside, tiny feathers drifting down around me.
“You can come in when you’ve finished eating, buddy.
” His ears perked toward me then dropped and he settled down on his belly to finish the rest of his meal.
I ducked into the tent, relieved I wouldn’t have to clean up blood and feathers.
Krashe’s deep red eyes glowed in the dark interior of the tent, proof that he was wide awake.
He just lifted the furs and then pulled me close so I could warm up again, not a word uttered, his expression grumpy and sleepy.
Despite rising early yesterday, he was a total sleepyhead this morning.
I appreciated that he’d woken but not followed me out, it felt nice that he wasn’t hovering, thinking that he needed to do everything for me when I could take care of myself.
“Your nose is cold,” he muttered when I pressed it to his chest and let out a deep, content sigh.
I had to giggle at the grumpy tones when his body language said something else, his arms pulling me closer, his tail winding around me.
I was toasty warm in seconds and the way he was always so eager to hold me felt good too, like my disability didn’t matter to him.
Except it did, I realized with a shiver of cold dread.
He was taking me someplace where he could ‘fix’ my spinal injury.
I’d been wondering about my Warlord’s motivations from day one, and our rushed escape from his home had made me feel like I could finally put those worries to rest. Nothing said you could trust a man quite like leaving and betraying his whole Clan did, just to keep me safe.
But while the idea of being able to walk again someday was a dream that made my own breath stall, just from how badly I wanted that, the thought that Krashe wanted to fix me because he thought I wasn’t good enough was painful.
I was probably leaping to all kinds of wrong conclusions but I couldn’t shake the feeling.
I told myself that if I could help a loved one walk again, I’d do so in a heartbeat too, this was no different.
Then I recalled how Krashe had talked of his own Clan tossing me out even if I were Naga because of my paralysis.
I’d been sleepy last night, and crashing after all the excitement from before, I struggled to recall if he thought that was a good thing or a bad thing now.
I must have communicated some of my internal struggles by tensing up because Krashe shifted, his head dipping down to press his face against the crown of my hair.
“What is wrong, my mate?” he murmured, his voice still groggy from sleep.
Nope, he was not a morning person, or maybe he was just really tired.
I couldn’t help but find that cute. The tip of his tail curled over my hip, snuck up along my belly between my breasts, and then nudged my chin upward so I was forced to look him in the eye.
As soon as I saw his face I knew he was well aware he was grabbing the excuse to cop a feel with his tail.
There was a mixture of curiosity and a hint of smugness in his wine-red eyes.
They became more serious, and more alert when he saw my face.
“Tell me, Naaah-ohmi,” he insisted, drawing out my name when he did his best to pronounce it correctly.
“You’re not…” I started but then bit my lip, struggling to figure out how to say this in the nicest way, after all he’d done for me, and there was no denying at this point that it had been a lot.
From giving up his Clan and his mission to save them, to his home, his things, and basically everything he knew.
Turning his back on hatred for outsiders, for strangers, and even on some of his distrust for technology.
But this was the braver, better me, the one that had faced down death so often that she wasn’t going to live life with regrets ever again.
“Look, I just want to make sure you’re not trying to fix my legs because you think I’m not good enough.
” As I said it, I still vividly recalled how he’d spoken of me to his Queen.
Abomination, disfigured, a threat to the Queen.
Not to be trusted. He’d said all of that very convincingly, and it still lingered in my mind.
“An abomination, something your Clan would cast out even if I were one of you…” My breathing hitched embarrassingly on the last words.
I’d felt cast out in my own world back on Earth.
Unable to afford the treatments that would help me walk again, unable to work any jobs due to discrimination and lack of accessibility.
Watching my brother and parents slave away while the best I was allowed to offer was to clean the apartment and cook their meals.
“Are you finished?” Krashe demanded and when I nodded his fingers reached up to curl them in my long, and by now rather tangled hair.
His grip was tight, bordering just on the edge of pain and I started to pull away until I saw the heated look in his eyes.
“You do not get to say those things. Ever. You are Naah-ohmi, my mate, and you are everything I didn’t know I wanted.
Swear it,” he hissed the last words in a drawl that sounded downright threatening and sinister.
“You will never say such things about yourself. You are perfect. You are beautiful, and you are brave!”
I had goosebumps all over, and my nipples tightened into hard peaks in response to his words and the intensity of his voice and look.
My whole chest felt like it was about to burst from all the feelings inside me.
The only thing that would have made this even more over the top was if he’d declared his undying love on top of it.
This was almost the same thing and my mouth had gone dry, my mind struggling to grasp how someone could feel this strongly about me.
“Swear it, Nomy!” he said, his grip on my hair shaking as if he was fighting to contain his own flood of intense feelings.
I opened my mouth instantly, ready to say anything he wanted.
Then it felt like a little imp got hold of me.
Maybe that was because all that badass fierceness was disguising so many tender, sweet words.
Just a little pull and he freed his hand from my hair, and then I was leaning up and caught his mouth with mine.
I wouldn’t say I was the one with much experience when it came to kissing.
My last real kiss had been during a date a few days before my accident when I was fifteen, but nothing since then.
My friends had faded away while I’d been in the hospital and later, when I couldn’t afford to join them at college or comfortably fit into their lives anymore.
I hadn’t dated even once since my wheelchair.
But Krashe… It was instantly clear to me that he’d never done this before.
I’d caught him by surprise but he didn’t know what I was doing, freezing in place at first and then just letting me do what I wanted without responding.
I pecked him sorta chastely a second time, then raised my head to meet his eyes. “Okay, I swear.”
He narrowed his ruby eyes at me, his scaly, ridged brows lowering as he tried to figure out what had just happened.
“That was a kiss,” I told him. “It’s a thing we humans like to do…
” I smiled, still feeling all full and light and warm.
A bit like champagne bubbles were busting inside my belly.
Krashe was sweet, and I was an idiot for even doubting that.
Well, maybe not an idiot, he had the meanest resting face, and the baddest of reputations after all.
“I see,” he said, but it was very clear that he did not in fact see anything.
He wasn’t sure at all about that kiss, which meant I really needed to brush up on my kissing skills.
I didn’t let that thought deflate my happy feeling.
If I was really Krashe’s mate, and I was starting to believe that, we’d figure it out together.
I wasn’t even all that surprised that he didn’t know what kissing was, with how harsh and hostile his whole Clan seemed, something as sweet and soft as a simple kiss was obviously beyond them.
“Thank you, Krashe. I know I’ve made your life very difficult, I’ve caused so many changes.
I know that’s not easy.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to repay him or what our lives were going to be like in the future.
Were we going to locate those blue Naga and the other humans and live with them?
Was it just going to be the two of us? I didn’t know anything except that I was pretty sure I’d have him by my side.
I wanted to giggle at the thought that it was hard to ‘wrap’ my head around that kind of loyalty, decided in an instant, just because the marks on his body lit up.
I wanted to bask in that kind of thinking too, I mean, wasn’t that what every girl secretly dreamed of? A fated mate?
His eyes shuttered a little when he lowered his long, black lashes over his wine-red orbs.
His lips parted so his tongue could slip out, the split tip flicking through the air like a snake might.
Tasting the scents that filled it and drawing them back into his mouth to analyze.
“I am strong, I can handle it,” he said.
“Strong like you are here,” his tail curled down to tap against my sternum, just above my breasts.
Pleasure shivered through me at the compliment and I wanted to kiss him again so I did.
Leaning up, my hands pressed to his shoulders for leverage.
He wasn’t as accommodating as last time, refusing to lean in so I could reach him.
I had to get up on my elbows and press my chest against his, wedging the pointed tip of his tail between us.
When my lips pressed against his bottom lip, he surprised me by opening his mouth, his tongue flicking out.
I gasped, drawing him in and then Krashe groaned heavily beneath me, his entire body growing taut.
“Yesss, let me taste you,” he said. My world turned upside down in an instant as he rolled me, pressing me down into the furs, pinning me in place while he focused on licking the inside of my mouth, tangling his long, agile tongue with mine.
That’s when I learned that kissing could be a very flexible concept, and I liked each version Krashe was testing out.