Chapter 9 #2
Oh boy, was he trying to show off now that he had me?
Did this deluded asshole somehow think that I’d fall into his arms when he flexed his muscles a little?
I scoffed out loud and then quickly muffled the sound with my hand when it drew his eyes.
I wasn’t ready to draw his ire, which I knew lay just beneath the surface.
As long as he was preparing food, he wasn’t trying to harm me.
Stalling for time seemed like a very good tactic.
I rolled over in the strange nest, draping another fur around my body.
It was cold in here and water was dripping down along one wall; it added to the gloomy atmosphere.
My hand was covered in soot from the charcoal I’d ground to bits along the walls as we traveled.
It had run out before we’d gotten here, but I hoped it was enough.
To myself, I repeated, three lefts then a right. That’s what we’d done after the charcoal was gone, I needed to remember that when I tried to escape. I did not want to get lost in a maze of these dark, scary tunnels.
From the edge of the nest, I uncovered a sturdier piece of wood that fit nicely in my palm.
I gripped it, wiggling it quietly free and tucking it beneath the furs.
It wasn’t quite as long as a baseball bat, but it would work.
If that asshole started to make a move, I was going to slam him in the face as hard as I could with that thing.
He approached to offer me the first strip of broiled meat and I took it with my free hand, the other a tight fist around my hidden weapon.
I didn’t want to eat it, but if nibbling slowly on that stuff was going to give me more time, I’d do it.
I kept my eyes on him the entire time, ignoring the flavors on my tongue from the unseasoned and slightly chewy meat. A good cook, he was not.
Hovering next to the smelly nest, his eyes were locked on my face as I ate which was creepy, but at least he wasn’t touching me.
I was surprised he wasn’t moving faster than this, did he actually think to court me now that he had me all alone?
Maybe he knew that I wasn’t his mate and he wasn’t ready to face the fact that touching me would not light his sigils.
My thoughts drifted to Zsekhet. The feather with which he’d pleasured my body, the gifts he’d left for me to find.
Like the golden bangle on my wrist. That male knew how to court a girl, and I was starting to hope that we might actually have some kind of future.
Now that I knew his intense looks were because he was so into me, I couldn’t get them out of my head.
The touch of a tail on my wrist made me yelp and jerk back.
“Hell no! Don’t you fucking touch me!” I snarled, and before I could even think my actions through, I gripped my makeshift bat and slammed it into the side of his head with all my might.
Some of Kalani’s basic training filtered through my mind as I swung, adjusting my stance for the best momentum.
Blue eyes went wide in shock, a groan ripping from his throat as his head flung sideways from the force.
He swayed on his tail, a dazed look in his eyes and blood dripping from his temple beneath a lock of deep blue hair.
He snarled, probably cursing me but he did not reach out to hurt me.
Yeah, I was too precious a commodity to really harm, wasn’t I?
I rose on my feet, the furs dropping around me while I held out the bat in a two-handed grip.
“Yeah, not so soft a target this time. Am I? I’m going to fucking neuter you if you try that again.
” I meant the words, though I wasn’t sure how I’d go about it.
If any part of him approached me, I’d hit him with my weapon.
He swayed closer with a glare on his face, his hands out at his sides.
He was herding me back toward the wall, trying to take my weapon from me.
It was his tail that moved, lightning quick, it flashed up between us to curl around the bat.
I swung, hitting the tip, but he persevered and yanked.
I stumbled forward, unwilling to let go of my weapon.
The roar that filled the cavern was like an echo of the Sesethul’s calls earlier.
It rattled against the wall, followed by a flash of gold.
Zsekhet’s scales glimmered like banked fire in the light of the ancient gadget.
He tackled my abductor, and the two went rolling along the floor, their long bodies coiling together as they wrestled and fought.
I spun around from the force but the bat remained in my hands, my fingers a little numb. I clenched my fists and focused on the two warring Naga. They were moving so fast that it seemed impossible to decipher which of them had the upper hand. Was it Zsekhet or the blue asshole?
Then the fight changed. Zsekhet was on top, pinning his opponent in place with the coils of his tail.
One hand was at the center of the male’s chest, holding him down, while he raised the other fist over and over to slam it into the face of Scar’at.
I wasn’t sure if Scar’at was even moving at this point, or if Zsekhet had already killed him, but he showed no sign of letting up.
“Zsekhet!” I called out, my voice quivering a little with worry.
I hated how weak that sounded so I tried again more firmly.
He didn’t respond, lost in some kind of battle haze.
His face was drawn back into a vicious snarl and the sounds that ripped from his chest were like those of a rabid dog.
“Come on! He’s defeated. Zsekhet, let him go. ”
Nothing I said seemed to work, it was like he had completely forgotten I was even there.
I raised my bat, stalked closer, and without hesitation brought my bat down on a section of his tail.
Pretty sure that was a stupid thing to do, what if he turned that blood lust on me?
But a part of me just didn’t believe that he ever would.
This loss of control should be terrifying but it seemed to settle something inside me. He wasn’t perfect either. He was a little damaged too and I was okay with that knowledge, maybe that meant we matched.
His head shot up when my bat made contact, his golden eyes locking with mine.
In an instant, the feral expression on his face morphed into something else.
He dropped my abductor with a thud on the floor and rose over him on the base of his tail, slowly approaching me while speaking many rushed words I couldn’t understand.
His eyes roved over my body, checking me for injuries.
“I’m fine, I’m not hurt,” I said because I knew he could understand what I said.
I dropped the makeshift and slightly cracked weapon onto the floor and stood there, wondering what it was I wanted to do.
More than anything, I wanted to throw myself into his arms, but that meant touching him.
That meant I’d find out if he was my mate or not.
And if Zsekhet was my fated mate, what did that make Caleb?
He huffed, his eyes narrowing as they left my face to glare at the sprawled-out shape of the blue Naga male.
I was startled when I discovered that his eyes were open, glaring at us through an already swelling face.
So Scar’at hadn’t succumbed to that nasty beating he’d received.
Zsekhet had noticed it too, he growled, his scales rattling along his back.
Then he did that thing he’d been doing. He raised the tip of his tail, holding it out in front of me with a challenge in his eyes.
Offering me the touch to find out if we were mates, letting the choice be mine.
I stared at that curled, golden tip for a few seconds, trying to see right through it.
But I was through being scared, and didn’t they say that the third time was the charm?
I raised my eyes to his, meeting his stare head-on, and then I reached out and curled my fingers around his scales. I held my breath as I waited. Were his scales going to light up? Or was this it? The moment when I discovered that yet another good man wasn’t going to be mine?
When light started to glow along the front of Zsekhet’s body, my breathing whooshed out of me.
It was shimmering down his front and all the way to the very tip of his tail.
It was beautiful and savage, like the slashes of warpaint and feathered curls combined to form this pretty but completely unique whole. He was my mate.
Zsekhet’s eyes dropped from mine to glare at Scar’at.
“She’s not your mate, she’s mine! And you are a very sick male to think you could force her.
” He dipped down and picked up Scar’at by the front of his weapon harness, hauling him upright so they were face to face.
The menacing look on Zsekhet’s face was a little frightening and Scar’at was shaking in his grip, dimly struggling.
“What do you want me to do with him, Cosima?” he asked next, his eyes not leaving the defeated male but I could feel how the tip of his tail curled, stroking against my palm.
His attention was on me and that gentle touch let me know he knew exactly where I was.
It was nice to finally understand his words, to hear his deep, growly voice filter into my mind like he was speaking English.
It was the weirdest of experiences, to have that happen when I knew I had no translator installed.
I shrugged, my fingers pinching more tightly around the tip of his tail.
Now that we were touching and I could understand him, I did not want to let go.
“I don’t care, I just want to get out of here.
I want to feel safe.” Zsekhet looked away from Scar’at, his golden eyes settling on mine, and with a simple twist of his hand, snapped the male’s neck.
The body dropped limply to the floor but I ignored it even if it did make my stomach clench in shock. That was quick and very final.