Chapter 8
Zeidon
Farah was still sleeping in my nest, curled beneath a pile of thick furs to ward off the early morning chill.
The fire had gone out during the night after I’d safely banked the coals, and with the Arazal male back in the wild, that meant it was far colder.
She needed more clothes come winter, too, and I needed bigger food stores if we were to stay here.
My thoughts whirled with all the things I needed to do to help us survive the coming winter in this cave.
I tried to get started by making breakfast and tidying up, the Arazal’s pen needed to be dismantled and cleaned.
As I was lugging soiled straw in a basket outside, the thought struck me that I should hunt for meat.
A big, juicy Vakarsa steak would help my mate regain her strength.
If I swam, it wouldn’t take me more than a few hours to reach a clearing I knew they frequented.
She was awake when I returned with the basket, now filled to the brim with firewood I intended to store along one interior wall of the tunnel.
“Morning, Zeidon,” she said as soon as I curled my tail around her ankle.
During her long slumber, she had gotten thinner but after only a week of being awake, she was starting to fill out a little; the roundness of her cheeks coming back.
Last night, after she’d let me experience more of that ‘kiss’, I had curled up around her in the nest. I wanted to pleasure her more between her soft thighs as I had on the shore of the lake, but I restrained my urges this time.
She was too tired, I had exhausted her, and that panic attack worried me.
She’d let me hold her all night long, where I knew she was safe and warm.
It was the best sleep I had in months, and I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure she’d let me into the nest again tonight.
I offered her the bowl of sweetened grain stew I’d made her, filled with nuts and Exar berries to make it more to her liking.
As she dug into the food with a pleased smile, I settled down next to the fire, as close to her side as possible without actually slithering into the nest with her.
“I am going hunting,” I said to her, my mind made up that Varkasa meat was what she needed now.
She paused with the spoon halfway to her mouth, her dark brown curls tousled around her shoulders in the most adorable fashion.
“You are? How long will you be gone?” she asked.
She tilted her head and glanced over my shoulder in the direction of the now mostly empty animal pens.
I flicked out my tongue to test her scent when I thought I detected the mildest hint of unease on her features. Nothing, I had to be mistaken.
“All day, but I will bring you the tastiest evening meal, Farah,” I assured her.
Then I indicated the by-now dried dress she had made for herself.
“There are more fabrics there.” I pulled a basket free from one of my shelves to show her and she exclaimed happily.
The orange fabric had been bold and exciting, it had looked beautiful with the tan her skin carried, but there were many more swatches of color in the basket.
She held up a blue piece with a smile and I nodded, it made me think of my hair against her skin and I liked that idea very much.
“Alright, I’ll keep myself occupied with these.
You don’t mind if I use some of this?” Mind?
I had collected these fabrics for my mate, keeping the best ones for myself while I traded the rest. It was not technically something we should do, but I knew each Water Weaver male had his own hoard of things to woo a female with should he ever have the chance.
I shook my head and she smiled again, then started to whistle cheerfully while pulling more and more fabrics from the basket.
“I will try to make pants next, and a tunic shirt,” she mused out loud.
I listened for a while as I prepared for my hunt, enjoying her happy chatter.
It brought so much life to the cave, her presence.
It did exactly what I always dreamed a mate would do, it filled a void inside of me; it fulfilled my desire for company.
She paused what she was doing when she saw me tuck the baby Ayala into a clean and empty satchel.
“You’re not going to use those as bait, are you?
” she said sharply, her voice rising. The purple Sleara made an angry chittering noise in response, regaling me with a warning glare and raised spikes along his back.
He was perched on the edge of my nest at her side, his wing brushing her arm possessively.
I laughed, the sound still strange to my own ears.
I rarely laughed, not out loud. Maybe when I was sharing my campfire with other hunters, which was almost never.
“No. They go to an Ayala mom with an empty nest.” I’d checked on the female’s location again early this morning when I went out with the straw.
She was still desolate and still unwilling to go far from her burrow.
“Oh, good. I’ll miss them even if they take a lot of work…
” Farah said, leaning closer as if she intended to peer into the bag with the six wiggling babies.
I dipped lower and held open the top of the bag so she could see.
Their stripes were darkening and their pelt growing, but they still lacked the spines on their rump.
Srazz raised himself on his hind legs from her other side and leaned closer, sniffing the air while he mimicked my mate’s posture and looked into the bag too.
He was not very interested in little babies, not even those of his own species, but he liked to do whatever Farah did—the little traitor.
It was going to be a small miracle if he decided to come with me for the hunt.
I was ready to go, but I lingered a little longer in the doorway while I struggled to make my tail release from around Farah’s ankle.
She was perfectly safe in this cave, predators would not enter, nor would any other Naga.
She had food and water, I’d set it out for her and she’d already assured me she knew how to heat things if she wanted to. So why was it hard to go?
She still did not look quite steady when she got up and walked to my side.
Such a tiny creature on her slender legs, it seemed so impractical to use two of them instead of a tail or four legs.
Then she was next to me and reached up with her hand.
I ducked so she could put it against the side of my face.
Her skin was warm and so very soft, I liked it when she touched me.
I hoped she would offer me another of those sinful kisses.
She did, just a quick brush and then she turned away. That wasn’t good enough.
With an impatient growl, I snatched her back, my hand tilting her chin up so I could slick my tongue into her mouth.
She tasted so good that I couldn’t get enough of her.
A taste uniquely hers combined with the sweet flavors from the morning stew.
Her small hands landed against my chest. The bundle of Ayala babies squirmed against my hips, but all I could focus on was how delicious she was.
How pleased I was that she had shown me this kind of touching.
I was the luckiest male to have gained her permission to do this.
She moaned, the sound like music to my ears.
Her scent became stronger, telling me of her heat and desire, and it became next to impossible to untangle myself from around her.
I did not want to leave. Then she laughed, her hand on my chest changing to push against me, “Go, Zeidon. Or you’ll never leave and that poor mama is never going to have a nest with babies. ”
To emphasize her words, the Ayala babies in my satchel squealed.
From the scent of things, one of them had peed too, which definitely made it time to get them where they needed to go.
I had wrapped part of my tail around my mate’s legs, a coil raised to push against her soft rear to raise her toward me.
Unwinding those loops took a moment and I savored the sensations of my scales sliding along her soft skin.
“Don’t leave the cave,” I warned her, my voice gruffer than I meant it to be.
“You’re safe in here. Don’t leave.” When she rolled a shoulder and nodded I turned away and forced myself to get moving.
My senses tuned to her movements behind me.
Was she steady enough as she walked back to the nest? Did she have enough water? Food?
She was fine. Farah was strong and she was brave, she would be alright for a day without me.
There was nothing in the ancestral cave that could harm her and she had Buzz to keep her company.
That made me pause and I tilted my head just enough to look over my shoulder without risking a look at my female.
“Are you coming, Srazz?” I held my breath as I waited a few heartbeats.
Was my companion going to follow me out, or would he choose to stay with my mate?
I did not hear the sound of his claws on the stone after a moment, so I heaved a breath and continued on my way. Fine, Srazz could keep her company too, she’d like that. I did not need him for a hunt anyway, and he would dislike the long swim, even if I would keep him dry.
Then I heard the sound of my female’s melodic voice, followed by the pitter-patter of Srazz’s paws.
There he was, huffing as he caught up with me, his spines raised along his back and rump in discontent.
I paused so he could catch up, and then I endured the bite of his claws against my scales when he climbed to his favorite perch on my shoulder.
“Glad to have you, buddy,” I said when he was settled. He chirped when I scratched him behind his small round ears. Then he raised his snout to nip with his large yellow front teeth at the pad of my thumb. “Fine, I’m going.”
***
Farah
I stared after the disappearing black and white striped ball of fur.
This wasn’t what I’d expected my day to look like when I woke up this morning; not after the kissing, the marvelous cuddling, and other things we’d been up to yesterday.
I wanted to pretend that I hadn’t had a panic attack in the water yesterday, and I wanted to forget about all the things I missed from home.
Without Zeidon there to form the perfect, handsome distraction, this feeling of unease started to fill me.
Dread coiled in my stomach, my skin broke out in goosebumps, and the fine hairs on the back of my neck raised.
Was there someone watching me right now?
That’s what it had felt like a few days ago, I had all but forgotten about that little incident.
Buzz was still casually washing himself with his long split tongue.
He looked completely unbothered by anything as he focused his efforts on this spot between the toes of one of his hind legs.
The sight of such cat-like behavior was soothing and I shook myself out of the strange mood.
Fine, there was nothing there; it was all in my head. This time.
I forced myself to forget about Zeidon, weird feelings, and how alone it felt to be left behind.
There were more important things to do now that I was starting to feel a little better.
My limbs still felt heavy, and the meal had left me a little nauseated today, but I wasn’t sleepy.
Which meant I should make more clothes for myself, including underpants.
Something I should definitely do now that Zeidon wasn’t watching.
I was no star seamstress but I’d had some lessons from my mom when growing up.
I remembered the basics of certain patterns so I set out to measure and cut what I needed.
The basket with bone needles and sewing thread was far cruder than what I was used to working with, but I’d make do.
Blue pants and tunic first, then I’d cut panties out of the leftover fabric.
With a firm plan in mind, I got to work. My pace was dictated by the frequent rest I was forced to take when my limbs grew too heavy and fatigued to do more. My mind wandered as I worked, and Buzz fluttered around the room or slept at my side.
What was Zeidon doing right now? That last kiss before he left, whew!
I had never been kissed as eagerly or possessively as he had done, my body went warm just thinking about it.
I didn’t know I liked it so much when someone gripped the back of my neck so firmly to hold me in place, but I really did.
Buzz suddenly lifted his head from his paws, his nose going up in the air as he sniffed. Fear skittered down my spine that I couldn’t explain. Did he hear something? Smell something?