Chapter 4 #2
As we pass the large double doors, I crane my neck to peek inside.
The barn-sized building is packed tight with dozens of species.
A brontosaurus leans their long neck in through a window to sip from a bucket-sized tankard, while long tables are hip-to-hip with human patrons.
I spot a couple of stegosauruses and triceratops lined up at the bar drinking through straws, while tiny microraptors sit between the spikes on their backs and sip from shot glasses.
A parasaurolophus draped in a tasseled shawl croons a haunting melody.
Up in the rafters, a flight of pterosaurs gnaw on a plate of what are hopefully plain old non-sentient chicken legs.
(Eudora has informed me in no uncertain terms that it is extremely insulting to suggest that this might constitute cannibalism.)
This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I pictured taking Minerva out. I was thinking a table to ourselves, dim light, a drink or three, and then…
“Looks a little busy tonight,” Minerva calls over the noise of the crowd.
“Yeah.” I grimace. “On second thought, shall we go somewhere else?”
“I know just the place,” says Minerva.
Exactly what a traveler loves to hear from a local. I smile. “Lead the way!”
She waves me toward a side street. Trotting to keep up with her powerful stride, I follow her down side streets and narrow alleys until we arrive in a lovely wooded park with gravel-lined paths.
“If we hurry, we can catch the tail end of the sunset!” she urges.
I break into a jog, just about keeping pace with the tail she holds high and steady behind her.
The footpath winds through a grove of trees, passing a large open-air gymnasium field scattered with weights and exercise toys for dinosaurs of various body shapes and sizes.
Finally, the path ends in a circular track around what’s either a large pond or a small lake.
There are a handful of people enjoying the sunset’s reflection on the water. Mostly couples, I notice, watching two humans interlock their hands, and a woman loop her arm around a triceratops’ neck.
“I come here a lot during the warm season,” Minerva murmurs, folding her legs into a roosting posture on the lakeshore. I sit next to her, close but not quite touching. “At lunch hour, it’s much more crowded. Children everywhere. At night, though…it gets so beautifully quiet.”
“Is it safe to be here in the dark?” I ask. “No cave corals to light our way.”
Minerva chuckles low in her throat. “I’ve never worried about my own safety—I’m the most dangerous thing here.” She tilts her head, her eye twinkling at me. “Who better to find their way in the forest at night than a crepuscular hunter?”
My heartbeat quickens. There’s a little thrill of fear, chased with excitement. “Am I safe?”
She pauses before replying, “I’m hurt that you have to ask.”
“What if I don’t want to be safe?” I whisper, leaning closer.
I repeat the preening touch I gave her earlier, sliding my clawed fingers through the feathers fanning from her arm.
“What if I want this crepuscular hunter to catch me? To…” I drop my voice and lean close to the downy feathers that protect her earholes. “Eat me?”
She pauses so long that I think I might’ve finally overstepped and ruined everything. Then she murmurs, “Don’t flirt with me unless you mean it.”
“Of course I—”
“I don’t just mean finding me attractive,” she says, her words tripping over each other. “I mean…”
“Feelings,” I finish, when Minerva trails off. I place my hand on her cheek, fingers trailing trustingly close to sharp-toothed jaws, and turn her face so that she’s forced to meet my gaze. “You mean feelings.”
Closing my eyes, I press a lingering close-mouthed kiss to the tip of her snout.
I feel Minerva go utterly still. When I open my eyes, she’s staring at me with a wretchedly hopeful expression.
“I can’t be other than I am,” I whisper, leaning my forehead against the side of her face.
“I hate the city, and Cassian and Eudora are out there waiting for me. But I don’t want to walk away and never see you again.
” Raising my head, I smirk at her. “You’re a bossy, persnickety, maddening raptrix, but to be honest, I’m even worse.
I’ve no doubt you’ll tire of me. But until you do, I promise to come visit for at least a few days out of the month.
Because you, Minerva Deftclaw, are the sort of woman one rearranges her life for. ”
Softly, Minerva reaches out. Her claws hook in the tie at the end of my braid, pulling it off.
Working from the bottom, she preens my braid until my hair hangs loose, at which point she pulls me close and rakes both hands through the long, thick, dark mass that I’m far too vain to cut.
Her nostrils flare as she scents my scalp.
I dig my fingers into the soft, downy feathers that line her neck and chest. Then I lean forward and bury my face in it, inhaling her scent in return. She smells of ink and dust and the wild tang of rainstorms in summer.
The sun has dipped all the way below the horizon, and the last stragglers begin to wander away. We’re nearly alone, but Minerva still rises to her feet and pulls me with her.
“We can go back to my place,” I murmur, still nuzzling her neck. “The inn’s not the most private, but—”
“I have a better idea,” Minerva says. Her voice is a low rasp that sets my skin tingling. “You said you don’t mind a little danger, yes?”
“Mm-hmm…”
Her lips, her teeth, are so close to my ear that I can feel the huff of her breath.
“My people are hunters. This holds true for our mating rituals as well. When we claim someone…we like to make a game of catching them first.” She chuckles low in her throat.
“In a traditional pairing, a raptor chases, and a raptrix flees. But I’ve never been very traditional. ”
My heart thuds faster. Gods, I’ve never been so aroused in my life. “Are you telling me to run?” I manage to ask.
“I’m telling you that if I catch you—” Minerva drops her voice very low, the barest hiss of a whisper. “I’ll eat you.”
“Not if I eat you first.” I dart in close and bite her on the side of the neck, just very lightly. In my admittedly limited experience with dinosaur women, that move always sends them feral.
Minerva is no exception. Her head drops low, her body gathering into a coiled bundle ready to spring. I let out a taunting laugh, stepping a few paces away from her, though my body clamors to keep touching…
And I run.