9. Her Scent
NINE
HER SCENT
Lukys
Several days go by and she grows braver. Each time the door to her ship opens, I am already there, watching from the trees nearby. I have to stay farther away now, or she will see me move among them.
As she picks her way around the bushes that only come up to the middle of her legs, she carefully looks around, ever watchful of her surroundings. This is the farthest she has gone yet, and I am… proud of her.
Why she has begun to go outside I do not know, but perhaps it is time for her to leave her ship behind for better shelter…
I have overheard the few conversations Elena has had with the two human males. They have mentioned resources and Elena has told them about her missing sister.
Is her sister why she cries? I shake my head.
I coil my tail between the trees and the bushes, watching as Elena returns to the side of her ship and presses her hand to it. Using the large vessel as a guide, she walks along the outside of it and toward the front. At the dome, she pauses and looks around.
If she takes another step, this will be the farthest she has gone from her nest’s opening.
She takes another step and inhales deeply before walking the rest of the way forward. Losing sight of her as she rounds the dome, she continues to follow it to the other side.
I slip from my spot and move towards where I usually watch her, catching sight of her again when I finish traversing behind the trees. At the same time, she walks toward the back of her ship, ducking under her ship’s wings before making a full circle.
Before I can catch up to her, I hear the door to her ship close. My hands clench and unclench.She is taking more risks.
Shifting to return to my hiding spot, a breeze rushes past me and I am hit with an unusual smell.
My scales rise and my tail coils inward, breathing more of it in.
Light like morning dew, but layered with something richer, darker, spicier, I am enthralled by the smell.
Immediately wanting more of it, I move around the side of the ship and approach the closed door slowly. I inhale and release a low hiss.
Out in the open, I trace the grooves of the ship’s door with my claws, wondering for the first time if I have the strength to break in. I want to smell more of her. If that is her… It must be. I have not tried to catch her scent before, choosing to remain in the trees when she is out.
I dig my claws into the door’s outline and test the metal.
Mate. It is the smell of my mate.
When my nails bend in defeat, I hiss and breathe in as much of her as I can before her scent dilutes in the breeze.
Tense, I suck in and hold her essence in, reveling in it.
When it diminishes and I hear noises indicating that the human males are leaving their ship, I lower to the ground and cross the meadow, slipping into the woods.
She will be outside her ship again soon…
And I will be waiting.