27. Clarity
TWENTY-SEVEN
CLARITY
Elena
I grab the lantern from the table, then dash into the passageway after Lukys.
“The naga!” Levy yells. “Lukys, where is Elena!?”
“Levy!” Greg shouts. “Watch out!”
The sound of scuffling comes from inside the next cavern. The space brightens to reveal Greg rising from the ground on the other side of the firepit and Levy pinned to the cave wall behind him by Lukys’s hand.
Lukys’s hand squeezes, and the hides covering the wall behind Levy wrinkle. “You dare enter my home?”
“Lukys! Stop! Release him!” I run past Greg to grip Lukys’s arm. “They’re just here to help me, to make sure I’m okay!”
“You screamed.” Greg coughs behind me, and I turn to find him pulling his gun forward.
I jolt towards him. “Stop! Don’t. I’m fine! Do you see me? I’m fine.”
Am I though?
Still feeling the aftereffects of my orgasm, and feverish despite the cave’s chilly air, all I can think about is Lukys and it’s making me weak.
“Let me go!” Levy calls out, and I turn to see him kicking his legs at Lukys’s tail.
“You don’t look fine,” Greg says behind me.
The next second, Lukys is beside me. He grabs Greg’s shirt before pushing him away. “Do not touch her.”
Levy tumbles to the ground with a gasp as Greg raises his hands in submission. “Fine, I won’t.”
I grab hold of Lukys’s arm before he can attack them again. “Enough. All of you! I’m fine. Please stop being murderous and crazy. Seriously.”
“We heard you scream,” Levy accuses, and I pull away from Lukys.
Facing Levy, I watch as he wipes his hands on his jeans.
“We couldn’t find you around your ship and it was open, just like last time.
We were searching for you up the mountain when we heard your scream.
” He tilts his head at Lukys. “We came running.”
“I’m sorry.” I shake my head. “I went searching for Lukys and ended up finding him…” I wrench my eyes closed then reopen them, trying to focus on the conversation. “I should have told you before I left.”
“One of us would have come with you,” Greg says.
“Enough!” Lukys shouts. “Leave my cave before I kill you both. I am tired of thissss.”
Stunned, I squint at Lukys. Would he really kill them?
“She’s fine.” Levy angrily backs away and spits, walking toward Greg as he rubs his neck. “She clearly doesn’t need our help. She has his.” He glowers, looking at me and Lukys with disgust, his eyes dropping to Lukys’s bulge before turning away. “It reeks of sex in here.”
I straighten, embarrassment washing over me. Flicking my eyes to Greg, he stares back with a blank expression before facing Levy. Shifting his gaze to me once more, he sighs. “Are you sure you’re okay Elena?”
I shift on my feet, unnerved how horny I still am despite everything. “I’m okay.”
“She is fine,” Lukys snaps. “Leave!”
Levy storms into the darkness.
“If you’re sure…”
I nod.
Greg hesitates before following him with a heavy shrug.
“I should go with them…” I drop my hand from Lukys’s arm and move away.
His tailtip circles my ankle, stopping me. “Stay. We are not done. Far from it, in fact. I want to bury my tongue into your source again and taste you while you quiver around it.”
My face heats. I… want to—but I shudder instead. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“If you are sick, I will take care of you. Whatever you need, it issss yours. I am new to this—” he waves his hands “—but I am eager to learn. Let me take care of your needs, let me feed you.”
“That’s the problem… I need you. I’m sick because of you.”
“That is a problem?”
I frown and cross my arms, letting the lantern hang by the tips of my fingers.
“I don’t know if I really want you or if I want you because your pheromones are making me want you.
As much as I want it to be the former, I know it can’t be.
I’ve been… trying to figure it out.” I take a shaky breath, relieved the air is light on his scent.
“My pheromones?”
I squint at him. “Your smell. The Ilubriam chocolate… It’s what’s making me sick. It’s forcing me to want you… at least according to Shelby…”
He draws back and frowns. “You have spoken to Sssshelby?”
“No.” My brows furrow. “I hear her sometimes on my ship’s broadcasts. Do you… know Shelby?”
His tail loosens around my ankle but remains around me. “She is Vagan’s female. His bride.”
“Oh…” One of his friends. “She seems to know a lot about… you guys.” I cross my arms tighter when I find myself leaning toward him. “I wish I could be surprised you know her but… I’m not. I really should go.”
He hisses low, rising higher on his tail, and it’s then I see the dirt scuffs on his arms and face and remember I haven’t seen him in days… not since our moment at my ship.
“I want you to stay but…” He growls. “I will take you back down. I have gained your trust… I think… And I do not want to lose it.”
“I…” I don’t know what to say to that. So, I nod instead. As I do, his tail slips away from my feet. He shifts forward and grabs the lantern from me.
I lean into him.
He continues past me down the passage, making me jolt. I take a slow step forward, shudder, and then take another step. My head clears with the movement.
Lukys waits for me with the light up ahead.
Peering around as I go and trying to focus on anything other than sex, I realize the first two caverns aren’t designed as living spaces, not like the deeper two.
There are crates, weapons, wood, storage containers, and tools but no hides hanging from the walls, no trophies to decorate the empty spaces above them. But he’s seemingly well stocked.
He hunts and forages his food. He must bathe in the lake. He’s got shelter and heat.
Lukys looks back at me before he leads me into the sunlight. I squint against the brightness, blinking away the tears that form. He sets the lantern beside the entrance wall.
Rubbing my arms awkwardly, I follow him as he turns and rounds the boulders, entering the forest past them.
“So, how do you know Shelby? Through this Vagan?” I ask, drawing the back of my hand over my forehead as sweat forms.
He glances back at me. Meeting his gray eyes, it takes every ounce of willpower for me not to beg him to take me back to his nest. His gaze is heated, and full of desire. My fingers twitch, remembering his tongue lashing my pussy.
“Soldiers invaded his territory and with his lands bordering mine, I saw it fit to help him and his brethren eradicate them. She saw it fit to thank me when the battle was over.”
Soldiers. Battles. Death? I purse my lips. “You killed them? The soldiers?”
“Yessss. Some of them.”
I shiver and it’s not entirely because I’m heady.
“The soldiers would be Minton Volp’s. They were trying to keep everyone on the ship…
They were the enemy in the end, those that listened to the Supreme Commander.
They should have never tried taking away everyone’s freedom.
I’m glad I was lucky to make it off when…
” I change the subject before I broach my parents.
“He was always a ruthless, terrible leader.”
“I am sorry.”
“You shouldn’t be sorry for anything. A terrible person was in power and a lot of people died trying to fight back…” Thoughts of my parents and the last time I spoke to them press into my haze.
He stops and faces me. “But I am. I took you when I should not have. I frightened you against my better judgement. I should have tried speaking to you first.”
My eyes drop. “I forgive you. I told you that already.” Now that I’m getting to know him, I realize he would never hurt me. Not intentionally, at least. He’s not entirely human… He’s also not been around many humans. He’s going to make mistakes.
He coils his tail under him and trails his eyes over me.
“Then sssstay with me. Have you thought you might be sick for a reason? We have spent very little time directly in each other’s presence and you are sick anywayssss.
Or so you say. Because, female, all I can smell is your arousal, and it is making it hard for me to think. ”
I grab my head and shake it suddenly, heated by his words. “I don’t know. I don’t know! I’m just as confused as you.” I swing my hand in the direction of my ship. “Time. I need time. More time to think… more time to…”
“I do not want to give you more time.” He hisses but twists and continues down the mountain anyway. “But I will do what I must as long as you stay away from the other males when I am not present.”
I follow him to the open hatch of my ship. He scouts the inside for other nagas or wild animals, not wanting a repeat of last time. When he returns, I avoid eye contact, walking past him.
“Why did you come to my cave?” he asks.
Facing him, I force my gaze to his, and lick my lips. “I was worried about you.”
His eyes narrow. “Worried?”
“Yeah.” I shrug my good shoulder. “We had a moment and I… I didn’t know what happened to you. You were just gone.”
“I was searching for your sister.”
I freeze, my eyes widening. “M-my sister?”
“I did not find her, if you are wondering. For that, I must apologize again, but I have not yet stopped searching. I have only investigated several clusters of ships so far. You see, Elena, I will win your affection, even if it takes me seasons.”
Unable to form the words to speak, and shocked once again. I’m surprised he would search for Jenna at all…
“I hope you find the clarity you need.” He rasps as he looks me up and down before turning away. “But know this,” he says over his shoulder, “if you come to me again, you will not be leaving. I will take it as your acceptance, and you will be mine.”
He slips across the meadow, and I watch his tail disappear into the brush, releasing a heavy breath.
I don’t think it’s going to take him seasons…
If he’s willing to help me find my sister, it’s not going to be difficult to win me over.
Pressing my hand to my heart, I turn and walk into my ship with more hope in my heart than I’ve had since I can remember.