Chapter 14 A Risk To Take #2
I glance down at the slabs of meat, and the discarded carcass that is now visible to me among the rocks along the riverbank. “Will there be a fire tonight?”
“Only long enough for the meat to be edible for you humanssss,” he hisses, shaking his head.
I take a step back. “I guess I’ll go get started on it and wake the others.”
“If they are assssleeep, let them rest,” he says quickly, stopping me. “They will need it for tomorrow. They can eat later, if they wake, or in the morning.”
“What about the meat? It’ll go bad if it’s not cooked.”
Krellix grabs the slabs of meat with his hand, and turns from the water. He slips through the long grasses lining the riverbank and heads straight towards me. He comes to a stop in front of me. After what I might have just spied on him doing, I barely manage to meet his gaze.
Despite my mask being on, I suck in a breath through my nose anyway, getting a whiff of his musky spice through the cloth.
My body thrums and heats, immediately wanting to inhale more of it.
Watching his expression to see if he notices me the way I notice him, my gaze flicks to the bloody pig meat I’d temporarily forgotten about.
Gripping some of it in his hand, he lifts it. “So? We will cook it now. Away from them.”
Around where I’m standing, he sweeps his tail across the grassy patch ground, making me step back as it passes by.
He quickly clears the area of twigs and brush, sending the debris flying to the sides.
After, he pulls back in choice branches and scattered stones with his tailtip, creating a pile of kindling in the middle between us.
It’s clear he’s built a fire before. He’s probably done it during his times helping others. I’m thankful for it. I could do it, if I had to, but I’m no expert at it. It would take me a while.
He hands me the meat to hold while he creates a pile.
Sorting through with his hands, he picks out several stones and some damp moss.
Rubbing the stones together, he eventually starts a small fire of spitting flames.
But once they get going, I set the meat down on a clean rock by the water and take over, gradually adding more kindling to the pile.
Krellix briefly leaves to gather flat stones from the river. He places them around the flames, picks up the meat, and lays it on them.
Sitting forward while the meat slowly begins to cook, I continue to feed the weak flames, wary of them going out. The fire is small, and I assume he made it that way on purpose.
Krellix settles across from me, and in the shadowy darkness now spreading through the forest, we stare at each other, taking each other in.
All the while, I keep my eyes above his chest, nervous of what I might find down below.
But as the yellow light plays across his stoic, watchful features, I can’t look away.
“Julia…” he trails off.
My skin rises and my eyes clash with his, discovering his entirely honed in on me. Feeling caught in a trap, knowing how dangerous it is with a being such as Krellix, I can’t help how curious I am, nor how curious I have been.
“Before,” Krellix says, eventually continuing when I fail to say anything back, “when you were surveying the other nagas for a protector—”
I know where he’s going with this. A lump forms in my throat because I don’t have an answer to the question he’s going to ask. “Your hair,” I burst out, eyeing the partially-cut, semi-shaggy right side of his head. “What happened to it?”
His mouth closes and for a moment, he stares at me in silence. “My hair?”
It’s the first thing I’d thought of to change the subject... “It’s shorter on the right side than it was before. What happened?”
He reaches up and pets the uneven strands I’m talking about. “I lost part of it to a bear I took down several weeks ago.”
“A bear?”
“It was large and especially vicious. The beast swiped at me and its claws tore some of my hair out. I tried to cut the rest off with my own.”
I glance at his claws, noting, not for the first time, how sharp they are, then peer back up at him and his hair. Noticing how uneven the strands are now that I’m considering them, I pull my switchblade out from my pocket. This is something I can do…
I stand and walk to his side, watching his suspicious gaze narrow slightly as I near him with my knife.
“Let me. I can make your hair even. I can give you a cleaner look.” With him acting tense and a little standoffish, I settle next to him on his right.
Unable to help glancing down at his slit, I frown, unsure if there is a bulge pushing at it or if it’s just the shadows.
“Would that be okay?” I ask despite already being next to him with a knife in my hand.
My gaze drifts back to his face, searching for my answer.
I startle, finding his eyes hooded… hungry.
“Yessss.” His voice is stern and oddly eager. I shake out my sudden nerves and slowly reach out to take hold of his hair as it dawns on me that if…
If he does ask me for… anything…
Something?
Right now, after all that’s happened, I’d give him what he wants, if he wanted that.
.. I want to feel good. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt good.
I’d take the distraction of his company.
Truthfully, I’d take any distraction right now.
I run my fingers through his hair, lightly brushing it out.
My need for a distraction might be making me more forward than I probably should be… and a little afraid. But I don’t balk at the thrilling sensation of fear. Instead, I accept it because I’m just lucky enough to be alive right now. I’m lucky I’m with him.