Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
NAV
I swallowed hard, unable to speak.
Arena was slowly destroying me with her sweet acceptance.
When I’d returned to the room and found her gone, along with most of the clothes—including the pretty pink bra—I thought she had run away. That she feared me like all the other females. But she’d only gone to the third floor to look for more supplies.
My smart, beautiful female, who had no sense of danger, believed sex was my goal when I wanted much more than that. I wanted her. Forever.
How was I going to keep her safe in the future?
I never wanted to leave her side again. I wanted to keep her in bed, holding her…
protecting her…touching her. But she would not like that.
Even now, she was pulling away to look at me, staring up at me with her soft brown eyes, pleading for understanding.
It made me want to hold her tighter, but I knew how she felt about touches, so I did not.
“I know you are not yet willing,” I assured her. “I will know when you are when you tell me.”
Unable to help myself, I pressed my lips to her forehead. Like when I had rubbed her back, she did not seem upset by the affection.
“I will not force sex, Arena. Ever.”
She nodded slowly, her doubt visible. That was normal for humans. They were slow to trust each other and took even longer to trust my kind. Some never trusted us.
I knew Arena would eventually trust me, though. She hadn’t run when she could have. That was the start of trust. She knew she was safer with me than out there on her own. If I could only find a way to get her to stay in the room when I left her.
Her stomach growled loudly again. I grinned and shifted her weight to one arm so that I could open the stairway door.
She let out a startled squeak and wrapped her arms around my neck, pressing herself to my chest. I held her tighter, enjoying the feeling.
“You are safe,” I promised as I entered the stairwell. “I would never drop you.”
When she withdrew, her cheeks were flushed. She glanced from me to the stairs with uncertainty.
“What if you trip?” she asked.
“I never trip.”
Her doubtful frown was cute, and I struggled not to tuck her close again.
“Would you like me to show you how agile I am?” I asked.
The pink in her cheeks darkened.
“No. No need. I’ll take your word for it.”
Jogging down the stairs, I opened the door to the second floor and carried her to our room. She stared at the food on the bed.
Some of the items I knew—snacks, chocolate, soups, and Spam—because of the pictures on them.
Spam was good. My brothers and I enjoyed it.
We liked the tins of protein that had pictures of dogs and cats on them too.
The cat ones tasted like fish. I missed the plentiful fish we had back in the caves.
The pond at the human community didn’t have many in it. And none big enough to eat.
“Do you like any of this?” I asked, setting her down.
She moved to the bed and sorted through the items, picking up a can with a top that meant it was a drink and not food.
But she didn’t open it. She looked at it with a small frown and set it down again.
Did I pick a bad kind? None of the sweet soda drinks tasted good to me, but humans seemed to like most of them.
“You brought all of this back just now?” she asked, glancing up at me.
I nodded.
“Were there a lot of infected in the store?” Her gaze swept over me.
Was she looking for bites again? Was she worried I had been hurt?
“The infected know I am here and avoid the area.”
“I saw them run away from you yesterday when you yelled,” she said. “Why? They’re not afraid of humans with guns. Why are they afraid of you?”
It warmed my heart to hear her ask that. As if she couldn’t understand how anything might fear me.
“They see humans as prey, and I’m not human.”
“No. You’re not. You’re fey.” She picked up a chocolate candy bar. “It would’ve taken two people to get this much. We would’ve been lucky to make it out alive. But you just walked right in and took what you wanted…because the infected are afraid of you.”
She sounded unhappy that they feared me. Did she pity me? I felt torn for a moment.
Sometimes human females engaged in “pity sex.” I wanted to have sex with Arena—the thought of it made me ache—but not pity sex or one-time sex.
I wanted much more than that. More than as many times a day as she would allow. I wanted her to stay. To crave me as I craved her.
“I can keep you safer if they fear me,” I said quickly, proving I had a purpose and didn’t need her pity.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” She held up the candy bar. “How does another kiss on the cheek and a naked snuggle while I eat this sound?”
Need crawled through me. I wanted that more than anything. I knew how much most females liked chocolate. Some got very affectionate while eating it.
Would Arena become more affectionate? While she was on top of me? Naked?
“Are you willing?” she asked.
“Yes.” It came out as more of a growl, but I couldn’t help it.
What if she grew so affectionate she started to suck my cock?
A familiar tingle began at the base of my spine, and I tried to think of something else. The caves. The endless days of farming and scouting and loneliness.
That didn’t help.
My gaze shifted to Arena’s clothes, and as if she could read my mind, she began to remove them. My cock ached painfully by the time she pushed her pants down. Desperate to feel her on top of me again, I picked her up while she was still bent at the waist.
She let out another cute squeak.
I had her under the blankets with me a second later, her legs hugging my hips and her palms braced on my chest. Her lips were parted as she stared down at me, and my cock twitched in response.
As much as I wanted anything she was willing to give me, I understood that her mouth on my cock did not mean she was willing for sex, only for tasting me.
She could do whatever she wanted to me. It didn’t matter if it was her mouth, her fingers, her gaze, or her pussy on my cock. I liked all of it equally.
Her fingers grazed my skin as she leaned forward and kissed my cheek.
“Thank you for getting supplies.”
I nodded, in happy agony, and watched her rip open the candy bar wrapper. The chocolate may have been damaged when I picked it up earlier, because it crumbled apart, some of it falling onto my chest.
She leaned in, her lips parting. I sucked in a breath. The chocolate crumbs rolled lower.
Gaze focused, she slid farther down my torso.
Back…
And back…
And—
The heat of her pussy branded the length of my cock.
I hissed out a breath.
She froze.
Her eyes went wide, and I cursed myself for making any sound.
When she started to retreat, I set my hands on her shoulders, keeping her where she was.
“Take it first,” I rasped.