Chapter 7
Midnight black.
Nitochi
Ihad absolutely no clue what I was going to do once I arrived there.
At the pool. Where my human female was—the human female who did not understand me because, as the hunter and provider of our soul union, I was never meant to be in contact with other humans much and never bothered to learn their language.
It was supposed to be Baelor.
She was supposed to be his before being mine, so his part of our soul would take the damn lead. All unions led by the mindful instead of the raw, overly emotional one were happier. Our parents, being one of them.
Very few unions had chosen the “dark one”, as the humans called the ones like me, as their lead, and now I was terrified. It was not what Baelor and I agreed on. What if I messed it up? I had never planned on taking this role. Never even imagined, I would become—
My whole body stilled as she gasped, immersing herself deeper under the water until it reached her shoulders, her wide eyes trained on me. This. She was scared of me. How could I—
“Ni-Nitochi?” she asked.
I moved my head the way I saw humans do the few times I went with Baelor on the station—before they banned me for being too intense. My brother had called it a “nod” and explained it meant yes. I can do it, I thought. We can communicate like this.
She relaxed instantly, letting out a relieved little breath.
“Oof, I was scared I’d have to explain to one of your neighbors who I was and what I was doing here without being able to understand a single thing,” she said with a breathy little chuckle, her cheeks turning pink.
I pivoted just enough to grab the large purple stone and showed it to her.
“Oh…What does it mean? Is this pool reserved to you and Baelor?”
I shook my head and let it go, thinking of a way to explain without words. As it swung, the little light shining through it from the outside made the walls of the small cave pinkish. I pointed at the stone again and crossed my arms in front of me.
“The stone means people can’t come in?” she asked again. I nodded. “Oh, like an ‘occupied’ sign, then.”
I had no idea what a sign was. Was it what she suggested we used to communicate? What did it have to do with the stone signaling…Oh. A sign. Signaling. Got it.
I made my way to the edge of the pool, not bothering to take off my pants, and walked down the narrow stone steps. The water was cold but not freezing, and I welcomed the cooling feeling on my skin and mind.
“So…did you go?” she asked, anxious.
I shook my head as I kept walking closer to where she was. With each step, I expected her eyes to widen. Her expression to shift. Her fear to show.
It did not. Instead, she smiled when I stopped next to her, leaning over her small frame to grab a foaming stone behind her.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For not going back there.”
I searched her face. Still no trace of the fear she showed when I rescued her…I gave one slow nod and plunged the stone in the water.
“I guess asking you what made you change your mind would be stupid, considering I won’t understand the answer,” she continued. “So I’ll just say thank you. I—The man out there terrifies me. And the idea of him somehow finding a way to hurt you after you saved me it’s…I can’t take it.”
Were all humans this chatty? Or was it just her?
Not that I disliked it. Her voice made my too-fast heart settle in my chest. Quieted the anger still pumping through my veins.
She was worried about me, and it was not something I was used to.
Even amongst the dark Gemins, I was seen as ruthless.
The protector of this area. The main hunter and the one people came to when there was an unidentified threat.
No one had been worried about me since I was old enough to fly on my own.
And this small human female? She was scared. Not of me but for me.
I had to ask our fathers if it had been the same for them. If the moment they had met our mother, it had made them feel as changed as I felt now.
Wendy was still staring at me as I slid the stone over my arm, rubbing the blood of her captors off. She blushed and turned her eyes away when I caught her.
“Sorry…” Damn with her constant need to apologize. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“No apologies.”
“Um…Right. Sor—shit.”
She slapped both of her hands over her face, muttering under her breath and I found myself smiling at the sight. She really is some tiny adorable thing.
She seemed to have washed her face already. I could not tell for the rest of her, hidden under the water, but her hair still had dead leaves and dirt tangled in it.
I pointed at her head and showed her my foaming stone.
Her eyes widened. “Oh…I was going to wash my hair, but then you came in. It’s fine, I’ll wait until you’re done.”
I frowned. Why? Did she think I would leave the pool without bringing her back with me to our nest? My head tilted to the side and I moved my finger in a circular motion. “Turn around.”
“Wh-what? I…you want me to turn?” I nodded.
She blinked a couple of times, her lips parting as if ready to speak, but closed without uttering a word. The pink in her cheeks became more intense.
“No, it’s fine. I can wait, don’t worry about—”
“Turn around,” I repeated, motioning with my finger again, my voice turning softer. “Please.”
Her throat worked but she complied. The little human let out a shaky sigh as I faced the back of her head and my hand slowly slid underneath her hair. Midnight black. Like mine. Like me.
Maybe this was meant to happen this way. We have seen from all of the humans, both on the flying station and in their base on Gemini, that they varied greatly. Skin and hair color, height, frame…The one they had selected for us had dark eyes. Dark hair. And oh, how soft it was…
Once the stone left enough foam on both my hands and her shiny hair, I dropped it on the edge of the pool to slide my fingers along the strands and massage her skull. Her head fell back with a soft sigh, allowing me to catch sight of her face from above.
Eyes closed, lashes fluttering, red lips parted. Her breasts, barely visible under the water, rising and falling in an irregular pattern.
This innocent, magnificent human female had the hands of a monster in her hair and was completely relaxed.
I pulled her hair farther back and she followed, allowing me to plunge it underwater to rinse it off. While she was immersed up to her collarbone, the water only reached my waist, allowing me a perfect upside-down view of her flushed face.
Maybe she felt my eyes on hers. Or maybe, it was that my hands had stopped moving as I admired her features, but she opened her eyes then, our gazes finding each other instantly.
“You are beautiful,” I croaked.
Of course, she did not understand. But, her deepening blush and sharp intake of air set all the filthy thoughts I had kept locked up in my mind free.
My hand tightened in her hair as I tried my best to push the depraved mental images back and she—fucking moaned.
Shit.
It took my brain a good minute before I let go and I stepped back. Why did she moan? Maybe I was mistaken. Maybe she had been in pain. Humans were more fragile, and…
Why is she not straightening back up? The way she is looking at me…What does it mean? And, more importantly, why is that look sending blood straight to my cock?
“I am sorry,” I muttered, my wings shaking as if trying to chase the embarrassment away.
Her brows went up, eyes widening in surprise as she straightened. The motion made the water around her ripple, and my eyes caught sight of two darker, hard-looking peaks on her breast.
Shit. Gemins females had breasts like these too. The peaks were only hard with arousal or during their heats, about one day every week. Was Wendy…
“Did you just apologize?” she asked, her back now straight and face turned to me.
“I—” My mouth closed and I struggled to swallow, forcing my gaze on hers and trying not to look down.
It was pointless to explain. It would sound like nonsense to her.
And what would I even say? ‘Sorry for wanting to fuck you even though we just met and you are probably still traumatized by the last few days?’
“No apologies,” Wendy said, mimicking my voice, but a soft smile stretched the corners of her lips.
Magnificent red lips. Were humans kissing with their mouths like our people did? Because I wanted—shit, no, get a fucking grip.
I scoffed, unable to not return her smile. Her eyes lit up.
We had to reach out to the human base. Fast. Once she had her translator updated and we were married, I would know. Know if she wanted me—us, like we both wanted her.
And then, I would know if her moan had been from desire or pain. If it was the first, she would find out what it meant to be the female of a Gemins’ union…