Chapter 7
Charlie
I woke up suddenly, my head aching dully.
I wasn’t sure what was happening or where I was for a moment.
My brain struggled to comprehend the long shadows flickering across an uneven ceiling and the heavy weight that was snugly curled around my body.
It was nightmarish to wake and feel myself moving, constricted, and disoriented.
Then the glowing patterns caught my eye as well as the huskily murmured reassurance.
Mox, the snake-man, the crash, and the damn UAR betraying me.
“Stay quiet, my mate. I think we have company,” he said, his words finally penetrating my foggy brain.
I froze, my fingers clutching at the thick scales of his tail where it curled around my belly.
With my eyes, I frantically searched the gloomy room for any sign of an intruder.
Whatever Mox had heard, I couldn’t pick it up yet.
Then I heard a rock slide across the ground, followed by the soft noise of something sliding across something.
I could imagine immediately that it was the long tail of a creature just like Mox, although I recalled how incredibly quiet he’d been when he moved.
I thought Mox had so much control over his motion that he would have never sent a rock tumbling.
A silhouette was outlined in the doorway, with wide shoulders, and glowing purple eyes, then it moved closer, and the firelight illuminated the newcomer.
At first glance, this snake creature looked exactly like Mox, stacked with muscles, and purple scales that were paler down his front.
That same long snake body that formed into a perfectly sculpted male torso.
Then I noticed the topknot of purple hair on top of his otherwise bare skull, the gleaming glint of copper on the tip of the horn jutting from his chin.
“Ah, Raxon, what are you doing here?” Mox asked, his tone friendly and open though his posture didn’t change.
The look in this newcomer’s eyes was anything but friendly; making my skin crawl.
Mox might resemble a snake in some ways, but he was friendly, he liked to tease and laugh.
This guy looked like never smiled and the more I looked at him, the more his differences stood out.
“I saw the smoke and wondered if you needed aid, I figured a Rakworm injured you,” this Raxon drawled, and I was surprised I could understand what he was saying the way I could Mox, though Raxon wasn’t touching me.
I was pretty sure Mox wasn’t going to let this guy get anywhere close to me, he looked like he was ready for a fight.
Mox scoffed, “Right, come to finish me off so you can be First Hunter?” He was moving, sliding along the floor quietly while he used his tail to make sure I stayed behind his back. Had Raxon not seen me yet or was he just ignoring that I was there?
The new hunter’s hand moved at his side, almost like he was starting to reach for the spear strapped to his back but he didn’t grab it.
“Don’t be ridiculous, why would I do that?
I just thought you needed aid.” The purple eyes he narrowed at Mox were much darker than those of my hunter. “Your mating sigils are glowing.”
Mox shrugged his powerful shoulders but didn’t answer and Raxon slithered further into the room, his scales making a whispering, scraping sound along the rough stone floor.
I didn’t care for the look in his dark purple eyes which were fixated on my body, lingering on my breasts.
Mox puffed up, using his body as a shield in front of me.
A sound like a soft rattling vibrating through the air which I realized where the large scales on his back lifting and twitching.
“By the stars, you sick deviant, your mating sigils responded to that scaleless, tiny pink thing? No wonder the females of our tribe didn’t want you!” Raxon guffawed, slapping his chest with a fist, malice filling his tone.
Mox hissed angrily, his hand snatching up his spear and angling it in the direction of the other hunter. “Speak to her like that again and I will spill your guts on this floor like I’d gut a Vakarsa,” he said.
Raxon held up his hands in a sign of surrender, slithering back out of reach of that deadly spear tip. I secretly thought that this newcomer was well aware that Mox was the better hunter, now that I’d seen him up close, I knew that Mox was bigger, and much more heavily muscled.
That Mox would win in a fight with this guy seemed inevitable, but it still made me sad.
It didn’t sound like he could safely take me to his tribe, let alone live peacefully with them.
So what did that leave us? Mox was caring for me now, acting like I was his mate, but the interest would wane and then he’d regret leaving hearth and home for me.
“I suggest you don’t show your face again, Mox the First Hunter,” Raxon mocked from the safety of the door.
“With a mate like that, you won’t be First for long.
” Silhouetted against the doorway he raised his spear and curled his arm in what had to be a show of strength and virility.
“I think that title will sound good with my name, don’t you think?
Raxon the First Hunter.” He slithered off into the dark with a chuckle, the sound of his scales whispering along the floor obvious for some time.
Mox and I stared at that doorway as long as we could still hear him, then I shrugged out of the loop of his tail and started pacing, worried about what was going to happen now. I really couldn’t imagine that he’d be willing to give up his Clan, his standing with them, just to be with little old me.
A cup was proffered, the dark tea-like liquid smelling awful.
It was the stuff he’d given me for my headache earlier and with a bit of a start I realized I’d been rubbing at my temples because the headache was back.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the medicinal drink and taking a careful sip.
He didn’t respond, but for the first time since we’d met, he wasn’t actively touching me.
He said that meant we couldn’t understand each other’s languages. Was he already withdrawing?
As I sipped the drink, I watched him move around the darkened room.
He doused the fire, packed up his things, and then he started piling supplies from baskets lining the edge of the room onto a big fur he’d spread out.
He was packing a lot, rations from the look of it, many soft, thick furs, leather, packages with things I didn’t recognize, but I thought they might be herbs.
He was packing as if he was going away for a long time, and he didn’t care about keeping this place supplied.
That didn’t look like he was withdrawing, that looked like he was planning on going with me.
I felt a surge of heat go through me at the thought, I knew he might regret it later, but nobody had ever done something so huge for me before.
Not me, Charlie, the orphan who’d been through the system all chewed up and alone.
When he was done packing, there was just the soft pelt I had wrapped around my nearly naked body, and my nearly dry clothing lying around the now almost dying campfire. He’d stripped this place of anything useful.
The tip of his tail lifted to nudge at my hands and I obeyed, chugging the last few bitter sips of the painkilling drink he’d prepared.
My headache had already eased again, leaving my body a little cold but my head refreshingly clear.
“Thank you, Mox, again, for helping me and for this drink. You’re a good guy,” I said, my fingers dancing along the pretty amethyst scales at the tip of his tail.
Our eyes met when I looked up, and I made sure to give him my warmest, most appreciative smile.
When he gently cupped the side of my face, his eyes swirling with a tender look, I melted for him.
Who cared about how fast things were moving when you were stranded on a freaking alien planet?
Especially when the hunky alien creature that rescued you seemed to want nothing more than to take care of you.
I really loved that, how caring he was, how well he was looking after me despite having never seen a human before.
How much attraction there was between us.
Raxon’s words could have served to make me feel self-conscious, but I knew better anyway, I could tell from the heated looks Mox gave me.
So I dropped the pelt from around my shoulders, baring myself to him, and then I shamelessly pressed my body along his, reveling in his warmth, which was the opposite of what you’d expect a scaly creature to feel like.
I loved his rough edges, his strength, loved how I felt so soft and delicate against his huge body.
Mox let out a hissing noise from between his teeth the moment I pressed my breasts to his body.
Then I was swept off my feet, cradled against him in his arms, and the agile tip of his tail wound up my leg.
My body filled with desire at that sneaky tail, was he going to move it all the way up?
I didn’t expect to feel this needy, maybe it was a side effect of the tea, maybe it was something about his scent, but I suddenly felt crazy with desire.
“Please, Mox,” I moaned when I felt that tip brush along the damp fabric of my panties. A sharp lance of pleasure made my sheath contract. I wished he’d push that tail inside of me, I wanted that so very badly.
“I thought we did not know each other well enough yet?” he drawled in my ear, his bifurcated tongue flicking out to lick along the edge of my ear shell.
I moaned again, my body twisting against his, and I realized he’d moved a coil of his tail up, pressing it against my ass, his arms wrapped around my body.
He had me in his hold, he could do anything he wanted with me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop him.
Yet I knew, without a shred of doubt, that Mox would never harm me.