Chapter 18
Vera
Everything felt different when I woke up that morning.
Like something fundamental had shifted inside of me, something huge.
Zathar was curled around me, his warm scales pressed to my skin in many places where he’d wrapped me in his long coils.
There were furs over me to keep me warm and a pleasant ache between my legs warned me of all the things we’d been up to in the late hours of the night.
My clit tingled just thinking about it and though Zathar was asleep, I saw how his tongue flicked out and tasted the air in response.
It was impossible to hide it from him if I was turned on, asleep or awake, he’d always know.
I kinda liked that, I just hoped that it didn’t have the same effect on other Naga as it had on him, that would be awkward.
I was surprisingly clean though, which had to mean that Zathar had taken care of that after I’d fallen asleep.
He must have been very careful not to wake me up, considering the giant mess we’d made.
I flushed, there had been far too many fluids, if he was human I would have worried he’d end up dehydrated.
His tongue flicked out again and then he let out this low rumbling growl.
“Ah, my mate, already eager for me again? I will oblige, don’t worry.
” There was a teasing note to his voice that I loved, and I loved the warm, affectionate look in his azure eyes even more when he opened them.
The slitted pupils had appeared so foreign before but now I loved how they looked and I could read the expressions in them easily.
“Oh yeah? Are you sure you still have more seed to give me?” I teased back, laughing at the affronted look on his face.
He rolled me over, pinning me down into the clean furs, and fused his mouth to mine, claiming my tongue with his.
Showing me what he planned to do between my legs in a moment; I couldn’t wait.
A sharp knock on the door had us both freeze in place. “You guys awake?” Reid demanded, and he rapped his knuckles on our door a second time with a loud cracking noise. “Come on, we need to discuss our next course of action. Everyone is waiting.”
I groaned and Zathar hissed, “They can wait.” Shaking my head, I nudged him against his shoulder and he let me up until I was sitting and he was still lying down in the furs next to me, his coils all around me.
“They shouldn’t, we already kept them awake last night…
” I felt my face grow hot as I thought about that.
I had been loud, and Zathar hadn’t been quiet either.
They would have been able to hear us. That was a little awkward but I wasn’t going to make that worse by making them wait while they could hear us having sex. That was even worse.
“You are beautiful, and I want you,” he said, reaching up to cup one of my bared breasts.
I didn’t recall when I’d lost the bra last night but I didn’t see any sign of it now.
Smiling at the heat and appreciation on his face, I pushed his hand away and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips.
“Come on, I’m hungry anyway,” I said and that was all it took to get him to move.
He offered me my clothing with a smile, explaining that he’d gone out to wash them last night after I fell asleep.
I almost teared up at how thoughtful that gesture was.
It was my only outfit right now and I was extremely grateful that they’d been cleaned and dried overnight, there was nothing worse than pulling on a dirty pair of panties.
Once I’d checked the odd oval mirror in the attached bathroom-type room in this little ‘apartment,’ I was ready to go.
I had only been able to finger brush my hair so far but Zathar had procured a comb from one of the many pockets on his backpack, eagerly offering it to me.
For the first time in days, I felt kind of normal, if I discounted the sex ache between my legs.
Everyone had gathered at the cave entrance again, sitting on the soft purple grass in the early morning sunlight.
Min-Ji, the pilot lady, was sitting next to Cosima, and picking at a ration cake.
Her Asian features were still a little pale but her dark brown eyes were alert for the first time, focusing on Zathar the moment we joined them.
“Morning everyone,” I said with a wave, avoiding the knowing grin on Reid’s face or the saucy wink Cosima gave me.
“Hi, I’m Vera and this is Zathar,” I said and I stuck my hand out to the pilot.
Right now, it didn’t matter whether she might have known what she was transporting or not, she just woke up from a coma; we’d deal with it when she’d recuperated.
She shook my hand in return and when Zathar followed my example, she swallowed hard once and then shook his hand too. “I’m Min-Ji, thank you for saving me.” She touched her hand to her head where she’d suffered severe head trauma.
Zathar assured her that she was safe here and that he and Corin would make sure it remained that way.
When I translated, Min-Ji’s eyes grew larger.
“Wait, you can understand what they say?” Her eyes darted to where Corin sat, his coils draped over a big flat rock a little distance away, sunning himself in the warming purple sunlight.
“Yeah, that’s because I’m Zathar’s mate.
We share a spirit connection, it allows us to understand each other’s language.
But only when we touch,” I explained to her.
She narrowed her eyes as she took in Zathar, towering over me on his long tail.
He wasn’t paying attention to our conversation but staring off into the far distance, a worried frown on his handsome face.
“Uh, Vera. You do realize you guys aren’t touching right now, do you?
” Cosima pointed out while darting a finger from him to me.
Startled, I looked down at my body and discovered she was right, he didn’t have the tip of his tail curled around my ankle or anything like that.
I’d gotten so used to always having that touch that I had just assumed it was there…
Zathar tilted his head down to me, a smile on his face that temporarily erased the worry from before.
“That’s because I seeded you my mate, our spirit connection is complete.
We no longer require touch to understand.
” The tip of his tail lifted into the air, gently brushing along my cheek. “Although, I’d gladly do so anyway.”
Trying not to openly swoon I cupped his tail against my cheek and rubbed the smooth scales along my skin.
“All right. I got it. What’s the plan for today?
Is Corin going to get the water to work?
” I was dying to see if we could restore the bathrooms and have actual indoor plumbing.
Right now we had a designated spot behind some rocks and trees a small distance from the entrance.
I wasn’t looking forward to having to squat in the woods for the rest of my life.
“Iave,” Zathar said, and that one name was enough to put my eager plans for this place on hold.
It also yanked Corin out of his reverie, he lifted his head to pierce Zathar with his silvery blue gaze and gave my mate a sharp nod, nearly jabbing himself with the horn on his chin.
“We need to find out what happened to our friend and the two humans with him.”
He was right, Iave, Kalani, and Naomi had gotten separated from us on that first day.
Zathar’s friend and the two humans were very likely dead considering the overwhelming force of Bitter Storm Clan warriors they’d been up against. That didn’t mean we shouldn’t try to find out what their fate had been.
I tried to picture what Zathar’s other friend had looked like, recalling mostly the midnight blue of his scales and his overwhelming size.
Iave had wielded a giant battle ax, with scars crisscrossing his chest. Honestly, if anyone could make it, it was a warrior like him, he looked indomitable.
Maybe that’s why Zathar hadn’t given up hope yet; he knew how strong his friend was.
I just hoped that Naomi and Kalani had made it too, but Naomi’s legs were paralyzed, it wasn’t as if she could run when cornered.
Corin slid off his rock, approaching us silently through the soft purple grass.
“I think we need to revisit the place where we were separated, maybe we can find tracks, or discover what happened.” His eyes went to Zathar and then to me as if he was considering what to say next.
“I suggest I go alone. You can understand the humans, and you should stay here to protect your mate.”
My heart sped up at the thought that Zathar might insist on going with his friend. I didn’t want to be clingy but I really didn’t think it was a good idea to be without at least one of our Naga friends here. What if hunters from Thunder Rock showed up? What if Astrexa tried again?
But I shouldn’t have worried, Zathar simply nodded, “Fine. Be careful Corin, don’t take any unnecessary risks.
” He leaned forward to clasp his friend by the shoulder and briefly pressed his forehead against that of his friend.
When the two let up, Corin hooked a small backpack from the ground near the entrance and swung it over his shoulder.
He’d already prepared as if he’d set his mind to this plan before it had even been uttered.
He darted away at a quick pace, his long body curling through the grass, silver blue and bright against the darker purple ground.
Over his shoulder, he called out, “I’ll do whatever Iave would do for one of us.
We owe it to him.” The words made Zathar growl and laugh at the same time, which could only mean that Iave was a risk-taker but at least my mate was losing some of the worried tension now that a rescue for his friend was underway.