“Tomorrow, big guy. Tomorrow. For the rest of tonight? I’d like to lie with you instead, and nothing else.”
He pulls me closer to him in response and my eyes close. Easing into his embrace, I let his presence overshadow the rest of my intrusive thoughts. And when he’s once again asleep beside me, I fall right with him into the darkness, knowing I’m not going there alone.
FIFTEEN
BUDDING WARMTH
Sabrina
Darolus is gonewhen I rouse, but I find the nest in less disarray around me. Rising on my hands, I glance around and see the dirtiest of our hides resting by the edge of the pool, where they’ve clearly been rinsed. Other than that change, there’s no sign of him, and I huff, flopping back down into the nest. Taking a moment to wake up completely, I pull one of the hides tightly around me.
Between one moment and the next, everything that happened the night before comes crashing back to me. Cringing, I burrow deeper into the warm hides, only for another realization to hit me.
I don’t remember being cold last night.
In fact, I remember being too warm. Sleeping with Darolus, being wrapped in his tail all night, I actually gothot, even in a cavernous place like this.
Reaching up to rub my neck, I loosen the hide and peek down at my body, surprised to find myselfentirely unharmed from last night’s activities. Never getting enough nutrients, I’ve always been prone to bruising, but since I’ve been eating Darolus’s meat there have been far fewer of them. This morning there’s not a mark on me.
Fully awake now, I climb out of the nest and tiptoe to my basin of fresh water, where I wash my hands and face. Afterward, I use a portion of a small hide as a washcloth for the rest of my body, wiping my skin clean while also side-eyeing the pool to my left with a shiver. I’m not sure I want to take a bath this morning; the water is sure to steal the lingering warmth away.
With some of the brightest rays of sun beaming down over it from above, the pool is clear in the morning light. Pretty. It momentarily draws my attention away from the basin.
For a bit, I watch the surface glimmer. Then, toward the back, where the shadows are the thickest, I think—I tilt my head—I think I see… movement?
Squinting, I lean over the edge for a better look, noticing unusual ripples across the pool’s surface for the first time. They catch the light and obscure my sight until, suddenly, I make out a large dark mass emerging from the deepest shadows.
It heads toward me, and before my eyes, Darolus’s form takes shape in the watery depths.
My breath catches as I watch his massive body move around in a lithe, serpentine way. The ripples on the surface grow into small waves, disrupting my view, and I lean farther over the side. As I do, a wave breaks against the edge; the splash it makes sparkles with sunlight, washing the stone with brightness. Within the pool, blue, gold, and gray ripple, diverge, and merge as Darolus glides under the water, too beautiful to look away.Mesmerized, I lean my hand against the slick side of the pool.
And slip.
I tumble headfirst into the water. Flailing, I scream, but it’s cut short as I go under. Gulping water instead, I kick my feet and try to swim, only to sink toward the bottom. Unable to reach an air source no matter how hard I fight, panic engulfs me, and darkness claws at the edges of my vision. I’m going to die—I’m going to die like this?—
Darolus’s arm wraps around me, hauling me out of the water and back over the side in one great surge.
Face down on the stone, I sputter and cough, hacking out the cold spittle tickling my throat. When my lungs clear enough for me to suck in a real breath, I crawl toward my hides and collapse on them, tumbling onto my back to blink up at the ceiling and Darolus hovering over me.
“Fuuuck,” I gasp, wiping the water from my eyes and pushing my wet hair off my shoulders. Shivering violently, I reach for a hide to use as a blanket, but Darolus grabs my feet and drags me closer. “What are you?—”
My words cut off with a hitch as he buries his face between my legs and plunges his tongue all the way inside me.
I gasp once more, but for an entirely different reason. “Darolus!” Shocked by his sudden assault, I grab his head and push him away, staving off some of the pressure between my legs. He groans, his eyes squeezing closed, merely taking the opportunity to flick his tongue over my clit. Kicking my legs out— the same way I fought through the water—I arch in sudden pleasure, and being wet, cold, and miserable scatters from my thoughts as he rams his mouth and tongue hard into me again.
“You can’t—oh…” My hands slip from his head as I drop back on the hides the moment he curls his tongue and digs the split fork of it into my g-spot. I cry out, my whole body tensing, confused, torn between bliss and the stress and anxiety left over from the tumble. But as a fresh wave of his scent fills me, my nerves ease, sinking into the pleasure he’s forcing onto me.
Moaning as he licks, probes, and fucks me with his tongue, I clamp my thighs hard around his head and lock him to me, figuring I’ve got nothing to lose and so much to gain.
Relaxing, I relish his hisses vibrating through my body. “Darolus…” I hum his name, letting myself unwind further, giving into whatever is happening between us again. “You’re playing unfairly.”
If this is animalistic instinct, or hormones, or two lonely beings looking to fill the time while also making themselves feel better, I still have yet to figure out. Either way, after yesterday, I know I’m safe with him.
I wouldn’t normally place my trust in someone I’ve only known for a couple of weeks. But… I trust him.
I trust him wholeheartedly.
He drives his tongue deep, licking my walls and tasting me like his life depends on it. Giddy from his attention and abruptness, I reach down, take hold of his hands, and slide my fingers through his, bringing them up to hold at my chest. He grunts against me as he returns my grip, twining our fingers even harder.
