By the time I am done, Sabrina is sitting upright and staring at me.
“Gross.”
I slide my tail out from around her to give her more space. “You are finally awake.”
She rubs her eyes and I notice the black around them is smudged. I wonder when she last had time to do her coloring and how long I have been unconscious. “I can say the same to you.”
Shifting back and farther up the wall behind me, I hold in my hiss, settling lower so I may stare at her better while not disturbing my wound.
Her eyes move between me and the gash. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yessss.” I take in her pale face, awash in a soft blue light, noticing her saddened expression.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
Coiling my tail in a close arch around her, I shuffle her closer, searching her expression some more. “Why?” Dropping my gaze to her body, she appears unhurt, if not a little bedraggled.
She looks down at her hands, bringing one up to clasp around one of her necklaces. “For getting you hurt.”
“You did not get me hurt,” I huff with a hiss, setting my head back on the wall. “Melsya hurt me. We have already spoken.”
Her lips open and close. “That’s not… entirely what I mean. I should’ve waited for you but I didn’t, I chose to leave. I was scared. I thought it might have been my only chance…” She shakes her head as I try to understand. “If I’d justgiven myself some time to think first, I think I would’ve waited, but fuck?—”
“What are you talking about?”
Her brows furrow as she looks at me. “I left. I fled, Darolus. You got hurt and my crewmates got killed because I was fleeing, fleeing from you. If I hadn’t called out to them, hadn’t heard them… none of this would’ve happened, do you understand? I fucked up, and because of that I got you hurt. I’m so sorry.” She reaches for me but pulls her hand away at the last second.
She swam under the water and to the other side? “You jumped into the water?” She hates the water.
“Yes…”
I growl out loudly. “No more rissskssss.” Has every female gone mad? I glance behind Sabrina knowing the others have since left upon her waking, including Melsya.
“No more risks, I promise. Darolus… we need to talk about something.”
“Are you hurt?”
Her expression twists in confusion. “Hurt?”
“You have not told me yet if you have been hurt,” I snap, searching her body for wounds.
“No. I’m not hurt. Nearly drowning was pretty frightening, but I survived. We need to talk about?—”
Knowing I could have lost her, I haul her to me, bracing against the sharp pain radiating from my wound to kiss her. She clutches my shoulders and shifts in my arms, careful to not touch my gash as she brings her knees closer. Holding her, I deepen the kiss when she hitches for breath. I press my tongue inside her. My middle stirs as the appendage within my tail quickens with a rush of blood.
She is alive and well, and in my arms.
I could have lost her.
Running her hands over my shoulders, she cups the back of my head as she allows my tongue deeper inside her mouth. Licking hers in gentle strokes, I pet her on the inside. Groaning, I suddenly need to take her to our nest and pet other places inside her as well, far away from prying eyes.
She pushes at my shoulders and breaks the kiss. “Darolus, we need to talk about what I did. I feel bad.”
Her eyes gleam with unease… and fear?
A thought forms. “Why you did what?” Is she afraid of me? Have I been reading her wrong all along? Searching her expression again as her gaze drops, I second-guess what I see, dismissing her worry, though still stuck on her fear.
She shakes her head.
