God, I'm stupid.
My fucked up hormones are precisely the reason I want to climb this sexy idiot like a tree.
Stepping away, I take a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about hormones, or pregnancy, or any of this. Honestly, all I really want right now is to get clean in a nice hot bath, but I can't have that so-"
So?... So, what? I'd strung the words together like there was going to be a point to them, but my head is such a mess right now and Mr. Twinkle-Muscles nearness is not helping right now. In the end, all I can do is let out a huff, my shoulders sagging.
Mavyx shifts his wings, flexing them and resettling. "You wish to bathe in warmer waters?"
I nod my head. "With bubbles, luxury oils, a tub of ice-cream a glass of sweet rosé and some chill music." Pausing to think, I then snort softly, my hand coming to my belly. "Well, I guess I can't have the wine anymore but-"
I yelp when Mavyx grabs hold of me, lifting me clean off the ground and into his arms. I barely blink when he's launched us into the air with a few powerful beats of his huge wings.
"What are you doing?!" I squeal, flinging my arms around his neck to hold on tight. The night air whooshes around me and soon we soar higher and higher until our ascent plateaus. The tickly feeling in my stomach doesn't plateau, though, and I will myself not to get too caught up in the adrenaline spike being grabbed seems to give me.
"I cannot give you 'shill-musack', and I do not know what sweet rose-ey is, but I can give you somewhere with warm bathing," he says with a grunt as we continue to cut through the indigo sky.
I stare up at him as he carries me, not able to resist the smile that blooms on my face when his quick glance down at me shoots away again as our gaze connects. Mavyx clears his throat and continues to face forward for the remainder of the journey to wherever it is he's taking me.
CHAPTER 14: MAVYX
For the past few days my head has been full of Ah-Lanah. Ah-Lanah and her youngling. Even as she secluded herself to her nest, apparently overcome with a great tiredness that the one they call 'Tessa' says is normal for females'in her condition'.
And then my head had been filled with questions - more questions than there are stars in the skies. I wanted to know everything there is to know about Ah-Lanah's 'condition' - about her 'preg-nancy'. Even after Tessa had been patient with me and answered my many worries, my mind still muddled over what was happening inside Ah-Lanah's body.
She is growing life.
Inside her.
A youngling.
Her little human body is making a whole other being.
I suppose it should not have come as such a shock. I had observed female frizikki heavy with young and even vaguely remember seeing an etching in the caves of a Trixikka female rounded in the middle, but never really connected that that might be the way of humans too.
My chest had expanded as I breathed in the deep pride I felt over what my mate's body can accomplish.
But it deflated just as quickly. She is not my mate. She does not want a mate. Not here, and not me. Another male - a human - had planted his youngling in her and perhapsthatis the male she wants as a mate still?
My heart-stars are clouding my judgment and confusing my body. But still, I can give her this. I can do everything in my power to do what I do best - protect her. And right now, if it eases the aches and pains Tessa had said she will be victim to, I can bring her to the hot springs in the western mountains.
Landing at the mouth of the cave, I place Ah-Lanah on her feet and tell her to remain there while I make sure no jungle creature has made the cave their home since last these caves were used.
She ignores me, of course, and follows close behind. I find I can't even be irritated with her in this moment, since her nearness allows me to wrap my tail around her ankle, keeping her close. She does not question it which is a Goddess-blessing. I would have just told her it was to ensure her safety anyway.
When satisfied that there are no lurking mimyckah or mountain hounds, I lead Ah-Lanah down the dark tunnel that ends in a cavern where water pools in various spots, granted to us with warmth from the Goddesses. The area is still as dark as death, the only glow from that of my heart-stars. I could light one of the torches stored here, but I think Ah-Lanah might prefer the alternative. Reaching down near the entrance to the cavern, it doesn't take long until I find the cache of small to medium-sized life-stones. With my touch, they come alive, their inner glow igniting in blues, greens, and golds. I then throw them into one of the warm pools, illuminating the water from its depths like the hot-springs themselves have turned into pools of light.
"Oh," Ah-Lanah gasps, "that's so pretty!"
I had hoped she would think so.
The hold my tail has on Ah-Lanah's ankle tightens when she drops to her knees and leans down to run her delicate little female hand through the surface of the water. Her mouth pops open as she twists to look up at me, awe and delight on her pretty features. "It's so warm! Oh my God, I can really have a bath! Mavyx, this is heaven!"
I do not know what 'heaven' is, but by the excitable squeal she lets out, I am confident it is a good thing.
I vow to try to heaven her as often as I possibly can.
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this," Ah-Lanah says to herself as she starts to remove her coverings. The pink cloth that covers her torso and those glorious chest curves goes first. She continues on, seeming not to care that I am here or that from what I've gathered of human culture, chest-showing is not the done thing. "I'm sorry, but fuck modesty, I need a bath so bad and this is gonna beso good," she tells me, her voice so eager my chest puffs with pride that I could please her this way.
