Now that it was free, would the human run? I licked my lips. It would be fun to hunt it down again...
Paz didn’t move. It met my gaze like an equal, though I saw mixed emotions in those weird white-and-brown eyes.
“Why don’t you run?” I boomed.
Paz hesitated for a few heartbeats without breaking my gaze. “You’re clearly stronger and faster than me, Kur’tok. Running wouldn’t help.”
I felt a smug flash of pride. So the human understood its place.
“You are right,” I conceded. “You are small, slow, and weak.”
Paz made a breathy sound of amusement. “Pretty much.”
I frowned. Why did it agree with everything I said? I wanted Paz to put up a fight. Annoyed, I prodded it in the side with my tentacle, but its skin was covered by a fluffy garment.
“What is this?” I demanded. “Some kofotta fiber thing?”
Paz recognized the word and perked up. “Oh, yeah. Another Maeleon made it for me. Do you know Linn’ar?”
The dark green face of that fruit-eater flashed before my mind. It was jarring. I hadn’t thought about Linn’ar or any of those other fools in a long time.
I scoffed. “Yes, I know.”
“You do?” Paz asked, looking excited. “That’s great! My friend Jaeyoung—he’s another human—he’s actually Linn’ar’s filum, and they’re probably both pretty worried about me by now—”
The human spoke too much. I slapped my tentacle over its mouth for silence. But its use of that word shocked me. How did this mysterious creature know of filum? My feelers lit up, humming in thought. The human said he wasn’t alone. How many others were there? If Paz was tasty enough, perhaps I could hunt the rest.
“You came from the village by the Sweetfields,” I muttered, drawing my tentacle away from Paz’s lips. I noticed they were oddly soft, like the freshest of flower petals.
Paz still looked hopeful. “That’s right.”
I sank deeper into my throne, and my maw curled into a grin. “You should not have left, Paz. Now you are my prey.”
Still, Paz didn’t make a break for freedom. It stood right where I’d put it, looking up at me with those stark, enchanting eyes.
The fact that I found my prey compelling irritated me. Was it possible humans were more dangerous than I realized? I needed to eat this one promptly before it charmed me with its tongue. But first, the shell had to be removed.
“Take that garment off,” I ordered.
The corner of Paz’s mouth turned upwards. “You could at least take me on adatefirst,” it said playfully.
I slammed my fist into the throne. “Do not sass me, food-thing.” After growling sufficiently at the human, curiosity got the best of me. “What is a date?”
Paz slipped its arm out of the garment. The limb was the same pale brown color as its face, and to my surprise, it was smaller and thinner than the garment suggested. Human creatures seemed utterly fragile.
“A date is when two people hang out together, usually in a romantic or sexual way,” Paz explained. As it removed the second arm, the garment slipped halfway down its body. “Maeleons go on dates all the time, don’t they?”
I ground my teeth. “You presume too much. Stop now.”
Paz froze, catching my gaze expectantly. “Stop undressing?”
“Yes,” I snapped.
“You got it, Kur’tok.”
“Be quiet,” I grumbled, though it lacked bite. I was too enthralled by the human’s mysterious body. It had nothing—no scales, no fur on its body, no spines. The impractical thing only had four limbs total. The lack of feelers made its thoughts difficult to gauge, and the lack of horns and claws made it absolutely pitiful. How could such a miserable creature survive?
“Come closer,” I demanded.
