I can’t even describe how impossible such a thought process should be for someone who lives in caves and eats worms. Hell, not even most humans are capable of it. They mean well as they rush in and start doing things for me without giving me a chance to at least try myself, but sometimes it gets infuriating.
“Could you be any more perfect?” I smile widely at my alien, not even grimacing when he grins back. Never the words, though. Even though he can make some noises that resemble speech, and I’m certain he recognizes the sound of the name I gave him, he never tries to repeat them.
“Okay, you can help me,” I tell him, indicating that he’s allowed to. “I could probably do it myself eventually, but it would take half the night.”
Gently lifting me up, Adam helps me out of the rest of the jumpsuit, proving once again that four-armed caregivers are vastly superior to two-armed ones. As he holds me, he doesn’t waste the opportunity to nuzzle my hair and neck, his tongue darting out to collect droplets of water from my collarbone. I barely manage to bite back a moan and grab the wet bundle of my jumpsuit to cover my lap and my hardening cock. If we slipped into another jerk-off session, who knows where we’d end up, and this place feels a little too exposed for that. The critters keep chirping and chittering, which hopefully means no big predator is around, but that doesn’t mean I want something sneaking up on me when I have my cock in my hand. Or Adam’s, for that matter.
Adam seems to agree, because he once again scoops me up into his arms. I suck in a sharp breath as he moves me up his body, extremely aware of my naked skin sliding against his. Damn, this will be a long walk.
Chapter 14
Adam
Jaimeisinmyarms without his outer skin, and it feels even better than I expected. His body is warm and his skin so soft I want to lick it all over, but if I started, I would never stop, and we can’t stay here. JThe scents and tracks tell me many creatures come here to drink, and while I could fight them if they took an interest in my Jaime, I don’t want to. That thought feels new. Before Jaime, the red fog always pushed me to fight everything in sight.
The forest is more alive at night than during the day, since most creatures avoid the sun even when the light isn’t sharp. Ispot a few smaller hardshells stomping their way through the underbrush. At first, I walk past them, but then a thought occurs to me. Jaime gets excited about everything in the forest. TThings I ignore because they’re normal make him show his teeth in a wide smile. He likes glowing leaves, colorful flying insects, and blooms that explode in color when touched. Seeing them makes him happy. Hardshells don’t interest me, but Jaime might like them.
When I stop and turn back, Jaime stiffens. “Something wrong?” he whispers. “Are we lost? Or is there something chasing us?”
He sounds worried, and that strange pain stirs in my stomach again. I pat his head fur to comfort him, which makes him laugh. “Okay, I have no idea what that meant. What are we doing now?”
Crouching low, I brush a few branches aside and point toward the group of hardshells. Jaime’s mouth makes a circle. “Ooh. Glowing turtles! Wow, and they’re so big. That’s awesome.” He keeps talking excitedly as we watch a hardshell dig in the ground. When it finds a wiggletail and eats it, the group moves on. I stand up, unsure if Jaime wants to follow or keep walking. I point both ways with a finger, copying a gesture Jaime uses often, although it feels like I’ve known it for longer than I’ve known Jaime.
“We can go,” Jaime says, pointing away from the hardshells. “Thank you for showing me, though. You really are the sweetest person I’ve met. If you could get me something better to eat than those damned worms, this would be the best date ever.”
Only half listening to his chittering, I keep moving, circling the venomfang territory on the way back to my den. I don’t usually wander this far from it, but something pulled me here even before I caught Jaime’s scent. I’m grateful I came this way. If I hadn’t, who knows what would have happened to Jaime?
Jaime’s words come and go like waves of pebbles, and when he stays quiet for a while, I realize he fell asleep. In my arms. The fluttering feeling in my stomach comes back strong, like I swallowed a whole swarm of flying lizards. Warmth spreads through my chest. Jaime trusts me. The last of his fear-scent is gone, and as I carry him sleeping, I breathe in his sweet scent.
The sky brightens, the forest around us returning to its usual day colors. Most of the creatures crawl under roots or rocks to hide, but since there are no signs of an upcoming sharp light, I continue walking. There will be plenty of hiding places along the path if sharp light comes. It might. Sometimes it lasts for days and nights, the sky colored with warnings that it’s not safe to be outside. During those longer stretches, I’m sometimes forced to leave shelter to hunt for food and water, and always return with my skin singed, peeling and blistered. I don’t want to think about what would happen to Jaime’s soft, unprotected skin.
A flock of clatterbeaks flies by, filling the air with their irritating noise. Jaime stirs from sleep, opening his maw wide as he stretches his arms. “Hmpfh?” With his eyes opened only by a sliver, he looks around before huffing. “It’s morning already, huh? Wow, did I really fall asleep? Did you carry me all night? I don’t really know how long days and nights last here, but it feels much longer than I’m used to. Sorry for leaving all the heavy lifting to you. I wish there was something I could do to contribute. The next time we stop, I’ll see if I can make a fire with some of these stones. I mean, obviously not the sandstone, but those black ones look like they could spark, don’t you think?”
His words bring up an image of bright orange, red, and yellow dancing light, like the sharp light signs, but on branches instead of in the sky. It doesn’t look safe.
“Obviously, I don’t have any pots to boil water in, but if I could heat some stones and put them in water inside of… Hmm, let’s see, what could work as a water container?”
Distracted by the way Jaime touches a finger to his lips, I miss the forest falling silent around us. Only when the spikes on the back of my neck prickle do I throw myself to the ground, shielding Jaime with my limbs as I roll. He cries out, maybe in surprise, maybe in pain, but I have no time to tell because the venomfang is on me the next moment.
I set Jaime on the ground and turn just in time to deflect the deadly bite. It strikes with a claw instead, catching me on my side. My scales offer no protection against the claws of a venomfang this large, and I howl as my skin splits open.
At least the creature’s attention is on me and not on Jaime. Sidestepping, I lead it farther from him, my mind scrambling for a way to win without endangering Jaime. It doesn’t look good. This venomfang is large. Not the largest I’ve seen, but the largest I’ve fought, and even the smaller one nearly got me. What’s worse, I spot an indistinct shape clinging between the creature’s middle pair of legs. A youngling, still holding on to its mother. Female venomfangs with young are the most dangerous creatures in the forest. They’ll go into a frenzy defending their offspring and destroy anything standing in their way. We need to run.
Turning to scoop Jaime up nearly costs me my life as the venomfang swipes again, the force of her strike throwing me into a tree. After that, there’s no time to think. The world becomes a blur of dodging and deflecting the deadly bites. Occasionally, I manage to land a strike of my own, but the venomfang’s hide is too thick for me to truly injure her. Even my desperation-fueled strength isn’t enough to match a beast like this. I wish Jaime would use this chance to escape, but with his broken body, he wouldn’t get far. We’ll both die here, and it will be my fault.
Chapter 15
Jaime
Holyfuckingshit.Onemoment, I’m contemplating ways to murder alien turtles and use their shells to boil water, and the next I’m rolling on the ground as a creature the size of a van attacks us from nowhere. Spitting out dirt, I roll just in time to see Adam get smashed into a tree, the creature’s claws digging into his back.
It looks like a panther, if panthers were huge and had three pairs of limbs. It doesn’t have fur, but thick-looking skin that Adam struggles to penetrate. The panther doesn’t have the same issues, its vicious claws tearing through my poor alien like aknife through warm butter. If I don’t do something soon, he’ll die, and I’ll be next. The problem is I have no idea what to do, other than crawl over and make the panther trip over my limp body.
“Not a great plan, Jaime,” I murmur, my hands searching the forest floor for potential weapons. I find a stone, laughably small for the creature’s size, but maybe a distraction will give Adam an opening. “Hey!” I yell at the thing. “Over here!”
I toss the stone at it, already looking for another one when it hits the creature’s side.I’d congratulate myself on my aim, but the thing is so big it’s impossible to miss. Besides, I was aiming at its head. It barks at me, then roars as Adam goes for its face, clearly trying to blind it. Refocusing on Adam, the creature attacks again, the fight moving too far away for me to interfere. Then I notice a smaller black form separate from the larger creature. It’s a carbon copy of the big one, only about the size of a house cat. It still looks menacing as it stalks toward me, baring its teeth.
Well, fuck.
