Have I made a huge mistake?
Dropping my hands, I jerk, seeing the Boa back in his spot from earlier, determination and anger strickening his expression as his eyes find me behind the glass and… stares.
TWO
A COOL ASSESSMENT
Julia
Daisy quietly walksinto the room and gasps.
My fixated glare at the Boa shifts to her in the glass. My throat tightens when our eyes briefly catch and I spin around to face her. “Daisy…”
The color has fled from her face and as I head toward her, her gaze goes back to being glued on the Boa outside. Grabbing her shoulders, I turn her around and walk her out of the nap room and into the larger room beyond. Her shoulders shudder under my hands and my chest tightens.
Daisy was nearly raped by a Boa after being sacrified to the nagas. In the months of being here with her, she’s told me everything that’s happened to her since her arrival, including what happened with a particular naga from the Boa clan.
Releasing her, she’s frozen where she stands, and I walk past her and into the larger room, calling out for her mate. “Zaku, he’s back!” I peek down the hallway that leads to the front of the house, and then at the spiral stairs that lead to Zaku’s and Daisy’s nest deeper into the mountain.
Zaku emerges within seconds, coming up the spiral staircase. He makes a hissing bee-line for his mate. With an assessing glance at her and a flick of his eyes at me, he speeds past us and into the room with the children. I hear an enraged hiss and he comes flying back out, speeding towards the front.
I rush into the room to attend to the children who’ve all been startled awake.
As I’m soothing the toddlers, their limbs wrapping around mine, Daisy, shuddering all over, appears at my side to help me. Keeping her eyes pointedly away from the trees, she starts reassuring her boys while herding them out of the room, telling them it’s time to eat. I frown as I watch her go.
Movement outside the window catches my eye. Seeing the trees shake violently, I rush to the glass just in time to see the end of Zaku’s tail disappear into the forest.
As the branches sway, my hands fist at my sides. Zaku’s right.
I can’t stay here any longer. I’m putting my friend and her kids at risk.
Later that afternoon,I strip out of my clothes and change into a large faded black t-shirt and soft gray sweatpants, preparing for bed in a couple of hours. Stepping out of my bathroom, I head to the door to my bedroom and gently press my ear against it. It’s quiet, and remains so.
Zaku has since returned from chasing the Boa away, and with no wounds, thankfully. All afternoon Daisy wouldn’t stop pacing and her worrying did nothing to help the children’s confused moods.
It’s been a long day.
With Zaku and Daisy retired with their children deep within the house, I’m back to being alone in the room I’ve been given next to the large front entry. Within the hallway leading to thelower rooms, I’m opposite of the open-floorplan kitchen which is across from me to my right. Pushing the door, which is also the first of four rooms along the hallway, I peek out into the open seating area ahead of me to check how much light I have left coming from the front windows just beyond it.
My room is the only bedroom that’s not against the house’s frontal glass wall, in fact, it doesn’t have a window at all. It’s also the same room the Yulen Medical Pod was in—which has since been moved deeper into the house, and beyond the red door.
The pod would’ve remained here if I hadn’t had such an aversion to being watched by strange males while I slept. The floor to ceiling windows at the front have no blinds or drapes and the room the pod was in—my room now—is the only guest room on the main floor that isn’t at the front of the house.
It would’ve been better to stay in one of the deeper rooms but Zaku didn’t want me closer to his and Daisy’s nest.
Walking out the door, my feet don’t make a sound as I cautiously step out into the open-floorplan room. The sunlight beams its last golden rays across the clean stone floors, sleek yet comfortable furniture, and onto the back, jagged walls at the rear. The shadows are long, giving the room a deepening twilight atmosphere and glow. Dust motes float like tiny sparkles through the air. I’m alone except for a single bot dusting the dining room table.
My gaze moves over the golden rays of light, finding them and this time of day to be one of my favorites. It’s usually calm and quiet.
Taking a deep breath, I walk to the seating area and pick a spot close to the window. I shuffle the chair around until it’s facing the forest. Slowly sitting down, I rest my elbows on my knees and stare out over the darkening barrier of pine trees.
I wait.
It doesn’t take long for the first naga to appear.
A silvery white and light blue naga with bright blue eyes.
White, wildly tousled hair falls past his muscled shoulders, curling along his skin. Incredibly attractive, he reminds me of the Blue Coral, Vagan, but he doesn’t have the same vibrant coloring. This naga, unlike Vagan, has a mysterious, haughty way about him as he approaches the glass and rises in front of me to puff out his chest. Across the few yards of space between us, I have to lift my chin to meet his gaze. I catch his eyes and he immediately lowers to level his face with mine, bending forward.
