Calmly.I stepped back, and the water violently thrashed, and those red eyes sped closer.
The head finally surfaced.
From the corner of someone’s eye, they might think that it was an alligator. Deep greenish-brown scales coated the head; the perfect color to hide in this water. The scales at the top back of its head stood up in a way that wasn’t normal, and I was willing to bet they were a defense mechanism, that was bastard sharp if they touched you. The snout was too short and blunt to be anything in that family.
The splashes in the water said it was bigger, much bigger than any of its cousins I’d worked with.
Not to mention the human way the eyes locked on me.
Do something!
“I’m sorry, okay! Go home!” I yelled, waving my arms in big motions over my head to make myself as large as possible. “I won’t fuck with it again. Deal?”
The rest of its body came to the surface. Fuck, maybe making myself bigger wasn’t a great idea.
From snout to the tip of its tail, it had to be twelve feet long.
Think, Talia!
I backed into a tree, and the warm bark sparked the smallest sliver of hope. It wasn’t the best idea, but it was better than nothing. Alligators could climb when they were smaller. Hopefully, this big girl couldn’t get her ass up there.
But that also meant turning my back to an ambush. I couldn’t stop to think things through.
Fuck it.
I grabbed the lowest sturdy branch just above my head and pulled myself up off the ground. My sore muscles complained, but the sound of footsteps in the brush behind me pushed a little more strength into me.
The sound behind me was off, but I didn’t have time to contemplate why as I focused on pulling the lower half of my body up to the branch. Once my knees rested on the branch, I let out a whoosh of breath, but I knew better than to let relief wash over me.
I wasn’t out of this yet.
The steady stride of two distinct footsteps squishing through the moist ground finally registered in my brain.
My heart stopped in my chest. Two?
Thick, muddy green claws grabbed my waist, sinking claws into my side, and yanked me off the false safety of the branch. I tried to hang on, but I was overpowered as if my desperate attempts to cling to the branch meant nothing.
I was pinned against the trunk of the tree, and could feel the large form of a muscular man against my back.Had someone snuck up on me?
No.
A cold, wet nose that was rough leather skimmed down my neck with slow intentional movements, as a soft purr vibrated my back in a way that made something inside me want to get on my hands and knees.
But I refused to put myself in that compromising position. Just the thought made my stomach twist. Why would I ever have that thought?
That wasn’t me.
I slowly turned on my heel to look at the thing behind me.
I immediately swallowed when I realized how far back I had to tilt my head to see its face. Its unkind eyes glared down at me.Their tongue flicked angrily, revealing it was forked like a snake. I had the perfect angle to see how the shape of his lower jaw reminded me of a crocodile.
They snapped their teeth, making me jump. It took me too long to realize they were testing my reaction.
Their overall form was humanoid in a way my brain couldn’t understand. My eyes jerked around trying to make sense of what this was. Heat filled my cheeks as I discovered the huge appendage that mentally putitunderhe.
I forced my gaze to go back up to his eyes and away from every inch of his naked humanness. Shame and embarrassment suddenly made me feel like I’d intruded on his privacy.
A quiver of something I couldn’t quite identify rolled through me.
