He looks out at the trees. His expression has shifted. It has tightened. The tactical part of him is back, and I watch it slot back into place like a visor coming down.
Magma pulls out and gently lowers my legs.
“We’d better get cleaned up, and then we should go.” He is frowning. “We shouldn’t have stayed. We made too much noise.”
He gets to his feet and reaches down for me. I take his hand, and he pulls me up. He steadies me with one hand.
“Did I hurt you?”
“I’m fine.”
He looks at me, his eyes narrowing.
“I really am fine. I mean…” I pause. “I mean, I came three times.” A soft laugh escapes me, quiet enough that it doesn’t carry.
He gives me a strained smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Good. Let’s get you back in the water.” He lets my arm go.
His complete one-eighty is giving me whiplash. I understand why he is like this. I do. He’s trying to keep me safe. Trying to keep us from being killed, and what we just did could end up bringing a whole group of feral males this way.
It still stings a little. He was inside me not even a minute ago, and now it’s business as usual. Even worse, it feels like he doesn’t want to touch me at all or even look at me, for that matter.
“Okay.” I nod.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting after we had sex.
All I know is that this isn’t it.
It’s probably better this way. It’s not like I have a future with Magma. That much has been clear from the start.
It was just sex. I’ve had a few hookups in my life. I’m not a prude. I enjoy sex. I’m a young, modern woman. I haven’t really wanted to be in a relationship before now. I think of Flint and instantly regret it. I do feel a pang of guilt. I push it down because I have nothing to feel bad about. Flint and Iaren’ttogether. What just happened will kill any kind of a relationship we might have had, but it is what it is; I’m okay with it. I don’t want to take it back.
I sigh as we walk to the water.
It’s all good. We needed to get that out of the way. Now we can focus on getting the hell out of here.
21
Magma
I stop walking, and Carla nearly bumps into the back of me.
“What is it?” she whispers.
“I want to get our bearings and check to see what it’s like out there. It’s been quieter out there today.” I suspect that the ferals have stopped trying to cross the ocean to Draig Island. Based on the attack earlier, I would say that they are back in the jungle. That makes this hike so much riskier.
“I want to climb a tree and take a look around.” I point at the grove up ahead of us, and Carla looks to where I’m pointing, looking at a stand of trees that punch straight up through the canopy. They’re far taller than anything around them, their trunks pale and buttressed, wide at the base. “Let’s go over there, and I’ll climb one of those kapok trees. They’re very tall.”
“Okay.” We walk over there, and she studies the trunk nearest us, then me. “Wow, these are some tall-ass trees.”
“They should be high enough to see past the canopy.” I look at the lowest branches, a good twenty feet up. “If it’s clear up there, I might be able to shift and fly us the rest of the way.”
Her face does something hopeful at that. “That would be amazing.”
“We’ll see.” I don’t want to promise her something I can’t deliver. “Wait here. Don’t wander.”
“Don’t you worry, I wasn’t planning on it.”
