Chapter 8

Taylor

“No. Don’t go.” Brexl muttered in his sleep.

Brexl was having another nightmare. I’d always left him alone. I thought waking him up might make him feel more tired in the morning, but I couldn’t take the pained look on his face anymore. Whatever haunted him in his dreams, I wanted to help chase it away.

I looked down at his muscled body and remembered how nice it was to lie on top of him.

The girls and I had multiple theories about luminescence, and why people were paired up. I liked to think that luminescence was an outpouring of an already strong attraction. I always thought Brexl was sexy, so I wasn’t all that surprised when we luminesced.

“Please,” Brexl pleaded in his sleep.

Alright, enough was enough. I looked down at Brexl who wore a grimace on his face and gently shook his shoulder.

“Brexl, wake up.”

He sat up with a start and looked around the cave. There was a panicked look on his face and he was breathing heavy as if he’d just run a marathon.

“Brexl,” I cooed as I moved my body in front of his and placed a hand on his chest and the other on his cheek.

It took a second, but eventually his eyes locked on mine and clarity flooded his face.

“Taylor?” He seemed surprised to see me, but also relieved.

“I’m here,” I assured him.

In one swift movement, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close. Soft sobs escaped as he held me tight. My heart ached for him. Whatever hell I’d just pulled him from was worse than I thought.

“It’s alright,” I assured him as I ran my hand up and down his broad back.

“It was just a nightmare. I’m here now.”

He relaxed into my touch, letting his tight shoulders lower. Then he rested his head on the crook of my neck.

“I’m sorry I woke you. You were having a nightmare,” I confessed.

He didn’t say anything. He simply nodded his head in acknowledgment of my words.

“Do you think you can get back to sleep?”

He nodded his head again, then pulled me down on top of him, so my head was resting on his chest.

“Please don’t leave me,” his words were a watery plea that broke my heart. Everyone who was supposed to love him had left at one point or another. Neelu told me of how his parents died when he was young. Then the stiffness took his grandma, and then his grandfather refused to join him in his exile, even though he was just a young boy who was being cast out of the only home he’d ever known.

“I’ll never leave you, Brexl. I promise.” And I meant it. I was happy we were connected for life. Our bond might only be friendship, but it was a good friendship, one I’d cherish forever.

I couldn’t see his face in the dark, but I could feel him relax under me at my words. I was comfortable on top of him, so I chose to stay. There were worse ways to fall asleep than on Brexl’s chest.

Brexl

I woke the next morning with Taylor still on my chest. The warmth I felt in my heart at seeing her comfortably resting atop me was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. What I would do to have this moment last forever.

She’d woken me up from the same reoccurring nightmare I’d had almost every night of my adult life. Me, a young sietling, running through the dark forest on a moonless night while my mother called for me. I’d gotten lost and was trying to get back to her. I’d run and run and run trying to find my mother, and yet I never did.

Then the jagwas would appear, except they weren’t normal jagwas, they all wore the face of the Savrix, Dameron. They’d gnash their teeth and yell at me to get out.

Sometimes the person who was calling for me would change. Last night it was my sire, the night before, it was my appo. But the dream itself was always the same. The same dark twisted forest, the same fear in my heart, the same feeling of loneliness and abandonment. It was always there every night waiting for me.

Hearing Taylor’s voice cut through my dream was a welcome surprise. When I woke from the dark forest to find Taylor’s concerned face staring back at me, it had been an overwhelming relief. I wasn’t lost anymore. She’d brought a ray of light into my nightmare, as if she’d broken the curse that bound my very soul.

I held her tight, because at first I thought she wasn’t real, that I’d made her up, but when I felt her hair on my skin and smelled her scent in the air, I knew she was really there, really caring for me. Then I didn’t want to let her go. I thought, maybe if I could hold onto her, then maybe I wouldn’t get lost in the forest again. And I was right. The nightmare didn’t return.

I laid back down and enjoyed the sensation of her skin pressed against mine until the morning light crossed her face, causing her to stir.

“Mmm,” she sat up, rubbed her eyes, and stretched. Her beauty was breathtaking. The long lines of her body rounded at her breasts and her hips as she stretched. She rubbed her eyes again and gave me a sleepy smile.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

After everything she’d done for me, including the comfort she brought me last night, I was again struck with the overwhelming feeling that she shouldn’t be putting so much care and effort into someone like me.

It was uncomfortable to have someone care for me so, and I wondered if I’d ever get used to it. But it felt nice too.

“I’m feeling better.”

“Good. Are you up for helping me forage for breakfast?”

I nodded my head. I wanted to tell her that I felt strong enough to go hunting on my own and that she should stay in the cave where it was safe, but I knew that would only bring her ire. I was coming to realize that being bonded with Taylor meant that I’d have to accept her help and her stubborn insistence to care for me.

I got to my feet and held out my hand, “let’s find some food.”

Taylor took my hand with a smile, “lead the way.”