20. Abbey

20

ABBEY

Abbey had the strangest dream that night. In it, she could see clearly again and she was looking down at herself as though she was looking through someone else's eyes. Then a large hand covered lightly in short, dense fur reached down to stroke her cheek.

"So beautiful, lelka," a deep, rumbling voice murmured. "I wish you could understand how beautiful and precious you are to me…"

Then she watched as the one whose eyes she was looking through lifted her sleeping self and carried her into another room—a bedroom, she realized. He placed her gently on a huge bed which was covered in tiny, white flowers.

"Sleep well," the rumbling voice said. "Have pleasant dreams, lelka."

The dream faded but Abbey was left with a sense of being cherished…of being loved by someone who longed for her and wanted to be with her because he thought she was the most wonderful and beautiful woman in the universe. It was an amazing feeling which followed her down into a dreamless sleep…

In the morning, Abbey woke up in a strange bed—she could tell because it felt different from her mattress at home. It was denser and it seemed to cradle her body in a way no mattress ever had before.

But the mattress wasn't the only thing that was different. She was partially resting against something big and warm and firm. Something that moved slowly and evenly and was covered in short, dense fur, she realized as she ran her hand over the warm, breathing thing.

"Mmm, lelka that tickles," a deep, sleepy voice rumbled somewhere over her head.

"Oh!" Abbey stopped petting the furry thing at once and sat up. Suddenly she remembered where she was—on board the Monstrum Mother Ship with Solon, the Monstrum warrior who had claimed her!

"Are you all right?" he asked, sounding concerned now. "Your eyes are wide and I can feel that you're surprised."

"You…you can?" Abbey asked, frowning. "How can you tell that?"

"Because I'm a Chimera Monstrum—it gives me the ability to feel emotions. I'm sorry—I should have told you that yesterday," he rumbled.

"Can you feel everyone's emotions or just mine?" Abbey asked, fascinated despite herself.

"Only the emotions of those I'm attuned to and only when we're touching—as we are now."

Abbey realized that she still had her hand resting on his side and she pulled away abruptly.

"I'm sorry—does knowing that I can feel your emotions make you not want to touch me?" Solon asked.

"No, it's not that. I just…I'm wondering why we're in bed together," Abbey said.

"If you remember, the rules of the Claiming Period say that we must eat every meal at the same table and sleep in the same bed every night," he reminded her. "But I promise you that all we did is sleep. You drifted off during the vid last night so I carried you to the sleeping chamber. I slept beside you but that's all that happened—we slept side by side."

Abbey remembered her dream—the way she had been watching through someone else's eyes as he picked her up and carried her to bed. Could it be that she was still Dream-Sharing with the big Monstrum even though they were together now?

If so, she didn't really mind it, she decided. It had been nice to see her own face again after so long. She looked older than she remembered, but not in a bad way. And the emotions she'd felt coming from him…the love and longing and caring had been so nice.

The thought made her frown.

"Hey, you said you can feel my emotions, but can I feel yours too when we're touching?" she asked.

The golden blur that was his head made a motion and she realized he was nodding.

"Yes, I can send you emotions as well as feeling yours. But I can only send emotions I'm truly feeling," he added. "Again, I should have told you this before."

"Were you sending me emotions yesterday to make me trust you?" Abbey asked suspiciously.

"I was sending emotions that I thought would help you feel better." He sounded cautious, like he was choosing his words carefully. "You were so upset after you nearly drowned in the bathing pool. I sent you feelings of calm and peace and caring."

"Oh…okay." Abbey frowned again. "Is that why I started trusting you?"

"That could be part of it," he agreed. "But I'd like to think my actions had something to do with it, too. I want you to feel safe with me, Abbey—I want you to know I'll never hurt you."

As he spoke, he took her hand in his and Abbey felt a current of caring and tenderness coming from him.

"Solon, wait," she said. "I mean, this feels wonderful, but I have to know how I feel about you when we're not touching."

Reluctantly, she pulled her hand out of his and sat there for a moment. She no longer felt the current of emotion coming from him—she had felt it several times the day before, she realized—she just hadn't recognized what it was.

"Have you been manipulating me—with the emotion thing, I mean?" she demanded bluntly.

"Not intentionally. Though I will admit I did my best to calm you down when you were upset yesterday," he told her. "Please don't be angry with me, lelka. Sending and receiving emotions is one of the ways my people communicate with each other. It's very difficult for me to not do it—though I'll try if you want me to."

Abbey thought about it—did she want him to stop? But it felt so nice when she could feel how much he cared about her. It should have been too much too soon—they barely knew each other. But she had been dreaming of him for months—maybe that was why she didn't feel freaked out about the extent of his emotion for her.

"No, I don't think so," she said at last. "But is there anything else I should know about, Solon? I won't be upset as long as you tell me up front." As she spoke, she reached for him again. She felt his fingers entwine with hers and more emotions—mostly longing—coming from him.

"There's nothing more about me to know," he said, speaking carefully again. Was he holding something back? "Would you like to have First Meal with me and then take a tour of the Monstrum Mother Ship?" he asked.

Abbey still felt like there was something unsaid between them, but she decided to let it drop. After all, the emotions she felt from him were all positive and he seemed to really care about her—care deeply. It was nice to feel such a sweet emotion directed at herself. It made her want to trust the big Monstrum.

"All right," she said. "But if I'm going to stay up here with you, I'd really like to have some of my mobility aides."

"You're going to stay?" A burst of suppressed excitement came from him. "For the entire Claiming Period?"

"Yes." Abbey smiled at him. "As long as we can take it slow and I can go at my own pace."

"Anything you want, lelka." He lifted her hand and pressed a soft, hot kiss to her palm. "Come on, tell me what you want for First Meal. I have several good meal cubes including beagles with creamy cheese and worfles with spurt—which I understand is some kind of tree juice."

"I think you mean bagels and cream cheese and waffles with syrup," Abbey corrected him, laughing. "And I'm hungry—let's try both."