Chapter 13

Drovo

We walked back through the ship until we reached an empty room with a medium-sized bed. I ran the blanket through my thumb and finger and marveled at the unique material. It looked thin, but felt just as warm as one of my furs. This would make for a good bed for Kayla. I would sleep on my furs by the door in case anyone or any beast tried to attack us in the night.

I didn’t notice my hands were shaking until I laid my furs down on the hard floor. It had been jarring to see my old dekes, especially my brother Favalor and former playmate, Zander.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kayla’s voice cut through my thoughts. “I think we have to sleep in the same bed in case those pricks try to spy on us. I suspect they think we’re lying, but we’d better keep up our charade, just in case.”

She chewed the bottom of her lip as she looked at the bed. “I better go tell Taylor and Brexl to sleep in the same bed together, too. I have a feeling Brexl will push back on the idea, but if Taylor and I tell him he needs to do it, he’ll back down.”

She left the room, giving me a moment to collect my thoughts. I sat down on the strangely cushioned bed and hunched over with my head between my hands. My brother was here not more than twenty lengths away from me, and yet I can’t talk to him. He looked so grown compared to last year. I always look for my sire and brothers in the crowd when we gathered for the offering. I could have sworn Favalor was an inch taller and had twice the muscle he had last season.

I shook my head. I would give anything to speak to him, to know how he was doing, how our sire was doing, but I couldn’t put Favalor in jeopardy like that. Scaron would disapprove of us talking, and the Savrix might punish him for it.

I looked down at Kayla’s bag on the floor and wondered if Scaron was right. Would she be safer with them? She could walk around the valley freely without fear of getting attacked. She couldn’t even walk around our small clearing without someone guarding her. It was relatively safe, but not without danger.

“Well, that took some convincing, but we eventually got there.” Kayla said as she walked back into the doorless room. Taylor had mentioned earlier that the doors would automatically open and close, but since the ship had no power, they were stuck open.

“Are you alright?” She looked at me with concern in her eyes.

“No,” I croaked out. I wouldn’t lie to her. I’d spent enough time lying about her chariot, and that got me nowhere. I wouldn’t lie to her again.

Kayla sat down next to me on the bed and placed my right hand in hers.

“I gather that’s your brother out there, the one with the brown hair that matches yours and who has the same nose and chin as you do.”

I nodded my head. “Favalor.”

“He looks like a good kid,” she added as she squeezed my hand.

“He is.” I didn’t know that for sure, but I refused to believe otherwise. It hurt too much to think he might hate me as much as the others did. I hadn’t felt the despair of losing my family for a long time, but now, after seeing my brother, it was coming back in waves. How much had I missed? Had Favalor needed an older brother for guidance? There was a scar on his neck. Had he been in danger of dying on a hunt in the past? I could have protected him like an older brother should. I was the oldest of three children. I had two brothers and one sister. She had died in the stiffness like so many of our females, along with our mother.

I looked up at Kayla and I knew she saw the pain in my face. Her eyes had become glossy with unshed tears as a reflection of my own.

“I could ask him to protect you if you would prefer to live in the valley.” The words passed by my lips like poison. Each one was a bitter blow to my heart.

“What? And live with those assholes? No, thank you.”

“You would be safer there.” I pleaded, and all the joy left her face.

“You’re serious, aren’t you? You really think I should live with them.”

“I failed you once, and I’d be failing you again if I didn’t encourage you to live with them. They might be right, you know.” I confessed. “We don’t know if we spread the Stiffness or not. What if you get sick?”

Kayla put a finger to my lips to quiet me. “You’re not cursed, and you didn’t cause the Stiffness. Got it?” She removed her finger and got on her knees before me.

“I don’t care how safe the valley is. My home is in that mountain. My home is with you.”

A tear trickled down my face, and Kayla wiped it away with her thumb. She cupped my cheek with her hand and it about broke me. It’d been so long since I’d been touched with such tenderness. I didn’t deserve any of it. I had hurt Kayla. I had lied to her and made her think she wasn’t my priority, and here she was cupping my face with the gentlest of touches.

A sob escaped me as I confessed, “You shouldn’t like me. I’m not worthy.”

“I decide who I do and don’t like, and I like you. I hadn’t realized how much until I saw you in danger. But I do like you.”

“Friends,” the word was a watery plea on my lips.

“No, Drovo,” Kayla looked me dead in the eyes. “I like you as more than a friend.”

My heart was overflowing. How could I be so goddess blessed?

I picked up Kayla from the floor and set her on my lap. I held her as if she were the sun itself, piercing through my darkest hour.

She held me in return for and for a long moment we were silent, embracing the moment as much as we embraced each other.

“Come on, lay down with me.” She slid off my lap and onto the bed.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw her lying before me. She was so beautiful with her braided hair draped on the pillow.

I laid down next to her, my face just inches from hers. She ran her fingers through my thick tendrils in a comforting gesture and I wrapped my tail around her leg to remind myself this was all real.

“Have I ever told you how sexy you are?” she asked and I couldn’t hold back the watery laugh that escaped me.

“No,” I chuckled.

“I especially like how your hair turns a greenish blue when you shift.”

“Really?” I had never considered my shifter form to be attractive. It wasn’t until I’d seen Gab-bae’s reaction to Tarak’s shifted form that I even considered we might be anything other than an abomination.

“I think you’re beautiful.” I ran my knuckles along her cheek, enjoying her soft skin against mine. “My beautiful luna moth.”

Kayla rolled her eyes at me out of habit, but then she gave me a pleased smile. “Why do you call me that?”

“Luna moths are soft like you,” I emphasized my point by running my hand up and down her arm. “And they”re pretty like you.” I tapped her cute nose. “And they’re survivors like you are.”

“I’ll accept that as a nickname, I guess,” she smiled her approval. “I’ll be your luna moth and you can be my tree, patient and strong as the forest itself.”

“I’ll be your tree,” I whispered back.

Our lips were so close now, just a hair of distance between us, between what could be the end of this moment or our first kiss.

Kayla’s eyes watched my lips, and I swallowed hard. “I want to kiss you.”

“Kiss me then,” she breathed, and so I did.

Our lips met in a delicate embrace. Her warmth infused with my skin and left me tingling from head to toe. I don’t know what I had anticipated, but I don’t think I could have dreamed up how amazing Kayla’s soft lips would feel against mine.

I wanted more. She had called me her patient tree, but at the moment, I was feeling greedy. I dipped my head again and met her lips with mine. A soft moan escaped her, causing my cock to rise.

I wrapped my arms around her and pressed her body to mine. I wanted to feel her. I wanted every inch of my body to drink in every inch of hers.

She teased the seam of my mouth with her tongue and I opened for her, and when her tongue reached mine, I moaned with approval.

My hips twitched against hers and I gasped with how good it felt to rub my hard aching cock against my Kayla, my luna moth.

Kayla took advantage of my open mouth and sucked on my bottom lip. My hips twitched again, but this time it was Kayla who moaned. Had I rubbed against her clit? Tarak’s lecture on how to pleasure a human female flooded my mind. Breasts, clit, g-spot. Those were the keys to bringing her pleasure.

Breasts. I inched my hand up her torso, but lost all train of thought when Kayla’s lips pressed against mine once again. How was I supposed to bring her pleasure when I was so overwhelmed with it myself? She was amazing and thoughts of her body pressed against mine were all-encompassing.

I tried a new tactic. I pulled away from her and let my lips graze against the column of her neck. Kayla shuddered in my arms.

“Good?” I asked. I honestly wasn’t sure. Was that a shudder of pleasure or distaste?

“Good,” she confirmed as she tilted her head, giving me even easier access to her neck.

“Good,” I grunted and descended on her again.

I pressed my lips against her skin and kissed my way down her neck. All the while, my hand ascended up her body, under her shirt until I was rewarded with the soft warmth of her breast.

I dragged my thumb along the lower half and she squirmed against me.

“Higher. Please,” she begged and I raised my hand higher.

Her nipple was a hard peaked tip. I gently pinched it between my fingers and she moaned so loud I wondered if the others would hear us. I didn’t care. Let them hear.

As I worked her nipple with one hand I lowered the other between her thighs.

“Guide me,” I rasped as I rested my palm on her warm flesh.

Kayla took my hand in hers and pressed two of my fingers onto a bud of flesh at the apex of her slit. She did a firm circular motion and gasped with pleasure.

I repeated the motion and was rewarded with another gasp and shudder.

“Yes, just like that,” her voice was husky with desire, and I loved it.

I worked her clit with slow, firm circles, just like she’d shown me. Round and round I went until her hips bucked against my aching cock with almost every movement of my hand. I kissed her neck and pinched her breast over and over again.

She was vibrating against me now, trembling with need. I pressed on, circling, pinching, kissing and grinding until she buried her face in the pillow and cried out with pleasure. Her abdomen spasmed against my hand and I held her tight, trying to drink in her pleasure as if it were my own.

“Hey!” A rough voice sounded from our doorway.

I scrambled to sit up and pushed Kayla behind me.

Scaron stood before us, fuming. Rage radiated off his body in waves.

“You may claim to be luminescence mates, but I’ve yet to decide if I believe you. Tomorrow when you stand before the Savrix, he may declare you all liars and what will you do then? You’ll have broken the one rule we gave you. You can’t touch any females, remember? So, in the meantime, keep your hands to yourselves.”

He looked me up and down and his face scrunched up with disgust, as if the very thought of a female touching me was vile.

My head was dizzy with emotions, and my tongue felt thick in my mouth. I’d just had one of the best moments of my life and now I was being scolded and threatened by a male standing in my doorway.

I wanted to yell back. I wanted to tell him that the hu-mans don’t think we are cursed, but I couldn’t form the words. Scaron stomped out of the ship before I could find the strength to speak.

“Prick,” Kayla spat in disgust once he was out of earshot.

She was still breathing heavily from our activities, and her hand trembled on my shoulder.

I took it in mine and kissed it. Then turned and tucked a braid behind her rounded ear.

“Let’s sleep now.”

I laid down and pulled her against me with her back to my chest. Pleasuring Kayla had been a dream come true, but this, cuddling, was just as good. Many nights I wondered what it would be like to have another warm my furs. What would it feel like to fall asleep with my arms around my mate and wake to her smiling face? Kayla hadn’t claimed me as hers yet, but we were something. More than friends, but not quiet mates, and that was fine with me. I’d take anything she had to offer.

I held her against me and willed my hard cock to soften as I attempted to welcome sleep.