33. Thivoll

33

Thivoll

I love that I've made her laugh, but then it abruptly cuts off and I hear thrashing.

"Are you alright, sweet one?"

I hear more squirming and muttering. "Mostly, I guess. My stupid hair is stuck."

When she lets out a muted yelp, I push my way back in.

She is properly tangled up. Long indigo and orange tresses are wrapped up in a branch on one side. The braid she attempted to contain it with unraveling as I watch.

She must have tried to backtrack and turn to address it and stickers are embedded in the fabric of her rear. I can't even pat it to help her feel better without making it worse.

Instead I reach out, extend my claws to slice through the offending branches, and then gently remove the barbed ends.

She puffs out a breath. "Tell me you'll cut the damn hair and not just the branches."

I lightly snap my teeth just at the thought of doing such a thing, then go back to removing stickers.

Once I have them all removed from the fabric I rub all over the globes of her rear to comfort her with one hand while my other extends to do the same to the branches holding onto her hair.

The movement makes me less aware of where my other hand is and it strays to the heat of her core, which was made more readily available by her kneeling position.

My hand freezes when I feel moisture.

Is she bleeding from her battle with the plant? It seems like the wrong location.

"Are you wet? Is that normal for a human?"

She yelps again, when I make another pass to assess if she might be bleeding from the brambles. It occurs to me that it's not a sound of pain.

"Uh . . . yes . . ."

Then she suddenly growls at me, the sound of it making me twitch under my sheath.

"I'm wet all the fucking time right now, Thivoll. All. Of. The. Time. My body is no longer my own. No, that isn't exactly normal."

She says it all quietly, but vehemently.

"But, yes, it's apparently exactly what happens if a human woman is abducted, jacked up to be perma-aroused, and then isn't having any freaking sex."

From her tone I would expect her to be baring her teeth at me and for me to be scared she might extend her claws and take a swipe, but my cock is pushing against its confines.

Then my mind catches up to the fact that human women of course don't have claws . . . and provide lubrication.

I'm struck dumb by the possibilities as she scrambles past me.

I follow her out, then shake my mane to help center my errant thoughts. I panic when I see she is trying to break off a section of her hair and surge forward so I can wrap her with one of my arms, the other three limbs providing stability as she tries to push me off.

"Dammit, Thivoll. I am really pissed off right now. Just let me fucking breaking it off," she growls at me, her voice still low so we don't attract attention.

I hold her tight to me, then shift my back legs under me so I can start rubbing and patting her rear again.

"I love your mane. Maybe there's another option besides destroying it?"

She wriggles in my arms, silent and enraged, but I don't let her go. "We also cannot leave a large amount of your fur or it might attract someone to your Silver."

She goes limp. "Fine."

There are a few moments of stony silence.

I purr to help ease her, continually rubbing her rear.

I move the arm that had been caging her up to the base of her hair and massage her neck. All the while I'm throbbing and wishing this was a very different sort of struggle.

One without her clothing and me no longer having to keep myself contained.

She lets out a long breath. "I have an idea. Could you let me go now?"

I put a growl in with my purr. "There is no mane destruction as part of this plan?"

"No, Superkitty ."

My whiskers move forward at the sound of her special name for me and at just how fierce she is, even when so easily thwarted.

I hope we can revisit this in a warm nest.

She steps back from me and then gathers her hair at her nape, her shoulders lifted back at an angle a manticorid could never manage and my mind shies away from even thinking about it.

She then moves her arms so they can reach to her lower back. A moment later she turns around to show me. Her nanothread has her hair trapped, but loosely enough she can still move her head.

I growl, hating it.

"It won't brush against me anymore as we run," I grumble.

She snorts. "You want tail pulling privileges and my hair always at your disposal. You are one greedy cat ."

I purr. "Who says we can't have everything we want in life?"

She snaps her adorable little blunt teeth at me, using one of my own favorite gestures.

"You are lucky I not only like you but that you are usually extremely charming, you giant fur ball."

I chuff, crouch down so she can climb back up and we run again.

My whiskers are still pushed forward as we move away from the thicket. My Ree is clever and now she has me thinking of tail pulling.

And her kiss .

And the feel of her legs squeezing my cock as she moaned before we left our warm nest.

I also want to figure out why my purr made her so excited when she was against me in the tree. It hasn't affected her like that at other times.

It's all one giant, delicious mystery begging me to unravel it.

Preferably I will have her begging me very, very soon.

I want to know how different she tastes between her legs. It's thrilling that she's wet there. Males of my species are the ones who provide the lubrication.

The thought of our juices mingling and easing my passage as I slide into her as many times as it takes for her to flower for me makes me want to scale a tree and see if her nanothread will let me tear through it.

As much as I love a good chase, I might die if I don't find out soon if she can accommodate my size.

My mind is running different scenarios when I hear a branch break. A long draw of air lets me know it's a hunter.

She leans forward so she's closer to my ear. "What's wrong?"

"Genali," I whisper back.

I move the opposite direction.

"Wait. They're too close to Silver."

"She's hidden well. I'll get you safe first."

I gather myself to run, but she slides off of me.

"No," I hiss out. "They're too close"

"I won't leave her," she tells me as she pulls the gun out of one of her many suit pockets.

It flops awkwardly in her hands while she tries to figure out a way to hold it steady and get her finger near the oddly angled trigger.

She crouches down behind a bush. It will never hide my bulk, but I try one last time to convince her before seeking better cover.

"Please get back on."

Her eyes are wild, like something is haunting them. More than just the danger of an approaching slime, something far more terrifying.

Part of me is screaming to grab her and run, just like I threatened. The other part knows that it would skirt far too close to true confinement, nothing like our playful interaction near the thicket. I don't know how to proceed if both options could harm her.

I let out a low growl and scramble to the other side of a tree.

The slime keeps coming our direction, the squeaking and squelching of their wet limbs very distinct.

I consider trying to climb a tree, but I'm uncertain of their exact trajectory and I can't risk being too far away from Ree if they see her first.

If I was alone, this would probably be fun, but I'm panting and blood is pounding in my ears as I imagine all the ways Ree could get hurt. I'm feeling lightheaded by the time they come close enough to see.

As I suspected, it is a solo hunter, but he is well-equipped and holding a rifle in both flipper hands.

His bulging eyes are scanning as he walks.

He won't be able to miss Ree if he keeps walking that way, even in the fading light.

If I show myself now as a distraction there's no way I could get in range before he shoots me between the eyes.

Tremors pass through me as I make myself lie in wait.

My legs are twitching with the need for action by the time he gets within ten sticky paces of her. Bile rises to the back of my throat as I make myself wait for three more.

My haunches are wiggling in preparation when Ree bursts up out of her bush.

I spring forward the moment I see her.

The genali has just enough time to yell out as she swings her handgun up and fires. She misses and the only thing that saves her from his answering shot is the kickback of the gun making her fall backwards.

I roar out a challenge as he takes a lower aim, relieved when he moves the gun my way instead.

Another shot from Ree's bush makes him duck, which gives me just long enough to close in on him.

My claws tear into the turf, letting me gain speed quickly, then help me swing my body in an arc.

My tail sings as it whips toward him, but he raises the rifle to block me. The spike shatters against the metal, splashing venom across his oozing flippers. He shrieks when it makes contact, but it isn't deadly in those concentrations.

I'm still repositioning myself when he abandons the rifle and slashes across my side with a long knife.

I roar and strike out with the claws of one hand. He twists to the side and I only rake long scores into his non-dominant limb. As he screams he stabs forward into the meat of my shoulder. I pivot away, and it rips the knife out of his flipper.

From there it only takes one more swipe to his throat to end it.

I'm still standing there panting when Ree moves over to me. She's clutching her side and dread makes me harsh.

"Were you shot? We should've left!"

She's shaking and her face is twisted in an expression I've never seen. "No. I fell back on a sharp stick. It's just a puncture. It'll be fine."

My shoulders slump in relief, but I'm still angry. "You could have died. You nearly did."

"I know. I'm sorry. Actually . . . No. I would do it again. I'm sorry I scared you and I feel terrible that you're hurt, but I needed to stay."

My whiskers droop and I tremble. She would do it again.

She will do it again.

I'm still lost to the roaring in my ears when I feel her hand on my shoulder, near where the knife is still protruding.

"Lay down," she orders me.

I'm too shaken by her revelation to do anything but comply.

I barely feel it when she yanks it out. The sound of a staple clipper pulling into position tugs me out of my haze.

"No. That will just interfere with my scales shifting."

"But there's a lot of blood."

"It's as you said, just a puncture."

Her face screws up again into another unidentified expression, but she doesn't comment.

"Should we open his bag? There might—"

"Yes, that's fine."

I stalk over and slash open the pack, then quickly snatch up anything of use and push it into her hands.

They're shaking. "Will it heal alright? I'm so, so sorry, Thivoll."

I take a deep breath and push down my anger. "I'm not worried about the wound. I'm afraid I won't be able to protect you."

Her eyes are glimmering more than usual as she looks me in the eyes.

"But who will protect her? All of them? It must be me, but I understand it isn't your responsibility."

I growl out in frustration. "It's mine, too. It just can't be at your expense, Ree. I can't help you if you're dead."

An image of her laying behind that bush, broken, rises and my throat feels tight. The next breath sears my lungs and my chest aches.

She nods, but says nothing to help assuage my fear. It feels lonely to have it trembling through me, unacknowledged.

She glances down at the dead slime. "Should we move him? Will he attract people to her?"

"It would be more suspicious than leaving him. He isn't all that close to her."

I can't help the barb, though it does nothing to make me feel better. From the look that flits across her face, it hits home.

"We need to leave," I say instead of apologizing.

One of those would get stuck in my throat right now.

She bites her lip, her eyes glimmering again, but she simply climbs on.

Running soundlessly through the glow of trees in dusk helps slowly ease my racing thoughts, but the ache remains.

The light is almost gone when I hear a rasping sound. Like something soft is dragging against the ground. I pause and pivot my ears toward it to better hear.

Something chirps out, then continues into a melody, the structure suggesting language and not just a song.