36. Ree

36

Ree

I dig my hands into his fur, thankful for my newfound strength as he springs forward.

I realize I forgot to pull back my hair when it cracks like a whip behind me. He's no longer running silently, and instead is moving us in great leaps.

After about fifteen minutes of heart stopping running and bounding over obstacles he stops abruptly, shifts me into his arms and rapidly ascends a tree.

For a moment, I'm hopeful he plans to do what he threatened, but he instead plops me on a thick branch again.

"Hunter," is all he says before he disappears.

"But— " I whisper before stopping myself.

Then I realize we never talked about how much I hate being left where I can't get down or help. I guess lust has completely hijacked my brain.

Considering how dangerous it is here, that seems like a great way to get killed.

I'm not even sure I can really fully blame the nanites, either. We keep putting our attraction off because of a sense of duty, but I think it's clouding our judgment.

That alone is a tremendous risk here. Or I'm just trying to justify taking time away from helping Silver to scratch an itch.

A very demanding, persistent, desperate itch.

I can't see Thivoll. He is too far away, and it's too dark, but I hear the muffled sounds of some sort of altercation.

I dig my fingernails into the branch I'm clenching so hard my fingers hurt, holding my breath so I don't miss any nuance or small sound. I don't hear any screaming, so I assume he hasn't used his venom and then the sounds stop.

My heart beats faster, since I have no way to tell who won.

I have a hard time making out anything over the pounding in my ears, but I listen as closely as I can for any clue. Any sign that Thivoll is still alive.

As the minutes drag on, the pain in my heart grows and I panic. Not because I can't get out of this tree although that's not exactly a pleasant thought, but because the thought of losing him so soon after meeting is wrenching.

When I hear his claws digging into the bark below me I let out a giant breath.

By the time his face pops up next to my perch, my panic has turned into anger. And I lash out, even while knowing it's not fair.

I bare my teeth at him so he knows I'm serious. "I hate when you leave me like that. Hate it!"

His whiskers droop. "I thought your smile meant you were happy?"

That makes me even more upset, even though I know his confusion is valid. "Ugh! I am mad, Thivoll, not happy. Mad! What if you were hurt? How would I have known? Or climbed down to even find out? You left me trapped here!"

The skin around his mouth goes from lilac to violet. "I'm safe."

"But I couldn't see. Couldn't know. I was scared!"

He finishes climbing up to the branch and instead of replying he pulls me up and against his chest with one of his arms, the other anchoring us.

He simply squeezes me against him and purrs.

I stay rigid for a few moments and then I huff out a breath, letting my anger out with it. The aftermath of fear rushes in, with its telltale chest ache, and tears spring to my eyes.

I reposition myself so my arms are around his chest, the once odd shape of it feeling just right.

He takes a pause in his purring. "I'm sorry."

I swallow a lump in my throat. "I am too. You didn't deserve my anger."

He squeezes me a little tighter. "Most anger comes from fear, my Ree. And you are right, I shouldn't leave you in a place you can't escape. I was reckless and overconfident."

The tightness in my chest eases, not only because of the apology, but from a flood of relief. I hope we won't be revisiting this issue.

"Was it another genali?"

He lets out a breath. "Yes. I have another med kit and some rations stowed away in some tree roots. The rest wasn't suited for us and so I destroyed it."

I nod, feeling self-conscious now and stiff. "Let's keep looking for a good hiding spot."

He moves away from me, but doesn't descend. "Will you kiss me, sweet one?"

The corners of my mouth lift, the invitation helping ease the tension between us. "Gladly."

I grab onto his wide muzzle on each side as he lowers his face. I look deep into his gold and orange eyes, the sight of them no longer feeling strange. The rough skin around his eyes loses some of the tension it was holding as I sweep my hands up and intertwine my fingers in the spaces left between his whiskers.

My eyes fill again when I think of how fast his face has become so precious to me.

I picture how his whiskers move forward, and his golden eyes sparkle when he's teasing me. The hooded side-eyed looks he gives me when he's talking about something erotic. The violet flush he gets around his lips when he's embarrassed.

I lean forward, gently pulling his head lower, and press my lips midway up his broad, flat, blue nasal plate. I make sure all of those thoughts are plain on my face as I do it. My hands are gentle, but firm.

Then I rest my forehead against where I kissed, and close my eyes.

We share several breaths before he speaks. "Now I know what you mean by there being different kisses."

I lightly scratch him with my nails in response, the corners of my mouth twitching when I feel a shiver pass over him at the sensation it causes.

"I look forward to experiencing all of them," he tells me in a near whisper.

I give him a quick peck on his rough cheek to add another to his list and then hold him in my usual cowardly monkey pose.

He's purring as we make our way down.

We take a quick detour and I add more pockets to my suit and stuff the supplies he found in them.

Then we set off again. He runs at a more sedate pace, so I'm no longer in danger of having a heart attack each time he shifts and leaps.

Nevertheless, it's so dark I don't have a way of predicting how his body will shift next so I just have to keep my muscles clenched tight.

After the fifth jump in as many minutes, I risk speaking. "Has the terrain changed?"

He slows us to a fast walk. "We are on an escarpment. I can't see a mountain, so it might be the base of a plateau."

I take a breath to speak but he interrupts me. "I hear a hunter. I'm going to put you on a ledge you can get down from as needed."

My heart pounds. "Alright."

Now that we aren't running so fast, I can make out the vague shapes of a sheer rock face in the muted moonlight. Between the intermittent cloud cover and thick canopy of trees I was all but blind and so the reflective light-colored rocks are a relief.

The lichen and moss create beautiful contrasting patterns.

Thivoll comes to a stop at the base. "Lean forward and hold me around the neck."

I move to comply, likely strangling him in my dread.

I'm glad for the tight hold when he rears up onto his back legs and then leaps through the air. I nearly let out a screech, but we quickly land on a ledge I couldn't see from the base.

He crouches down and I get off him shakily. I push my back against the rock as far from the ledge as I can get.

I assume we can't be up all that high, but my body is still trembling at the mere thought of the drop.

Thivoll squeezes my shoulder, then disappears over the ledge.