41. Ree

41

Ree

Thivoll throws far more aquatic creatures in his mouth than usual and I think it might be because of our rigorous activities the night before.

I feel a throb between my legs just thinking about it, then notice that my raging lust has subsided.

What a relief.

Especially since now I'll know each time he makes me wet that it's all about us and nothing to do with the genali.

I'm almost jealous of his ability to swallow creatures whole. Almost. My jaw hurts from all the chewing it takes to get enough nutrients from these plants, but almost anything is better than the genali rations.

Though I'm quite certain I will eat them before joining Thivoll noshing on salamander fish, regardless of jaw pain.

Thinking of jaws gives me a flash of the creature's mouth as it tried to bite me last night. I won't forget that any time soon.

It was about the size of a black bear, though it moved nothing like one. It had a diseased mouth. Hmm. A Komodo Bear, for sure.

"Do you think there are more of those scary creatures? The Komodo Bear?"

"I don't know." He growls, then shakes out his mane. "I doubt they introduced many or we'd all be dead. Including the hunters."

I shudder. "I'd rather deal with genali."

"I agree. But, wait . . . a bear? As in teddy bearing? I've had that very wrong in my mind if . . ."

"No. No. Well, somewhat related . . . But it's very different. There are bears, the animal. Then there are teddy bears, the stuffed animal."

"That sounds even worse!"

"What? Why?"

"Stuffed? That's barbaric."

"It's not a real animal. It's . . . You know what? This isn't important right now."

"It is! I'll never be able to teddy bear you the same again."

"Thivoll! It means what you think it means. No animals are harmed if you cuddle me."

He starts chuffing and I realize he's been messing with me, though at the start he seemed genuinely horrified.

I growl at him. "Fluff Brain."

"Animal stuffer."

"I've never . . ."

Damn. He got me.

I don't let him know that, of course, and simply scowl at him and then take the offer of his outstretched arm to help me climb onto his back.

After that, we spend many hours searching for hunters.

Each time Thivoll leaves me to fight is just as terrifying as the last, especially when I periodically hear gunshots.

I've yet to see any other species aside from the genali, and by some unspoken agreement we avoid talking about exactly what happens when he is away.

When he brings a pack and bedding that isn't covered in their slime I know he must've been fighting an array of species.

It makes me sick to think that there's that many people evil enough to want to come here.

The items he brings are from radically different cultures and manufacturing methods. We have to take several trips back to the cave to stash the bedding, rations, knives, handguns, medical supplies, and other items.

We even find some sort of lighting that Thivoll says is a type of bioluminescence in stasis.

My curiosity is still burning over that one, but mostly, aside from some whispered words here and there, we've been as silent as possible.

What we don't find is a rope.

By the time the sun is coming up we are both at our limit, possibly me more than him which is embarrassing considering he's been doing almost all the work.

We agree it's time to rest, but our body language betrays how disappointed we are and guilty we feel that we haven't put Silver in a safe place.

As we head back to the cave, I'm running through alternate plans, each one less impressive than the next. The latest one involves cutting our newfound bedding into strips and continually cutting off my hair until we have enough to braid a rope.

A glimpse at the rock face and a quick calculation lets me know it would take weeks of hair growth and many, many more blankets.

When we make it into the cave, it's lit with the muted light of the bioluminescent lamp.

The nurse in me is itching to reorganize and store the supplies we've been dumping unceremoniously in small piles. I'm too tired to complete a full inventory, but I grab the lamp and go around pulling out medical supplies.

While I do that, Thivoll grabs bedding and moves it into one of the two smaller rooms.

From the way he's purring as he makes a nest, I have a good idea of what he might have in mind.

I'm smiling at the thought when he turns to speak to me. "I think we should . . . What's that on your neck?"

I almost drop the lamp in my panic, but make myself put down what I'm holding before shooting my hands up to check for creatures.

A quick, frantic round of swiping reveals nothing.

"What?"

He walks over to me, his gait awkward on his back paws. He uses a hand to tip back my head and turns it to the side.

"Make your nanothread recede."

I raise an eyebrow at him, but do as he asks. It goes back to just being a black band around my waist.

His eyes rove over me, then he moves around to my back, pulling my hair off my neck and to the side. "Beautiful."

"What is it?"

He purrs. "You have black scales."

My heart leaps in my chest, and I hold a hand to my throat.

I can feel them now. They are more subtle than Thivoll's, closer to my skin, but the same shape. They start just under my jaw, sweep back into my hair, down to my collarbone and over my shoulders.

I look down.

They come to a point between my breasts, but don't cover them. They don't descend my arms, but I can't feel how far they extend behind me.

"Where do they end on my back?"

"Similar to my mane shape. They come to a point a few inches above your rear. Like they are pointing the way to bliss."

His last word ends in a purr, which intensifies when he takes a step closer to me.

He wraps one hand around my neck from behind, covering my new scales and keeping me in place as he runs the other hand along where my scales transition to smooth skin, teasing but not touching my breasts before he sweeps his hands over my shoulders and slowly glides his hand down my spine.

He keeps moving down, rubbing the globes of my ass, then dipping a finger into my already wet core. "Yes, it does in fact lead to bliss."

Instead of moving me to the nest he made, he keeps me in a chokehold as he continually runs his other hand up and down my back, occasionally rubbing on my clit or slowly pumping a finger in and out of me.

I'm panting by the time I feel his tail snaking up from my thigh, tickling across my belly and then reaching up to cup my breasts.

Its prehensile grip is like nothing I've felt before. The furred length of it wraps around one breast, squeezing it, and then I gasp as the scaled ovoid at the tip of it brushes against my taut nipple.

"Ready for me already, my Ree," he says as he pushes a second finger into me.

He pulls on my neck, making me bend forward. "Spread your legs."

I do as he says, and he picks up the pace of his finger thrusts. He also rubs the fur of his tail in a long glide across both of my nipples. He begins by simply gliding it across, but then pulls it in the other direction, running opposite of how the fur lies so it increases the friction.

The feel of it on both breasts simultaneously is almost too much and I can't contain my moans.

He adds a third finger and increases the pressure of his tail pushing up against my breasts. The cave is full of my mewling cries and the wet sounds of him pumping into me.

His tail shifts away and I growl at the loss of it.

"So greedy."

I don't have time to think of a pithy response. His tail smacks first one, then the other nipple, the sting followed by another smooth glide of fur.

His grip is too tight to let me move much, but I try to squirm away.

It's his turn to growl, and he pulls his fingers out of me and smacks me hard on one ass cheek, my juices on his hand making it a sharp impact, but the sting is quickly overtaken when he pushes his fingers back inside me.

His tail continues to smack and glide against me in a random order, making me more and more excited.

When he crooks his fingers slightly just as he's roughly running his tail against my nipples, my orgasm suddenly explodes through me and I have to bite off a cry.

I'm still processing the sensation when he spins and lifts me, then drops me on my back on the nest he made.

He pushes my legs apart and starts greedily licking at me, purring deeply as he laps me up.

The combination of his purr, the roughness of his tongue, and my recent pleasure brings another release hard on the heels of the other.

My back arches with the strength of it.

As I come back to myself, he is repositioning me again, this time so we are both on our sides, with my ass pulled tight against his sheathe.

This time it doesn't slowly move into me, but pushes in rapidly all at once. I have to put a hand to my mouth to contain my squeal, excited to be so full.

Thivoll grinds against me, growling and snarling as his hands roughly move across my belly, up over my breasts and then back down to hold my hips tight so he can keep pushing hard against me.

His tail replaces his hand around my neck and he moves one arm underneath my side and up to squeeze my breast as the other digs into my hip.

With each rocking grind, I feel a building warmth deep inside me. It grows and grows until it blossoms across my belly and up into my spine.

My channel contracts around him in waves, milking him.

"Dear Thela," he says, and then he lets out a muffled roar into my hair as his hips twitch.

Pulling that sound from him is immensely satisfying, and I feel a purr build in my chest.

It cuts off abruptly when I realize what I'm doing.

"Holy shit."