54. Ree

54

Ree

"Does that actually happen to humans?"

His voice is so sincere I can't help but laugh.

"Not exactly. Extreme sadness can kill us, but it isn't common."

"It is the same for my species."

My hands are still shaking and I can't seem to stop touching him. "I think I should use wound spray on those gashes."

He looks down at his chest. "You're probably right. No sense in making the nanites work harder. That male was disgusting."

"The smell is pretty overpowering, yes."

In fact, it's so bad my eyes are watering.

I get to work and it takes less than a minute, though I'm itching to use the stitch clipper.

So far his wounds have closed on their own, but he has several feet of gashes in five long, jagged rows.

"Are those too big to close on their own?"

He looks down at himself.

"No, but we should find a place to wash," he comments.

I nod absentmindedly as I continue my inspection of his wounds.

Then he's gathering me up and climbing down. He's much slower than usual. A testament to how much pain he must be in, even with nanites.

When I see the multiple punctures along his back I don't want to climb up on it, but he insists.

He walks us toward the nearest stream where I help him rinse out his fur in a deeper section of the frigid water before dunking myself for a quick scrub.

He shakes himself off, water flinging everywhere, leaving him with a profile I'm not used to seeing.

If he didn't look so beaten down, it would look comical.

"It's nice to be rid of that smell. It was overpowering."

He snorts out several times, then uses his hands to rub at his nose. I'm still scrubbing when his body tenses.

My heart races, wondering what additional trouble is headed our way.

"What is it?"

He takes in a long whistling breath. "I smell the one who took Silver."

My heart leaps at the news, and I scramble for the creek bank. I take in a breath to talk and think I might know what he means.

It's musky, but not in an unpleasant way.

"Really? Is it the musky smell?"

"Exactly so."

He whips his head over to me, his mane shaking from the speed. "You shouldn't be able to detect that."

I let out a groan. "My mouth has been hurting."

"At the top?"

"Yes . . ."

"We have a secondary scent organ there."

I let out a grunt. I've read about that. A vomeronasal organ.

Great.

I take in another slow breath through my mouth and then cough it out, my brain completely overwhelmed and my stomach queasy at all the new aromas.

Some of them are highly unpleasant.

"I might throw up. Some things are best left unsmelled."

Not a phrase I ever thought I would need to say. Ever.

"You have to filter out what you don't like."

"What if I don't like any of it?"

"We'll have to work on it. For now, don't breathe through your mouth. He's been here multiple times. I could follow the trail."

I push aside my impending exi-scent-ual crisis—and how much I want to giggle maniacally in the grass over bad puns instead of dealing with my freakish new life—to focus back on Silver.

My hands are shaking and not just from the cold. This is exactly what I've been hoping to hear, but I don't like the timing.

"You're injured. I think we should go back to the cave."

He looks over at me with wide eyes. "I thought you would be running through the woods already."

"I'm not saying I don't want to be doing that. Just that we shouldn't."

He's purring now and the way he looks at me says it's one of pride.

"Let's go investigate, Ree. If it seems dangerous, we'll leave."

I huff out a breath. Now he's the one trying to convince me to go do something stupid.

Figures.

I'm shaking my head in disbelief as I clamber back up onto him, careful to avoid open wounds. Then we creep through the night. The terrain gets increasingly rocky as we go.

Thivoll pauses after a while, his fur standing on end. Not long after I hear a hissing language.

"Moon woman is mine."

My hands tighten in Thivoll's fur. "He's talking to us. He says she's his."

"I can smell her chamber, but not her. She must still be in it. There's no way for me to get her without killing the male."

I resist the urge to use my new super nose . . . mouth. Whatever.

Now is not the time for puking.

I grunt, then switch to the lisping language. "She is not mine. She is not yours. She owns herself."

"She will decide," he responds.

"Will you let me see her? She's hurt."

"No. I will care for her."

"Please. I am responsible for her."

"No."

I let out a sigh. There's nothing to be done.

My chest tightens painfully at the thought of simply walking away. Except how much of this is for Silver and how much of it is for me?

She has a protector.

That's my primary goal. Isn't it?

"Will you keep her safe?" I ask the mysterious male. "It would be better if we were all in the same place."

"She is mine."

I open my mouth to keep pushing but realize it's futile. If we can't easily get to her, at least she has a guard.

I switch to Thivoll's language. "Let's go home. He won't give her up."

"We can check on her again."

I know he's right, but the tears spring to my eyes, anyway.

I sniff, but don't respond.

He turns around to go the way we came, stopping again at the stream for a drink and a snack. After that he steadily picks up speed until we are streaking through the forest at our usual pace.

The whole time we run I work through my grief.

My mind goes in circles wondering what I'll do now. I mean, she's safe, I suppose. But not where I can see her.

I just have to keep telling myself she's safe, but the tears still come.

We've left the mountain far behind us when he abruptly stops, tips me off of him into some moss, grabs me, and then scrambles up a tree.

I rub my wet face against his fur to clear my vision.

I'm pretty certain he's moving to other trees for a while, but I don't dare look to find out. I just cling to him. At least until I feel my back pressed hard against rough bark.

His hands are roving all over me. Squeezing, caressing, pulling through my long hair.

"I'm proud of you for leaving her. I know it had to be hard. Are you alright?"

"Yes, mostly. It felt right."

"Good. Now make your thread recede."

I do as he says, and he goes right back to touching me everywhere he can reach.

"Grab the branch above you."

"Are you sure you're well enough to—"

"Grab. It."

Damn. I'm not sure what's gotten into him, but it's hot.

I look up, then reach up to hold on to it with both hands. Thivoll's tail is wrapped around a couple different branches and then anchored back onto itself.

He moves a hand to my scaled throat, squeezing lightly and moves the other to support my weight. Then he uses his insane flexibility to lick my stomach and chest.

I moan at the feel of his nubbed tongue over my sensitive nipples.

His hands and tongue are rough, like he's staking a claim. Then he moves his hand from my neck between my legs and starts pumping his fingers into me, quickly adding more until he has three thick digits deep inside me.

The lurking danger of his unextended claws makes it a heady experience. My heart races and my breath is labored.

My own claws are extended and digging into the bark to maintain my grip as he roughly jostles me. He moves both of his hands to my hips, lifting me up and into him, then extrudes in one quick motion.

I gasp and throw my head back.

He wastes no time in claiming me. My breasts are bouncing with his pounding rhythm.

He's growling as he digs the tips of his fingers and thumbs into the flesh of my hips to ensure he is pulling me down onto his thick girth as hard as possible.

I tilt my head forward and just the sight of his violet cock pumping in and out of me is enough to tip me over. I cry out and he snarls and increases the speed of his thrusts.

He's still slapping into me as he lets out a thunderous roar.

Nothing held back, including the seed he spills that I can feel flowing out of me and onto my ass cheeks.

But he keeps driving into me, a dozen strokes past his release, something primal in his face. The thought of it and what it means brings another orgasm crashing over me and just like him I don't bother containing my cry.

When I come back to myself I realize he's licking my neck and chest again, then running his teeth over me.

"You're mine, sweet one. I'll never let you go."

I purr, that scared part of me finally receding. No longer overriding my good sense and once again secure in our growing relationship.

"I don't want you to let me go, Superkitty."

His purr joins my own as he continues to lick at my neck.

Then he reaches up to grab my arms, which still have the branch in a death grip. He wraps them around his neck as I feel him recede from inside of me.

We climb down as fast as we ascended and without another word I'm on his back and we're bounding home.

As we run, the events of the day plague me.

I keep seeing green blood all over me. I can't help but second guess my decision to leave Silver with that slithering, possessive male. I didn't even look him in the eyes to see if he seemed safe. Have I completely failed her?

Will I see her again?

Will I be able to keep myself together without her?

There's no answer, of course.

I can only move forward. Except this time I need to do it in a way that puts myself, and Thivoll, at less risk.

It's a miracle we aren't both dead already. I can't keep pushing the edges and expect it to keep working out.

I'm going to have to let some things go. Silver was a good start.

Maybe I need to let Amethyst go, too.

I clear my throat and ask Thivoll his opinion. "It's too much of a risk to get Amethyst, isn't it?"

He slows a bit, considering. "No. I think I should get her now."

"What? You need to rest. You aren't actually a Superkitty. You have limits."

"I still don't know what that means."

I quirk up a lip, but it's more fun to leave him guessing. "It's a mystery."

He chuffs. "You do realize that makes me even more invested in wresting the definition from you?"

I chuckle. "Of course I do, Fluff Brain."

I hear the crack of his teeth, then another chuff before he starts speaking again.

"I know my limits and we haven't passed them. I want her settled in our cave as much as you do. If I can't find her or if it's not safe, I'll just come back without her."

For once, I'm at peace with that possibility.

"That sounds like an excellent plan."

Soon after, we are back at the cave and Thivoll has me set up at the entrance with guns at the ready.

He disappears without a sound into the forest.