Page 25 of Resisting the Alien Rider

My arteries throbbed, my pulse raced, my cock and my heart kicked like trapped shuldu in tandem. Even my skin felt more sensitive, keenly aware of theshifting brushes of air every time Magnolia moved. I swallowed hard and realized I was shaking.

I could not remember the last time I’d felt so catastrophically alive.

It was like I’d been moving through my life as if it were nothing but a series of numbing repetitions. Eat. Chores. Sleep. Each day bleeding into the next with the familiar unreality of a recurring dream.

But now, I was waking up.

“Oh, no! You’re not done yet, Killian!” Magnolia called as Killian started to make his way out of the water. She pulled on her shiny sleep clothing, starting with the pants. She was forced to abandon her towel for a short moment as she put her arms into the sleeves of the top. For a blinding, battering heartbeat, the entire length of her back was exposed to me. The dark hair spilling in spirals over her narrow shoulders. The curve of her waist that flared into hips that seemed designed specifically for my hands.

Or Oaken’s hands.

That reminder was a spear of ice down my spine. It carved up my insides and left me cold. Magnolia finished dressing, the intoxicating span of her back now covered with the glossy pink. As if for good measure, as if she could feel my eyes upon her, she put her jacket on top. Another layer of protection between us.

She did the same with her feet, wiping them and putting on fresh socks, then her boots.

“What do you mean, I’m not done yet?” Killian whined as Magnolia headed back towards the waterwith her wet underthings. She stopped to pick up the top and trousers she’d worn earlier today, then continued on.

“You haven’t used any soap yet!” Magnolia responded, her voice thick with shocked laughter.

I wanted to laugh, too. Laugh at her optimism. The fact Killian had gotten into the water at all was a miracle she and I should both have been thankful for. Asking for soap was pushing hope into the realm of the delusion.

Magnolia appeared to have some soap with her. It was another small disc like the one she’d given me and was probably what she’d used on her hair. She crouched by the edge of the water, scrubbing the soap against her clothing and then rinsing everything. When she was finished, she hung up her dripping clothing on another tree branch and then held the soap out to Killian. Killian scowled at it like it was an ardu with its fangs out.

“At least your hair,” Magnolia cajoled. “Your body’s gotten a nice rinse so far. That’s great! But a lot of dust and oil has built up there. Let’s give it a good wash.” She shook the soap a little, as if it were a bell she could jingle temptingly at him. “I made it myself, you know!” she added. “It’s got a lot of nourishing oils in it, and some flower extracts to make it smell nice. And it’s totally river safe, too. All natural.”

I doubted Killian cared about any of that. Maybe the fact she’d made it might make the tiniest bit of difference. But not enough to actually use it.

Except…

Curse me, it was actuallyworking.

How? How did she do things in one night that I’d been fighting with Killian to get done for half a cycle?

If she were anyone else, I would have disliked her intensely for it.

But she wasn’t anyone else. She was Magnolia. So instead, I just watched with wary wonderment as Killian came closer to where she stood, turned so that his back was to her, and plopped his bare bottom into the shallow water so that she could more easily reach his head.

And then she started washing his hair. And he actually sat still and let her do it.

They were quiet as she worked. Killian was stiff at first, unused to having someone touch him like that. But after a few moments, I could see the cautious tension in his wiry body begin to unwind. He hugged his knees to his chest and relaxed forward until his chin was resting atop them.

“OK. We might need to do a double cleanse,” Magnolia said after she’d spent some more time on her task. “Go rinse and come right back.”

He actually did it.

Once he’d returned to his seated position, Magnolia began all over again, rubbing the disc around on Killian’s head until the tangled clumps were spangled with suds.

“Your hair is practically a different colour, now!” she marvelled as she stroked her nimble fingers down his strands, spreading the thick foam. “It’s so pretty! All that dust and dirt was making it so dull before! I have aleave-in conditioner and a hair oil I made, too. I’ll help you comb this all out. Go rinse one more time.”

As Killian dutifully clambered up to do so, flopping clumsily forward onto his belly in the creek, Magnolia rinsed her hands and put her soap in a small case in her bag. Then, she pulled out two bottles. She rubbed the contents of one bottle – a viscous cream – through the lengths of her thick, curly hair. Then she added a few drops of oil, working section by section until she seemed to be satisfied.

By the time she was putting the lids back on the small bottles, Killian was racing out of the water towards her.

“Oh, boy! Let’s get you something to wear, shall we?” Magnolia muttered, glancing around. “Here. You can borrow my towel. It’s EvapoTech. It’s already dry.” She retrieved it and wrapped it around Killian’s shoulders. “There. Warm enough?”

Killian wiggled in a way that seem to wordlessly suggest that he was, indeed, warm enough.

“Good!” Magnolia crooned, as surely as if he’d spoken aloud. Killian’s eyes shone with adoration as he stared at her face. It truly was a testament to how much he worshipped and trusted her that he did not take off running through the trees when Magnolia produced what appeared to be a comb from her bag.

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