Page 20 of Survivor
Lucy halted before the weathered stone, her gaze fixed intently on my handiwork. The first time she witnessed me process a kill, a wave of nausea had overtaken her, leaving her retching in the bushes. Now, her eyes brimmed with a curious interest rather than revulsion. However, she still steadfastly declined any offers to learn the intricate steps herself.
I expected her ire to stem from my decision not to let her join me on today’s hunt. Lucy’s skill with the bow and arrow was undoubtedly improving. Yet, hunting maramount required an immense amount of patience and an almost unnatural silence. Lucy brimmed with enthusiasm and radiated energy, like a sunbeam breaking through clouds. Her lively spirit would haveclashed with the hushed, tense atmosphere of the hunt. I wanted to shield her from experiencing such discomfort.
“When you came to rescue me. Did you know your mother would kill you for it?”
I didn’t expect that.
“Yes,” I confessed, my eyes locked on Lucy’s gaze, which sparkled like dew on the jungle leaves.
“Why would you take such a risk?” she inquired, confusion lacing every syllable.
I withdrew my blade from the maramount’s carcass, flinging the last of the offal downstream. “What my mother intends is evil. I could not allow it to happen. The idea of an innocent being harmed by her whims is something I cannot tolerate.” Especially not Lucy.
“I understand that,” Lucy said, seeing my point, her delicate fingers wringing against each other. “But you could have contacted the Alliance or sent one of your guards or, I don’t know, done any number of things other than give up your life to rescue me.”
“My mother’s corruption has many allies,” I told her, crouching by the creek to rinse my knife and then my hands, the water swirling coolly around me. “I couldn’t entrust your safety to anyone else.” She was mine and mine alone to protect.
“But you didn’t know me,” she countered softly, her voice layered with melancholy. Indeed, I had not known her when I left Zarpazia, but the moment my eyes first met hers, it was like meeting a part of myself long lost. I recognized her essence immediately—an essence as intrinsic and indispensable as my very own—and realized I would risk anything to keep her safe.
“I know you now.”
“You could have left me here,” she argued, her face clouded by a storm of conflicting emotions. “Your father would have cared for me. You could have returned to your planet totry to make peace with your mother or sought refuge with the Alliance….”
“No!” the fervor of my voice made her startle, yet she took a step closer to me. “I would not leave your protection to any hands but my own.”
Her eyes, a mesmerizing blend of brown, green, and gold shimmering like a twilight sky, fixed upon my face as she inched closer. “Why?" She took another step closer, and I noticed the shimmer in her eyes tip over her lashes and run down her cheeks. “Why would you give up your life for me? Don’t you get it? I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt, much less killed for me.” Her voice quivered with both wonder and despair.
“I would give up anything for you,” I murmured, unable to resist closing the distance between us. Every fiber of my being ached to be near her. I moved nearer, but didn’t allow myself the bliss of touching her—not yet. “Don’t you understand you are the most beautiful and extraordinary being I have ever known? Your spirit, the way you look at life, has ignited something deep inside me. It’s given me purpose. I’m willing to stand against my mother and risk death, all because of the way you make me feel.”
“How do I make you feel?” Lucy whispered, her tone trembling as though she feared my answer.
I reached up and let my fingertips graze along the gentle curve of her cheek. Her skin warmed my hand, still holding the cool, lingering chill of the creek.
How could I convey to her the way she made me feel? Invincible, as though with her by my side, I could overcome any challenge life threw my way? That she’d somehow made me believe being unable to shift my scales didn’t matter. That I was stronger with the colors of my heritage emblazoned on my skin. That I was stronger with her.
I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment these feelings took root within me. Perhaps from that very first encounter, when hereyes caught mine, she began weaving herself into the very fabric of my soul. Our short time together had given my life with a joy I thought found only in legends. Now, I longed for her presence more desperately than I craved the very air that filled my lungs. In the end, the words conveying the enormity of my feelings were deceptively simple.
“I can face anything as long as you are by my side.”
Enormous, glistening tears cascaded down Lucy’s cheeks, carving shimmering trails on her flushed skin while her body quivered like a leaf in the breeze. Despite this, a faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips. The next thing I knew, she was in my arms, her fingers gripping my shoulders desperately. Her eyes, deep and expressive, locked onto mine, brimming with emotions so complex and profound that they eluded definition. Yet, they resonated within me, causing my heart to thunder in response.
Lucy stared at me for a moment, her eyes wide and bright, the gold among the green and brown shimmering. Then, standing on tiptoe, she pressed her mouth to mine.
Kissing.
I knew of the term from my Earth research. Honestly, I’d considered the action unsanitary, but now that I was in the middle of it, I realized I’d been oh so wrong.
Her lips were like velvet against mine, and her taste was an exquisite blend of kipawa fruit with a sweetness that reminded me of sun-kissed nectar. Her breath caressed my face—warm, fragrant, intoxicating—a delicious mixture of sweet and exotic spice that made my head swim. What captivated me most was the way her body melded against mine, the soft curves of her breasts pressing into my chest with a gentle urgency that spoke of desire without words.
My hands moved of their own accord, tracing the perfect roundness of her breasts. Her nipples hardening beneath mytouch like precious gems, their firmness evident even through the light, airy tunic we’d borrowed from the ship—garments she had taken to wearing in the jungle’s relentless heat. As my thumb brushed across the sensitive peaks, she rewarded me with a soft, melodious moan that vibrated through her body, her frame trembling delicately as she pressed herself more firmly against me.
Our lips danced together while my hands journeyed from her breasts along the gentle slope of her waist, fingers finding the hem of her tunic. I broke our kiss reluctantly—just long enough to search her eyes, seeing in their depths a flame of desire and silent permission—before lifting the garment over her head. I revealed her breasts in all their glory—perfect, supple mounds crowned with rosy peaks that beckoned me forward, promising a sweetness I longed to taste.
Cradling her waist with reverent hands, I lifted her closer, drawing a nipple between my lips. The sound that escaped her—a deep, sensual moan—sent waves of satisfaction through me, eliciting a soft chuckle that reverberated against her skin.
“You taste delicious,” I whispered against her heated flesh, savoring the subtle saltiness mingled with an underlying sweetness that lingered on my tongue. I lavished attention on one nipple, then the other, teasing until they became exquisitely sensitive. Even my gentlest breath against them made her quiver delightfully, her breasts bouncing in a way that captivated my gaze.
The desire for her burned within me, fiercer than anything I’d ever known. It surpassed even the desperate yearning I had felt in my youth to shift my scales, a longing so intense that it consumed me while my mother belittled and beat me for my inability. I used to think I’d never want anything more than being able to shift. But I did. I wanted Lucy. I wanted to bury myself deep inside her and taste her skin and kisses.I wanted to see the gold shimmer in her eyes as she looked at me. I wanted her plump lips curved in a smile and the way the faintest shade of pink colored her cheeks. Yet, with Lucy, I wanted more than the physical. I imagined walking beside her every day, basking in the sound of her laughter, complete with the knowledge that she was mine.
