Page 23 of The Death Striker's Partner
“Enough!” Ezid called out and the humans parted on the mat. Hannah is grinning and her dark brown eyes seek me out. I smile wider for her, proud of her performance. She sees my approval and smiles from ear to ear. She even takes a step towards me, but Ezid get’s in the way. “Alright, you’re still rough around the edges, but I’ll clear you for active duty.” He decreed and didn’t bother to wait around.
“Yes!” Hannah punches the air with joy, only to instantly wince and nurse her middle. “Ah-shit. You got me good.” She directs at Julia who shrugs with a smirk. Now the match is over I approach, as does Julia’s ex-sponsor. Vraka is a desert dweller, rather out of his natural element in the jungle, but is a third generation Ornanian. He has spiky scales on his brow and downhis back and smoother sandy scales un his underbody. He winds over to Julia at the same time as I reach Hannah.
“We’ll have to spar some more to get you up to top notch, as you’re a little slow, but you’ve got potential.” Julia comments with a grin. Her brown hair is short and her blue eyes bright as she turned to smirk up at her partner. It was long known that she and Vraka were bonded. They followed the non-fraternisation policy in the work place of course, but their was no way to hide the way they looked at one another. He also couldn’t resist coiling his tail tip around one of her ankles in a subconsciously possessive move once he reached her.
“You were magnificent, as usual.” Vraka praises her and adores her with his pale yellow eyes. Suddenly Hannah looks to me and I realise too late she’s looking for similar praise from me. By the time I try to find a platonic translation for how her entire presence excites me on every level, I’ve missed my moment. Her smile turns into a huff and a shrug, and she tries to pretend she isn’t dissapointed with my lack of praise. The thought of not rising to her expectations cripples me on the inside, and I have no time to try and correct that mistake. “Well done frostie.” Vraka puts his hand on Hannah’s shoulder to congratulate her and I want to bite him for daring to touch her. He can’t tell from my expression. I’m used to hiding my true feelings as showing any ire on my face would cause any Ucfeni to either hiss or flee from me. Yet, on the inside, I donotlike another putting their hands on my Hannah.
“Yeah, you did really well.” Julia adds. “I suggest you make sure to rest up. I didn’t go easy on you to make sure the pit boss would pass you.”
“Thanks.” Hannah chuckles and still nurses her side and gut. “I’m glad, really, but I’m feeling your 5 years experience on me. Ouch.” She rubs her side and I finally seize my moment.
“Our shift is over. You can recover at our nest.” Our nest. Where no one else can put their hands on her and she can be surrounded by my scent alone.
“Sounds good to me.” She nods and I am more pleased than I’ll admit once she’s away from Vraka. It’s irrational, I know, since he’s happily bonded to Julia, but it still bothers me. How easy it was for him to touch her. It’s not easy for me. Especially not in public.
Chapter 21
Badass on the outside, lonely on the inside
Hannah.
I can’t believe it’s been a month. I can’t believe I’m comfortable with a giant snake as a housemate. I amastoundedthat I have taken so well to becoming a peacekeeper apprentice. I used to make coffees and serve grilled sandwiches. Now I’m strapped into kevlar over my combat suit like it’s a second skin.
“Tumva! Move your butt!” I grin as I step away from the pulley seat, tugging at my pierce-proof vest. They call them pierce-proof on Thelia, as being stabbed isn’t the only thing the protective gear guards you against. The natives have fangs longer than most regular hunting knives so the kevlar derivative peacekeepers wear to protect against it all. Blades, fangs, and low calibre projectiles. The Ucfeni don’t do guns, per say, but blow darts are a risk out on the lower level of Orna. Particularly at night.
“Who are you telling to move?” He sneers at me with affection and I swivel on my ankles to look for him. Ah, I should have known. Tumva always rises before me and he’s normally training on that combat dummy. I grin. He doesn’t like that I call it a dummy, as he says it’s very smart to hone one’s skills with an aid like this one. Almost as useful as an actual person. Speaking of which?
“You.” I chuckle and ooo at a bowl of fruit that never seems to deplete in our kitchen. I rummage around with myhands until I find myfavouriteThelian fruit that is safe for human consumption. It looks like a cucumber, but it’s blue and tastes like cooked sweet potatoes. Oh wow. I love to have one for breakfast so I get excited when I see one in the bowl. I have the fruit in my hands when I turn to look at Tumba with a smirk. “Because I don’t want to be late.”
“We’re never late because ofme,Hannah.” Tumva swaggers over and I can see the lecture I’m about to receive in his fathomless black eyes. “On the occasions we have been late it has been because ofyou.You and that small patch of fur on your head that despite covering very little of you, seems to take an age to groom.”
“A huh.” I grin and lean my lower back against the kitchen counter. I brace my left hand on the counter, and in my right hand I’m holding the long blue fruit. I shouldn’t do it. I know I shouldn’t. But I can already tell this lecture will bore me if I don’t.
“I set your uniform out the night before just so you will get ready quicker.” He continues and his hands go to his hips. That’s it. He’s telling me off like I’m a naughty child, so I’m going to do something immature in response. I slowly raise my right hand and open my mouth to receive the end of the long blue fruit.
“U huh.” I pop the end in my mouth and maintain eye contact ‘innocently’. Rather than just chomping through it like I normally would I suck at the end like it’s a piece of rock candy.
“You’re only going to wear a helmet anyway, so why must it take so long to preen your…” I raise a brow to show I’m waiting to hear the rest of his chastisement, but I’m cackling on the inside. His chin dips and I can tell he’s trying to ignore me sucking on the end of the fruit. He clearly can’t tell if I know that what I’m doing looks suggestive and I’m keeping a straight face. “…hair when you’re only going to…”
It’s too funny. I’m not giving the fruit a blow job or moving it in and out of my mouth, but sucking on the end is enough to render Mr. dark and bossy into an uncomfortable mess. “We don’t have time for you to take a long time to eat. Hurry up or we’ll be late. I’ll wait for you outside.”
Bam.
Tumva was a blur of black scales as he quickly slithered outside and shut the door behind him. I snorted into one hand, highly amused, and bit into the blue cucumber as I normally would. I ate it quickly over the sink so I didn’t spill any juices onto my uniform, cupped water to my mouth to wash away any residue, and headed to the front door. I stepped into my boots and securely fastened the laces as my mind wandered.
I have a problem. I’ve thrown myself into work since Billie got upset with me and she hasn’t called me back. If I call her and she’s not prepared for it, she’ll get upset again, so I need to wait for her. So, focusing on work has helped. Tumva has supported me with that and I’m starting to see that he’s a badass on the outside and very lonely on the inside. I’ve seen it for years in Billie, that inability to connect to the world around her but wishing she could. Tumva has the same stare when he thinks no one is looking. His black eyes seem to sparkle when he smiles, and so far, he’s only ever smiled at me. We’ve become good friends, being in each other’s pockets, so to speak, 24 hours a day every day. He is so fussy in the house, er,nest,to the point of being clingy. Having a housemate who needs reassurance isn’t new to me. If anything, it helps to fill a Billie-shaped void in my life.
Though, he has very different ways of showing that need for reassurance. If Billie required something, she would inform me. I knew her cues when she was struggling. The way she’d tap her fingers or squeeze her eyes shut to control what she had toprocess. Even when she didn’t speak to me, she said volumes about how she was feeling.
Tumva? He was a bit harder to read. Not because he was complex, but because he was new and his needs were different. For a start, when the engineers came to install human comforts into his nest, he had my bed installed on the top tier toreplacethe basking rock. He declared that there wasn’t room for both and he would put my needs first. We would sleep together, as nestmates did, and proceeded to bundle me up in the blanket and pillows before coiling around me likehewas my nest. When I started to argue he looked me right in the eye and begged me.
“Please?”He whispered and I saw that massive Naga tense for rejection. It had the same raw vulnerability that Billie’s plea had when she needed help so she didn’t fall into herself against her will. We’ve slept ‘together’ like this ever since.
Unlike Billie, I can’t make him breakfast or do his laundry. If anything, he seems to take offence if I try to do basic chores in the house. Tumva went on a rant one day when I tried to stop him doingeverythingand pull my own weight.
“No! Why would you feel the need to tend to the nest? Am I not doing a good enough job? Where am I lacking?”
“…Tumva, you’re not ‘lacking’ anything? I just want to do half the workaround here is all. It’s not fair for you to-”
