“You don’t need to apologize. I think I looked better before too.”
He pulls his hand from mine. When I turn to look, I see him shift right before my eyes. One moment he’s huge, green A’Zul, the next he’s that palomino again. He’s enormous, the size of a Clydesdale with the lines of an Arabian. Deep gold with blond mane and tail. Magnificent!
What did he call him? Oz? He lifts his head to scent the air, his nose tipped to the blue, cloudless sky. Then he takes off at a run.
I watch, a calm smile on my face, as he lopes through the tall grass. I’ve often wondered what it would feel like to be an animal. My two favorite things to imagine are being an eagle and a horse.
When I’m an eagle I fantasize so clearly I can almost feel what it’s like to ride the air currents and spy the tiniest details down below with my sharp eyesight.
When I’m a horse, I revel in the power of running like the wind. That must be what A’Zul is feeling now. The muscles in his hindquarters stretching, propelling him forward at greater speeds, the wind blowing through his long mane.
When he runs out of sight, I worry he’ll get lost, then I become even more frightened when I wonder if he’s running away on purpose because of my verbal blunder a few minutes ago. I don’t know whether to try to follow after him, although I could never keep up, or if I should stand rooted where I am and wait for his return.
It’s pretty here, with the landscape full of trees and running streams. It feels good to breathe air that wasn’t manufactured onboard a spaceship or filled with red sand. I wander to a large rock near the edge of the stream and sit on it, waiting for A’Zul to return.
After a while, he appears over the rise of a small hillock and makes his way directly toward me. What a beautiful animal. He nudges me with his muzzle, then kneels with one front knee on the ground, the other stretched out in front of him.
“An invitation?”
It’s easy for me to climb onto his back and grab hold of his mane. It’s only when he rises to his full height that I realize it’s a long way to the ground and I’m not a very good rider.
He doesn’t run, though; he walks back in the direction he just came from.
I’m not sure how much he can understand, but it’s an interesting opportunity to say what I want. He certainly can’t interrupt.
“Neither of us asked to be stolen from our home planets,” I start without preamble. “I certainly never dreamed, not in my wildest imagination, that I’d fly in a spaceship or meet snake-like aliens who would slice me with their stiletto nails and throw me into a mine. This wasn’t my first choice for my life, not by a longshot.”
He stops and pulls at a clump of particularly green grass, then ambles forward.
“Every Earth girl grows up with a picture in mind of the male she wants to marry—to mate. And sorry, no one’s picture included a big green male from planet To’mah.” I don’t use the phrase he did, ‘with skin like a warty water animal’, although I can’t help but think it.
“But life has a way of happening, A’Zul. I met you and was terrified of you. When you pulled out that gigantic cock and stroked it and splattered your come on me, I was horrified. And . . .” I know I shouldn't admit this, but I’m trying to be honest. “And so aroused I was dripping wet.”
My palomino stops and turns his head to look at me, telling me that, at least at this moment, he understands every word I say.
“My secret’s out.” I laugh. “So, no. I didn’t expect you or want you or dream about you in my fantasies. But I found you, and we saved each other. We’re a team. And, yeah, the golden male I got a glimpse of was hot as hell. And I mean that in the very best way. But you’re the male I’m falling for, so get used to it.”
Suddenly I’m falling. I try to clutch onto the horse’s withers, but there’s not a horse under me anymore. Right before my ass hits the ground, A’Zul catches me. A great big green naked A’Zul.
“You heard everything I said, right?” I ask, not sure if I want him to answer yes or no.
“Every word. You did say falling, right?”
A’Zul made a joke! I love it.
“You shifted just so you could dump me on my ass?”
“It would have been a good joke, but I have no control.”
He leans and nuzzles my forehead with his, then murmurs into my ear, “Falling for me? That’s a good thing in your language, right?”
“Well,” I say coyly, “only good if the fellow you’re falling for feels the same way.”
“He does,” his voice has that rough, rumbly tone that makes me feel like we’re the only two people in the world. Which, in a way, we are.
He gives me a swift kiss, then takes my hand and starts walking.
“I saw the waterfall. You’re going to love it.”
It’s odd how everything is so similar to Earth and yet so different. The grass is green, but a slightly different shade than home. There are wildflowers dotted everywhere, but like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
The most noticeable thing, though, is the male at my side. He’s calmer than I’ve ever seen him. We’re safe here, and even though he can’t control his shifting abilities, he must feel good that I accept him as he is.
I hear the waterfall, or
