If I’m laughing then I’m not screaming or crying.
Vruksha threatened me with all of himself, showed me what he had to offer. No human man would’ve considered doing the same. They’re all words, easy flirtations, and gifts. There’s protocol in wooing a lover within the field—on a spaceship—and jacking off in front of them isn’t part of it.
Perhaps it should be.
I rub my brow.
I’ve been asked out on dates and have gone out for a drink with men in the past. Sometimes I even enjoyed the flirty messages sent back and forth, but never has a man showed me his skill and stamina, or what he has hanging between his legs before a physical agreement, a contract.
I can’t get the scene of Vruksha thrusting out of my head.
My face scrunches.
“Through the trees,” he answers, not even glancing at me. He’s focused on the forest around us, checking the sky and trees constantly. I’m glad he is. At least one of us is. I hear animals but do not want to meet them. I’m not an idiot. If I do choose to run again, I know I’ll have to contend with these ‘monsters’ Vruksha mentioned. If I run, it would be away from the one being who keeps me safe from them.
I eye his spear.
I want it.
I’m going to need it when the time comes. Bringing back a weapon like his—obviously Lurker-made—would be leverage.
“How can you tell where we are?” I ask, wanting to learn about the world I’m facing. Something hoots in the branches above, and I flinch.
“The land is flattening.”
“Oh.” Has it been? I hadn’t noticed. All there’s been is trees, trees, and more trees. And the occasional oddly-shaped structure overgrown with vines and leaves. It’s not like the trees are strange to me. Most habitable planets I’ve seen or visited have trees like the ones on Earth.
“We are close, very close,” he adds. Vruksha cants his head in my direction but doesn’t say anything more. He’s been quiet since his show last night, and though it didn’t bother me at first, it is beginning to now. Questions, so many questions are at the tip of my tongue, waiting to be asked, needing answers.
I want to ask so many things but don’t. Each time I’m about to, I look at the alien male who’s captured me, his tail, muscles, and blatant, in-your-face strength and then intimidation thwarts me.
Nighttime didn’t do Vruksha justice. The moonlight on his scales was beautiful, but it’s nothing like seeing him in full light, in full view. I’ve gotten to watch him for hours, he’s the only thing I’ve watched for hours.
And my observations prove that this male is nothing like the men I grew up with. Vruksha intimidates me. Not even the captain of The Dreadnaut intimidates me. But this half-man, half-serpent does.
All my questions die on my tongue.
He’s powerfully built, lean and long, and his tail seems to go on forever, flicking, wrapping, and testing the forest with it. He uses it like a third arm, a third leg, whichever he needs at the moment, and it’s mesmerizing. I recall the sensation of his tail on my skin, his scales, sleek and soft but hard when pressed against. They’re armor, and considering all the scratches on my arms, I envy him for that. My fingers twitch, hungry to explore his scales more thoroughly. To discover how strong they really are.
Can they be pierced with a blade?
His scales shift as well, rising from his skin ever so slightly when a strange noise comes from the forest. Among them are ridges. Ridges that appear as inflexible as his scales.
And oh, is this male flexible.
Like an acrobat, Vruksha uses the world around him as a playing field. Using his tail and hands, he swings up into trees, slipping up to the very tops to peer out over the landscape at a moment’s notice.
Yesterday, he carried me like I weighed nothing, and he carried me for hours.
It was probably easy too, I grump. With the length and size of his tail, that alone probably weighs three times what I do. He’d have to be mighty to climb with that weight hanging off him.
I’m not heavy, but I am tall, and I do have some curves. My weight should have hindered him somewhat, but recalling back, I don’t think it did.
“We’re here,” Vruksha says, pulling me from my thoughts.
I see nothing but more trees around us.
I hug my middle. “Here? Please don’t tell me you live in a treehouse.”
“Treehouse? No, human, I don’t reside in such an easily accessible place. I am not Azsote.” Vruksha swings his spear out and moves the heavy branches in front of him. There’s a clearing on the other side, a field almost. He moves aside and nods for me to pass through.
I hug myself tighter and walk past him, trying to avoid touching him. His tailtip brushes my leg.
A shiver goes through me, but I quiet it as fast as it rises.
Sunlight hits me, and the clearing widens as I move forward. Vruksha follows behind. He doesn’t stop me, so I keep going until there’s a field of intermittent trees extending beyond my sight. There are no bushes here, nor overgrowth.
It’s like an orchard, but not entirely, instead there’s just dirt and long fields of grass between the trees, and old, dead leaves covering the ground. And the ground? It’s mostly level.
“What is this place?” I ask.
He slides past me and deeper into the field, toward a worn path on the ground where he’s clearly moved many times.
“I think this used to be an airfield.”
“An airfield? Like a landing port?”
“A landing area for planesss.”
“You mean ships,” I correct.
He shakes his head. “Planes. This was built for planes.”
No one uses the term plane anymore.
