Daisy cries out just as Zaku snaps to attention, taking over. Daisy closes her eye as Zaku speaks to her in a soft voice. He hisses at me to back away. I reach behind me, and Vruksha clasps my hand. His tail coils the rest of the way up my leg.
Vruksha leads me away.
If what Daisy says about The Dreadnaut is true, my fears have been made real. Vruksha isn’t safe, and it appears neither are Daisy and me. I squeeze my eyes shut, suddenly overwhelmingly exhausted.
If Central Command knows what Peter has done, then there’s no help for us. We can only help ourselves. I turn in Vruksha’s embrace and rest my head against his chest. His hands tangle in my hair, his short claws grazing my scalp, prickling me with comfort.
“It’s time to go,” he says.
“I know.”
I have a promise to keep.
And more than anything, it’s one I want to keep.
Twenty-Seven
The Only Choice
Gemma
We don’t leave Zaku’s den for another two days.
Daisy begs for me to stay longer, and so the males fight each other for dominion. Vruksha is forced to give way to Zaku, because we’re in the Cobra’s territory, and the longer we remain, he gets a little more crazed.
By the end, I’m with him more than I am with Daisy, soothing his sensitive serpent manhood. But we’re never truly alone, not with Azsote lurking around. The Boomslang is always watching when he’s not out hunting. I see his envy building.
Zaku and Vruksha have noticed it too.
Last night, I found Azsote watching me change into softer clothes for sleep. Vruksha tackled him, injecting Azsote with his venom, forcing the Boomslang down. Azsote was then dragged out of Zaku’s den and tossed over the side of the mountain.
But he’s outside, waiting, and now that I know he’s there, that he’s willing to invade my privacy to see me naked, I don’t leave the front rooms of Zaku’s den.
I can’t be with Vruksha the way we both need.
I crave him. I crave the way he moves my body. The way he takes control of my limbs, winding me up in his tail and making me forget everything but him. Nothing else matters when Vruksha and I are alone.
So when I stuff my bag full of all the clothes and items Zaku’s given me, I’m hopeful.
Daisy wakes several times a day for short periods, and the pain in her gaze eases more each day. Whatever the pod is doing to heal her, it’s working. Even her burns have mended a great deal.
She dodges my questions every time I bring up Zaku. She won’t speak to me about him, but she also doesn’t seem to fear him. It’s possible I’m being overprotective, assuming a closeness she might not feel.
She’s chosen to stay and heal. I don’t know what that means when it comes to her and Zaku, but I take it she doesn’t know either.
“Are you sure you have to go?” Daisy asks. She’s lying on her good side today, facing me. The swelling around her eye has gone down significantly.
“I promised Vruksha,” I’ve told her this before.
“I’m going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too, but we’ll see each other again. I know it. We’ll be back soon, I promise.”
Though Vruksha is one word away from doing to Zaku what he did to Azsote, I know he and Zaku have an understanding. They trust each other; I can tell. They may never admit it, may not even realize it themselves since both males are reluctant to show weakness of any kind, but it’s there.
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. Are you sure you want to stay?”
Daisy nods. “I want to heal.”
I purse my lips, search her face. “Okay. Enjoy this great view you have and think of me when you do, okay?” I hesitate to leave her. “I’ll search for a way we can communicate,” I tell her. It’s been on my mind. Peter took our personal comm ware before he gave us over to the nagas, and I want it back. There’s stuff here that can help us, I know it. I just have to find it first. “When I find it, you’ll be the first to know.”
Daisy smiles then her face winces in pain. “Good,” she rasps.
I rise. “No more dangerous missions without me? If you run again, wait for me?”
“We’ll see.”
“She’s not going anywhere,” Zaku growls.
Glimpsing him on the other side. “Bye, Zaku,” I say. “Vruksha and I will be back,” I warn.
He hisses.
With one last lingering look at Daisy, I make my way to the exit where Vruksha waits for me. I pass through the barriers of the den’s entryway and find Vruksha on the broken steps leading away outside. The doors close behind me with a resounding, finalized thud, and glancing back, I’m surprised Daisy managed to escape this place at all.
She’s stronger than me.
Still, I can’t help but think there’s something Daisy isn’t telling me. Something about Zaku she’s not sharing. What’s behind the doors of his den, the ones he won’t let anyone pass through?
I chew on my lip. I’ll find out, I decide.
Vruksha snatches my bag, and I look up to find his eyes glinting. His scales are rigid over his knuckles where he grips his spear.
He scents the Boomslang’s tension. Tension is how he describes the mating heat he feels since he doesn’t have another name for it. The way he gets—his bulge expanding—when he’s near me, tastes me, or sees me naked. Tension. The pressure of the seed, almost unbearable, filling his cock until spilled.
There’s no way of knowing what Azsote will do if it gets bad. Lately, he’s been giving off a smell that wrinkles my nose.
I didn’t know this until two days ago.
Apparently all the naga males have a knot on their cocks, one that expands and fills continuously until they spill the contents.
No wonder why I feel beyond stretched when Vruksha’s inside me.
“Two days,” he says. Vruksha’s eyes go to my feet,
