by Naomi Lucas
“Then we fight,” Azsote mutters, slinking back.
Vruksha raises his weapon and swings it in an arc. The tip glows yellow and sizzles. It slices through the branches above, sending them crashing to the ground.
Azsote shouts, clearly offended by Vruksha’s change to the battlefield.
Vruksha takes off, carrying me into the forest. He holds his spear out with his free hand to slice through branches and trees, clearing our route. I struggle to get free of his hold, and glimpsing the forest behind us, he leaves a wake of falling branches and trees.
I stare at the carnage.
Azsote’s rage can be heard throughout it all, over the snaps and cracks and crashes.
Having a choice in the matter? Too good to be true… I press my hands into my eyes, stopping my tears from flowing, grasping for the modicum of calm I had reclaimed.
A short time later, Vruksha pulls his spear in, and the light from it diminishes. It’s just a primitive wooden stick again, but we’re still slipping through the forest at breakneck speeds, and I can’t get a great look at the weapon.
All I know is that I want it.
Destruction follows us for a time, and so do Azsote’s yells.
When we outrun his shouts, Vruksha only speeds up more. The blur of trees makes me light-headed, and a little looney. The sunlight above dims, hailing night. I’m still not calm, but I manage to keep my tears in.
There’s a strange, intoxicating scent that keeps stealing my attention. Turning my face into Vruksha’s chest, it floods my nose.
Exhaustion hits me while breathing his scent in. There’s no escape, not right now. Not at night. Not in the dark. Especially weaponless and in a strange land. All my years of training can’t help me here.
I feel useless, and suddenly, exhausted because of it. I settle in Vruksha’s arms and close my eyes.
I don’t want to escape, not anymore. Not while it’s dark.
I will tomorrow.
I can’t give up.
Five
Miscommunication
Vruksha
My female slumps against my chest as we flee to my den. It’s not close by, a day’s travel from where the human base is located, but I can get there if I journey overnight.
Though I contemplate turning back to collect Azsote’s head, I keep moving forward. My honor and pride mean nothing to me right now, not while I have my female in my arms.
She has been sliced up by the whips of sticks and leaves. I smell the tiny dabs of blood on her scrapes.
She is not supposed to bleed, ever, unless it’s her moon cycle. I am not equipped to see my female bleed in any other way. Returning to face Azsote is out of the question. I cannot risk more blood.
There are predators and darkness to deal with. Bloodlust is on my mind despite her wounds, and I hope we encounter bears, or better yet, the forest’s monsters. My female chose another—Azsote, of all nagas. He is a contender like any one of us, but he is not as vicious or as fearsome as me. Instead, he is cunning and quiet.
But Azsote? A growl tears from my throat. She chose him? My bloodlust stems from needing to wipe his existence from this world.
I am lucky to have my spear. A weapon like mine is rare, and it gave me the upper hand against the Boomslang. Azsote could have camouflaged himself within the trees and struck a deadly blow without it.
My eyes flick up.
Azsote could be hiding in the branches above, quietly trailing me. I can’t lose my head in memories and fantasies. He is a dangerous foe from the shadows, a sneaky snake. His coloring is meant for such an advantage. One bite from him will put me to sleep and upend the contents of my stomach. I’ll be knocked out for hours.
My female will be taken from me. I can’t let that happen.
The mere thought of it fills me with tension.
She sighs, settling further into my arms.
Heavy, triumphant warmth invades my chest.
I have never felt this sensation before, this madness that rises when I think of this female. It makes me want to turn back all over again and bash Azsote’s head in for touching her, cut off his tail, and slice off his scaly hide. I would carry the Boomslang’s skull with me always, as a lesson for any male who thinks about stealing my female.
And then I would burn his hide on a pyre until his scales shrivel and become ash, making my female watch.
He touched her and nearly stole her away.
I clutch her closer.
He may have even succeeded if she hadn’t called out for me.
It had to be for me.
Oh, yes.
Her call was for me.
Still, this sensation in my chest pulsates. I want to kill, to claim, to mark my territory with the heads of the offenders and show off my beautiful prize for all to see.
Jealousy...
The word whispers through my head. So this is what it’s like to be jealous…
It’s not a feeling I enjoy. It’s madness and frustration balled up in one. I’m already frustrated. I don’t need to lose my mind in the process.
Not when my world is nearly perfect, and the future is bright. Why can’t I shake it?
I take a short rest and glance down at my female to make sure she is okay.
Her eyes are closed and her breaths are light. She slumbers. Her face is cast in shadows, her nose pressed to my chest, her arms limp.
Tightness strangles my heart, squeezing to the point I’m nearly suffocated. She is everything I have wanted, everything I have fought for this long life of mine. And she is so small, with no scales, fangs, claws, or tail to defend herself with. I am already crazed with paranoia that I may lose her.
And it’s getting worse, having almost lost her to another. On the first day.
She chose him.
My fingers curl.
It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t get a choice. She never had a choice.
Once she’s within my den, she’ll know she belongs to me and only me. I will care for her like a pet, and treat her like a female, a precious rarity. I will show her we are meant for each other. That I am a male, a warrior, and a master, and she is a woman. I will fill her with my spill and mark her with my fangs. She’ll never look at another male again. Human, naga, or otherwise.
And if she does? It will be with revulsion.
The image alleviates some of my jealousy. I tug her sleeping frame closer to my chest, careful not to bruise her skin.
I have a female. A female!
My arms tighten even further. If she bruises, I will kiss them better.
If I have it my way, she’ll never see another male again. She will see me and only me from this night forth. Her mind will be consumed with me; I will make it so. She will want nothing more than to sing my name, licking the excess spill off my scales.
I harden thinking about what’s to come.
She’ll apologize for her choice with her tongue, I decide. My jealousy vanishes entirely knowing how much she’ll need to use it to be forgiven.
My eyes trail over her scaleless face, cementing it in my head. I had taken her in when she stepped off the small ship back on the plateau, but seeing her this close is different. I want to study her, but the forest isn’t safe. It’s quiet now, but it might not stay that way, and even the quiet brings monsters. With her in my arms, we are an easy target for any hungry beast.
I search for a safe place with enough moonlight to see her.
Spying a clearing to my left, I head in that direction. I come upon a rusty metal structure from the old world and test it with my tail. The structure is overgrown with plants, but it holds. When I move closer, I recognize it as one of those vehicles humans used to travel by. A car, a large one.
Outside the mountains, there are thousands of them scattered across the wastes.
I carefully set my female on the forest floor and search for the door, finding it quickly. I use my spear to cut through the stems, removing the vines keeping the vehicle closed. Once gone, I tug the handl
e.
The door comes off with a crunch.
My female moans.
I stop, waiting to see if she wakes up. Thankfully, she doesn’t. I turn back to the vehicle, setting the broken, now crumbling door aside, and gently lift my female into my arms, slithering into the space, leaving the majority of my tail outside.
It’s dirty and broken inside, and the seats are not comfortable. But the frame remains sound and the overgrowth on the sides makes it relatively private. There’s a hole in the roof, and I push the vines aside to allow in moonlight. My sweet burden twists in my arms but eventually settles back into sleep.
She’s fascinating.
I’ve seen many human females, though I thought they no longer existed. I’ve grown up with their unused technology hidden all around me. It’s everywhere if one looks hard enough. Even now, I see an orb on the seat next to me and pick it up, dusting it off. All orbs are connected like all the technology is.
There’s a relay near the plateau that feeds power to the tech that remains, and though I have never seen it, I know it’s there, hidden.
It belongs to Zaku.
The orbs I have collected are within my den, and I’ve watched videos through them, whatever I ask them to play me. And human females are often on them. These fake humans have kept me company since my father slipped into the forest, never to return.
But the screens only show me things of the past and what can be immediately viewed in the present. They only work if they’ve been in the sunlight to charge, but then they last for hours.
My father once told me that he, my sisters, and I were the only Vipers in the world, and though as a youngling, I didn’t believe him nor understand him, I do now. I have never seen another like me. Not on an orb, not on a screen either.
Females of my kind… were not common. My mother was the only female Viper until she laid her litter, bringing me and my sisters into the world. And like all naga women back then who conceived a litter, she died giving birth to it.
Inhaling, I curl my arms around my female, trying to make her comfortable. I lean us back against the vehicle’s interior frame.
If she is comfortable, she will sleep longer, and I will get more time to enjoy her.
I reach for her hair and twirl it with my fingers. It had been pulled back earlier, but now it tangles around her shoulders. I wish I could see the redness of it, but the moonlight and shadows bleed out the color. It’s wispy and soft like gently flowing water.
The moonlight shines down on her face, stealing my attention from the feel of her strands, and my gaze shifts down. She wears blue-colored clothes that match. Using my free hand, I tug at the cloth, confused as to why anyone would wear so much at once. It is the hot season, and I can’t stand any barrier on my skin in this heat.
But humans on the screens often wore clothes unless they were bathing—or mating. Since my female is sleeping, I let her keep them on. It can get chilly at night.
I notice a tag on her chest, and my fingers pinch it. Plastic? Something is written on it, and I spin it around to read what it says.
Gemma Hurst.
Bridge Officer and Communications Director.
She communicates with others? She is specialized in this?
I’m intrigued. How can someone specialize in communication? If her world is anything like the one I’ve seen on screens, then I can venture a guess…
I’ve seen a lot of miscommunication.
I release her tag, and it rights itself on her shirt. Sliding my upper tail under her legs, I bring her closer, reveling in the sensation of her against me.
Her body weighs little, but I felt the strain of her muscles pushing at me as I carried her earlier. She is strong despite her size, too strong. She fought me and Azsote and nearly got herself killed in the process. A rumbling leaves my throat. If she had died, I would have sought retribution. I would’ve attacked the facility where the other humans are and destroyed them.
I still might.
I would kill Zaku too, for spurring such a plan that resulted in her death. I despise the King Cobra as much as I am thankful he got the human females out of the facility for us.
Because otherwise, I would be gathering my weapons and infiltrating the base.
Hearing a soft moan, my eyes snap to Gemma’s mouth. She sucks in and groans, shuddering once all over. It happens again with the next breath. Fear strikes me from the rasping sounds, and I shake her.
“Human? What’s wrong? Wake up!”
The rasping turns into another moan as she startles and opens her eyes. She catches sight of me and—
I slam my palm over her mouth, muffling her scream.
She’s tearing at me the next moment, and our limbs hit and knock the rusted walls around us. Some of it gives way. Dirt and dust cloud the air and falls upon us.
“Stop!” I snap. “You will alert othersss to our location.”
“Let me go,” she cries when I lower my hand from her mouth. “I won’t be your plaything!”
I catch her fist before she slams it into my face and hold it tight, trapping her other arm next. She struggles until her burst of energy leaves her. I watch it happen, and the clarity of her situation returning to her eyes.
She’s panting and stiff—fear and confusion etched across her face—when I loosen my hold. When she doesn’t start hitting me, yelling, or trying to get away, I slowly relax. She doesn’t, I notice. I miss her pliant body lying against me.
How fleeting it was.
She’s watching me with fear and defiance, her confusion diminishing. She tries to curl her limbs into herself and make herself small, but the space we’re in doesn’t allow it. No matter where she moves, my tail is pressed up against her, holding her open for my secret perusal.
If only she were naked…
I would like bare flesh on my scales.
I can’t believe she’s here.
She glares at me when she’s done searching for a way to escape from my limbs.
“I won’t let you go,” I say.
“I know that now.” Still, she scoots her feet closer, her knees to her chest. “I’ve forgotten…”
“Forgotten what?”
“That I don’t want to escape.”
I go still. Has she…? Has she accepted me? Chosen me? I can hardly believe it after she tore into me, but perhaps I scared her. She did wake up in a new place and in the dark. “You will not fight me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
My eyes narrow. “Then you have not accepted what’s between usss.”
“There’s nothing between us. I don’t even know you. I don’t know what you plan on doing to me…” she trails off.
So she doesn’t know. Her males have kept her in the dark.
I puff out my chest. “I will give you shelter, food, clothing, and a place to nest,” I announce. “A home where the monsters of this world cannot reach you or our future brood. I will provide everything you need and protect you.”
“Monsters?” Her eyes shift to the darkness outside our small shelter, straining her neck. “Brood?”
I slip my claws along the column of her throat. “Do not be afraid. They cannot get to you now that you are with me.”
She tears off my hand and shakes her head, grabbing it, burying her face in her hands. A dry sob escapes, and it hollows out my gut. I reach for her, but she shies away from my touch.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” I tell her, softening my voice.
She cries harder, shaking and rubbing her eyes. It re-emphasizes how tiny she is compared to me. She was the tallest human on the plateau, taller than even the human men. Yet, next to me, she is small. She is not safe in this world of mine, and she doesn’t belong. She belongs in the sky, among the stars, where all hope and dreams thrive.
But she’s here now, and I won’t let her go. She will get used to it. I will help her.
I will be her protector.
She cries for a time, and I sway part of my tail to pet her
in comfort. Her sniffles are the only noise breaking the quiet night. I wait, knowing she needs this. She cannot accept the future if she does not grieve the past.
An hour passes before her tears dry.
When she wipes her nose on her sleeve and looks at me, I know she’s done.
“I vow it,” I tell her. “Nothing will hurt you as long as you are with me.”
For I am strong and vicious, and a master against anything that might lurk in these woods. She will come to see this soon.
“It’s not that.” Her voice hitches. “I had a life, a job, ambition—and then some fuckers took that all away from me like I don’t matter, like I’m just a bargaining chip. And for what? Technology that may or may not help us with the Ketts? For something we may have discovered ourselves in due time?” Her voice gains steam. “Fuck them. Fuck Peter, fuck all of them. And to think I was friends with Peter? I thought he was a good boss, a good man—”
I grunt. If I see this Peter again, I will stab him with my spear.
“—and he does the worst, most cowardly thing a man in his position could do: force others to make all the sacrifices. I hate him. I hate all of them.”
“You’re better off with me, sssafer with me.” Yesss, I coo, petting her hair.
“Am I, though?” Her voice lowers, her fury vanishing. “Are you going to rape me?” she whispers, hugging her arms tighter.
Rape? She thinks I would rape her? “I will have you,” I growl. “I will have you in every way. But I will not rape you.”
She looks away. “Then you will never have me.”
My anger ignites. “You deny us? Still? I have caught you. You belong to me now! You ran and I caught you, my bride. Baring yourself to me and giving yourself over to my protection is all that is left!” I want to grab her, pull her to me, and shake her with sense. “It is what I have won! What I am owed!”
Her face shudders in shadows. “I owe you nothing. I didn’t choose you.”
I slam my hand against the side of the shelter. It goes through the metal with a pop, sending the metal around it crumbling down. How dare she? How dare she deny me? She thinks she can have my protection for nothing in return? She thinks her actions will not have consequences?