“I like what I see.”
I swear, the colors in his eyes are swirling.
It starts slow, but our bed swings, far-away sounds of falling boulders gripping my neck. It’s hypnotic and alarming. The trees tremble, leaves falling like fur from a shaking dog. It’s an earthquake, and I hold on to Datu. He seems so calm at this natural calamity. Is it normal here?
His hand brushes my back reassuringly. His lips are on my ear, whispering even though no sound is coming out of him.
“You look good enough to eat, Xiaoyu.”
I freeze. “That does sound like a belly rumbling,” I laugh humorlessly.
A long, wet tongue sweeps up my neck. Spellbinding. There’s something primal in the way he trails those sharp claws through the only piece of clothing I have left.
“Do not be fooled by how I look, Xiaoyu.”
The warning is loud and clear.
Datu
It’s not long until Xiaoyu’s eyes flutter shut, caving to the exhaustion. Earlier, she had curled in on herself and faced away from me on the bed. I know what she’d been trying to do. Shutting me away. The whole time, I lay next to her on my side, stroking her short black hair until her breathing deepens.
In sleep, she’s not guarded at all. The lines of worry disappear from her face, she even smiles. Her rest fascinates me. Xiaoyu, she…talksin her sleep. Not just a mumble, but a full conversation. It reminds me of my trips to unfamiliar realms.
My lips twist wryly as she squeaks, “Oh my god, why are my heads on a stick?!” to “There’s a cowboy in the basement demanding a cigarette.” It’s obvious she has strange, overactive dreams.
Dreams…they are not my domain, but in times of yawning emptiness, I find myself wandering there. Humans—despite their apparent self-destructive nature—have the most fascinating minds I’ve seen. I find the longer I live, the more I seek…something. I would take anything just to feel something. I want to feel earthly, physical demands, not just this constant churning.
It was why I had chosen a corporeal form. Nothing good comes from my worsening hunger. Along with Sateva, I have fostered a community…until the humans arrived in Esoterra.
More often than not, I find myself in other people’s dreams. I can choose whose mind I spectate, and I find comfort in…observing. Living a life vicariously through them. I have never been in anyone’s dreams more than once—a personal choice. I have to be detached, indifferent. That is, until I met a companion. A hunger just a speck of mine.
There is lust in the air as soon as I find Xiaoyu’s dream. Her body is craving for release, infected by the burst of pollen my skin began to plume as soon as I licked her neck. It had been inescapable in that form…It needed a mate, and she had triggered the primal reactions of Terra.
Sighing, I distance myself from her, walking to the other side of my altar. I need to wash the pollen off me before it coats us both. In silence, I summon the sentry through the wind. Instantly, the ground shakes, and roots shoot up the terrain before me. Sharp claws burst through first, then the thick bodies of gentle but giant protectors emerge.
“Our chief, we thank you for calling us for assistance. It has been so long.”
“Keep her safe for me until I return.”I order and they bow their heads.
“We are honored to guard the human.” They did not say her name out loud, but I know they know. The trees have been singing her name all night.
I breathe a sigh of relief as soon as I leave. Her presence makes this body weak to the call of the flesh. Xiaoyu is under the impression that she is here to…collectmy pollen. My seed. She does not know the humans have basically thrown her into the jaws of the beast.
She is not just a healer anymore…she is this form’s mate—something I never expected to have parading like it is mine.
The trees make way for me until I see my creek. The water level only reaches my calves now. Before, it had been waist-deep. Hastily, I wash off the pollen dusted all over me. It does not give me much relief, but at least I cannot smell it anymore.
A branch snaps, and I feel her before I see her. Sateva.
“Show yourself, Sateva.”
She emerges from the trees, carrying what looks like Xiaoyu’s satchel. She is without her human.
“You look like you have eaten.”
“I have with Ingar’s help.” She is timid right now. Something must have happened for her to be.
“Is there a purpose for this visit?”
