Page 48 of Black Mamba

Yet… sometimes I do watch him—like when he brings fresh wood for the firepit that Levy and Greg have begun lighting every evening—or when he comes to fill my bucket of water. Thankfully, every time I open the hatch to receive it, he’s not there waiting to ambush me. Instead, a full bucket and a basket of fruit will be there. I’ll take them inside and nibble on the tart offerings, thankful to be eating something that’s not pasta. Then I’ll spend the next thirty minutes ruminating about what I’m doing and getting the water down the maintenance hatch so its purified.

I have learned that if I put my bucket back outside, it will be filled again. Multiple times a day.

He’s diligent. It’s not helping my attraction to him. I’m beginning to see what he means by… providing for me.

He also smells good. Really, really good. And he says he likes the way I smell too… I don’t know why I’ve focused on that, but I have. Maybe it was the dramatic way he said it.

He’s poetic… And surprisingly eloquent.

Shelby said they’re an alien-human hybrid, but what kind of alien? A new one? He’s got a tail like a serpent, and the only aliens I’m aware of that have tails are Lurkers. If he were part Lurker, he would have inhumanly strong senses. Can he know his mate by scent? I wish I paid more attention in my human history classes.

I also wish I hadn’t missed so many of Shelby’s broadcasts. I would probably know the answer if I caught them all.

I run my fingers through my hair and look up at the sky, frowning at the dreary gray sheen across it. A bleak, endless veil of heavy murk. I search for the sun but it’s nowhere to be found.

“I command the AI to pause the broadcasts.” I stand up from my dad’s seat and set down my book with a frown.

In the corner of my eye Lukys appears from the trees and enters the meadow.

I rush to the window and wave my hands. “Hey!” I shout. “Come here!”

He tilts his chin and faces me. Our eyes catch as he moves toward me, stopping in front of the glass. “Elena,” he says loudly, deeply. “What issss it?”

I forget about the sky as I’m suddenly caught in a web of emotions—unsettling, uneasy, emotions. I grit my teeth to stop from looking at his bulge.

I blink and shake myself, glancing up at the sky. “What’s happening with the sky? Where’s the sun?”

He looks up then back down, arching a brow. “Clouds have flown in to cover it.”

“Clouds?” I frown. “Why?”

“I suppose because they are filled with water. Rain. Rain is coming.”

Water from the sky. Like a massive shower. My stomach tightens uncomfortably. Seeing a large body of water like the river is one thing, but water falling from the sky? I press my lips together. I hope it doesn’t damage my ship.

His eyes move over me sharply like he’s trying to read me. I stiffen under his perusal.

“You do not have to fear it. It is rare, but when it happens, the storms can last for days. As long as you are not near the river and are inside your nest, you should be fine.”

“Will the land flood with water? Will I be submerged?” How much water actually falls?

“It will get wet and the ground may puddle but no, you will not be surrounded by water—not like that.”

“Oh thank God.” Hearing a strange sound, my gaze drops to Lukys, who’s… chuckling. I squint at him. “Don’t laugh at me.”

“You are afraid of the rain, but you are not afraid of leaving your ship. It issss funny.”

“It’s not. And I was afraid to leave my ship. It was nerve-racking. It still makes me nervous opening the hatch. You make me nervous. It took me weeks to do more than step outside.”

“I know,” he says, his laughter dying.

A tense silence forms between us as we stare at each other. His head tilts as his eyes drop down my body. I stiffen further as he checks me out, but it gives me the courage to do the same, appreciating his darkly colored form and the way his patterns hug his biceps. I have a good, open view of his body, more so than usual despite it always being on display. He’s never worn a scrap of clothing, not once.

His bulge is as thick, if not thicker than it has been in the past. I take a moment to ponder it—the redness amongst the black—and as I flick my eyes back to his, our gazes clash once more.

I jerk. “Sorry! I didn’t mean⁠—”

My words fade as his lips twitch and he straightens, flexing out his pelvic area to push his bulge toward me like he’s… teasing me to look at it again. I look.