Page 15

The hands paused only a moment, brushing over the hair. The creature didn’t have body hair, only scales.

Will swallowed hard and carefully, slowly, reached for one of the strands of the creature’s hair.

The hands tracing down his belly paused when Will touched a strand of slick pond weed. It was indeed slimy like seaweed, but slippery and a little rubbery. There were tiny branches of green running up and down it like mossy coral. Like it was alive.

It looked exactly like the green water plants that grew in lakes around here.

The creature’s hand kept exploring down, down, down. They were almost to the base of Will’s cock.

He let the strand of hair slip from his fingers as he heaved in a gulp of air.

Okay. Okay. This was happening.

He felt eyes searching for his, but couldn’t meet them. There was another tremor inside him, and he wasn’t sure what it would do. He wanted to scream or cry or beg for it to continue. Wanted things he couldn’t put words to.

But maybe the creature heard him anyway. Maybe it felt the way his body was thrumming, leaning into those big hands.

Because then one of those hands curled itself around Will’s cock. It held him, firm but careful, in its grasp.

It was so shocking that Will met the creature’s eyes. The red sheen there didn’t seem so scary now. It made him look alive, like a fire that Will might fall into and live off of.

Emotion twisted in Will’s belly. For a terrible moment he thought he might cry. He didn’t understand how this creature could touch him so simply, so easily.

No human ever had.

He blinked back the burn in his eyes. “Get it together,” he chided himself.

The creature gave a hiss in reply.

“I–” Will started, and then couldn’t think of what to say.

The creature’s other hand reached lower, cupping his balls. I’ve never been touched there, Will thought. It kept ringing in his ears with every new thing. It was as pathetic as it was true. I’ve never been looked at. I’ve never been touched. I’ve never been–

“I don’t even know how much of this you understand. What if–what if you’re not like… a person? What if–I don’t know. Is this okay?”

The creature made a trilling sound. It was different from the hissing, a fluting, sweet kind of note. Almost musical.

“Okay,” Will said at a loss. “I–you seem like a person. You seem… aware.”

Another fluting sound. Will hated that he wanted to think of it as a reassurance.

Then the creature was adjusting, pushing up onto its knees. Water sluiced off of its body as it rose, and Will was gifted the sight of the rest of him.

He couldn’t help where his eyes fell. Wouldn’t have been able to stop it even if he wanted to.

The creature was different from him between its legs, too. At first glance there was nothing there, just a smooth surface.

But then, as he stared, he picked out a circular arrangement of scales in that area. In the center, there was a slit.

What…?

The creature arched toward him, as if to give him permission.

Was he allowed to…?

Will watched his own hand move in slow motion. It touched the scaled skin of the creature’s hip, settled there like a hummingbird uncertain of its feet.

The scales here were softer than the ones on its legs had been. They were closer to the texture of a snake than an alligator.