Citrine (Deliverance #3)

52. Wroahk

52

Wroahk

The orange male swims faster without his human and I am sure to follow the agreement by chasing away Many Teeth. He doesn't take the same route as our previous crossing. Possibly to confuse me so I don't know where to find his hiding spot.

Not that I would ever try to follow, but I'm glad I have been threatening enough that he takes the effort. The best defense is the threat of violence.

After he leaves the water, I have a moment of anger that I can't just return to Eli. Then I think about how glorious she was in her anger today. I didn't like anything she made me agree to, but my mating tentacles are all wrapped up in excitement at the memory.

Just thinking about her turning to me with that fierce look on her face when I was scaring that worthless friend makes them pulse.

Making her threaten me is a glorious feeling, just like I get when I make a difficult kill. But I think I have figured out something very important. She talks in her own words of making a deal , but how this really works is the more things I do that she wants, the more likely it is she will always touch me.

I also know I can't tell her I know this, or she will probably stop yelling at me. I gag when I think of her talking to me like she did that purple coward in the tree. It makes my tentacles wilt, and I thrust the thought of it violently out of my mind.

No. I need to be strategic.

Pondering how best to go about it helps me get through the annoyance of waiting.

I also have more time to think over what Eli said about how her friends have been killing the enemy. At first, it caused a surge of jealousy, then I remembered how effortlessly he killed the Many Teeth.

With nothing to do but wait, I think of what Eli keeps saying about this community she wants and how it's important to her that it's a form of protection. Now I see the other side of it. There are many more of the enemy out there, and with this community comes others, like Thivoll, who will help me kill them.

He isn't trying to take my prey. There are too many out there for me to kill while also protecting Eli. Or someone needs to protect her so I can kill them.

I was prepared to protect this community just to make Eli happy, but now I'm excited for my own reasons.

When the large male returns with a silver shell just like the one Elis was in, I see another female inside. He is already protecting more than one human. He will probably protect Eli, too, and while part of me wants to rip him to pieces instead of letting him have my territory, the other part finally understands what she has been trying to tell me.

I don't always have to be watching and protecting if someone else is there to do it with me.

With this thought in mind, it doesn't make me angry when the male is slower in the water as he moves the sleeping female. Halfway across, I even reach out two tentacles and help steady the silver shell, then steadily take more of the weight.

When he rumbles something I can't understand, I somehow know he's pleased, and it feels… good.

Not as good as kind touch, but similar.

When he gets to the shore, I can't quite bring myself to help move the silver shell above the water, but instead keep away the Many Teeth.

Then they all talk endlessly as they gesture at the shell before they move it to the cave nearby Eli's cove. It makes me glad that I threw the dead Many Teeth out of it.

The purple coward has retreated up into the forest, so I don't have to look at him anymore.

Once they stop talking, I follow the orange male and his human across the water, this time holding Eli in my tentacles. It's disappointing when she doesn't complain, but I can tell she is tired by the events of the long day.

It's tempting to just go to the bottom with her, but I know she will want to assault me with her words. She never settles at night until she does and it is easier for her to talk above the water. I take us out to the most secluded part of the cove. As far as I can get from any shore and all the ridiculous friends that seem to swarm along it in greater numbers every day.

She starts talking as soon as we come up out of the water. "I am so happy. This has been the best day. I mean, not of my life, because that would be sad, but you know what I mean."

I don't and I don't want to.

"Oh! I asked Thivoll why there are so few animals. He said it was from terraforming and any dangerous creatures were released as part of making the hunting grounds more of a challenge. That means the Many Teeth are aliens, too."

This might take a long time, so I settle my tentacles into a defensive swirling pattern that keeps us afloat and senses any Many Teeth disturbances in the water.

"But that isn't important right now. Ree and Thivoll went back to their cave to start moving supplies . They'll be back at sunrise. I know we talked about this, but I just want to make sure because it is important to me. You'll help me keep them all safe?"

I repeat her words, just like she expects, then add my own thoughts. "I will want their help in return."

Her eyes open wide in surprise. "You do? I mean, yes, I'm sure they would give it, but for what?"

"Killing the enemy."

"Many Teeth?"

"No, the gray ones with pink slime. They were the ones who took me. I want all of them dead. Is that part of community ?"

Her mouth opens, then closes, then opens again. "I want to say no, it isn't, but I think from what Ree told me that killing all of them is the only way we can make sure we even have a community at all."

"You will tell them what I want in return? You will share my deal with Thivoll?"

"Alright. Yes, I will. I have one more thing. I think this one will be harder for you, but I need it to live."

I perk up, excited to be moving into more erotic territory. Maybe this will be a fight. My mating tentacles start stroking along her legs in anticipation.

She swats them away. "I have important things to say right now and that can wait."

This is getting more exciting by the moment.

"You can't threaten or kill anyone who touches me."

"No."

She makes that lovely sound of frustration, and I am back to twining myself around her legs. " Basta ." Another swat sends a jolt of pleasure through me. "I need more than just your touch."

" Kind hands are all mine."

"Not kind hands , well… I guess. Huh, there's a translation issue here. Never mind. Not a sexual kind of touch. A friend's touch. They aren't the same."

"No."

I spend some more time saying no to her, not paying attention to the increasingly more agitated words she keeps hissing out. Once she gets to the appropriate level of anger, I relent.

"You can touch your friends , but not with kind hands , and if they ever touch you with violence, I will make sure they have a few Many Teeth at their feet. Is this the new deal for kind hands ?"

She huffs out a breath. "Fine. Yes, but I think both of us know by now that what we have is more than a deal . I don't think that term works anymore."

"Alright. Does that mean you will talk less?"

I almost lose control of the seed in one tentacle when she makes a growling shriek of frustration.