A quick peek around didn’t reveal any animals, but they had to be around here somewhere. I’d been camping and watched enough documentaries to know animals flocked to water. I crept closer, avoiding the larger gray-spotted rocks, and peered into the clear water. No fish swam beneath the surface, but that didn’t mean something horrible wasn’t lurking nearby, searching for a meal. All I saw, though, was a rocky bottom.
Steam came off the river in waves. With a quick tap of the water to test its temperature, I found it was hot, like bathwater hot. I groaned. God, I was desperate to slip in and get clean. To actually get clean. Maybe Mindy had had the right of it coming out here to explore.
Arms snagged me close, and Serlotminden's mouth pressed against my neck. “Be careful.”
“It’s warm.”
“And it might be dangerous.”
“Worrywart.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
Apparently Caleb and Seth hadn’t taught him everything. “You’re panicking more than needed.”
He turned me around and palmed my cheeks. “I have to protect you.”
He was so close. It would take barely any effort to close the distance between us, to press my lips to his, but I’d never done that. When I was a teen, I’d figured out I was demisexual. Now that I’d found someone I liked, I was hella interested. My experience was lacking, though I was willing to try. How badly could I mess up?
Moving toward him, heart in my throat, I was about to kiss him when I stopped. Dontilvynsan. His boyfriend. I couldn’t do that to Mindy. He’d been nothing but nice to me, and he didn’t deserve me changing the dynamic. Besides, he’d called me his friend so many damn times, and I’d said no kissing during the permissions conversation.
“I don’t need you to protect me,” I commented.
“You might not,” he replied, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to. You are mine to keep safe.”
I grunted. If he wanted to, I wasn’t going to stop him. I turned back to the water, and Mindy hooked his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder.
He took a deep inhale. “You smell sodamngood.”
I chuckled at the swear. He put so much emphasis on the word it was oddly forced. He sounded like a little kid swearing.
“Seth and Caleb laugh at me when I swear too,” he pouted.
I cupped the back of his head, my fingers tangling in his hair. Mindy tucked against my neck, and I continued to brush the silky strands. The water rushed by, the air was warm with the stink of sulfur, and far off birds serenaded us. It was nice. Existing like this. How long had passed since I’d breathed and watched the world, enjoying the quiet?
There was a low rumble, but I ignored it, too comfortable to move. Mindy didn’t react either, other than to tug me even closer. I leaned my head to the side, letting him press his face even tighter into me. Why was this so nice? We weren’t doing anything, but it was comforting in a way I had a hard time articulating.
The rumble continued, and something bumped my leg, making me glance at whatever it was. My heart stopped, freezing me into place.
That was not a rock.
What I had assumed to be large gray-and-black-spotted rocks were in fact crab-like creatures. It was butting against my calf, black claws as thick as my forearm. Two distended eyes as well as two antennas peeked out from under the hard shell. Its long legs were arched near the top of the shell like a spider.
It seemed to be investigating more than anything, and I hoped to fucking god it didn’t want to eat me. The rock-crab kept bumping into me, and it was joined by more and more of them.
Mindy hadn’t noticed, and I was struggling to get the words out. I tried to force my voice to work or my hands to pat Mindy. Something. Anything. We needed to move. Now.
Serlotminden is in fucking danger, I screamed at myself, but still, I didn’t move as I watched the growing horde of nightmares.
My breath whooshed out of me when I was yanked back. Wings came around me, and Mindy snarled. The rock-crabs released squeaks—actual fucking squeaks—and flattened to their rock form, though some scuttled into the river with loud splashes.
His arms remained like two iron bars around my waist as he continued to threaten them, I assumed, in his language. When none of the crabs moved for a few seconds, Mindy turned me around, then began nuzzling my cheek and neck.
Tremors wracked his body, muscles tense. His tail ran the length of my leg and his wings surrounded me in warmth. “Are you well—safe—alright?” He growled. “I cannot think of the right word.” Mindy rubbed his forehead on my temple and grabbed my hand, shoving it under his shirt, then dragged it over his side.
He was freaking out. Like really freaking out. More than lack of water freaking out.
“Speak to me, Bartholomew,” he demanded. “Please. I must hear your voice.”
