Noodle recovered from the sight, "Only one? I was expecting more,"
I turned the skewer, the aroma wafting up to my nose. "I only hunt what I can eat, not to show off."
Silence fell over the camp as the meat browned. Nivi was lost in thought, trying to figure out what to say to make the situation less awkward. She failed.
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A few days later...
"Yaya, this is so fun. Come on, you have to try it."
I looked up to see Nivi, all smiles, sitting high in Kurus’s arms.
Blending in wasn’t easy. I used my blanket as a cloak, while Nivi wore the reptilian top and shorts Kurus had sewn for her.
Kurus raised an eyebrow, daring me to ask for the same treatment.
"Achoo." I faked a sneeze, turning my head into my shoulder. "Maybe later. Don’t want to give anyone my cold."
"Females are weak," Kurus commented, "They fall sick too easily, and you are sick now, so you must be a female as well."
His tail slid forward, nudging my calf, inviting me to sit on it. He really didn’t know when to give up, did he?
I stepped on his tail, making him groan in pain.
Nivi pinched the side of her temples, looking slightly exasperated. It seemed like she was a bit torn on accepting Kurus into her harem, especially after he avoided her kiss.
Yes, Kurus had flinched away when she tried. Considering how I’d already bitten off part of his ear and tongue, I wasn’t surprised. Noodle probably saw any female’s face coming near his as losing another body part.
I kept a steady pace behind them, ensuring both he and Nivi stayed within sight.
Crafting a makeshift slingshot from a branch and a rubber band, I set out to catch small birds. Nivi swore some tasted like chicken and even laid eggs. While scanning the sky, I noticed a few persistent predators tailing us.
"There are eagles following us," I said, motioning to the shadows circling overhead.
"Eagles?" Nivi’s interest spiked, her eyes darting skyward to where my gaze lingered.
"The Beast Kingdom’s guards," said Kurus, "They must think I’ve abducted two females."
Catching Nivi’s eye, I silently asked if she thought Moyu might be one of the eagles. She frowned slightly, unsure. Without a word, she stepped aside, announcing she needed a "bathroom break."
As Kurus waited for her, I couldn’t resist stirring the pot.
"What’s the matter? Afraid of kissing now?"
Taking aim with my slingshot, I shot a pebble in his direction.
His head snapped in my direction, but I wasn’t done. Flashing my teeth in a feral grin, I bit down hard on my own tongue, just enough to prove my point.
"Afraid?" Kurus bared his fangs at me in an attempt to intimidate me, his voice lowered to a threatening hiss, "Don’t think I won’t tear your lips off just because you are a female."
"Female this. Female that. If you keep on saying that, I’m going to make a necklace out of your fangs and wear it," I threatened him back.
I had a habit of threatening whoever threatened me first. It started with my pathetic attempt to rebel against my father’s influence, which had somehow carried over into my everyday life.
Kurus scoffed, not taking my threats seriously, which made me pull the string again. A pebble flew across the air and hit him right between the eyes. The sound he made was somewhere between a hiss and a yelp, and his face instantly contorted with pain.
"Do you want another one?" I asked. "If you hate me, then stick to hating me. Stop the undeci-sive flirting with two people, you stupid lizard." I chided. "Just focus on Nivi, and don’t involve me in your love triangle."
(Lizard because he was currently a snake with limbs.)
Kurus looked at the ground, his fingers tracing the mark the pebble had left on his forehead, and when he lifted his head, his eyes were bloodshot, and his pupils contracted into a pair of thin slits.
He snapped. One second he was just some asshole, the next something else entirely. His movements lost all pretense of humanity, stripped down to pure, nasty instinct. A wave of pure, uncut kill-thirst rolled off him, so heavy it felt like it could crush the air right out of my throat.
I didn’t even have time to blink before he was on me. Fangs, sharp as needles and twice as cold, sank into my bottom lip. The shock hit first, then the white-hot pain, followed by the coppery flood of my own blood.
"Aargh!" A sound tore from my throat, half-scream, half-gurgle, choked off by the pressure of his mouth.
His eyes, those unnerving red pools, locked with mine. The faintest widening of his pupils proved that he hadn’t expected this. He hadn’t expected my lips to move against his.
I saw it flicker in his eyes. A twisted spark of lust, a need to dominate, to lose control, to take, to surrender, only to take again. He was in chaos, and I wanted to watch him drown in it.
He was fighting a battle behind his eyes. The man and the beast were at war, and I tasted the conflict. Was this hunger for my blood, or my body? Did he want to feel my life drain away, or hear me cry out his name in a different kind of pain?
The questions were becoming irrelevant. The need to claim me, to bend me to his will, to make me his in every way possible, was drowning out everything else, very obviously. It was changing into a wildfire that consumed him from the inside out, and I was just standing there, watching him burn.
"Kurus!" Nivi’s voice cut through the tension like a blade, jolting me back. She must’ve finished her so-called bathroom break because she rushed back, eyes wide in panic, locking onto the sight of Kurus pressed against me.
Nivi didn’t hesitate, snatching up a rock and winging it at him. "Get off her, Kurus! Don’t you dare force yourself on her!"
The rock missed, but it gave me the opening I needed. A grin twisted my lips as my fingers tightened around the knife I’d been holding the whole time. I swung it in a clean arc right for his neck, aiming for the soft spot under his jaw.
"Argh!" His blood spurted out, staining my face as we fell to the ground.
I straddled his chest, looking at him from above, "You should be careful about the way you threaten me next time. I might just cut your dicks off and put them on my shelf as a trophy."
The poison from my knife had already begun to work its way through him. Kurus’s face twisted in agony, his breath ragged, pulse slowing as his eyes glazed over.
"I’ll give you the antidote if you behave," I teased, barely holding back a smirk at his desperate attempt to maintain a strong front.
Leaning in, I whispered, "Do you still want me?" I let the words linger, enjoying the flicker of unease that sparked in his eyes.
I grabbed his hair, forcing his mouth open. I poured a bitter, crushing mixture of antidote and water down his throat, watching him choke and gag on it.
"There," I said coldly, "That should keep you from dying."
In the dark corners of my mind, I couldn’t help but savor the shift in him. His bravado slipped away, replaced by fear. It was a rush, seeing him break.
There’s a peculiar satisfaction, a sort of dark delight, in watching the facade of his arrogance crumble, replaced by the dawning realization of his own vulnerability.
It wasn’t just about power. It was about turning things around. Kurus had learned the hard way who he should’ve picked.