Well, there went my plan. Noodle had other ideas.
Instead of retreating, he tried to feed his tongue deeper into my mouth, pushing back against my teeth. Eat. eat. eat. He offered his flesh to me. Like I was a starving beast, and he was my last meal.
I tore my mouth away from his, calmly licking my lips. The lack of sparks and tingles told me enough about my own feelings, or lack thereof. And by the way he acted like this was a battle, and to survive was to conquer, he wasn’t doing it out of affection either.
Still, I had to ask, "Do you even know what a kiss is?"
"A way to feed your mate," he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing. "Saliva has healing properties... We share it, to help each other survive."
Mm, his actions were easily misunderstood by those who had no idea about the cold-blooded customs.
His hands never left my hair, his chest heaving against mine. His eyes searched mine for anything he could use to his advantage. He was honest, painfully so.
"You win. The core can wait." I said, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, "Until next time."
He swallowed, looking dazed before cheering his victory, "I win."
He shifted back into his half-snake form, tucking his twins back in. He tried to hide the stupid smile that threatened to break free. He thought he had won. And his ego was flying higher than the damn eagles above us. I could almost see it floating over his head.
"You are weak to seduction, mate. I’ll remember that," he said. The look on his face, smug, was all I needed to see.
I chuckled, shook my head, and walked away. "Don’t worry, I have a long list of your weaknesses too."
He followed, "Tell me." It wasn’t a question. More like a command.
I ignored him, letting him stay curious. There was a certain comfort in knowing that we were on the same page about our relationship. We didn’t expect love, nor did we yearn for it. We just used each other to fill a void, a hopelessness that had nowhere else to go.
And slowly, a new hope was taking root. A desire to change the way things were. To break the cycle of pain and death that had defined us for so long.
"Mate," he murmured from behind me, "I felt it...ago...Around the campfire. You were scared."
I halted in my tracks, my hands clutching the straps of my backpack. "Afraid? Of what?"
"The mate mark didn’t tell me," he said, and instead of confronting me about why I impaled him in the throat, he asked a completely unrelated question. "Why were you afraid?"
My gaze lingered on the place where I had stabbed him. At that moment it was the only farewell I could give him, a hard lesson to remember that he shouldn’t get too close to me.
It was a different kind of goodbye, one that worked on Nivi, but not on a certain noodle who used threats such as: only mine, will kill whoever tries to take you, as was a form of strengthening the mate bond.
It helped the cold-blooded with protecting the female when she was "hibernating".
Warmblooded strengthen their bond through mutual love, coldblooded through force and control. It fit me more than the other way. Less heartache. You could ignore them, beat the shit out of them, and justify it as karma for whatever crap they pulled on you first.
"My nest is that way," Noodle said, pointing in the opposite direction of where I was heading. No longer pressing the subject, he flicked his tail, as if waiting for me to follow him.
"I heard some coldblooded had attacked a racoon village. I want to check if they are still there," I said, rubbing my stomach, "I’m craving some scorpion meat."
"Still hungry?" Noodle asked, his expression twisting in disbelief. "I’ve fed you a whole snake. And fed you my mate mark and saliva too. How can you still be hungry?"
"Do you know how much energy it takes to sustain my level of strength?" I retorted.
"No."
"Then shush," I said and continued on my path.
"No scorpion mates for you," he declared, "You have me. Do not seduce anyone else."
"I already said I won’t, didn’t I?"
"I like hearing it again," he said. "Again."
"I won’t take any scorpion mates." I kicked his ass with my boot, pushing him to move. "Let’s go before the flying rats get there first. I want my cores."
"Again." Noodle covered his butt, dodging my next kick. He didn’t let me near his rear after that, keeping a distance as we headed towards the racoon village.
"I won’t take another mate," I said before shooting through the forest like a speeding bullet. My feet barely touched the ground.