The kiss hit fierce and desperate, burning with barely controlled hunger.
Maya had been sleeping peacefully when suffocating pressure jolted her awake.
Strange scents filled her nose as her eyes snapped open, locking onto dark red ones.
Caleb’s eyes.
But the usual ice was gone, replaced by wild heat that looked ready to consume her.
Maya’s mind went blank.
Then embarrassment and rage slammed into her.
She hauled back and slapped him hard across the face.
The crack echoed through the cave.
Caleb’s head whipped sideways, a red handprint blooming on his cheek.
The pressure on her mouth finally eased.
Maya scrambled back, chest heaving.
She opened her mouth to let him have it when Caleb slowly turned back.
The wildness in his eyes had dimmed, replaced by mortified awareness.
He panted hard, cold sweat on his forehead, voice shaking.
“S-sorry… I think… I’m in Rut. I need mental soothing…”
Only then did Maya notice Caleb’s flushed face, his breathing like he’d sprinted a marathon.
His eyes were glazed, even his hands trembling.
So he was losing it to his heat cycle, not deliberately attacking her.
Maya remembered the last time she’d given Caleb mental soothing, her face heating despite everything.
Last time was just quick energy restoration.
Surface level stuff.
But heat-induced mental chaos ran way deeper.
It meant much more intimate contact.
In this world, females used physical touch to calm males.
The closer the contact, the stronger the effect.
To properly soothe Caleb with her weak F rank abilities, she’d probably need to sleep with him.
But she planned to break their bond.
She couldn’t possibly have sex with him just for soothing.
“You…” Maya backed away until her spine hit cold stone, fear twisting in her chest.
Leaving him like this could cause total mental breakdown.
But getting close enough to help meant intimate contact she absolutely refused.
Caleb seemed to catch her rejection.
He stepped back, trying to give her space, but his body swayed.
His eyes started glazing over again, voice carrying desperate hope.
“I’ll try to hold back… but I don’t think I can last much longer. Could you just let me hold you?”
Maya watched beads of sweat roll down Caleb’s face, her stomach twisting into knots.
Great.
Just freaking great.
It wasn’t even mating season.
She’d been laser-focused on tracking down her father and getting out of this nightmare.
A hormonal breakdown from one of her so-called “mates” definitely wasn’t on her to-do list.
The previous Maya had been F rank, basically the bottom of the barrel when it came to female genetics.
Her soothing abilities were pathetic, barely stronger than a gentle breeze.
Maya had skimmed over those details in the novel, never thinking she’d actually need to use them.
Caleb was supposed to be one of the story’s major players.
Brilliant, ruthless, dangerous as hell.
One rut cycle wouldn’t kill a guy like him, right?
But if she just stood here and let him suffer with her crappy F rank powers doing nothing?
Yeah, he’d remember every agonizing second.
And he’d make damn sure she paid for it later.
At least until she found her father, she couldn’t afford to make enemies.
The wasteland was crawling with things that wanted to eat her face off.
She needed their protection, even if the arrangement made her skin crawl.
Plus, if this whole escape plan went sideways, these guys might come hunting for her.
They’d already been through hell before she showed up.
Adding more fuel to that fire with her useless abilities seemed like a spectacularly bad idea.
Survival first.
Moral dilemmas later.
With a resigned sigh, she met Caleb’s fevered gaze head-on.
He wore only a dark hide around his waist.
Above that, smooth defined abs, each muscle tight without being bulky.
Silver hair hung to his shoulders, damp with sweat, strands sticking to his sharp features.
His thin lips had a faint flush from the rut.
Most striking were those dark red eyes.
The wildness had faded, leaving controlled fire like glowing embers.
Should have been scary, but somehow made her pulse quicken.
Maya’s heart skipped.
She pushed down the weird feeling.
She took a breath, keeping her voice steady.
“If you just held me while we slept tonight, nothing else, would that help?”
Caleb’s eyes lit up instantly.
He nodded hard, voice shaking with hope.
“Yes! Just being close would calm everything down!”
Maya still felt uneasy.
Physical contact in human form made her nervous.
What if he lost control again?
She thought a moment, then added, “Then shift to beast form. Hold me as a snake while we sleep.”
She wasn’t scared of snakes.
Caleb paused, then nodded immediately.
“Okay.”
Being close to a female would work regardless of his form.
His bones cracked softly as his tall frame stretched and transformed into a massive silver-white serpent.
The snake body was thick as a man’s waist.
Scales gleamed with cool light in the dying fire.
His red vertical pupils had lost their human edge, showing only gentle focus.
Even his tongue flicks were careful, afraid of scaring her.
Maya had seen Caleb’s beast form during the day—beautiful shape.
And snake skin was naturally cool, perfect for beating the night’s heat.
She watched the silver serpent coil into a circle beside her, leaving the soft center open.
She slowly lay down, pressing against the cool scales.
The serpent’s coolness wrapped around her instantly, chasing away the summer night’s stuffiness.
She sighed in relief.
Already exhausted, plus the earlier scare and tension, she felt her eyes getting heavy against the cool, soft “snake pillow.” Her breathing evened out as she fell completely asleep.
Caleb felt the soft warmth in his embrace, the rage in his system instantly settling like flames doused with warm water, leaving only gentle heat.
But the heat cycle’s burning hadn’t completely faded.
Maya’s light fragrance filled his senses.
His tail tip lightly wound around her ankle.
Slowly traveling upward until it touched the delicate, soft skin at the root of her thighs, he couldn’t help tightening slightly.
Maya felt the strange sensation on her thigh and unconsciously shifted against it.
The friction made Caleb burn hotter.
Both hemipenes began to swell as primal urges overwhelmed rational thought.
Through the thin fabric of her undergarments, he pressed his arousal against her most sensitive places.
Gradually, Maya began responding despite her sleep, unconsciously clinging to him.
Her legs spread wider on their own, an invitation he couldn’t ignore.
He pressed his cock against her ass, grinding the length along her crack while his tail fucked her pussy with shallow, wet strokes.
She was so warm, so tight, even just his tail had her whimpering and pushing back for more.
Caleb grew bolder, his tail tip starting to push aside the barrier of her panties.
That’s when Maya mumbled drowsily, “Stop fooling around…”
The words hit Caleb like cold water, snapping him back to clarity from his lustful haze.
He stared at Maya with complex emotions.
He hadn’t expected her to actually let him sleep close, and she didn’t seem afraid of his beast form at all.
He also hadn’t expected to feel genuine desire for her.
He lowered his head to nuzzle the sleeping female, unaware that his gaze had unconsciously softened…
The fire gradually died down, leaving only their steady breathing in the cave.
The silver-white serpent kept the female protected in his coils, dark red pupils quietly fixed on her sleeping face.
Even his tongue flicks slowed to an extremely gentle rhythm, afraid of disturbing her dreams.