Page 18 of Guarded By the Vodnik

As I struggled to contain this new, wild thing inside me, I was also swamped by a powerful wave of curiosity. I was so exhausted, I couldn’t keep my thoughts in check, and they poured in, inappropriate and scalding my brain with heat.

Was she touching herself? Was this her way of dealing with tension and anxiety? Or was she some sort of sex addict who had to get herself off multiple times a day? It was odd that she did this first thing after getting here. Had she spent our entire journey craving this release? Was that why she was so hot?

Did she think about getting herself off while I carried her?

I cursed as the monster in my gut thrashed harder, making my muscles clench with something hot and wanting. Desperately trying to get a hold of myself, I slithered into my partly filled pool, letting the jets of water pound my tentacles in the hopes of easing some of the ridiculous tension.

But my limbs twitched and jerked, guided by an urge I didn’t understand. When I gave in, they tangled with each other, sliding and grasping in a wet, slithering mass. It brought me no relief, only more confusion.

It almost felt like I wanted to grip something and squeeze. To wrap myself around… something. Something that wasn’t myself.

Another moan, the loudest yet, came from the wall. I jolted and cursed quietly, pressing my palms to my ear holes at the sides of my head. The thin membranes that covered my ears when I was underwater now gently pulled open, letting me hear everything even more acutely than normally.

My own body conspired against me.

Even worse, as water slowly covered me, cold and soothing like the lake outside, phantom memories of Zoe’s touch bloomed across my skin. I felt every part of me that had been pressed against her. The scales on my stomach that remembered how it felt to have her legs wrapped around me flared with sensation.

I groaned deeply, trying to ease the horrible tension in my throat. The sound was loud and filled with all my discomfort. Too late did I realize she could hear me, too. Sounds traveled both ways in these pipes, after all.

“Oh, fuck,” Zoe’s voice floated through the pipes before growing completely quiet.

I froze. So now she knew I’d heard her, and it would most likely make things really awkward between us. But I didn’t have to spend time in her company, I reminded myself. And hopefully, she’d keep it down now that she knew, though I didn’t hold out much hope.

Lord Kannui knew I heard everything, because I told him about it. It hadn’t stopped him even for one day, but then again, he viewed me simply as help. To him, I wasn’t a person. I was a tool to use when needed, so it probably didn’t even cross his mind to consider my comfort.

I released a long, frustrated breath and did my best to settle in and forget about everything that happened. It was difficult. The tension was still there like a constant itching under my skin, and the camera feeds didn’t offer any distractions.

Of course, I didn’t even have to watch them, because the security system was equipped with state-of-the-art motion detectors. As soon as something larger than a fish moved outside, alarms blared to life.

When I heard movement and shuffling outside my door, I knew Zoe came out. Another bout of curiosity took me by surprise. I wanted to know what she looked like with human clothes on and her head uncovered.

I reasoned with myself, trying to suppress the ridiculous need to see her. It wasn’t normal. I’d just spent a few hours in her company, and it stood to reason that I’d need a lot of time alone to decompress.

So why the hell did I want to come out?

When my stomach rumbled, I exhaled with relief. I was hungry. Of course, I wanted to find some food in the kitchen, which was accessible through the living room. I didn’t want to see Zoe at all. I just wanted to eat.

When I got out after drying myself up, Zoe jerked, shooting me a wary look from where she stood by a bookcase.

“Oh, hi,” she said sheepishly, her face covered with pink splotches. “I, uh, got lunch.”

She pointed at the bowl in her hand, and my eyes helplessly tracked the movement of her slim fingers adorned with a few colorful, glittering rings. The tightness in my throat was still there, and I didn’t speak for fear of my voice breaking.

I didn’t move, taking in her entire frame with eyes that refused to turn away, even though I knew I shouldn’t stare. But she was so… So.

I still didn’t have the right words to describe accurately what I saw. Separate parts of the image were easy enough, so I focused on those, pushing away the urge to find a word that would define her as a whole.

Her messy hair was damp and piled on top of her head in a strange arrangement that looked oddly attractive. Dark curls escaped, framing her face that was small and delicate, with a dainty nose, a sharp chin, and round cheeks that colored a bit deeper as I stared.

There was a crumb in the corner of her mouth, and her lips were slightly parted, that canine tip peeking out. Her green eyes were big under the gentle swoops of her eyebrows, staring at me just as I stared at her, which made me feel a bit better about my abysmal lack of control.

When her pink tongue darted out to lick off the crumb, a shiver ran down my spine.

“So, uh, I guess the person who built the sanitation system here didn’t care much about privacy, huh?” she asked with a small smile, putting her bowl on a table.

I blinked, unnerved by her direct question. I expected her to ignore the entire matter completely, and the fact she didn’t made me respect her a bit. Maybe she wouldn’t be as inconsiderate as Kannui, after all.

Zoe gripped the back of an armchair, clearing her throat, and I finally looked away as I forced myself to speak.

---