Page 23 of Shifter King
He held her for several moments longer, spooning quietly in the relative calm. If only she could make this moment last forever: his arm banded over her, his body firmly against her, the quiet contentment in his presence. But that was not reality. So she savored it as best she could.
A hoarse quetzie call shattered the silence, followed by rumbling besred roars somewhere to the east.
Naatos sighed as he kissed her bare shoulder. "The rels will need to be reapplied soon."
As soon as he pulled away, a deep regret and emptiness swept over her. She wanted to fling herself against him once more and beg him to hold her close, to not let her go. It was as if she was still floating away, as if somehow she had gone adrift.
She shivered, pulling her dress back on. Her hands shook as tears rose to her eyes again. Would this pass in time? She tightened the sash around her waist, fumbling a little as she did.
"Amelia?"
She blinked away the tears, then looked back up at him. He frowned as he stepped closer and studied her face. His thumb grazed her bottom lip.
More tears came, thickening her voice. Why even hide the truth of all this? "I…I still don't feel right in my body. It's like I don't fit. Like I'm just going to slip out of this body into…nothing."
"You aroed for the first time in Dry Deep. Most Neyeb struggle to feel right in their bodies after that. But it will pass. There are also other steps that Neyeb go through before doing that as well. Other phases."
"Other phases?" She smirked at him. "You mean something other than throwing your soul out of your body to get away from an entity?"
Naatos smoothed her hair back, his expression soft and openly fond. Her stomach somersaulted. "It was dramatic. But yes. There are many other types. The fact that you went for the most dangerous procedure in that moment is one of the most you things I have seen."
"If there was a way for me to detach my consciousness and roam around gathering information and talking to people, that would be helpful. Useful." She shrugged. "We could even use it for Darmoste. Maybe the books have more on it."
"Possibly, assuming there was someone to train you and keep you from getting lost among other things. But there isn't, and you shouldn't." He kissed her neck, then kissed a little higher, his lips dragging over her still sensitive skin. "Just heal, veskaro."
She leaned against him, savoring the warmth and sensation of him against her. All too soon, they would have to move again. Once more the distance would grow between them. But he was here. When she tried, she could bridge it. If anyone was ever willing to help be closer to her, it was him. This space was simply something that existed in her mind. Perhaps soon it would depart.
For as long as possible though, she would remain with him and be connected to him.
Somehow he must have felt the same way. After they left and returned to the camp, he remained near. And to her surprise, he slept with her in the hammock that night, arms wrapped around her and his foot between hers. Tacky insisted on resting draped over their arms. And with all the energies of the day, she found it easy to safely drift to dreams.
Whatever those dreams encompassed, they faded from her mind as soon as she woke, too fragmented to hold onto them. She wondered if they had even existed or if the Ki Valo Nakar was still resting and filtering all of them from reaching her.
She grimaced. Soon she'd have to talk to it as well. It wouldn't sleep forever, and it was waiting for her to heal. To become stronger. This uneasy truce between her and the Ki Valo Nakar was likely to return to a boiling point. Even if she was the last host available for it, she doubted it would accept her making all the decisions. It didn't seem as if it was inclined to like taking orders from someone else.
But that didn't matter. She would retain control of her own body and mind. That wasn't even a debate.
Morning brought with it a flurry of tasks. Though she felt significantly stronger today, she still found herself flagging far sooner than she liked. After breakfast and assessing the state of the current camp and the cachi gourds, they gathered up their supplies and returned to the bunker. Since Proteus was not here, they became dragons. Amelia rode with WroOth.
The journey to the bunker was almost eventless.
They all worked together over the next two days to prepare the bunker for living. Despite her teasing WroOth that fire was the most dramatic option, she had to admit that it had cleansed the air far better than any of the other remedies she had come up with, and only marginal traces of the smoky scent remained.
Climbing the bunker ladder remained the most challenging part of it. But each time, Amelia told herself it was getting easier and easier. Even when it didn't feel that way.
Everyone else though was fast. Naatos cut most of the felled trees into great spikes. Then he, QueQoa, and WroOth dug up massive portions around the bunker entrance.
It was an intricate process with far more care than she anticipated anyone showing. Naatos even sliced away the top portion of the sod and removed the grass in strips before digging. Then they upturned most of the soil and placed the twelve-foot spikes down in regular interlocking intervals.
Some of this required that they dig under and out beyond the clearing itself, which provided multiple challenges. She would have guessed that the roots would make this far more difficult, but no one really complained. QueQoa said they were working with the trees and the roots to add to the safety of the compound.
Amelia worked with AaQar mostly on the inside of the bunker though his first task was shoring up the inner door that led down to the tunnel and then expanding the tunnel appropriately. From there, they began working on a system for cooking that would allow them to cook indoors if necessary and disburse the smoke safely. Most of the stench had faded, but enough remained that it required a couple days more to completely air out.
Soon they finished putting the supplies they had in place and setting up the different sentry markers and installing the new barriers. Naatos laid out the sections of grass again. Once it rained and a few more days passed, there would be little indication about what had been done. Perhaps none at all. Someone could almost walk right over them. The added barrier of boulders and branches provided even more camouflage near the door, and they constructed an additional rock shelter over the top with a small hideaway for weapons like the wooden spears.
Naatos walked with her along the camp multiple times, checking to make sure she knew where the pit traps and the sentry points were. It was all rather impressive really. And as before, they had created a well-developed and well-protected camp in the wilderness, this one having the advantage of a pre-constructed bunker for most of it.
Several times more the mantises attacked, all with bands and a seeming instinct to herd. Each time, Naatos and his brothers dealt with them and disposed of the bodies in different locations. Nothing else came for them. Even the predators seemed to avoid the bunker's general area. Especially when the mantises were near. QueQoa suggested that this might be one of the early warning indicators.
