Page 14 of Monstrous Baby
8
AXXOL
(If you missed the bonus scene after Monstrous Hunt with Axxol, you can grab ithere.)
I fucking hated this in-between bullshit.
She’d forgiven me enough to let me back into the squad. She’d even let me fuck her.
But I wanted so much more.
I wanted it all. Everything Red had with her. Even the others had more of her than me.
Not her luscious body, that’s not what I meant. I’d tasted every inch of her and would never get enough in a trillion years. But I wanted more of her emotion. Her trust.
Her heart.
Having her mind on the grid should have helped with the access and inclusion, but she managed to keep a large part of her thoughts secret and quiet, withdrawn behind a snarled, barbed firewall I wasn’t sure I wanted to invade. I could, certainly, given enough time. So could Rizan. She might forgive him for breaking through to her private mind palace.
I couldn’t count on her forgiving me again.
Silently, I watched her go through the now familiar motions of feeding, bathing, and diapering the youngling, though everything was more challenging now because she was so mobile. Red was her sire, but her grabby little hands were just as quick as the medic’s implements. In another few days, she’d go from an amusing little terror to a fucking menace.
I couldn’t fucking wait. Just thinking about watching Red and Natalie attempt to corral a feral young dynos made me smile so wide my fucking face hurt.
“What’s so fucking funny?” Kroktl asked—even while the youngling scaled his back stark naked and bit his ear so hard he growled.
“I didn’t realize parenting was going to be so much fun for you.”
Rolling his eyes, he snagged the biting infant and tickled her, holding her in place long enough for Natalie to get a diaper on her.
“That’s a fucking waste of time,” I said, though when her head snapped up, her eyes narrowed in suspicion, I wished Sn had stapled my fucking lips shut.
:That can be arranged,:he said on the grid.
“She’ll just take it off,” I amended.
“She needs to be clean and dry for sleep,” Natalie replied.
No way was the youngling going to sleep anytime soon but I bit my own damned tongue and kept my opinion to myself.
My gut churned.She won’t readily take advice from me because she doesn’t fucking trust me, and I’ve got no one to blame but myself.
Red rolled around on the floor, letting Akylla climb and bite to wear her out before bedtime. Natalie sat on the floor, sort of huddled in on herself despite the smile occasionally tugging on the corners of her mouth. Lohr lumbered into the room with a tall glass of something green and slick that made me shudder,but evidently it was one of her favorite concoctions. She gave him a smile and thanked him—but sadness still weighed heavily on her, slowly oozing onto the grid despite the privacy fence guarding her thoughts.
I wanted to ask why she was sad on the grid—but she’d hear it if she was listening at all.
Snryx stood behind her, close enough his hovering implements could touch her if he needed to for any reason.:She had devastating news about women of her planet being killed and eaten. Of course she’s sad.:
Huh. Interesting.:She cares that much about humans she doesn’t even know?:
:She does,: Sn replied in a dry tone just shy of being condescending enough to make me snap his head off.:It’s called empathy.:
:We won’t let anyone take and eat her.:
He mentally sighed likeIwas the fucking youngling.:She’s not afraid for herself, only the youngling and the helpless females on this planet who don’t know what’s happening.:He paused, probing at my cybernetic grid.:Like her friend. She wouldn’t want the same thing to happen to her.:
:I’m fine,:I retorted, giving him a mental shove.:Mind your own damn business. Who gives a shit about humans anyway?:
