Chapter 397 Chapter 397
Devin had given them an answer before everyone had finished cleaning up. Two females were being held, ages unknown, but appeared to be young adults. While everyone was buzzing with excitement, Konner was worrying about how ‘young’ they were and if the lunatics that thought his kind were zoo attractions had figured out how to breed.
Nolyn and Olanna cut off his path before he could take two steps inside his house.
“We were thinking we’d get one of the houses ready, the one between our homes,” Nolyn looked at Olanna who nodded, “they might adjust better if they’re in the same house together and not suddenly on their own.”
Konner rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s a good idea.” He looked from one to the other, “and it’s close to the lake.” If they were anything like Terah, they would spend a lot of their time in it for the first week. Freedom was an unknown thing to them, and he wanted them to know that they were. “We’ll just have to...”
“We know, keep an eye on everyone around them.” Olanna gave him a blank look, “they’ll also have Terah, who will relate the most to their situation.”
Terah. Konner glanced in the door he was holding open. “I’m sure she’ll help them.”
“Okay,” Nolyn nodded enthusiastically, “let’s go take stock of what needs to be added,” she grinned at Olanna. “We may have a shopping list.”
Konner smirked, “wrangle Reeves attention away from whatever his brain is stuck on to get it ordered.” He looked inside again, “I’ll pick it up when it comes in.”
“Perfect.” Nolyn inhaled a deep breath and nodded some more. Her expression said she wasn’t as thrilled as she was letting on. He wondered if she worried that one of those females would be the mate to her lover.
“Go get some rest.” Olanna used her mother’s tone on him. “you’re like talking to an empty shell tonight.”
Konner flashed her a brief grin. “Yes, ‘mam.”
Rolling her eyes, she ushered Nolyn back into the community house, “I just want to check in on Rae before we start, see how she’s feeling.”
Konner didn’t wait to see if they thought of anything else, he stepped into the hall to his home and closed the door quickly. He could hear the boys in the entertainment room and started for it to ask them if they had homework, then stopped and decided he’d let them have some game time tonight. He just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to wrangle teenagers right this minute.
He had even intention of going to his room and getting some real sleep. Maybe it would help some clarity come back to him. When his feet stopped moving, he found himself standing in front of Terah’s door. She had wanted to talk to him, so he was going to pretend he meant to be here. The door was open a few inches. Holding it with one hand, he knocked on it.
“Thank you for knocking,” she called out, “come in now.”
Opening it, he went in. She wasn’t in the main part of her room. “Terah?”
“I am in here.”
He turned to the bathroom; the door was also open. “You said you wanted to,” going over, he went in. She was in there. In the large tub, filled with water and completely naked. “Talk.” He couldn’t remind her of the rules, as it was her own bathroom. They were going to have to discuss when to close doors though.
“Yes.” She smiled up at him.
Konner glanced at her, then to the floor, trying not to look right at her.
“Did you want to sit in here with me? It’s big enough.” She moved over to the side and leaned, her arms hanging over it.
He opened his mouth to reply and then couldn’t remember what he was going to say. Clearing his throat, he went over leaned back against the counter. He could still see in the tub from here, but the distance between them would help him focus. “I’m good now, thanks.” It was a complete lie, there was nothing good about him right now, not with the thoughts in his head.
She moved from the edge, giving him a quick flash of a smile. “I wanted to swim in the lake at night, but I don’t want to break any rules.”
He was trying to keep his eyes on her face, and it was hard, the slightest movement from her flashed a bit of skin here and there. “Once you’re,” he waved a hand around, while he tried to prompt his brain to help out, “adjusted to life here, you can swim at night.” He frowned, “the couples tend to later in the night though, so checking,” his mind popped to why those couples preferred then, he frowned, “for others is a good idea.” He finished as the breath rushed from his body. He felt like a teenage boy that had never seen a naked female before right now.
“I will. Thank you.” She leaned on the edge, and smiled at him, her eyes sparkling, bluer than silver right now.
With an abrupt nod, he straightened away from the counter to leave.
“Konner?”
He stopped and looked back at her.
“I still want to talk about what we stopped to go to dinner.”
His brows creased as he looked at her. “Right.” He nodded, then motioned to the tub, “I can wait out there until you’re finished soaking,” he pointed to the door.
“Oh.”
He forced himself to look at her face.
“Is it another rule I don’t know? Talking when in the tub?” A look of defeat came over her face. “I keep doing things wrong.”
“It’s not, uh, wrong.” He scowled at the floor for a second, “it’s just that most don’t have conversations while they’re in the bath,” he gave his head a quick shake, “couples do, sure, but normally you close the door or doors for privacy.” As explanations went that one had been as clear as mud.
“Oh.” She looked around the room. “I have never had that,” her eyes flicked to him, then to the water she was in, “closing of doors and that.”
He hadn’t wanted her to feel bad, that’s the last thing he’d want.
“I will get out.” She nodded her head, “we can talk then.”
As he started to turn to leave, she stood up and stepped out of the tub. Water cascaded off her partially changed skin. He knew it was wrong, but he could only stand there and look at her. She practically sparkled, as the water glistened off her. He swallowed as his gaze moved slowly down her, she was perfection in his eyes, nothing like the almost skeletal woman that had been rescued.
Her skin slowly changed back to regular skin but was still radiant, he knew if he reached out and touched her it would be silky smooth. He wanted to reach out and touch her and despite knowing how much he needed to back his ass out of this room his feet remained stationary.
“We can talk now?”
He jerked his head up and looked at her face. “Talk?” His voice was barely audible.
“Yes.” She moved closer, making no indication that she intended to put on a robe or towel. “Before dinner, I was telling you that I still think about kissing you.”
Konner licked his lips at the mention of kissing.
“I feel this strangeness in my stomach when I think about it.” She moved her hand to place it over the smooth skin of her abdomen.
Konner tried to swallow to create salvia so he could speak, without success. Females of his kind were without body hair, as it wasn’t their true form and below her hand was bare for him to see.
“And lower,” she moved her hand down to cover her sex, “in my vagina, that’s what it’s called, I asked the tablet. My vagina gets wet when I think about it.” She was right in front of him now, “Is that wrong?”
What? Konner blinked. He tried again to speak, the images in his head from her words now rendering him mute. His body was hard as he struggled to answer her.
She stood there looking up at him, waiting. Lifting her arms, she undid her hair and let it fall to drape her upper body like a picture frame.
Konner went from no clear thought to what seemed like every synapse in his brain firing at once. With something between a moan and a growl, he reached over and grasped the back of her head, pulling her closer. He crushed her soft mouth beneath his, forgetting she was essentially innocent. He needed to taste her, to feel her against him. Wrapping his free hand around her back, he bent his knees and then stood up, lifting her with him.
When she wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to keep up with his kiss, it dawned on him that he needed to slow down, for her sake. Angling his head, he reduced the pressure of his lips on hers so she could return his kiss. His knees almost buckled when she put her tongue in his mouth. It was not the reaction he anticipated from someone who knew little about kissing.
He started to move and then remembered he’d left the bedroom door wide open. Breaking the kiss, he gasped to speak. “I need to close the door.”
“So we can kiss more?” Her voice rasped.
Konner nodded and stepped backward toward the bathroom door. It took every ounce of control he had to not turn around and run and slam it closed so he could get back to her.