Chapter 101: Gotta Play Fair

~ SASHA ~

A strange dynamic settled into their little dirt and rock hidey-hole after those words.

Sasha found her heart fluttering and her body tingling as, whether they sat and talked, or stood and looked out of the view holes, they moved around each other with a new awareness.

When she leaned into the view hole, Zev moved to stand behind her, his body brushed hers every time he moved, one hand resting on the side of her thigh when he pointed with the other as he leaned over her shoulder to point out a landmark.

The back of her neck washed in goosebumps when his breath fluttered in her hair.

His voice got deeper.

Her stomach got butterflies.

And even though neither of them said anything about this strange, delicious tension, their eyes followed each other every time they moved around the space.

The morning passed into afternoon. And afternoon passed in endlessly slow hours, as they watched and waited for the humans to return and free the Chimera from their enforced confinement in the village square. But as the sun began its slow descent back towards the horizon, Sasha wished it would crawl even more slowly as her awareness of every ridge and ripple of Zev's body became more heightened. As every time his eyes raked down her form, she felt the look like fingers on her skin.

Their words got slower, the pauses in between got longer, and the tension crackling between them seemed so electric that Sasha felt like touching him would raise her hair off her shoulders.

It got darker in the fox hole as the sun fell to the level of the trees and deep shadows were thrown over their hiding place—and the square.

The males in the village were becoming restless, but Xar had disappeared with the humans, helping them, Zev said with a growl.

As early evening arrived, she'd just looked out of a view hole again to see if there was any movement, when she turned around to find Zev standing a foot away from her, staring down at her, a strange light in his eyes.

Not a strange light. A very recognizable light. A light that burned in heat.

Sasha swallowed hard. For a second she let herself remember that afternoon when they were little more than kids… Then she shook her head and turned back to the view hole, ignoring the slump in his shoulders when she did it, forcing herself to concentrate on something other than the desire wafting off of Zev like heat ripples off a desert road.

But then the hairs on her arms did stand up—and not because she wanted Zev as much as he wanted her. "The humans are back," she whispered.

Zev cursed and leaned over her to peer out, his jaw tightening as they watched the three humans, Xar, Lhars, and a couple other Chimera walk back towards the front of the square to address the now rippling crowd.

Sasha couldn't follow everything that was said, but it was obvious from the human's frowns, and Xar's tension, that they hadn't found anything.

The humans addressed the Chimera briefly, explaining that they would be returning the following week, but that if anything was found or either Sasha or Zev identified before then, that Xar had a way to contact them and they should tell him.

Sasha frowned. "How would he contact them?"

"He must send someone through," Zev whispered. His warm chest was against her back and she felt his voice rumble against her shoulder blades. It made her mouth dry.

It was dusk by the time the humans said their farewells and started on the hike back to the cave. Sasha expected that the moment they were out of sight the Chimera would scatter. But instead, the cooks lit the fires and everyone seemed to settle in—the males gathering in clusters of deep discussion.

"Why don't they move? Why aren't they leaving?" Sasha asked a few minutes later.

"Because they don't trust the humans to actually leave," Zev said darkly. "They'll stay there until the guards return and confirm they've passed into the gateway. That's when everything returns to normal."

"But… that will take hours!"

"An hour or two," Zev said, his hands coming to rest on her hips. "They'll shift to run back, so they'll return a lot faster than they'll take to get out there with the humans on foot.

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Sasha groaned. "Two hours?"

"Maybe less. Why? Are you sick of me?"

"No, of course not!" she turned around to reassure him, but instead, she froze.

Zev was right behind her and when she turned, it was to find him grinning down at her. His big hands rested on her hips. When she froze, he tightened his grip and pulled her closer, dropping his chin so they were almost nose to nose.

Sasha swallowed hard.

"We better make the most of it," he whispered, then raised his hand to comb her hair back from her face.

She licked her lips and his eyes dropped to her mouth. A tiny, tiny growl puttered in his throat.

She put one hand to his chest—flat on that broad, steely plane under his collarbone. She was hesitant, her fingers half-curled. Not because she didn't want touch him—she ached to do it. But because… something held her back.

"Sash?" he breathed.

"Yeah?"

"I really want to kiss you."

She snorted. "You already have. Several times."

"No, I mean… I want to really kiss you." His breathing was becoming more rapid and his eyes locked on hers, full of his intention and the weight of what he meant. "I don't want you going out there to face those… those… dogs in heat without knowing exactly how I feel about you."

Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. "I… I do know," she rasped.

But Zev shook his head. "No, you don't. You're still questioning. And I get it. I do. But I can't stand the idea that you're going to be walking around for the next day without me and maybe those questions become doubts, or maybe someone else catches your eye and… I just need to show you. Please."

He'd leaned in so close she was having trouble focusing on his eyes. Somehow her hand had come up to his neck. She curled her fingers against his cheek, let her nails catch on the scruff of his jaw so the scritch of them echoed in the silent space.

"What… how would you… what is it you want to show me?" she asked breathlessly, everything within her pulling towards him, urging her lean into his chest, to take his mouth, to take him into her body and never let him go.

His hands were at her back now, their bellies pressed together and tingles chased themselves up and down Sasha's thighs.

"This," Zev said, his voice deep and rough, then he took her face in his hands, and laid his lips on hers, so softly.

At first, as she opened to him, her heart fluttered with simple longing, a wave of heat that had always been right on the edge of her consciousness when Zev was around.

But suddenly, images bloomed in her head—images she didn't know. Pictures of herself… herself at seventeen, and eighteen—and alongside them, feelings… Zev's feelings.

Her impish smile over a plate of syrupy French toast and the warmth it drew in his chest to see her happy. Her eyes sparkling when they passed in the hall at school and how it made him feel like beating his chest.

Her head thrown back and her mouth open with sheer pleasure as their bodies rocked together, and the overwhelming wave of devotion that threatened to break his ribs—

"Zev!" she gasped, pulling away. "Stop it! That's not fair!"

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