Page 11

Taking the bus had taken even less time than after work yesterday, thanks to the fact that there was considerably less traffic given that it was hours before noon. I wondered what Kroven might be up to. Would he be tending to his house or working on some type of interesting hobby? My belly spun as the idea dawned on me that he might actually be working somewhere and he wouldn’t even be home.

When I got to Kroven’s place, I felt a wave of jittery butterflies doing acrobatics in my stomach. What would he think about me showing up announced like this? More importantly, would we talk about the sexy encounter we’d had the last time I was here?

My hand shook with eager anticipation as I knocked on his door. I waited, but Kroven never answered. I waited a couple minutes, but I didn’t even hear the rumblings of someone inside.

“We can’t do that!”

It was a faint voice, but I heard it enough to make out what words they were saying. The only trouble was that it didn’t sound like it was coming from the house. I could still tell that it was Kroven, and he seemed angry. Curious, I started walking along the side of the house. Hoping I’d at least spot him so he knew that I was attempting to visit him.

The side of Kroven’s yard was as well looked after as the inside, and it caused a grin to shift comfortably on my face. The side of the cobblestone house had ivy dripping down between the cracks of it, whimsical and lavish. I could see the backyard was a decent size, a line of rose bushes along the part of the yard that was closest to my approach.

As I neared Kroven’s backyard, I heard his voice plummet low and determined. “The humans are getting bold.”

He sounded irate, and it inspired a flicker of fear in me. Would Kroven be mad that I was here now, having overheard the disdainful way he had said humans , like he couldn’t wait for it to leave his mouth.

“Are you sure Watson can help?” This was a foreign voice, one that sounded almost like they had water in their mouth, or they were trying to speak through something getting in the way of their words. “You’re absolutely positive that you can trust him?”

“As sure as I can be, given the situation.” Kroven sighed, and I could hear his footsteps as he began to pace. “Exo trusts him but I just wish he didn’t expect me to help handle this.”

This was starting to sound more and more personal as it went on, and there was a part of me that was beginning to feel guilty that I was eavesdropping. I cleared my throat, moving out from behind the rose bushes that were obscuring my presence, and I saw two heads whip in my direction.

The being with Kroven made my breath catch in the back of my throat. I’d never seen anything like him. While I was very accustomed to seeing sangamar because of the nature of my job, that didn’t mean I came into contact with other Orbs very often. Sure, I’d seen some in passing, like the night that Thayer and I had gone to Gossamer. But seeing them up close and personal, really taking them in, was a completely different story.

This Orb was taller than me, taller than Kroven. While Kroven was toned but fairly slender, this other being was stocky and ripped.

And covering his entire body was a myriad of blue and green scales.

He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and matching shorts that must have been pants once, because the frayed ends were hanging down against his scaly legs. His eyes were a vibrant gold, and his hair was a tidy mess of chopped brown. How the hell someone that was clearly covered in scales could also produce hair beat me, but these were Orbs. Sometimes it didn’t need to make sense to be hot. And this guy was really hot.

I really needed to reflect on why I was having raging hard-ons for Orbs after years of never giving it another thought.

“Bas,” Kroven squeaked, his voice faltering from it’s previous stoic confidence. I noticed the other Orb giving Kroven a wide smirk. “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry,” I immediately sputtered. “Stuff was happening at work and I got off early and thought I’d stop by.” I glanced at the silent Orb. “I’m sorry for interrupting.”

“Well this is interesting.” The Orb said.

Realizing a little too late, his husky warble tone was the one I’d heard earlier. The one that sounded like he was slightly fighting against water in his mouth. My eyes widened as I saw gills on the sides of his neck flare at the same time as his nostrils.

“Don’t you start,” Kroven chastised, gesturing from me to his friend. “Bas, this is Qwill. He’s a virces friend of mine.” Qwill gave me a smile that I tried to mimic. “Qwill, this is Bas. He’s my…he works down at the blood center I frequent.”

A shudder slithered down my spine at Kroven’s words, stirring my core. He’s my ...what? I wanted to hear the end of that sentence, but Qwill sauntering over to me and extending his hand distracted me.

I looked away from Qwill’s lopsided smile and down at his hand. He had the same five fingers humans had, and half expected for him to have some sort of webbing between his fingers, but he didn’t. While the back of his hands were covered in more of the blue and green scales, the underside was displayed in bare teal colored skin. I tensed, but put my hand in his with a nervous laugh.

“Nice to meet you, Bas.” Qwill shook my hand, and the smoothness of his skin met mine. “When did the blood centers start doing home visits ?”

Before I could protest, Kroven stepped closer. He rolled his eyes. “Enough. You know he’s…”

There it was again, Kroven stopping himself mid-sentence. I locked eyes with him, and felt myself blushing. Was he implying that Qwill was just messing with me because he’d already told him about me?

Kroven’s talked about me to his friends? That thought alone made the blood go rushing straight to my dick and I shifted uneasily as to conceal it as much as possible. Qwill let go of my hand and clasped a webbed hand on my shoulder.

“I’m only teasing,” Qwill insisted, looking away from Kroven and looking back down at me. “It’s nice to put a face to the name Kroven won’t shut up about.”

I glanced over at him then, and I could have sworn I saw the sangamar version of blushing settling upon his cheeks, a light rouge lighting up his skin. I smiled as Kroven ran a hand through his hair, huffing in defeat.

“He’s talked about me, huh?” I stated, giving Qwill a snicker.

“Talked my ear off this morning,” Qwill laughed. “Before I had to ruin his smitten antics with a heavier subject.”

The weight of their previous conversation was rearing its ugly head into the air around us, and I shifted on my feet nervously. I didn’t mean to interject myself into their business, but here I was.

While I was standing there wondering if I should leave, I felt Kroven snake a hand across my back comfortingly. I tried not to mewl into his touch too much, but judging by the smirk gliding across Qwill’s face, I had failed miserably.

“There’s some humans making a fuss down at the blood centers,” Kroven sighed as he traced a pattern across my back. “Qwill here is in contact with a mutual sangamar friend who wanted me to look into doing something about it.”

“Actually, I know more about it than you might think.” When Kroven and Qwill both gave me inquisitive looks, I added, “We saw the protestors across the street. And because of it, my manager is limiting our hours because the local sangamar are too fearful to come down to the blood center.”

Qwill sighed. “See, Kroven? This is really bad.”

“Dammit.” Kroven looked more disturbed than I expected, almost like he wished more than anything that someone other than him could take care of this. “I’m sorry, Bas. I have to deal with this. Exo, our friend, he’s more like family to me and I can’t…”

“You don’t have to explain, Kroven.” I nodded, feeling his hand retract, already missing his touch. “But I can help you. I have insider knowledge because of the blood center, so whatever you need, I’m here.”

“That’s not a bad idea, Kroven.” Qwill nodded, running a hand through his brown hair. “Bas here could give you vital intel about what the humans are planning to do about the protestors, if anything.”

“They are.” I explained. “I don’t know what just yet, but they said there’s a representative connected to the blood center that’s going to try and settle things.”

“Any chance that’s Watson?” Qwill’s interest piqued yet again as his voice dipped up and down expectantly .

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but I can certainly find out.” I glanced from Qwill to Kroven. “If that’ll help?”

Giving me a wide, warm smile, Kroven reached over and rubbed my shoulder. “Bas, that would be very helpful.”

“Consider it done.” I grinned back.

“What a useful distraction you have there, Kroven.” Qwill chuckled. “I’ll have to find me a human to play with if they’re half as fun as this one.”

Kroven rolled his eyes. “I do so enjoy our visits, Qwill. But—”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” He laughed. He tilted his head toward me. “It was nice meeting you, Bas.”

“Thanks, you too.” I gave him a genuine smile before he saluted Kroven and left around the backside of the house, clearly the way he had come.

Once Qwill was gone, Kroven stood in front of me and comfortingly placed his hands on my shoulders. Gazing into his eyes, there was nothing more I wanted in that moment than to kiss him. But I could see the seriousness in his red eyes, and the sentiment was practically radiating off of him.

“Are you sure about asking questions around the blood center? I wouldn’t want you to put your job at risk.”

“Kroven, it’s fine.” I shook my head, reaching up and placing my hands over his on my shoulders. “I want to help, even without what’s going on here between us to sway me. These protestors are affecting my job, I’m not just going to stand by and let them do whatever the hell they want.”

“As long as you’re sure.” He leaned in and kissed me, his lips lingering against mine.

I wasn’t opposed to sucking him off out here in the open, to be honest.

Breaking the kiss, I said, “I’m sure. I’ll let you know as soon as I go back into work what I can find out. It might not be for a couple days though, because of how they’re having to do our shifts. Is that okay? ”

“That’s perfect.” He affirmed.

He walked over to a bench, sighing as he cradled his head in his hands. I waited a few beats before joining him. Placing a hand on his thigh, I waited until he unfolded from within himself and gave me another gander into those beautiful scarlet eyes.

“How bad is it, really?”

“Bad enough to warrant a reaction from Exo,” Kroven sighed. “Accordingly to Qwill, this isn’t just happening here in the blood centers around Piper. It’s happening up and down the east coast. These protestors are claiming that it’s unnatural for the blood centers to be serving the sangamar, that it’s basically serving an unholy practice through a modern lens.”

“That’s ridiculous.” I scoffed.

“If they start making enough noise, there’s a chance that the blood centers could shut down.” Kroven went on. “And if that happens, hunting will be our only choice. Which will affect the animal population if we don’t go straight for human blood, that is.”

“The blood centers were decided upon for both human and Orb benefit. We’ll make sure that nothing happens to them.”

I felt it, sitting there with Kroven, that I would do absolutely anything to make sure that I kept my promise. Not only because I wanted the best for Kroven, but also because I wanted the best for all sangamar and all humans that relied on the blood centers.

We just had to hope that the blood center representative was either Kroven’s contact or was actually serious about protecting the Orbs’ rights.