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SERENAI

Serenai woke late in the morning, feeling refreshed. She’d had bad or broken sleep for the previous three nights running but last night she’d slept like a baby. Why was that?

The feeling of a big, hard, warm body surrounding hers gave her the answer.

That’s right— I asked Brax to hold me last night!

Or rather, she had ordered him to. Remembering that sent a little shiver through her and she felt that fluttery feeling in her stomach again.

The big half- Kindred seemed to be relaxed. His chest was rising and falling regularly at her back and his breathing was deep and even.

He must be asleep, Serenai realized. She couldn’t blame him—he’d been up half the night guarding her and clearly he’d done a good job. The red-eyed thing hadn’t come back at all.

It was nice sleeping with someone else, Serenai decided. She felt warm and safe and comforted. Brax was so much bigger than her, she almost felt like a child in his arms. He made her feel protected.

She wiggled, to get a little closer to him and felt that hard lump again, pressing against her bottom. Now what was that? Was it the snake between his legs?

Turning over carefully, so as not to wake him, she looked down.

The room was still dim but there was enough light coming through the window that she could see there was a definite bulge in the black sleep trousers.

Only this time, instead of hanging down between his legs, the long, thick bulge was pointing up.

What was going on? Was his snake getting ready to strike?

Hesitantly, Serenai put out a finger to touch it. It felt firm and warm against her finger tip. But then, just as she had decided she didn’t have to be afraid of it, the trouser snake twitched .

“Oh!” she gasped and jerked her hand away. Had it tried to bite her? Was it angry?

“Hmm, getting curious, were you, little one?”

The deep rumbling voice made her look up to see that Brax was staring down at her with a sleepy smile on his face.

“It’s not funny!” she exclaimed. “ Your snake almost bit me!”

“My what?” His black brows drew low in confusion.

“Your snake—the snake that lives in your trousers.” Serenai pointed at it. “ It nearly bit me.”

Brax frowned.

“You actually think I have a real, honest-to- Goddess snake in my pants?”

“Well…yes,” Serenai said defensively. “ A girl in my class back at the Convent told me that all males have a snake between their legs. I didn’t believe her until I saw yours for a moment yesterday when you were showering in your cage,” she added. “ Though it looked more like a hose than a snake.”

“That thing you think is a snake is actually my shaft, little one,” he corrected her and was there a hint of laughter in his voice? Serenai was afraid there was.

“Don’t laugh at me!” she exclaimed, looking up at him. “ We didn’t have any males at the Convent except old Geordo the gardener. And what’s a ‘shaft’ anyway?”

“It’s the male organ of reproduction, I guess is the best way to describe it,” he explained. “ Did the nuns or Sisters or whoever it was that watched you really not teach you about male anatomy?”

“They didn’t even teach us about female anatomy,” Serenai confessed. “ All they told us about males was to stay away from them. Until you got married and then you had to give your husband whatever he wanted,” she added.

“Well, I’m not your husband and you don’t appear to be doing a very good job of staying away from me ,” Brax rumbled, still sounding amused.

“Fine, I’ll leave then.” Serenai started to get off the bed in a huff but he drew her back gently with one hand on her arm.

“No, no— I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to poke fun at you, little one. I’ve just…never met anyone as innocent as you.” He cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes. “ Of course you’re curious if you’ve never seen a male before.”

“I was just afraid it might bite me,” Serenai confessed. “ I’ve , uh, never seen a trouser snake up close before, you know.”

“It’s really not a snake, baby,” he murmured. “ And you don’t have to be afraid of it.”

“But it seems so big.” Serenai bit her lip. “ Can I …could I see it?”

He raised his eyebrows in apparent surprise.

“You really want to?”

“Well…yes. I mean, I know it’s not proper but I’m …”

“Curious?” he finished for her.

Serenai nodded, feeling her cheeks get hot with a blush.

“Yes, I guess so.”

“All right— I’ll let you see it. That way at least you’ll know it can’t bite you.”

“Oh, good!”

And Serenai watched eagerly as he unfastened his trousers.