Page 15 of The Emerald Boa’s Lover (Operation Colonise #3)

Tabitha is a good friend.

Dalahan.

“Sounds to be like he’s a bit of an asshole.

” Tabitha decrees having listened to me cry and regale her with my sad tale.

I’ve tangled myself up into a ball so I’m laying on my right side, the right side of my face resting on my folded arms, and my tail coiled around my miserable self.

I’ve left directly above me open only so I can breathe and so my best friend can hear me whine.

I came straight here after my fight with Charlie to become a whimpering mess in the middle of her social room on the bottom tier of her nest. “How long until you can throw his ass out of your nest?”

“…his probation period is another month.” I nuzzle my face back and forth over my folded arms to wipe away my tears.

“Good.” I feel her hands on the top ring of my coil and peer upward at Tabitha.

The human lighting she has in her nest gives her tight afro a halo.

“Of course, you can stay with us tonight.” She lowered her arms on my top coil and her chin in them with a cheeky grin.

“Want me to tell Shane he has to sleep on the couch so we can nest down together like we used to?”

Slowly I smile and raise my head up in my coil to be level with hers. Just peering my teary green eyes to look into her warm brown ones.

“He won’t mind?”

“He doesn’t get a vote.” She whispers to me with a grin and a wink. “Besides, he works the night shift patrolling Allico colony borders to keep the critters out, so he won’t be home until the wee hours anyway.”

“Can you at least let him know this time?” I chuckle and flick my tongue out at her nose. She’s so used to this that she doesn’t flinch or tense like Charlie does. “Last time I came to visit and sleep over, he tripped over my tail in the dark and landed on us. He screamed. Like a girl.”

“He screamed, Dal, because you woke up hissing and wrapped around him like you were going to eat him.” Tabitha snorted and leaned forward to tap her nose against the space between my front scent pits. “Only I get to eat my boyfriend, okay?”

“Of course.” I chuckled. “Shane isn’t my type regardless, trust me.” I sighed, thinking of who was my type. My scaly lips lowered from the brief smile I wore to the frown I felt. “…he was so mad with me…”

“Hey? Dal?” She holds me beneath my chin and makes me look at her.

Tabitha is angry on my behalf and is trying to reassure me.

“It’s your nest, your rules, and you are well within your rights to ask him not to stink up the place with the pheromones of others when you’re home.

We don’t have the same sense of smell that you do, and incompatible scents for Ucfeni can be like constantly smelling someone else’s fart all the time.

” I snort. She always did have such a way with words.

“Sure, okay, it’s a bit messier than that because you’re crazy for this guy, but still.

He’s an asshole and you deserve better.”

“He’s not an asshole.” Tabitha taught me what that word signified long ago.

“He’s just…not interested in me like I…like I…

” I close my eyes and lower back into my coil with fresh tears.

“He doesn’t feel the same way about me that I feel about him.

” I whine at the end and lower completely to curl up within the protective emerald fortress of my tail.

“Oh Dal don’t-damn.” Tabitha grumbled at my retreat.

She rested her forehead on the top ring of my tail and sighed.

Then she heaved herself up to lower her upper body down into my coil.

Her hips bore her weight, her bottom in the air, and her legs hung down the outside of my coil.

I had to laugh at her upsidedown pout. “You don’t get to come down here without me.

You know that.” She strokes the back of my head and neck and I sigh with a smile.

This was my Tabitha all over. She was relentless, kind, and so brave.

When I met her at the pairing party on her first arrival and got right in her face to declare that her scent was palatable, she replied with ‘you know how to sweet talk a lady huh?’ Then she laughed and took my hand to shake it.

Unlike all the other humans in her party that were being selected by Ucfeni sponsors, she never cowered.

Her smile never faltered. She even stroked the scales of my arm and commented that I was warmer and smoother than she was expecting.

She and I shared a nest for sleeping, until she started dating.

Then, because Shane was uncomfortable with her ‘sleeping with another guy’, I had the hammock netting installed.

Not because Tabitha asked me to, but because I didn’t want to get in the way of what was clearly a good thing.

She respects my culture, but I also respect hers.

Their mating customs are different to ours, and I want her to be happy.

It was a good call too, as once her sponsorship finished, Tabitha and Shane moved in together and chose to remain in Orna.

I built them a beautiful home with as many of her human comforts as I could within the confines of an Ucfeni-tiered structure.

I kept the lower tier large so I could visit easily, of course.

I can travel about their home, but the rooms are smaller and they have more of them, so it’s a little cramped.

My last visit was to oversee the installation of yet another nesting room for their future youngling.

“What are you doing? Don’t do that.” I catch up with myself with alarm.

I quickly take hold of her shoulders and as I rise up in my coil, I lift her up and out to stand on her feet once more.

I hiss with worry, unravelling completely and huddling my hands and face at her stomach.

“You shouldn’t put any pressure on your clutch! ”

“One, I didn’t, and two, I’m having a baby, not a clutch of eggs.

” Tabitha laughed but she didn’t resist as I backed her up to sit on her couch.

“I’m only two months pregnant, and I wasn’t resting on my stomach anyway.

” She cups my face to wipe away the rest of my tears and lifts my gaze from her stomach.

Her breast wrap and shorts make her belly easily accessible, and I worry for her with no scales.

Her skin is soft and she could be harmed so easily.

At least Charlie has more defined muscles to show his strength.

“Good Lord, if you’re this fussy now, how are you going to be when I’m heavily pregnant and have to waddle about the place? ”

“Worse.”

“HA!” She laughed, but I wasn’t joking.

“You know I worry about you. If Shane wasn’t in the picture you would have moved back in with me already so I can protect you both.

” She would have because I would have carried her back to my nest. When she told me the joyous news I congratulated her in the same breath that I suggested she and Shane come back to my nest. Shane shot that down right away.

Tabitha is and always will be like a clutch-mate to me.

A sister from another clutch. Ucfeni pregnant females rarely left the nest, and were certainly not alone.

Their cargo was so precious! A breeding pair that were expecting a clutch were inseparable.

Our males become highly territorial and hunt more often to provide for our females as they nest-down more often.

When the eggs are laid, the mother doesn’t leave the nest at all.

They withdrew from society for the most part, including after the clutch is newly hatched.

“I don’t need anyone to coddle me, Dal. Even Shane knows better than to try and make me sit on my ass. I’m only two months pregnant. I’ve got another 7 months to go yet!” Yes, and the thought of her being vulnerable for so long terrified me.

The fact that human females continue to work right up towards the end of being gravid made me pale with shock.

If an Ucfeni female was heavily gravid and still working, it was assumed there was a ‘reason’ for the lack of nest support…

The family of the pregnant Ucfeni usually took her in to care for her as she nested if she didn’t have a mate.

I wanted to care for Tabitha, but Shane was adamant they wouldn’t move back in with me.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think Shane loved her or that he wouldn’t take care of her.

It was just…difficult for me to think of her ‘waddling’ around heavily gravid.

Not when I would dote on her every need…

But? Humans did things differently. I need to respect that, even if I don’t like it.

Tabitha is my best friend, and like a sister to me, but she is not mine. I can’t and won’t force the issue.

“I wish he would.” I grumble but shrug with a sigh.

At least I know the nursery is ready. Again, I had to remind myself that humans do things differently and respect that.

All Ucfeni who live in the same nest nest-down together.

The thought of a mother allowing their young to sleep anywhere other than in their coil, or their mate’s coil for the first 10 years of life was madness.

Yet humans only have their young in the same ‘room’ as them for 6 months before they have their own separate nesting room…

I smiled as I thought about the day I become a father.

I will never impregnate a female, I know that, but there are plenty of younglings on the streets of Orna that I could give a good home and a good life to.

I have thought about that future often, but just to prove how much of a masochist I truly am…

I imagined having a family with Charlie.

He would work at the clinic during the day and I would be at home with our boisterous young.

He would come home and our younglings, at least five, would all tangle around his arms and on his lap to chirp at him about their day…

“I don’t belong to you. I’m never going to belong to you.”

My heart twisted me right back to my own predicament. I’ve never felt this strongly about anyone before. This last month I’ve fallen for Charlie harder and harder every single day. I thought he might be warming up to me too…but today tore that hope right out of my chest.

“Dal?” I realise I’ve been frowning off to one side and Tabitha stands up to stroke my cheek.

“If he doesn’t realise how amazing you are, then he isn’t worth your tears.

” I sigh, again and fold my arms. My tail coils under me and I try to put a brave smile on my face.

“I don’t care how good he smells to you or how pretty he is.

He’s a jerk, and you’re a sweetheart. You deserve better. ”

“He’s not a jerk.” Again, she explained that one to me.

“Yes he smells like sunshine and he’s beautiful, in my opinion, but he’s also smart.

He’s funny.” I shrug and my heart aches a little more.

“He works so hard and cares so much about his patients. His heart is so big and he gives so much without caring about what he gets in return. Charlie is—”

“Still a jerk for the way he treated you.” My shoulders sag and I turn on my hips to wind away from her. She’s right, but it’s not as simple as that.

“I’ve…I’ve been pushy. He’s got a point. He’s been clear with me since the start that he isn’t interested…I just kind of hoped I could convince him to give us a try.”

“Well you can cut that out now and in a month you can sling pretty boy out of your nest.” Tabitha stepped over my tail and walked around to face me. “At least you won’t have to see him for the next two nights.”

“I supo—”

Her doorbell rang and we both looked at the door curiously. “Have you ordered anything?”

“No.” I start slithering over to the front door with my head raised and my shoulders spread to make my upper body look more intimidating. “Dal what are you doing?”

“Shane is at work, you haven’t ordered anything, and no one has called your com-gem to say they are coming over like I did.

Whoever is on the other side of that door is someone you don’t know.

” I’m going to defend my gravid friend’s nest, is what I’m going to do.

My pupils sharpened to slits, I opened my mouth and extended my fangs from the usual sheaths, and start ululating with aggression. A deep hissing that spoke of danger.

“Or?” Tabitha touched my back to get my attention. “I could use the security camera to see who’s outside? Just in case it is someone I know?” I instantly withdrew my fangs and shut my mouth. The scales on my throat darkened and I realised she had a point.

“Alright. But do not open the door until we’re sure.” At this time of night it was suspicious that someone had come up to her door unannounced like this.

“I wasn’t born yesterday Dal, relax.” She chuckled and shimmied between me and the right side of the door to press a button on the security panel.

I mentally grumble at myself for forgetting this security feature.

I had it installed for her, after all, for this very purpose.

I watch over her shoulder as the security camera turns on and reveals who is on the other side of the door.