Page 11 of The Royal’s Bumblebee (Operation Colonise #2)

Gently now

Billie

“I was bored.”

I stared at his tail as it got closer to my toes. “My life was comfortable and I liked my routines. But it was also stale. I was stagnating and I wanted more. Sometimes it’s like there’s a war going on in my head.”

His tail tip flicked and I wondered if he was toying with me as he moved it this way and that to see if I would keep tracking it.

“Because of my Aspergers, I struggle to process the world around me in the same way that normal people do. Mainly people, really. But at the same time, I see things they don’t. Hannah says that I take more pleasure out of things than regular people do. My IQ is higher than most, and I’m only here because of my programming skills. It’s all about the math. Numbers have always comforted me because I know the rules. Binary code and algorithms behave within the parameters I set. I control the field. I like that control. But I can’t control people. They like to control me, though, and that never works out for anyone.”

I jerked my head to one side to keep the end of his tail in sight. “I was bored and I wanted an adventure. I wanted to be needed for more than just regular coding work. When Alaric tried to hire me I wanted to say yes but I was too scared to go. Too many unknowns.”

“And the unknown frightens you.”

He nodded slowly. “Why did you come to Thelia in the end?”

“Because of Hannah.”

I whispered with a smile and the very tip of his tail was so close to my toes I thought he was going to try and tickle me. “She makes me brave. I wish I was more like her. I think I would be happier if I was.”

I slid my right foot forward and poked his tail with my big toe. He gasped and I looked up to catch his yellow eyes, but only for a moment. “I thought I couldn’t be happy without her. I want her to be happy too, and she’s given up a lot for me.”

“How so?”

He raised a brow.

“When our parents died she worked every job she could to support me. She became more than just my sister. She became my mother too. And she’s always been my best friend. She gave up her own education to support mine. She gave up friendships over caring for me. Hannah even broke up with boyfriends who wanted her to spend more time with them than with me. I…never liked that.”

I shrugged slowly and cupped my hands on my lap. “She always gave everything to me. I could never give anything back.”

“I’m sure she would disagree.”

Izule smiled and the tip of his tail flicked teasingly before my toes to invite me to poke it again. Which I did. “I think you have a lot to give.”

“I know, because now I’ve proved it.”

I nodded firmly. “I brought her to outer space. To an alien world to establish a human colony on a tropical jungle planet. I couldn’t come without her, but she couldn’t come without me.”

I frowned and rubbed my arms. “We are meant to be together. Hannah is my rock.”

“But I’m your mountain.”

His voice rumbled and his tail tip rested gently over my toes.

“And she will have her own sponsor to be hers. You are both getting the adventure you desire. Your life will not be boring now, but you can control the parameters of our nest. You can even design the lower level to meet your needs.”

I stared at the brown scales of his tail and the warmth I felt from them over my toes. “I am glad you came to Thelia.”

“Why?”

I looked up to see he was smiling so wide I saw the membranes at either side of his jaw.

“You have honoured me by choosing me as your sponsor. It is a great honour to care for a charge, and you are very special. A genius with a vital role in your people’s survival here on Thelia. I have also been lonely, and wished a human would choose me as their sponsor. I have lacked purpose for a long time.”

He paused. “The very reasons that put other humans off choosing me, are the very reasons you chose me.”

He chuckled at the way I continued to stare at his mouth. “Billie, I swear to do everything I can to care for you in thanks for being your choice of sponsor.”

I nodded. It was refreshing to deal with someone who said exactly what they were thinking and how they were feeling. I’ve never been good at reading between the lines, and with Izule it appears I don’t have to.

“I know, you told me that already. Your turn again.”

He chuckled at me, though I don’t know why. It was his turn.

A loud booming set of three knocks startled me. I squealed with fright and threw myself at Izule to protect me. He lifted up from the loose coil of his tail and caught me in his arms as I reached him. “Wh-what’s that?!”

My arms were locked around his waist and I trembled.

“It’s okay Billie.”

His arms were warm and strong around me and his tail coiled up around us both. I felt safer already.

“That’s the engineer I mentioned. The one who has come to install a method for you to traverse the three tiers of our nest?”

“No.”

I pressed my forehead to his chest and hunkered down with my eyes shut.

“…no?”

Izule’s arms were smooth and his tail tightened around us to hold the back of my legs and halfway up my back. This was a lot of touching.

I don’t normally touch anyone other than Hannah, and even then hugs were rare. Sometimes her clothes were itchy against my skin or the colours were too intense up close.

I could control how much contact there was when I held someone’s hand. Again, normally that someone was Hannah. “Do you wish for me to send the engineer away, or to make them wait?”

I thought about what I wanted but my mind fixated on the sensation of my wet skin against his scales.

I jumped into Izule’s arms for safety in a panic, but now my body was pressed to his.

His tail was coiled around us so many times I could release all the tension in my body and be supported by him instead of my own legs.

He was smooth and warm to the touch. My shoulders became covered in goosebumps and I shivered from the coolness over my wet exposed skin.

I wanted to wriggle down and have more of his tail cover me.

This was weird. I don’t normally like so much touching…but I wanted more. I moved my hands at his back below his shoulder blades.

I released my hands from the tight fists that they were in to press my palms and fingers against his back.

I could feel his muscles flex beneath my fingertips and also against my abdomen as he took in a sharp breath. “Billie?”

“I need more time.”

I whispered and braced myself. He’d been so patient with me so far. Would he rush me now the engineer was here? I didn’t want to move yet.

“I will use my com-gem to tell them to wait. How long for?”

“…I don’t know.”

I might be okay to move in five minutes, or five hours. Honestly, I didn’t know. I turned my face to press my left cheek to his chest. His pectoral muscles were firm beneath his cream scales there.

“Take your time.”

Izule carefully tugged at his golden chain to get to the gem and pressed it.

I tensed as I heard him speaking his native language for the first time.

If dinosaurs had a language, this would have been it.

Hissing, snarling, grunting and more hissing filled my ears.

I squeezed him a little against the odd noises, but he didn’t talk for long before he switched back to English. “There. He will wait until I summon him.”

“Why didn’t you tell him in English?”

“Because only sponsors have translator functions on their com-gems. I did not wish to assume the engineer was one.”

“Oh.”

That made sense. I shivered again and he moved his arms to wrap across my shoulder blades and my shoulders. His tail quickly pressed to the space his arms used to be.

Only my head was exposed now. I tensed as Izule widened his hood and curved his neck above my head, before either side of his cowl lowered to block out the bathroom.

“Take your time.”

I chewed my lips together and shut my eyes.

I liked that Izule didn’t rush me.

I didn’t think I’d like touching him with more than my hands, but I liked this.

The security I felt within the fortress of his tail and arms. I think if he had asked me first to hold me like this, I would have said no, and become anxious about this much contact. But this…is nice.

“I told you not to touch me without permission.”

I mumbled, turning my forehead to press to his chest. He tensed all around me.

“You are right Billie. I apologise. You came to me for protection and it is instinctive to ball around you. Being human this is the form it took, rather than tangling around you.”

He lifted his head away from me and I shook my head against his chest.

“I forgive you.”

I like this. “Don’t let go of me.”

I’m not ready yet. “Please Izule?”

He lowered his head and cowl back into position and started to vibrate like an idle engine all around me. “Are you ululating again?”

I felt him nod gently against my head and he continued to coo at me. I like that too. “Thank you.”

I stood there long enough to feel like I could fall asleep in the all-encompassing cocoon of warm cream and brown scales.

The firmness of his muscles supported me as I genuinely started to doze off.

I tensed when I felt one of his arms release me, only to press my towel to my head.

Izule didn’t stop that reptilian purring he called cooing as he carefully towel-dried my hair.

Then the back of my neck and shoulders. A chuckle broke through his ululation and his tongue flicked at my cheek.

“Are you tired?”

“Yes.”

I thought about asking him to roll our ‘tangle’ onto one side so I could snuggle down and sleep like this.

“Yes, my training said you would be fatigued in the beginning. That you may need quite a lot of rest. Would you like to settle in my upper nest and get some sleep?”

Izule asked and I was so sleepy that all I managed was a nod.

I don’t remember seeing a bed in my bedroom downstairs, so that must be why he’s offering to take me to his nest instead.

The coil of muscle and scales around me didn’t move, but Izule still lifted us up through the access hole to the third tier.

I wanted to look around, but I wanted to sleep even more.

Taking in the new environment of the top tier would keep my mind firing and it took quite a lot for me to be relaxed like this.

I decided not to risk it and kept my eyes shut.

My world stopped moving around me as Izule lowered my feet back to the ground.

I whined and squeezed my arms around him when his tail slid away from my legs and back. “It’s alright Billie. We just need to get dry and then you can nest down for a while.”

I didn’t like the sudden cold across my damp skin, but I didn’t want to get in bed wet either, so I nodded against his chest. “Here is the towel.”

I felt him wrap it around me and I released him to grab it at either side of me. I worked the texture through my hands again, happy with it, and then quickly dried myself.

I wonder how I look to him? Naked, covered in goosebumps, and with my eyes squeezed shut as I ragged my limbs with the towel?

All I wanted was to get in bed and shut down for a while. I could hear Izule moving around me, always close. That’s good. I didn’t want to be alone. I wrapped the towel around myself to signal I was done.

“I don’t have any clothes.”

“Your belongings will arrive shortly. For now, I have a blanket you can use?”

I nod and I can hear him rustling something. It started to the left of me, and then in front of me. “Here.”

I dropped the towel and reached forward. Something thin, like a bedsheet, met my fingertips. I curled my fingers into fists and hurried to wrap myself as many times as I could in the soft fabric. “My sleeping nest is to your left. Would you like some assistance to—”

I nodded vigorously. I’ve hit my threshold. All I want is to curl up and sleep and feel safe. At times like this Hannah seemed to know what I need without asking me. Izule is still learning, but he’s a fast study.

I flinched when he took hold of my biceps. Hannah would have gently taken my hand. “Gently now.”

He reeled me back to his chest and held me again. “I am here.”

He spoke deeply and softly by my left ear and I felt his tail slide up and coil around me tightly. Then, we slowly tilted to the left. I tensed in his coil when my cheek felt something plump and soft.

“Please get comfortable amongst the pillows and I will entangle with you. I will speak to the engineer from the nest.”

His voice was very close, and he ululated at me in a deep purring coo. I wriggled to get comfortable and realised I was on a bed of pillows. I hugged one under my head and had to admit, this was really comfortable. “There we go. I’ll keep you warm.”

I felt the end of his tongue flick at my right cheek. His tail slid over my ankles, knees, and hugged up my back to bring me closer to him. “Is this alright? Is it too much touching or—”

I shook my head against the pillow and started shutting down. I lifted my knees as I curled up and flinched as he lowered one of his muscular arms to my waist.

Izule hugged me even closer and the deep baritone of his ululation was close enough for me to feel.

“Sleep and rest Billie. When you wake, you will be able to move freely in our nest and your belongings will also be here. As well as food. I will give you everything you need.”

He hummed and…I believed him. I began drifting again as he hissed something to his com-gem necklace. I smiled, clean, warm and safe. At last.