Page 30 of Wild Life (STEAM-y #2)

Half-and-Half

Maris

Was I falling in love with Aleki?

Whatever it was between us was growing exponentially, but I didn’t know quite how to place it. It had transformed from hate to tolerance to lust, and now to this thing that made my heart flutter anytime he was near. I suspected I already knew the answer, but I needed time to digest it. I had never fallen in love before or even opened myself to the possibility of it.

This was insane. Aleki was someone the universe had forced on me versus one I had chosen on my own. I hadn’t vetted him or weighed the pros and cons of committing to him. Hell, we belonged to two different worlds. None of it made sense. Yet, when I was by his side, everything felt right. Like I belonged. I no longer had to consciously extract the safety and comfort I desired from a man. He gave it to me willingly, without expecting anything in return.

Was that what love was?

Or maybe I was just obsessed with him, or specifically obsessed with his dick? It was certainly a nice one, and Aleki had mastered the use of it in no time. He was, no contest, the best sex of my life.

Maybe I had simply fallen victim to good dick.

Then why did I still feel complete when we were together while not having sex?

I didn’t have much of a reference for love. Aunt Sherri had never dated when I’d lived with her. And my parents had been the result of an arranged situation.

What was it like to fall deeply and madly in love?

Was it secretly thanking the universe when another day passed by and a rescue crew hadn’t shown up for me? Or maybe it was giving up the idea of returning to my old life. It probably was looking forward to falling asleep in his arms every night.

Fuck. I am in love.

What do I do now?

I sat on guard near the net, waiting to see who would show up tonight. It was possible for multiple bat species to exist in an ecosystem, and that was certainly evident by the variety of bats I had witnessed.

I’d tagged a number of flying foxes, which didn’t use echolocation for navigation. Instead, they relied on their excellent senses of smell and sight to find food, namely fruit and flowers. Although they sometimes slept in caves and other rock crevices, they mostly roosted in trees, snuggling close for protection and warmth.

I was fortunate to have also seen a few mastiffs, which foraged near treetops, and long-tailed fruit bats, which enjoyed grazing in the lower lands.

It was a thrill to see them up close, especially since each one I came across was healthy. They were thriving without other humans around to destroy their roosts and food supply. Their biggest threat was the environment. Changes in climate or proliferation of unwanted predators could threaten their population.

Another big risk to bats was disease. Specifically, a new fungus that had spread over the past few years, called white-nose syndrome. It was suspected to have originated in Europe and spread to North America, effectively diminishing population numbers. The fungus usually wreaked havoc in winter while bats hibernated. It manifested as white fuzz over their muzzles and caused intense itching. The discomfort was enough to wake them prematurely, before the climate warmed in spring. The afflicted bats would find out too late that hibernation wasn’t over when they ventured out into the cold for food that wasn’t available.

White-nose syndrome was highly contagious, so if one bat had it, the entire colony, including the pups, were at risk of exposure.

The disease was heartbreaking, but thankfully more prevalent in areas that experienced cooler winters.

The pitter-patter of wings filled my ears. The little ones were on their nightly adventure.

I waited with bated breath for them to descend for a drink from the pond. I’d had to change the position of the net because they’d caught on quickly to its position. Some flew overhead, while some swooped underneath.

As if it was being drawn to a beacon, one drifted into the net. I scurried over, with clean gloves on and rubber bands that I’d boiled in a metal pail over the fire outside the hut.

I carefully removed the bat from the soft webbing and studied it over.

A Pacific sheath-tail! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had studied them in Fiji and had the opportunity to visit their roost. Their population was small, only about five hundred individuals in the world, and here I was, holding one of them on a potentially undiscovered island!

He appeared to be healthy, so I quickly tagged his foot and sent him on his way.

I pulled the net down so no other bats could fly into it and raced to find Aleki. He was off curing more fish because I refused to eat iguana since I’d found out it was the mystery meat he’d been feeding me. Now, I was basically on the Pilates Princess diet of fish, fruits, and vegetables, minus sporting the luxury leggings.

Aleki had remained close by despite my constant reassurance. It was like he expected me to be swallowed up by a volcano or something.

I found him hunched on the ground with his basket of fish, and he stood up when he heard my hurried steps.

“I found it!” I ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders.

“Found what?” he replied, blindly matching my excitement.

“A Pacific sheath-tailed bat!”

“And that’s amazing, right?”

“Totally! There are only a few in the wild, and I found one here, which means…”

“There are probably more?”

“Bingo!” I stabbed his hard chest with my finger. “I bet scientists haven’t ever ventured here to research them. What if there’s a thriving population? Like hundreds, perhaps thousands of them, just hanging out?! This is phenomenal, especially since they’re endangered.”

His arms wrapped around me, showering me with the warmth and security I’d spent my life searching for. “I’m so happy for you!” He had little idea of the gravity of what I was going on about, but he was as thrilled as I was.

“We have to find their roost,” I said.

“Do you think you can?”

“I don’t know. I need to try. God, I wish I had a GPS location.”

“I’ll help you,” he offered. The last time I had tried to go off on my own, he’d impaled me from behind to teach me a lesson.

“You will?”

“Of course! I know this land better than you, and I can help with the landscape.”

“I thought you didn’t want me exploring off on my own because I’d get hurt?”

“I’ll be right by your side.”

I hugged him tighter, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead. We were going to work as a team to find the bats.

Partners . It was a word I assumed would always paralyze me. The idea of being so intertwined with someone else that you depended on them for happiness terrified me. Commitment was beautiful, if it was never broken.

Something had changed inside me, though, clearing the cloud of fear that had always hovered around. I longed to be one-half of us , so long as Aleki filled the other half.

I spoke against his chest. “Aleki?”

“Maris?”

“I think I love you.” My heart stilled, bracing itself for rejection. One that never came.

“I know I love you,” he whispered into my hair, embracing my consciousness with his love.

Life pumped through me like blood, touching every part of my body in a radiant warmth I had never experienced. Nothing in my life before this man existed. He was the only thing that mattered in my present, and the only future I yearned to have.