Lazarus shook himself, splattering his saliva across his cave’s walls. This was the seventh time this month he’d encountered the Unliving, sent to hunt him for their master or mistress. He was tired of coming home and sinking into the vat of his own saliva he kept for bathing. Water was okay when washing off the feeling of the Unliving, but Dregas knew better than to use it alone.
He’d head to river next to finish cleansing himself. The once festering wounds were already healing. But this time was far closer than he would have liked it to be. The creature, a Wraith of all things, had gotten the drop of him while he was using the latrine.
Wraith’s are insidious as they’re both spirit and physical Unliving, which leaves their wounds infected almost the moment they’re inflicted. Lazarus had been able to fend the beast off this time, but had just barely gotten back to his cave. He couldn’t afford to take the long way this time, so hoped his families charms and incantations would be enough to keep any Unliving from finding, or at least entering, his home.
As he curled up on the floor, shivering as the last of the Wraith’s toxins were expelled, his mind drifted to a time long ago when his parents looked after him and his clutchmates.
The only one still living was him; the rest were either hunted down or killed in various accidents and crimes. He fell into a fevered stupor that only a cool hand on his forehead brought him out of.
“Lazzy?” a soft feminine voice asked.
The dregas opened his eyes to see his mate of two years, Madeline, kneeling beside him. Warmth bloomed in his chest as the fever broke; she always had that effect on the sick or weak. As she ran her hand across his scales, Lazarus sighed,
“I’m here love. Just out of it.” He said.
She gently rolled him over onto his back so she could examine the rest of him. A born healer, Maddie never skipped an examination when she visited. Or scolding him gently for getting injured; she could tell the difference between something he’d done to himself or what was done to him.
Her touch sent shivers down his stomach and through his slit; but it wasn’t until her hand moved lower that his malehood emerged.
“Maddie…” he whispered.
“Hmm?” She asked, circling his abdomen just above his slit.
He growled, “I would love to, lass, but i just got myself torn up by wraith. Not exactly up for calisthenics at the moment.”
She leaned forward and ran a series of kisses from just under his ribs up to his jaw. “I know, but you know how much i love teasing you. Later though, after you recover, i would like to do more than tease.”
He rolled to his side, and thought of peaceful things that had nothing to do with his mate’s scent or the fact that she’d undone the top of her dress to reveal the ample breasts the Gods had given her.
He growled at himself and finally got a handle on his hormones; rolling back to his stomach, he got up with her assistance, and walked over to his bed, a pile of furs with fragrant pine needles beneath.
She laid him down, before joining him, wrapping her arms around his middle and pulling his largest fur up over them both. She kissed the back of his neck in a possessive, protective manner, before snuggling against him and falling asleep.
Lazarus remained awake, listening to the calm breathing of the woman beside him, and the rumble of the waterfall on the other side of his bedroom wall. A strange thing, feeling at peace here. The healing wounds still pained him, but as her breathing deepened, the pain dulled. He was finally able to sleep.
*****
Small addition to the world.
@zarcake-writes @inumorph @momolady @terato-imagines @howtobangyourmonster @karanthos
MonstersinBlackSilk 