Chapter 96: Realising the unrealised

‘Awkward, awkward, awkward!’ The thought kept running through Ryan’s mind in an endless loop as he dragged Alexis away. He didn’t pay attention to where he was heading until Alexis pulled back on the hand he had grabbed and asked: “Where are we going?”

Coming back to his senses Ryan realised that he had been heading towards the path to the escarpment, the route so ingrained in his subconscious that it must have been the default he resorted to when mindlessly heading anywhere that was away from the embarrassing scene a few moments earlier. Unfortunately, he had been directly heading away from what had been his earlier goal, the recreation area which had been assigned as the Healer’s station at the lodge.

“Uhmmm, nowhere. Actually. I just wanted to get away.” Ryan stammered.

With a sigh Alexis massaged the hand he had released. “I think it’s best if we had a talk. We can do that while I’m checking up on your mutations if that is ok with you?”

“Okay?” Ryan assented with hesitation. The two were in a weird spot, not only thanks to the awkward way Ryan had handled the situation, and he didn’t quite know how to take it from here. It reminded him of his first bumbled attempts at romance from high school and was totally unlike his later successes at college which had led to his relationship with Victoria’s mom. Ryan had withdrawn from interpersonal relationships with the female half of humanity after the accident that cost Eleanor her life and focused on raising his daughter. It showed, he realised, he was uncertain, skittish and unwilling to approach. The fact that he had clearly been oblivious to his own attraction, which had been blatantly obvious to others, didn’t escape him either. Neither were their current circumstances conducive to romance, Ryan had thought. An argument which he quickly realised wouldn’t hold water judging by the increasing number of couples forming within their guild. The pressures of surviving in a hostile world had clearly driven people closer and, maybe as a consequence of searching for comfort in the embrace of another, more people than Ryan would have expected were forming pacts for mutual support. There probably had been a dissertation written at one stage or another which would have supported his observation, Ryan thought, but he had never been interested in understanding the human condition.

Ryan realised that his thoughts had been running on another tangent as Alexis coughed softly, patiently holding open the door to the medical ward. ‘When had she taken the lead and moved ahead?’ he could only wonder as he followed her inside.

The two didn’t talk as she led him to the cot that served as her examination couch. Only then, as he sat on its edge, Alexis spoke. “Can you please take off your cuirass?” she asked plainly.

Ryan did as she bade, and on her gentle insistence, laid down on the cot. Her hand, when she rested it on his chest, felt ice-cold and Ryan was hyperaware of the goosebumps that rose as a result. The slight tingle of successive pulses of scan impinged on his awareness as Alexis closed her eyes and concentrated.

“Everything checks out but your heart is beating really fast.” she eventually murmured and opened her eyes. Ryan got lost in those piercing blue orbs as she slowly tilted her head towards his face. Almost peripherally he noticed her tongue hesitantly flipping across her luscious lips, leaving them moist and slightly opened in an inviting pout. It was mesmerising and Ryan couldn’t help but clench his abdominal muscles and come to a half crunch to raise his head to meet her approach. First contact was soft, sweet and hesitant as their lips met. Alexis soon pulled back, tugging on his hand. Ryan sat up and didn’t let go of her hand her as she repositioned and climbed into his lap. Their next kiss was deeper, less hesitant and soon their rising passion had them lost in another, oblivious to the outside world. Ryan barely even realised how he slammed down the shutters of his Predator’s Veil once he noticed Fury’s cautious probe into his whereabouts.

Stolen novel; please report.

Ryan’s last thought as he slipped off into sleep with Alexis languidly draped over his chest was to marvel that for a few hours of mutual discovery and moments of endless passion, both energetic and sensuous, intervals filled with the whisper of sweet nothings, he had entirely forgotten the reality of the world that they would have to face once more when they rose to greet the new day. It was a sobering end to a wonderful experience.

The first thing Ryan became aware of when he regained consciousness was the comfortably warm weight resting on his body. Next, when he took a deeper breath, came the realisation what had woken him from slumber. The incessant tingling of Alexis fine hair drifting over his lips and nose whenever he took a breath was driving him to distraction as soon as he became aware of it. Still, he remained motionless, loath to wake his lover by moving and enjoying the closeness of their naked bodies glommed to another by the sweat and sticky excretions of the hours prior to sleep.

To the pre-initialisation him it would have been an icky feeling and he most likely would have immediately showered after consummation of the act but the constant exposure to dirt and sweat, often remaining unwashed for days, had desensitised him to his need for impeccable body hygiene. It was a melancholic realisation to make this early on a beautiful morning, but it was what it was. Lying there, with Alexis still lightly snoring into the hollow of his throat, Ryan fell to reminiscing about all the wonderful things he had taken for granted pre-apocalypse. After a while a slightly nagging sense of worry intruded on this sense of wellbeing and Ryan couldn’t place its origin. He forced himself to recall what he had been thinking about and an absolute stunner of a realisation jolted him as he recalled he had been thinking about Victoria and her mother, Eleanor. Or more precisely, of how Victoria had been conceived because the pair had been too lost in each other to even contemplate contraception.

Alexis woke as his body jerked in shock. With startling quickness, she returned to reality from her dream-state and quickly a Cheshire grin stole itself on her expression. A satisfied smile threatened to overtake his somber expression as he realised that she really looked like a cat that had been at the cream. Ryan hated to dampen her mood but couldn’t help to express his worries.

“Morning beautiful. Uhmmm, I just realised, we didn’t think about contraception.”

If anything, Alexis’ grin widened. Ryan’s worries were assuaged by this development, but he still followed through, with an eyebrow questioningly raised. “You didn’t forget, I assume.”

Alexis apparently decided to take mercy on him and chose to answer. “No. I didn’t. Actually, most of the guild is probably using contraception, in some form or another. I chose to purchase a mutation from the shop that allows me to consciously regulate my menstrual cycle. Most girls probably did as it is an inexpensive option and thank the living gods deals with the nightmare of regular periods for ever.”

In his relief Ryan said something that would probably come to bite him in the ass forever; “Wait. No periods? I distinctly remember that some of the girls were ovulating.”

“You what?” Alexis indignant grunt was closely approximating a subdued screech and Ryan knew he had fucked up. It took him a long few minutes to explain the consequences of his Enhanced Senses and how it all fed into Predator’s Awareness and that Fury had pointed out the issue to him originally.

Satisfied with his explanation, at least for the moment, Alexis closed the discussion. “Oh, Lizzy only discovered the availability of the mutation later after she and John had a discussion on their worries of raising babies in a combat situation. It was around the time we were busy with your training regime. It makes sense because the mutation had to run through one full natural cycle to calibrate.

With his worries now gone Ryan couldn’t prevent his attention wandering to something that he had become increasingly aware off during their talk. The cot they had passed out on was narrow and Alexis had slept in the only position that allowed them to share it, mostly on top of him. From the moment she had woken Alexis had been moving. While her movements might initially have been innocent the slight rubbing and sticky sliding of her softer parts against his sensitive skin had come to the attention of his little friend. Who was definitely rising to the occasion and making his presence known. Alexis had clearly become aware off the issue some time ago as her movements had become more deliberate, teasing and searching in nature. Ryan couldn’t continue ignoring the matter and reciprocated by raising his hips. It seemed he had been forgiven and Ryan relished the feeling as he noticed the hardening nubs of flesh pressing against his chest.

“You’re insatiable” he groaned as she found the angle she was looking for and sheathed him in glorious warmth.