Chapter 41 - Lack Of Sleep

Chapter 41: 41 - Lack Of Sleep

Noodle’s face scrunched up like he had swallowed a sour lemon and slithered in front of me to block my path.

He pointed at Dickhead, particularly wiggling his long nail at the dark circles under the eyes.

Sprawled out on the ground, Dickhead was already halfway asleep, with his arms crossed under his head as a makeshift pillow.

And then Noodle pointed below his own eyes, where the same tiredness marked his skin, "He told me these are because of lack of sleep, and it’s your fault. You don’t sleep, so we don’t sleep."

He looked at me expectantly, as if that should be enough to stop me. I had a feeling he was going to say something really stupid next.

Sure enough, he continued, "You don’t want to make your mate look ugly, do you? I don’t want to be ugly like him."

He curled his lip in distaste at the mention of Dickhead’s appearance, his nose wrinkling.

"Oh, so you want to look beautiful?" I smirked, poking him in the stomach. He squirmed away, the abs there tensing. "What’s wrong with looking ugly?" I grabbed his face and squished his cheeks together, "I thought you were a snake, not a peacock."

"Damaged skin doesn’t shed well," he said between squished lips, as I kept squeezing his cheeks. "A healthy snake sheds his skin easily. I don’t want a hard shed."

"..." I released his face, and he slithered back, rubbing his cheeks. I looked suspiciously at Dickhead, who had his eyes closed. "Did Dickhead tell you that?"

"He said I need to rest, or I will look like him, and get sick." Noodle’s crossed his arms over his chest, towering over me with his full height. "I don’t want to be sick, and I don’t want my mate to be sick either."

He gently took the bone from my hand. "Now, go to sleep, mate," followed by a slap on my backside that pushed me toward the sleeping spot. "I will order the flying rat to get a night beast for you to play with."

He gave me a smooching kiss on the lips through the fabric and pushed me down next to make me sit. Then he flopped on the ground in his snake form, taking up the space in front of the cave entrance, and closed his eyes.

My fingers lingered on my lips. He said he wouldn’t breed me, yet he kept making the moves on me. He was getting more creative as well.

Kissing me to silence me, to distract me, to make me sleep. What would be next? A kiss to wake me up? A kiss to make me eat? I lay against his body, folding my arms in front of my chest, and closed my eyes.

I tried to relax. Tried. But not enough to fall asleep. I wasn’t tired enough, and my body refused to shut down. It kept craving for a fight, a hunt, something to do. Anything but this stillness. This waiting.

I could feel the veins in my neck throbbing, my heart pounding in my chest. The darkness behind my eyelids was not soothing, but suffocating. My teeth clenched, my fists balled, and my nails dug into my palms.

"Sleep," Noodle’s voice came from inside his snake’s body, followed by the tip of his tail tapping my head. It poked and prodded, like a mom trying to lull her child to sleep. "If you don’t, I will bite you."

"..." I grunted, not moving.

He wrapped his tail around my waist, lifting me off the ground and dragging me onto his back. I was now sitting on top of him, his scales cool against my skin. He began to move, handing me the long bone and slithering out of the cave, "I will find you a night beast to fight, so you can sleep after."

I blinked at the sudden change of plan. The mate mark continued to tingle on my tongue as we went deeper into the forest, which finally eased some of the tension in my body. "I thought you were going to bite me?"

"The mate bond. It’s telling me that you are unhappy. I don’t like it. The feeling of it is not good," he said, weaving through the trees, his tail keeping me steady on his back. "I would rather let you fight than to feel this discomfort."

"Then break it," I said, gripping his scales. "If it’s that unpleasant, just break the mate bond, and we can go our separate ways. No more discomfort."

"No. You are my mate, and I’m keeping you."

"The bond is manipulating you to care about me. It’s not you who wants to keep me. It’s the bond." I rubbed the area on my tongue where the mark was. "Don’t you feel it? How it makes you act against your will?"

He didn’t answer right away, focusing on navigating the forest. The glowing plants were dimming, their light fading as the night progressed. Soon, the true darkness would descend, and the Night Beasts would emerge.

The fog became so thick that it blocked any light the moon provided, making the forest floor almost impossible to see.

I could sense the vibrations in the air, the slightest movements of the creatures that began to emerge from their hiding places.

A large shape moved in the distance as I slid from Noodle’s back and landed on the ground, the bone in my hand at the ready.

I felt like a dog that had to be walked to do its business, only to be leashed again and dragged back inside. But the thought of a good fight made my blood sing. I was a junkie for it. A slave to the thrill. The more I tried to resist, the deeper I fell into its clutches.

If I were a dog, my tail would be wagging right now, waiting for a command to attack. There was no command here, but my body didn’t need one. It knew what to do.

The beast’s footsteps grew louder. I couldn’t see it, but I could hear its breath, feel the heat of its body, and smell its foul stench. Its form was big, but not larger than the spikehogs.

I waited. Listened. The moment its foot landed near me, I swung the bone, aiming for its leg. The impact jarred my hands, and the beast let out a roar. I ducked, feeling the air move as its clawed hand swiped above me. I rolled to the side, and came up, swinging again.

"Female...I sense...a female..."

Another form, from behind me. I pivoted, and struck. A hard chest met my bare feet. This one was a beastman, and I could feel the muscle definition under my toes.

I jumped, using my other foot to kick him in the chin, then landed and spun, sweeping his legs from under him. He fell with a thud, and I stomped on his chest before kicking him away.

He crashed into the beast I had been fighting, the two of them colliding in a heap. No groan of pain in response as one would expect, just a sick echo of his chant.

"Female...have to get...female..."

Like a zombie, he rose, unfazed by the injuries I had inflicted. The beast I had hit earlier was up as well. The night hid their appearance, and my imagination was running wild with the possible forms they could take.