Chapter 241: Upstream

The night fully settled over the Dow clan.

The air had cooled, and the usual sounds of the settlement had softened into a quieter rhythm as the cubs mostly went to bed.

Tera found Calis near the edge of the settlement where the wolves had set up their temporary sleeping area. He was sitting on a flat stone, sharpening a bone tool with slow, methodical strokes. Someone in her clan had discovered carving, and Calis had taken an interest in it.

His dark hair fell across his face, and the remaining feather adornment in his hair caught the firelight with a warm, coppery sheen.

He looked up when she approached, and his hands stilled.

"Come," Tera said.

Calis’s ears shot up, then he studied her face for a moment, his crimson eyes searching for context. She wasn’t carrying anything. She didn’t look like she needed help with something.

He immediately dropped what he was doing and trotted after her, his tail wagging absentmindedly.

They left the settlement together, and the sounds of the clan faded behind them as they followed the stream line. The moonlight was generous tonight, casting everything in pale silver, and the water beside them caught the light in long, rippling threads.

The silence between them was comfortable, but it wasn’t empty. A current running beneath the quiet that made Tera’s skin prickle with awareness.

Their arms brushed as they walked.

Tera didn’t move away. Neither did Calis.

But his earlier confusion shifted into a low panic and expectation. The next time their arms touched, Tera let her fingers trail across the back of his hand. It was barely a touch, just the pads of her fingers grazing his knuckles, but Calis’s breath hitched, and his hand twitched at his side.

He didn’t take her hand. But he didn’t pull away either.

He wasn’t entirely sure how to behave.

Tera smiled to herself.

"The forest is nice at night," she said.

Calis swallowed. "It—it is."

"You like being out at night, don’t you? More than during the day?"

A surprised look crossed his face. "How did you know that?"

"I just noticed."

Then again, most beasts were active at night, and sleeping during the day was no problem.

His heart thrummed harder in his chest as Tera leaned closer against him.

Tera looked up at the canopy where the moonlight filtered through the leaves in pale, shifting patterns.

"It’s beautiful out here," she said softly.

Calis slowly looked at her.

"Yes... It is."

Tera’s cheeks warmed, and she looked away before her face could betray her completely.

They walked further upstream. The terrain grew slightly steeper, and the stream narrowed as it wound between larger rocks and clusters of ferns. The sound of the water was louder here, a steady, rushing murmur that filled the spaces between their words.

This part of the stream was a bit deeper than the rest. Tera’s hand found his again, and this time she didn’t just graze it. Her fingers slipped between his and held.

Calis’s entire body went rigid for a fraction of a second. Then his hand closed around hers, and his grip was warm and firm and slightly trembling.

Tera fought the urge to smile mischievously.

Nervous Calis was very cute.

Tera squeezed gently, and his thumb moved across her knuckles in a slow stroke that sent a shiver up her arm.

This was the same male who had pinned her against a cave wall and driven into her until she couldn’t think straight. And right now, he was blushing because she was holding his hand.

They reached a bend in the stream where the water pooled into a wider, calmer section before continuing downstream. The moonlight hit the surface of the pool directly, turning it into a mirror of silver and shadow. Ferns lined the edges, and the rocks around the pool were smooth and flat from years of water running over them.

Tera stopped.

Calis stopped beside her, their joined hands still linked. He was looking at the pool, then at her, and the confusion on his face was mixed with something else. Something that made his crimson eyes darken and his breathing slow.

He didn’t know what was happening. But his body was starting to figure it out before his mind did.

Tera turned to face him and gently released his hand.

Then she reached for the ties on her top.

Calis’s eyes widened.

The first tie came loose. Then the second. The fabric parted, and Tera slipped it off her shoulders, letting it fall to the rock beside her feet.

The moonlight touched her bare skin, and the cool night air raised goosebumps across her chest and stomach. Her breasts were exposed, and the small, involuntary shiver that ran through her had nothing to do with the cold.

Calis had stopped breathing.

His eyes were locked on her.

Tera held his gaze and reached for the wrap around her hips. It came undone with a single pull, and the fabric slid down her legs and pooled at her ankles.

She stood before him completely bare, and the look on his face made her stomach flip.

His chest was rising and falling in sharp, controlled breaths, and his crimson eyes were tracing every line of her body with a hunger so raw it made the air between them feel combustible.

And he was hard. Visibly, obviously hard, the evidence straining against his loincloth in a way that he couldn’t have hidden even if he’d wanted to.

Tera stepped backwards into the stream.

The water was cool against her calves, then her thighs as she waded in. She lowered herself to her knees in the shallow pool, and the water came up to her waist, lapping gently against her stomach.

She looked back over her shoulder at Calis, who was still standing on the bank, frozen.

Tera smiled coyly, then she beckoned him with one finger.

"Come here."

He didn’t move for three long seconds.

Then his hands went to his own clothes, and they came off with a speed that suggested coherent thought had left the building entirely.