A coil of black, barely stirring in the bowels of their lair. It had been weeks since the now infamous ‘Collar Incident’ and, other than it beeping whenever one tried to remove it, things were returning to normal.
Fawkes was hunting again. Not that he should be having to hunt his own mate, but she was so unreceptive sometimes. It really annoyed him. He gazed at the black coil, approaching with feline stealth from what he hoped was from behind. Though the blacks and greys did all look the same to him.
If Flames were orbiting up ahead, he’d have told Fawkes how horrible an idea this was. But Flames wasn’t here, Flames was on leave, with his own starship mate. If a starship can have fun, it was only fair that Fawkes could have fun too.
He was only a few meters away now. He could see her coiled around what was undoubtedly their egg. Seemingly content, he thought, but he couldn’t really see her back. His Vulcan eyes made adjusting to the darkness difficult.
He blinked a few times, letting her come into focus, letting the greys and blacks of the dark background differentiate themselves from her silhouette.
Only then did he realize she was staring at him, and probably had been, for some time. He had approached from the completely wrong direction.
Okay, he thought. Well if she’s pretending to not know. Then he’ll pretend to not know that she knows. With this tragic train of thought, he closed the last few meters.
She uncoiled her neck like a snake, lifting her head from her wings and meeting his gaze snout to snout. Her breathing was slow and steady, and she smelled a lot muskier than he’d remembered.
Fawkes, being one to always say the right things, went, “Have you considered a bath at the lake in the center of our cave?”
He didn’t have time to regret his words. He was already on his back for all the wrong reasons. He could feel the sting of a tail-swipe across his body. She was so fast. So sexily fast.
“You’re going to wake the baby.” Nyx warned.
Fawkes stared at the inert egg. “What?”
“It’s sleeping.” she said, coiling up again, resting her head on her wings.
Fawkes had never seen Nyx this obsessive over one of her eggs. Vorchans were known to just leave clutches lying around. They were born with independence right out of the shell. Full set of wings, claws, fangs. They didn’t really need the nurturing most other species did.
“I think you’ve been spending…” Fawkes took a few paces back, out of tail-swipe range. “A bit too much time with that egg.”
He could see the blacks and greys entwine as her tail probably tried to reach him, but he stayed at a safe distance.
“You wouldn’t know.” Nyx growled.
Fawkes approached again, pinning her tail with one of his paws as quickly as he could. He waited patiently, and fearfully, for her reaction.
“You really have a one-track mind sometimes. Shouldn’t you be out doing things with Flames?”
“Flames is busy.” Fawkes said.
“Oh…” Nyx sighed what seemed to be a submissive sigh. Fawkes really liked those sighs. “Fine. I guess.”
She carefully uncoiled from the egg, and placed a few leaves over it. She had created a very elaborate nest for this egg after they had reached their home cave on Emerald.
“So what do you want to do?” Nyx asked, pulling her tail free and taking a few paces away from the egg. Her wings were braced, and her stance betrayed a posture that was not very pouncable.
“You!” Fawkes growled, lunging, but not the full distance, aware of Nyx’s defensive tactics.
As she extended her left wing in an effort to knock back what she thought would be a full distance lunge, he leapt above her, his double-hop getting himself on her right side. Their tails clashed with a clank that seemed to make Nyx extremely annoyed, she double-taked back at the nest in frustration. “You probably woke it!”
Fawkes was already up against her side, pressing to get her on her back. She rolled with him, and they rolled until they reached the center of the cave, when Fawkes finally had her on her back.
This was always his tragic flaw. He always thought he won before he actually did.
As he readied himself for the pleasure he so-rightly deserved, she kicked back with her hind legs, sending him flying over her into the lake.
He breached the cold water with a shuddering gasp. Vulcans hated the cold, a lot.
“That was fun.” Nyx said. “Was that what you wanted to do?”
She went back to the egg.