𝓑𝓮𝓪𝓾𝓽𝔂 & 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓼 𝓜𝓸𝓸𝓷'𝓼 𝓛𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽

1

Drumming in the ears, a palpable tension in the air as every fiber of muscle screamed in agony. It was brief and the pain was fleeting as blaring lights of red and blue showed up in the distance, the sirens fading to the light buzzing in the ears. Moon's sight blurred in and out of consciousness as she held her hand up to her face, squinting to get a good look at the tacky crimson fluid painting her palm and slender fingertips. 

The dew covered grass beneath her felt chillingly cold, but an abundance of warmth pouring out of her own body combated that... unfortunately a little too well. 

"There's someone over here! Most likely the rider from that wrecked motorcycle!"

All of the lights and voices became muddled and distant as Moon's riding helmet was removed and she took one more look at the concerned paramedics before relinquishing herself to the darkness completely... 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Moon wakes to a cool and silken material stretched across her body, the airy softness causing goosebumps to ripple across her pale flesh as her storm gray eyes crack open and she blearily shifts her gaze around, hearing the subtle whistling of wind and distant dripping of a slow trickle water source. Her mouth felt incredibly dry and her body heavier than lead. 

A scarlet haired male approached her, his upper body completely devoid of clothing in the dark surroundings as he cradled the back of her head and held a curved leaf up to her lips, the cool water touching her parched mouth like a kiss from a water goddess.

Moon drank greedily before slumping back breathily, his large hand was cold against the back of her neck and his eyes a deep shade of ruby. Moon silently appraised him, feeling a twinge of heat climb to her cheeks at how handsome he was.

He gently turned her head to the side, revealing the deep faded white scar that went from below her left ear, down her neck and to left shoulder. His ruby gaze lingered on it apprehensively before looking back at her face, his expression unreadable. He spoke in a low, smooth voice, his words dripping like honey. 

"You were badly hurt little female. But worry not, I will protect you from now on."

Moon's brows furrow together and she weakly tries to move but is unable to, feeling the room spin as a crashing sense of vertigo slammed into her.

The male gently but firmly held her in place, his large hands easily encircling her slender wrists. 

"Easy there, little one. You've been through a great trauma. Your body needs rest to heal." 

His serpentine tail coiled around her legs, the smooth scales a stark contrast to her soft skin.

Moon's eyes snapped back open, her mouth falling open silently in a panic fueled fear. The tail, which she'd not noticed before now was a clear part of the handsome male, from the waist down he was a freaking snake! Words wanted to pour from her mouth, but unfortunately... Moon had never spoken a day in her life before now and that wasn't going to easily change either, even in the face of her fear.

His ruby eyes gleamed with a soft warmth as he gazed at her, his heart fluttering in his chest. He had never felt this way about anyone before, the little mute female had somehow managed to burrow her way into his cold, feral heart and he wanted her all to himself. 

"Can you not speak little female?"

His tail coiled further up her legs and hips as he crooned closer and lay down on the makeshift bedding beside her, having been doing this for many days since he'd been nurturing her back to health, feeding her crystals from the beasts he felled and keeping her hydrated. 

Moon shook her head slowly, the vertigo hitting her like a bag of bricks again and causing her eyes to roll back before she passed out, her head lightly falling onto the males broad chest, his hard cool flesh, chilling to the touch against her feverish cheek.

Curtis let out a soft sigh as Moon's head rested on his chest, her frail body so delicate compared to his own feral strength. He wrapped his arms around her gently, cradling her against him as he lay there in the dark cave with her, keeping watch in the darkness...

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It had been five days ago that Curtis had come across the sickeningly sweet stench of blood. And in a clearing, found what could only be described as a nearly decimated corpse. He crooned closer and slithered around the body, admiring the foreign style of stitching and strange attire that they wore. A shuddering wheeze came from the body and his pupils diluted before he moved forward, ready to lend a striking blow to end their misery... but the unmistakeable softness of a voluptuous female bust stopped him. He gulped and peeled the cut fabric open, revealing blood covered breasts and a gaping wound cut from ear, down the neck and across her shoulder.  

His forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air. She was alive, barely. With a low hiss, he carefully gathered the strange female into his arms, her blood smearing across his cool scales. He couldn't leave her to die like this. Not when he had the power to save her... and perhaps gain her favor to become her mate without need for force...

He took her to his cave, immediately laying her down near the trickling water coming straight out of the stone formation and then slithered across his nest, searching for the leather pouch of crystals he'd accumulated over the years. He returned to her side and pressed one into her mouth before leaning down to kiss her, forcing his serpent tongue into her mouth to guide the crystal down her throat to be absorbed into her body. He did this several more times until all of the crystals were gone and her blood began to clot and stop pouring out of her body.

His forked tongue flicked over her wound, tasting the blood to ensure it was clotting. He let out a low sigh of relief, the crystals having worked their magic. He let his forked tongue flick over the females skin, cleaning her wounds of blood as best as he could. 

She didn't stir as he tended to her, taking off her strange blood soaked clothing and setting it aside before using a fluffy rabbit pelt to soak in the cold stream of water and begin cleaning her body properly. With his vast knowledge of herbs and medicinal properties passed down to him through the memories of many generations of feral snake Beastmen, Curtis knew that he'd have to go out and find such herbs and plants to keep this female alive. The crystals had power enough only to stop the bleeding and heal the wound... not replenish all the blood she had lost.

He left the cave once she was redressed warmly in his shedded snake skin. And once he returned, he began preparing a tonic of crushed herbs and plants, mixing them with water from the stream. The concoction would help replenish her blood and strength. He carefully fed her small amounts of the medicine, supporting her head with his large cold hand.

This went on for many days and Curtis found himself growing enamored with his little female, coiling around her body day in and day out to keep her fever down with his cold body until on the sixth day... she finally had woken up and he got lost in her misty gray eyes...