Raven gives U’dron a look.
He shrugs. “Can you handle it?”
“I won’t go far,” I promise, breathless. “Just up and down the beach. I want to practice. I need something to do.” I probably sound desperate, but I don’t even care. I just need something physical to do to get some of this anxious energy out of my system and to clear my head. “Please.”
Raven bites her lip and glances back at the camp. “I need to feed U’rav or I’d offer to go with you. If U’dron thinks it’s safe, go ahead. I trust his judgment.” She touches my arm and then jogs toward the encampment.
I give him a bright smile.
He eyes me. “Do not go out far.”
“I won’t.”
“And if the storm comes in, bring the raft in.”
“Of course.”
“You have fishing gear? A knife?”
I show him both. It feels a bit like I’m a teenager asking my dad to take the car for a spin. “I can handle it. I promise.”
U’dron crosses his arms, studying me. “You will get tired. Paddling is much work.”
“Then I’ll come back.”
“And if a tentacle tries to pull you into the water?”
“I stab it with my knife.” I give him my brightest look. “I have to go out on my own at some point, don’t I?”
He eyes me. “No. You should bring a friend.”
“You’re right,” I say. “But everyone is busy right now and I just need to clear my head.”
His gaze slides to someone or something over my shoulder and that seems to decide him. “Very well.” He offers me the raft.
I take it from him and stagger under the weight. U’dron hauls it about as if it weighs nothing, but all that wood is heavy as heck. Still, I just have to get it into the water. I beam at him and drag it with me, heading for the edge of the shore. The water isn’t my favorite to get into because it’s bitterly cold and lots of tentacled things like to drift through the waves and tug on legs. Raven tends to sit on the raft and have U’dron lead her out far enough that the waves don’t batter the small craft against the shore, but of course, I won’t have any such help. I could take my pants off, though, and wade out, and then just tug my tunic down far enough to cover my bare legs. It’s not ideal but it’s better than having wet pants. I pause to take off my leggings as U’dron heads away.
“What are you doing?”
Damn it. Just the person I didn’t want to see. I fold my pants and try to figure out what to do with them. After a moment, I shove them into the front of my tunic and tighten my belt so they won’t slide out. Of course the moment I do, O’jek appears at my side, frowning at me. He eyes the raft and then shakes his head at the paddle I’m holding.
Well too bad for him, because it’s not his decision. “I’m going to paddle out for a bit.”
“No, you are not,” O’jek says. “It is dangerous.”
He reaches for the paddle and I deliberately keep it out of his reach. “You don’t get to decide. You’re not my mate. And U’dron said I could borrow their raft.”
O’jek puts his hands on his hips and glares at me. “Do not be foolish, D’see. There is a storm coming.”
I want to roll my eyes at him. “The storm isn’t coming for a few hours and I don’t plan on being on the water for that long. Now if you don’t mind, the sooner I get on the raft, the sooner I’m done.” I try to step around him.
O’jek blocks my path. He picks up the raft and steps between me and the craft. “You do not know how.”
“I do know how,” I say sweetly. “It’s not my fault you haven’t bothered to ask me. Now please step aside. I said I’m going to do this, and I am.”
“Then I will go with you.”
Right, because that’s what I really want is to be stuck on a raft on the shore with the very person I’m trying to avoid. “Lovely of you to volunteer, but no thank you.”
Meeting my defiant gaze, O’jek starts to strip naked. He never breaks eye contact with me as he shucks his clothing, and my cheeks heat. I’m not going to read too much into this. It’s a challenge between us, nothing more. I don’t have to take it. If he hasn’t bothered to find out if I’m learning the things he asked me to, that’s not my problem. He wanted me to fish, after all. So I’m going to fish.
I can’t help but notice that his cock is hardening as I watch him. O’jek turns away, presenting me with his backside and his lashing tail, a sure sign of his irritation. He wades into the water with the raft, then holds it, bobbing on the shore as he stands in the rough waves, so I can get on without getting wet.