I feel the static of a shadow in your place,
I see a savage in the still upon your face.

She recognizes the hunger in his kiss and it makes her skin prickle. His shirt is off, her fingers dig into his bare flesh. He’s pure white in the afternoon sunlight and she is a light bronze. They’d always contrasted against each other but it suited them, in their less than average relationship.

His hands roam down her body, fingers follow the curves and lines. Echidna can see the indecision in his eyes, how his entire expression changes. It wasn’t uncommon for him to think too much about something, talk himself out of it. Out of what exactly? There wasn’t anything going on except instinct, this strange urge to be closer to one another – lust or love or maybe both because they’re confused about a lot of things. She hasn’t been with anyone since he let her go in that strange little world. It’s a thin line between control and desire. Echidna watches him worry his lip and she draws her fingers across his chin, leaving a thin trail of blood.

No more words, she decides. Echidna leans towards him and kisses the corner of his mouth, makes her way down under his jaw to the swan curve of his neck. When she finds the protruding bar of his collarbone she bites, soft at first then a little rougher. The forest is quiet, not even the sound of birds or insects – perhaps all scared off by the hunt and the carcass. She can still smell the blood and the organs, it makes her mouth water.

Without hesitation, she pulls her shirt over her head and tosses it away before she pulls him against her again. Her forehead presses against his before she kisses him again, this time letting her tongue sneak out to pass over his lips in an invitation.