by Sonia Nova
But Zeriq had saved her.
Now, it was her turn to make sure he was okay, even if there wasn’t much she could do in this situation.
Rushing after the faraway silhouette of Zeriq’s back, Hazel suddenly realized that he had stopped moving again. The creature seemed to have paused as well, and they were both watching each other intently.
The trees thinned around Hazel as she neared them. She realized she would have to stop soon if she wanted to stay hidden. A tree with a trunk just thick enough to hide her came into view and she forced herself to push and use her last shred of energy to reach it. She stumbled, using the tree trunk to catch herself, and settled into a crouching position behind it.
Zeriq and the monster were circling each other in the wide-open space just past the edge of the forest. Hazel peered into the horizon, trying to make out the snowy white landscape around them. Just then, her breath caught in her throat.
No. Wait… This side of the forest didn’t lead to a giant field of snow like what they had found this morning. In fact, the forest didn’t seem to continue at all on the other side.
Here, as the trees ended, there was nothing but a strip of smooth white snow separating the forest from what appeared to be a steep cliff. From her vantage point, Hazel could just make out the rocky drop-off where the ground ended, only feet from where Zeriq and the creature were eyeing each other.
Hazel’s heart leaped to her throat.
Had Zeriq noticed the cliff? She couldn’t tell. The only thing his gaze was directed at was the creature’s every move.
“Zeriq!” Her heart was suddenly pounding in her chest as she tried to catch his attention.
It was too late.
Zeriq lowered his head, the sharp ends of his curled horns aimed straight at the creature’s middle – and charged. He ran toward the creature – and straight toward the edge of the cliff. The creature stepped backward, trying to evade his attack, and with a slip of its foot, disappeared off the edge.
Hazel watched in horror as Zeriq followed behind.
“No!” The choked word ripped from Hazel’s throat without warning. She scrambled forward out of the shelter of the trees and to the edge of the cliff.
She looked down and couldn’t see any trace of either of them. She took in the jagged black rock dotted in snowcaps, ending a hundred – if not hundreds – of feet below in another stretch of endless white snow. She sat back, feeling dizzy from the height of it.
No…
The Ezak-X were clearly able to survive in extreme circumstances, much more than any human would be able to withstand, but this cliff… Hazel just couldn’t imagine anyone surviving a fall from this far up. And with all those rock ledges jutting out from the cliff, it wouldn’t be a clean fall to the ground.
Tears prickled her eyes, but Hazel tried to remain calm.
She had to get down there. She couldn’t leave Zeriq behind. No matter what.
Taking deep breaths and trying to withstand the rising panic in her chest, Hazel stood and looked to either side of her around the cliff.
There had to be a way down.
If anything, it looked as though the cliff rose even higher to her left. But to her right, the snow sloped down. Maybe if she went in that direction, she would find a shorter climb down the cliff. Or maybe even after following the slope down, she would end up at the foot of the cliff below.
There was one small issue with that plan, though.
Hazel was already freezing. The tips of her fingers were faintly purple under the skin and she guessed, from the pain, that her nose and ears looked similar.
Could she even survive another hour of wandering through the snow?
It didn’t matter. She had no choice. Zeriq had been there for her for the past few days, helping her to find food and stay warm the best he could. There was absolutely no way she was going to watch him fall off a cliff and do nothing about it.
She would survive. There was no question.
Just as she started to run down the slope alongside the trees, the gray sky began to darken. It wasn’t anywhere near night, so Hazel paused to look up into the sky, confused.
Roiling dark gray clouds moved overhead. After a lifetime of storms in New York State, she knew exactly what that meant.
A fat raindrop fell, hitting her in the eye. She blinked and wiped it away, moving forward again. The storm hadn’t dampened her spirits at all.
It was raining. Not snowing.
In other circumstances, she would be cheering. She wished Zeriq were at her side so they could celebrate together.
Because rain meant that the temperature was getting warmer again. After a few minutes of rain, the snow would start to melt away. Of course, rain brought other hazards for someone planning on climbing down a cliff, but now Hazel knew she wouldn’t freeze to death.
Not right away anyway.
Pulling her already damp scarf over her hair and around her face, she continued to run down the slope, letting gravity pull her forward. Before long, she noticed a wide fissure running through the cliff and into the woods.
Between the sides of the fissure was a series of rocky shelves that served as long, slippery stairs. Carefully, using her hands to grip the sides of the fissure, Hazel started to climb down.
After it had rained for what seemed like nearly an hour, she finally reached the bottom of the cliff. The rain had melted away most of the snow, and the endless expanse of white at the bottom of the cliff was now revealed to be a rocky valley that looked like a very dark, wet desert. Dead, yellow grass lay in clumps beside small boulders.
The temperature was much warmer down here. It seemed the rain – and the altitude – had changed the weather completely. Although Hazel was soaked from the rain, she no longer felt as cold.
She turned to run in the direction where the cliff rose higher, now on her right. The problem with walking so far to find a path to the bottom meant that she now had to travel back to where Zeriq and the creature had fallen.
She had to wade some newly gushing streams through the rocks and avoid some waterfalls that were spilling down the side of the cliff, but soon she glimpsed what looked like a human-shaped pile just on the horizon.
“Zeriq!” she screamed, her voice hoarse, and started to run.
She skidded to a stop beside the body. It wasn’t Zeriq. It was the lifeless corpse of the creature, green blood pooled beneath it and its neck held at an impossible angle against a large rock.
The image of Zeriq lying in the same way flashed into her mind, skin gray and clammy and his eyes staring into nothingness. She gagged, retching into the sandy gravel at her feet.
She had to keep looking. She had to know if he was alive.
CHAPTER 14
ZERIQ
The monster.
Zeriq sat up with a start, blindly grasping for the creature that had been within his reach just moments before. He remembered that the creature had stopped running for some reason, so he had prepared to gore it with his horns. He had charged, and then…
And then, what?
He couldn’t remember, but there was no time to think about it now. The sound of approaching footfalls distracted him.
It was back.
Zeriq leaped toward the sound, his teeth bared. He easily tackled the creature and moved to bite down on its neck. It gasped and struggled beneath him.
“Zeriq! Stop, it’s me!”
He blinked.
The adrenaline pumping through his system abated as a sweet, gentle fragrance filled his nose. His senses returned to him and the clouds cleared from his mind.
Hazel was beneath him, her dark hair a frizzy, wet mess and her eyes red-rimmed from crying. She was cringing, looking away from him, as if she still expected him to bite her.
No.
He rolled off of her and into a sitting position, covering his face with his hands.
“Zeriq?” Her voice was so quiet and tentative he barely heard her.
“I… I’m sorry,
” he said. “I thought you were…”
“It’s okay,” he heard her say. “I’m okay. You didn’t hurt me.”
He dropped his hands to look at her. She smiled a little and took one of his hands in hers. She looked completely soaked and her hands were wet.
Zeriq looked around. They were at the base of a cliff, in some kind of a rocky basin. Puddles filled dips in the rock around them between patches of slushy snow.
“What happened?”
“It rained,” Hazel explained, seeing where he was looking. “The temperature seems to have risen quite a bit.” She shivered as if on reflex, although for Zeriq at least it wasn’t that cold anymore.
“And… the creature?”
“Dead,” she said. “You – and the cliff – made sure of that. You… It was like you completely lost yourself.”
Zeriq shut his eyes. Even now, memories of the Pit and his years of self-preservation hovered just at the edge of his thoughts. “Sometimes,” he said, “I can get lost in the instincts the Krezlians gave me.”
“I understand,” Hazel said, her voice gentle. “And I can’t complain. Saving me from a monster isn’t a bad instinct.”
I almost hurt you, he wanted to say. That’s not a helpful instinct. But he could tell from her expression that she knew exactly what he wanted to say, and he didn’t need to.
As his senses returned to him, so did a dull ache all over his body. He ignored the feeling. Instead, he put an arm around her and drew her close. She obliged and basically fell into his arms, hugging him tightly.
“I thought I lost you,” Hazel whispered, and he thought he could feel her hot tears on his shoulder. She pulled away and met his gaze. “How did you survive that fall, by the way?”
Zeriq frowned, trying to recall what had happened. “I remember falling into a pile of snow…”
Hazel smiled through her tears. “It must’ve served as a cushion before it melted.”
“That, and I’m built to withstand worse.” Zeriq shrugged, but grimaced a second later as a sharp pain pierced through his side. “Although I do think I broke a few bones…”
“You broke a few bones?” Hazel gasped, her eyes wide. She immediately pulled back from him. “You can’t just say that casually! I’m not hurting you, am I?”
“No,” he answered, pulling her back into his lap as he hugged her again. He was hurting, sure, but it wasn’t because of her. If anything, she made him feel better. “Let’s just stay like this for a few more minutes.”
“Okay.”
Hazel leaned back against his chest, as if listening to his heartbeat, and Zeriq felt like he could’ve stayed like this forever. He didn’t know how long they sat like that, just holding each other in the bottom of the cliff, but after a while, Hazel lifted her head and looked him straight into the eyes, her gaze filled with affection.
She moved in carefully, pressing a soft kiss on his cheek. The butterflies that took flight in his stomach were like nothing he had ever felt before. Hazel did such strange things to him. He eagerly breathed in her sweet scent, mixed with the tang of ozone from the rain and the minerals of the rocks around them.
She brushed her lips from his cheek to his lips and kissed him, firmly and with feeling. The way her hands clasped behind his neck, the way her lips moved against his, and the way she barely pulled away to breathe between kisses… Her relief and joy at finding him alive was obvious in her every movement.
When she shifted in his lap and pressed her chest against his, the sharp pain stabbed his insides once more, reminding him of his injuries, and he groaned in pain.
“Actually,” he said, ending their kiss for the moment. “If you could avoid my rib cage area, that would be great.”
Hazel’s eyes widened in shock. “I’m so sorry!”
Zeriq just grinned at her and pulled her back into the kiss. He hoped she could feel his joy at seeing her in the way he held her as close to him as he could without pain while they kissed.
He slipped his tongue past her lips, groaning as her smooth tongue joined the dance and entwined with his. She gripped the hair on his head, pulling his face closer, and Zeriq could feel the temperature of her body rise as they continued to kiss, hungry for each other.
That his touch could affect her this strongly… Just the realization made him burn from the inside. All he could sense and feel was Hazel, and his cock started to harden in his uniform.
Hazel pulled back from their kiss in surprise. From her position snuggled in his lap, there was no way she was going to be able to miss his erection against her thigh.
“Really?” she asked, her voice incredulous. “Right here, right now?” Even as she teased him, she shifted forward in his lap and started to slowly grind her hips against his rock-hard length.
Zeriq groaned at the sensation.
What a woman.
Desire for her overwhelmed him, drowning out all other thought. She did know that a couple of broken bones weren’t going to stop him from having her right here, right now, didn’t she?
In one movement, he lifted her up and shifted so he was kneeling on the rocks and she was straddling him. He didn’t want her to get cold on the slushy rocks, so he cupped her bottom in his hands, and squeezed.
“Oh!” she let out in surprise, laughing.
She smiled up at him and Zeriq paused to take in how beautiful she looked, even after everything that had happened that day. Her smile was wide and genuine, her brown eyes sparkling, and her cheeks flushed – whether from the temperature or her arousal, but Zeriq liked to think the latter.
He leaned down to kiss her on each cheek, feeling her soft skin beneath his mouth, before returning to her lips. His erection strained painfully against her core, and he was hungry for more.
“Wait… Zeriq.” Hazel stopped him before he could kiss her again. The look of concern was back on her face, and her fingers brushed against his chest gently. “You’re hurt.”
“I don’t care.” He kissed her again, this time more forcefully, to drown out any protests she might’ve had. He kissed her many times – on her lips, cheeks, the corners of her mouth, her neck, and her lips again – until the happy smile was back on her face and she was giggling against his mouth.
“We’re really doing this, aren’t we?” Hazel asked, her lips brushing against his as she spoke.
For a moment, Zeriq thought she meant in the big picture – they were really going to be together, an Ezak-X soldier and a human female Alliance trainee – but then he realized she was asking if they were really going to have sex out here, on a slippery bed of rocks and slush. A reasonable question.
“I mean,” she continued, looking up at him. “I’m already wet and you’re warming me up, anyway, so…”
“Already wet?” he asked, grinning.
“That’s not what I meant!” she protested. Her cheeks turned an even darker red that Zeriq found quite alluring.
“Well, let’s see,” he said, moving to kiss her neck as he slipped a hand into her panties. Slowly, he pressed one finger to part her flesh and massaged her slit, moving the pressure of his fingertip up and down. “You’re soaked.”
Hazel only moaned in response, pressing her hips against his touch.
The look of pleasure on her face made Zeriq’s cock strain, and he gladly obliged. He pulled her pants and panties halfway down her thighs, supporting her with his left hand. He took his time with her, moving his free hand to caress the warm skin of her inner thighs and hips until she was quivering. Then, he moved between her legs and slowly started to rub her clit with his thumb until her breathing quickened and she started to tense.
He kissed her, his mouth hard against hers and their tongues dancing. His cock hardened to incredible measures, straining against her core. When she grabbed him by his horns and pulled his face closer against hers, Zeriq nearly lost it.
His own desire trumped the pleasure of teasing her, and he groaned against her mouth. Hazel seemed to read his mind and reached for his c
ock, first running her hand over his length through the fabric of his pants, and then unzipping and pushing the waistband down just far enough.
She brushed her fingertips up his shaft and swirled one finger around his head, the skin of her finger slick with his precum. Zeriq growled at the sensation. Her touch nearly hurt, it felt so good.
Zeriq grabbed her wrist to stop her from going further. She gasped in surprise, her chest heaving. If they were somewhere more comfortable, Zeriq would have taken the time to remove her top and kiss her bare chest – enjoying it just as much as she would – but if they were going to do this here and now, it was going to happen here and now, with her on his lap.
“Open your legs,” he commanded, and she obliged, spreading wide for him, her wide eyes never leaving his.
One of his favorite things about her was the perpetually innocent look of her face. Her features were so soft and her expression so pure, and yet here she was, half-naked in his lap, out in the open, while he moved his hips to find her opening.
He lifted her slightly, aligning his cock at her entrance, before he pushed her down onto him, inch by torturous inch. He groaned as her wet warmth enveloped him, nearly seeing stars. He wanted to tease her more, to take things slowly, but he was far beyond that.
She wrapped her arms around his neck for support, and as he moved within her moist tightness, a very different instinct from before took over him.
He held her bottom firmly in his palms and thrust into her, first slowly, but soon, there was no holding back. Hazel moaned in his arms, and the sounds of her pleasure drove him wild. The power of his thrusts nearly pushed her away from him, and she wrapped her legs around his lower back to counteract his strength.
He soon fell into a rhythm and lost himself in the moment. The pleasure built inside him, when Hazel’s voice suddenly broke into his consciousness.
“Hey, look!”
The casualness of her excited tone caught Zeriq by surprise and he followed her gaze, turning his head to look away from her and toward the sky. The clouds were parting and the star that gave this planet light came into view, along with patches of pale blue sky. He paused to look at the view.
