by Lily Graison
“I still have no idea what you’re saying but I like that you talk to me anyway.” He grabbed the last melon from the ground and stood up, then helped her to her feet. “As much as I’d like to crawl between your thighs, it is not safe here. Go wash up. We need to leave.”
The thought of him crawling between her thighs followed her all the way to the pool. The juice from the melon had soaked her entire front and even though Toren had cleaned off most of it, she felt sticky. Did she have time for a little dip?
Something in the trees shrieked.
“Hurry. It is not safe here. The creatures that live amongst these trees are many in number and dangerous. I don’t want to linger long enough to see if they get brave enough to attack. We must go.”
Sara looked into the trees as she crawled back to her feet. She saw nothing but one of those tiny flying orbs that recorded everything here zip over the treetops. Had it been there when Toren fingered her into a panting mess on his hand? She hoped not. She was embarrassed enough by how easy she was. Letting the whole galaxy know Earth girls were as easy as an old 80’s movie she once saw suggested was just humiliating.
Toren held out his hand, waiting for her to take it. When she did, he linked their fingers, kissed her knuckles, and led her into the trees.
Toren stepped into the light beyond the forest and squinted. They’d spent a good portion of the day inside the dark confines of the forest and the sun was bright now that they’d stepped out from under the trees. He still held Sarra’s hand. He didn’t know what she’d been telling him earlier but he thought he understood. The way she kissed him and rode his hand said she enjoyed his touch, so once they were safe, he’d mark her as his and she’d belong to him fully.
He scanned the area. The trees were more sparse here, the ground rocky. He could see mountains in the distance and more of those flying things that watched everyone here. If not for them, he’d already have Sarra safe and fed.
The landscape had changed much over the last several hundred years but he knew the mountain range in front of them wasn’t the same one where his lair was hidden. The color of the stone was different, the shape of the peeks all wrong. He scanned the horizon and wondered which way to go. Sara tugged on his hand, a question in her eyes when he looked down at her. She threw her hand out in a wide arc. “Where are we going?”
Her smile said he’d guessed right. “To the mountains. I don’t imagine there are many of the others there. We’ll find shelter in the hills and food should be more abundant.”
She didn’t say anything and her silence said she trusted him. The thought warmed him more than anything had in a long time. They walked half the morning, stopping several times so Sarra could rest. He’d peeled the other adreca for her, disappointed this time when she’d angled her body away so the juice went to the ground and not on her. The look she gave him as she ate said she knew what he was waiting for and he’d have to wait. And he would. He’d wait as long as he needed to.
They’d gone several miles when they came to the edge of a large, deep hole in the ground. It was hundreds of feet wide and Toren knew if he flew down into it, he’d find a tunnel under the mountain.
Sarra squeezed his hand.
Her eyebrows were raised when he looked at her. When she glanced back down at the hole he knew she was wondering how it had come to be. “Centuries ago, a race much different from my own came to these lands and brought great machines to do things like this. They mined the planet for its resources and left the land barren when they were finished. Much of this world is only a shell of what it once was. Lush valleys of wild grasses and streams are all gone. After the war, the others came. They dropped them off and left them to run wild. They’ve destroyed our world.” His thoughts were turning black, anger causing fire to boil in his chest. Sarra tugged on his hand and said something he didn’t understand. As much as he wanted her, he wanted her words the most. When she motioned for them to go, he leaned in for a quick kiss, then led them away.
The sun was high in the sky when they made it around the hole in the ground and walked until he knew Sarra was getting tired. He reached to pick her up but she pointed to something up the incline to their left. A dark splotch on the rocky bank looked like a cave. He’d been asleep long enough the landscape had changed but he knew most all of these mountains had caves dotted along them. The Draegon had lived the majority of their lives in Dra’lera but there wasn’t a male alive who hadn’t carved out a lair for himself, even the youngest among them tried. He and his brothers had dug more than a few shallow caves in their youth. It looked as if Sarra had found one.
Her face was red, her chest rising and falling quickly as she stood there staring up the incline. He’d walked her too long today. Scanning the trees, he saw nothing move. The air carried no scent other than trees and dirt. “I think it’s a cave. Wait here and I’ll run up and see. No reason to exert yourself if it’s not.” He looked at the trees behind her. “I scent nothing in the area, so you’ll be safe until I get back.”
Her eyes widened a fraction but she never replied so he turned and darted up the craggy incline without her, loose rock sliding underneath his bare feet. When he reached the top, he looked back down at Sarra. She was staring up at him. The moment she smiled, fierce need coiled in his limbs, his fire burning to make her his. He headed across the rock-strewn grass to the dark spot on the side of the mountain and hoped it was shelter. He’d waited long enough. He needed to claim his mate.
As it had been down the hill, nothing stirred here. He could hear nothing moving under the trees—or in them—and smelled nothing in the air. As he got closer to the dark indention in the rock, he smiled. It was a cave.
Chapter Nine
Sara watched Toren walk away and wondered what she’d gotten herself in to. Less than a week on this miserable moon and it looked as if she was now shacking up with a local. What would people say?
What people?
The words whispered through her head. She snorted a laugh. What people, indeed? There was no one here other than Toren. Marcy was gone and as much as she hated thinking it, could very well be dead. Emma, the doom-and-gloom girl from the ship probably was, too. She hadn’t even run when they did, so she was probably easy pickings or she’d starved to death out in the wastes. Even if she found the girls who got away—assuming others did—what difference did it make what they thought? Would they care that the alien who caught them was the hottest thing they’d seen in years and seemed to want nothing more than to feed them and get a little kinky at night?
No. They probably wouldn’t. They’d be sucking him off every chance they got just so he wouldn’t leave them behind. If they had to be caught—and kept— by an alien, she was sure any one of those women she’d been stranded here with would have picked Toren and done it with a smile on her face as they spread her legs for him.
As hard as it was to admit, she needed him or she’d never survive. She knew nothing about this miserable moon, or what sort of creatures lived here, so if she had to repay Toren with late night slaps and tickles, then she’d do it because come end of the day—she was using him too.
And that upgrades you from slut to complete whore.
She sighed. Regardless of what that inner voice was saying, or what anyone back home would think, if she wanted to survive, she’d have to be smart and right now, staying with Toren was the smart thing to do. It also didn’t hurt that he was nice to look at.
Turning to look back up the hill, she wondered what was taking him so long. The incline was steep and now that she’d caught her breath, she could climb it. She dug her feet into the soil near the base of the hill, leaned over to grab hold of the tall grasses on the hillside and started up. Her ridiculous dress rode up her backside, but it couldn’t be helped. She slipped twice and made it halfway up when she heard what sounded like a snort or throaty groan of some kind. She looked up the hill and saw nothing other than one of those little orbs flying past. When she turned her head and looked behind
her, she froze.
The—thing—that stood at the base of the hill staring up at her made her blood run cold. It was easily seven foot tall with shaggy green and brown bushy spikes all along the top of its head. More of them sprouted off the thing’s shoulders and all down its back and from here it looked like an overgrown gnarly—tree. It opened its lipless mouth as it stared at her and she wasn’t sure if it was smiling or letting her see his dental work, which he had plenty of. She didn’t care either way and turned, dug her fingers into the hill hard enough to break what fingernails she had left and started scrambling up the bank. The thing at her back made another snorting sound and started up after her. She didn’t even have to look to know. She could hear him scrabbling over the rocks.
She was nearly to the top when it latched on to her ankle. She screamed as it yanked on her leg hard enough she fell flat on her belly. It started dragging her down the hill, rocks cutting into her skin on the way down and she managed to roll over to her back and kick at it.
The thing grabbed her other foot and jerked on her leg so hard it felt as if he’d pulled it out of place. “Toren!” She grabbed the grasses, scrambling to turn back over and was still screaming Toren’s name when the thing grabbed her by the throat, lifted her off the ground with one hand and shook her like a rag doll. Sara kicked and flailed and managed to get her hands up enough to dig her thumbs into the things eyes and flinched when it bellowed in pain or rage, she couldn’t tell which. His toothy mouth opened again in a snarl, a grumbling growl hissed from his throat before his hold on her neck tightened and he turned and threw her, her body flying down the rocky hill.
She hit the ground with a grunt, the air knocked from her lungs and she gasped for air. A roar loud enough to shake the trees echoed through the forest and as her body went numb, her vision going cloudy around the edges, she could have sworn she saw the dragon again. It grabbed the creature that had attacked her and bit off its head before picking up the rest of it and grinding it between its massive teeth.
It tasted as foul as it looked but it didn’t stop Toren from ending its life. He scanned the trees for more of them and saw nothing. He shifted, his muscles still twitching from the change when he dropped to his knees beside Sarra. She was on her stomach, limbs sprawled out beside her. Blood covered the backs of her legs and bottom and deep scratches ran down both her arms. He reached out and turned her gently, picking her up and cradling her in his arms. A cut on her forehead poured blood down her face to pool in her closed eyes. He growled, ground his teeth together and wanted to kill the thing that attacked her all over again.
Slowly.
Painfully.
One brutal bite at a time.
Toren stood and carried her back to the hill and started to climb up. The length of material he’d been wearing around his waist lay halfway up the embankment and he stopped long enough to grab it and resumed his climb.
The cave was a decent size and had nothing inside but dirt and old animal droppings. Something had bedded down here once but showed no signs it would be returning. Not that it mattered. It was his now. It wasn’t as large as his lair, nor as safe, but it would do.
He carried Sarra in and walked to the back wall, then squatted down, tossing the cloth out best he could while still holding her until it was spread out enough to lay her down. He pushed her hair away from her face and used a small corner of the cloth to wipe the blood from her eye. The garment she wore was torn, the material filthy. He tore it at the shoulders, ripping it down the center before pulling it out from under her.
Scratches and cuts covered her body and there was nothing here to clean her wounds. Nothing to cover them with. He turned to look around the cave. It was bare except for the tree limb he’d used to sweep the cave floor out with. He ground his teeth. He should have waited until Sarra was up here and safe before trying to tidy up this temporary lair. She wouldn’t have been hurt if he hadn’t been so impatient.
A swift breeze blew in the entrance. It was cooler here than it had been down by the river and the air that whistled through these mountains grew colder still at night. Sarra would need a fire and clothing to stay warm.
He pushed her hair back away from her face. She was his, his to protect and provide for and he was doing a poor job of it so far. He pulled the edges of the cloth under her up around her best he could and used the ruined remains of her garment to cover the rest. He tucked it under her chin and stood, striding out of the cave, and looked across the grassy area on the ridge. A few large rocks lay not far from the cave entrance. It wasn’t much but would have to do. He shifted again, crossed to the largest boulder and rolled it toward the cave. He blocked the majority of the entrance and gave Sarra one last glance before jumping into the sky, staying low to the top of the trees and hoped those orbs or the wyvern didn’t spot him.
Scanning the horizon, he searched for signs of smoke and scented the air. Those creatures that lived here now had been gathering in small clusters before he hid in the temple, so he knew there were probably camps scattered all over the area by now, he just had to find them. He’d flown in a wide circle around the mountain and decided to go further out when he caught the scent of unwashed flesh, feces, and smoke. He spread his wings and rose higher, scanning the trees and saw the smoke a few moments later.
The camp wasn’t large, but it was big enough to provide what he needed. He drew back his mouth so his fangs were showing and hissed a breath of fire. When those he could see looked up, he swooped low, watching as they screamed and scattered into the trees.
It was easy picking once they’d run. He shifted with ease and hurried through the camp, grabbing every scrap of clothing he could find and tossing them into a few baskets he’d found. Bowls made from carved wood, soft bladders filled with liquid he assumed was water, a thick mattress that had to be softer than the cold ground, and dried meats wrapped in oiled cloth.
He shifted again, lifted what he could and scooped the rest into his mouth before taking to the sky, staying low to the trees. He’d not seen any of those orbs flying nearby but he wasn’t going to take a chance by flying high enough to be seen if any were close.
The boulder he’d placed in front of the cave entrance was pushed away with ease. He dropped the things he’d taken from the camp and shifted, picked everything up again and entered the cave, laying his stolen goods against the wall near Sarra. She was still unconscious, the blood no longer oozing from her cuts. They were dry and crusty now, dirt filling the scratches.
He sorted through the things he’d taken, uncorked the soft skins filled with liquid, pleased to find they did hold water and tore a few of the scraps of clothing into strips. Filling one of the bowls with water, he sat at Sarra’s side and washed her skin, removing the dirt and dried blood until she was as pale pink as a hatchlings belly. When he’d washed every inch of her, he covered her with a length of cloth and made a mental list of all the other things they still needed.
He’d failed Sarra by not protecting her today but he’d not do so again. If he had to shadow her every step he would. He wanted her and as much as he knew she enjoyed his attention, he wanted more. He wanted her to want him in return and showing her he could provide and protect her was the surest way to achieve that. If it took a small eternity, he’d prove he could be a good mate for her and he’d start showing her the moment she woke but first, he had more things to gather. Kissing her brow he stood, walked back out of the cave and heaved the boulder back over the entrance. Peeking around the edge of the rock, he gave her one last look before turning and darting into the trees.
Sara opened her eyes and saw orange flickering lights dance off stone walls. She was on her belly and it took a few minutes of looking around to realize that other than a fire not far from where she lay, she was surrounded by darkness.
She rolled to one side and braced her hand to sit up, groaning as every inch of her body protested. A thick padding lay underneath her, a long length of cloth draped over her body. She saw movement to
her right and blinked in that direction, wincing as whatever it was headed her way. She fell back to the ground trying to remember what happened.
Something cool touched her back. She opened her eyes to see Toren now sitting next to her.
“Don’t try to move,” he said, laying something against her back. “Not yet.” That coolness touched every surface of her skin. When it hit her bottom, she tensed. “I’m just putting the nosha leaves on your abrasions, nothing more.” His hands moved to the back of her legs a moment later and the coolness intensified.
“What happened?”
He didn’t say anything for a long while, just continued to sit by her side and bathe her skin. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his hands on her and tried to remember. It was all a bit fuzzy and she wasn’t sure if the things she remembered were real or a dream. The tree-monster-thing had been real. Her body hurt too much for it not to have been. She’d been laying on the rocky hill, being dragged by one foot, screaming for Toren while fire raced up the entirety of her backside as it dragged her over the jagged rocks on that hill. It all went a bit dark there, trees and dirt flashing in her memory and what she thought was that big blue dragon that had snatched her from the sky when she’d fallen off the cliff.
She tried to remember more but couldn’t. She had to have dreamed some of what happened. If the dragon had been there, she wouldn’t be here. At least, she didn’t think she would.
She dozed off and on, the fire burning down quite a bit before Toren ran the back of his finger down the side of her face. She blinked up at him, their earlier conversation filling her head again. “Where are we?”
Toren brushed her hair back. “I don’t know what the creature that attacked you was. It smelled of dirt and rotting leaves and nothing more.” A muscle in his jaw ticked. “I don’t know if it was already at the bottom of that hill or came at you after I’d come up here.”
