by Leslie Chase
Picking up one of the verkesh’s guns, she tried to wrap her fingers around the firing mechanism. No good — her human fingers wouldn't fit through the small trigger guard, and the grip was made for hands entirely unlike hers. Or mine, for that matter. Even if we'd been able to modify the guns so that we could fire them at all, there was no chance that we'd be accurate shots with them. A pity, it would have been good to have a weapon if we were going to be hunted.
Instead, I took the time to pick up each weapon and twist their barrels out of true. No point in leaving our enemies more weapons to find. The shock batons that a couple of the verkesh carried were more adaptable though, and I kept a pair. Better than nothing.
"Come, Your Highness," I told Immorata when I'd finished. "Let's get moving before another pack of hunters descends on us."
9
Hope
The alien forest was no less oppressive at night, but at least this time I had Xendar's company to make me feel safer. It was strange to be comforted by his presence after I'd spent so much effort trying to get away from him.
But he had saved my life and protected me from the other aliens. He'd searched for me and found me, leaped into battle and risked his life for me. And all that after he'd saved my life after the explosion in orbit. I might be stuck with him, but that didn't seem as bad as being on my own now.
Shuddering, I remembered the sight of him charging to my rescue. The spindly spider aliens had me pinned to the ground, and God alone knew what they were planning to do to me when he'd appeared out of the darkness like an avenging angel. I'd never seen anyone move like that, so smooth and deadly — it was like a scene in a movie, except that the blood was real.
Of the six aliens who'd captured me, he'd killed five almost before I could react. It was incredible, and almost beautiful. Someone who'd charge into gunfire to protect me was someone I had to respect, and I couldn't deny that I wanted to stick close to him now. It wasn't just for my safety, either.
Something had awoken in me at the sight of Xendar fighting for my safety. I caught myself thinking about his powerful, lethal body and blushed, glad that the night was too dark for him to see my face.
"Here," he said quietly, interrupting my thoughts with a raised hand. I could hardly see him in the dark, let alone anything else, but I stopped and crouched beside him.
"This is their vehicle," he whispered. "Stay behind this tree. I'm going to make sure there's no sentry."
Part of me wanted to object to being left behind, but he was gone before I could sort out what I wanted to say. Suddenly I was alone in the darkness, clinging to a tree that didn't feel quite right somehow. I was incredibly aware of the noises of the alien forest all around me, the sounds of strange creatures moving through the undergrowth.
Any of them could be a deadly predator. Any of them could have been moving towards me as I waited, seeing me as a big juicy prey animal. I shuddered, my body tensing up as I looked around futilely in the darkness.
A hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped, yelling in panic before I realized it was Xendar returning. He chuckled, and my panic turned to anger, but my kick hurt my foot more than his shin. Damn it, why couldn't I have had some sensible shoes?
"The craft's abandoned," Xendar said, ignoring my pointless assault. "Let's get inside and we can clean up."
I'd almost managed to forget the sticky coating of blood I was wearing until he said that. The idea of being clean again was enough to make me forget my fright and follow him into the vehicle. It was too dark to see much of the outside, just a big shape of metal and hard edges. I thought it was about the size of a truck, or a big bus, but it was hard to tell.
The doors opened at Xendar's command and we stepped inside. It wasn't exactly appealing. There was mess everywhere, piles of discarded packaging and blankets strewn across the hard metal floor. But there was light, at least, and a surprisingly large space.
Distressingly, it was mostly filled by four large cages. That made sense for a group of bounty hunters, but it didn't make me any happier to see where they'd planned to put me. At least all the cages were empty, and we didn't have to worry about what to do with any prisoners.
Beyond the cages was a small living area, which must have been pretty cramped for the six verkesh hunters. It didn't have much in the way of amenities, just a tiny kitchen and a small shower area. The sight of that drew me in fast — in that moment there was nothing I wanted more than to get clean.
Xendar chuckled behind me and I paused, looking back. He was watching me with an intensity that was at once frightening and exciting, and I found myself biting my lip before he turned away, stepping past the living area to the vehicle's cockpit.
"Wash up," he told me curtly as he went. "I will see if I can get this pile of junk started."
There was something in his tone that I couldn't place, and I found myself almost disappointed as he vanished through a curtain to the front of the vehicle. It wasn't that I wanted him to watch me shower. I didn't think so, anyway. But there was something about the idea of him looking at me that I couldn't get out of my head as I struggled out of the too-complicated dress.
The vehicle started with a growl and a shudder just as I managed to get the water flowing. It was unpleasantly cold and there didn't seem to be any temperature controls, but that didn't matter if it would get me clean. The water smelled of something harsh and antiseptic, which was probably a good thing, but it didn't make showering any more pleasant. I wished I had some proper soap, some shampoo, anything. Back home on Earth I had a drawer full of different soaps...
No. I couldn't let myself dwell on home. Earth seemed farther away than ever, and I was stuck here. I had to make the best of it.
Washing quickly but thoroughly I made sure that there were no traces of the bloody battle or the long march through the forest left on my body and then shut off the water again. There were rough scraps of cloth beside the shower that would have to serve as towels, unpleasant as they were. At least they seemed to be clean, which was a small mercy. As soon as I was dry — well, damp was about the closest I could get — I got dressed and pushed my way through the heavy curtain to the front of the vehicle.
To my surprise we were in motion. While I'd noticed the engine starting, I hadn't felt anything since then and assumed that Xendar was waiting for me to finish showering before he drove off. Nope. It seemed that the vehicle, 'pile of junk' or not, drove so smoothly that I hadn't noticed.
Xendar turned and looked at me with a frown. He was crouched over in the driver's seat looking awkward in the tiny space. The chair was clearly not built for someone like him, and there was hardly space for his tail.
At least his hands could grip the controls, unlike the guns he'd had to leave behind. That was something.
"My princess," he greeted me, looking back to the road. "I'm sorry that the accommodations I can offer don't meet your standards."
That surprised a laugh out of me, and I grinned with genuine humor. I didn't know if he'd meant that as a joke, but it was a funny one either way.
"Xendar, I'm just glad to be clean and away from those creatures. This is better than I expected a few hours ago."
"You should not have gone off on your own," he said, a chiding note in his voice. "Without guards you're a prize of fabulous value to anyone who recognizes you. And you have not exactly kept your face out of the public eye."
I thought of all the art aboard the Shadow of a Forgotten Love and how much of it showed Princess Immorata's — my — face. No, I didn't expect she was shy about broadcasting her appearance to the galaxy. Thanks a lot, I thought at my errant double. That was another thing she'd done to get me into trouble.
And I couldn't exactly explain why I'd run away to Xendar, either. He seemed to think I'd just been silly, not that I was trying to escape from him as much as from anyone else. That plan was well and truly behind me now, though: he was right, without someone to look after me I'd end up captured by someone else. Better to stick with
the captor who hadn't tried to hurt me.
Not only that, I reminded myself. Xendar didn't even know he was my captor.
"I thought I should get help," I explained. "You were hurt, trapped in your suit, and I didn't know what else to do."
It was, at least, partly true. I had worried about him and wanted to get help to him. That just hadn't been my main goal in running away.
He nodded, accepting my explanation without objection, and I breathed a little easier.
"Thank you," he said after a pause. "I am grateful that you tried to help, even if the way you chose to do it was stupid."
My jaw tightened at that, but I couldn't argue. Not after I'd run straight into a pack of slavers in my efforts to get away. Trying to get comfortable, I sat down in the copilot's seat and squirmed. Chairs made for aliens with six legs are not comfortable for humans, it turns out.
"Where are we headed?" I asked. "The spaceport?"
"Yes, we have to get off-world," Xendar answered. "Or at least make contact with my family and get help. I'm supposed to bring you home myself, that's the tradition, but I won't hold your safety hostage to my customs. Either way, though, we need to contact civilization and the spaceport is the only way to do that."
He pointed at the hologram hanging in front of the windshield as though the strange icons ought to mean something to me.
"We'll arrive in an hour or so. I've taken us on a roundabout course so that anyone watching won't see us coming back from the direction of the crash. Perhaps that's paranoid, but I will not take chances with your safety."
I smiled a little at that and nodded. "Maybe you should take the chance to clean up, too? This thing doesn't seem that hard to drive."
In fact, Xendar hardly seemed to be paying any attention to the road at all. Outside the dark wilderness drifted past in eerie silence, our lights catching the occasional rock or tree as we went. Xendar looked at me dubiously and then gave me a reluctant nod. I felt for him, torn between washing off the green blood that had dried on his spines and keeping control of the vehicle.
"Come on, it's not like I've never learned to drive. Show me how, and I'll be careful, I promise."
"Very well," he conceded. "The verkesh have a decent autopilot, so I suppose it will be safe enough. Here, let me show you how the controls work."
My breath caught as he stood and reached over me, taking my hands and guiding them to the controls. His touch sent a wave of sensation through me and for a moment that was all I was aware of. The feel of his skin, his warmth, his presence. I realized that he was talking and flushed, trying to focus on what he was saying.
"Princess?"
"Yes, all right," I snapped. "I get it."
Maybe pretending that I'd heard what he'd said, that I'd paid attention to his lesson, was a bad idea. No, it definitely was — but I wasn't going to admit that I couldn't think about driving while he was touching me. My pride wouldn't let me.
Watching me dubiously Xendar stepped back, leaving my hands on the controls. They seemed smooth and easy enough to handle, and we didn't immediately veer off course or stall. Maybe it really was that simple?
"I'll just be on the other side of the curtain," he told me. "Shout if you have any trouble."
"I'm fine," I said. Almost snarled, really. "Just go, will you? You're distracting me."
I wasn't sure if the noise he made was frustration or suppressed laughter, but he went. The control stick tugged to the right and I held on, trying to work out how to steer this damned thing. It wasn't too hard, but the controls were made for hands with three long fingers and I had trouble getting a grip.
At least the display in front of me showed the course we should be taking. That made it easier — all I needed to do was keep us pointed between the markers and we should get to where we were going without too much trouble.
Behind me the shower started up. I felt my cheeks heat as I thought about Xendar undressing and getting under the water stream, and it was an effort to keep my eyes on the landscape outside.
There was nothing out there, no obstacles ahead as far as our headlights shone. I risked a glance back over my shoulder, but the heavy, ugly curtain that divided the living area from the cockpit blocked my view.
God dammit.
Was I really that keen to see what Xendar looked like naked? I tried to deny it, but it wasn't easy. Just the thought of him under the water made me squirm and I bit my lip. One quick look couldn't hurt.
Taking one hand off the controls, I leaned back in my chair and carefully reached out to part the curtain. Just a little, enough for a peek. I told myself that was all I needed.
There he was. Standing under the lukewarm water, Xendar was like a magnificent statue carved by a mad sculptor. His deep blue body looked solid, as though he were carved from flexible stone, the muscles moving smoothly as he washed himself. There was no way to mistake him for human, not with his tail and armor plates, and the razor-sharp spines that emerged from his limbs.
Human or not, he was the hottest man that I'd ever seen. My eyes drank in his beauty as he moved under the stream of water with an unconscious grace that reminded me of a dancer. My heart raced, and I found myself holding my breath as I followed the running water down his chest, across his sculpted six pack...
My cheeks burned as I looked between his legs and saw his cock. His huge, heavy, alien cock, with ridges along its length. Looking at it, I bit my lower lip. I couldn't help wondering how anyone could manage something that big — and then I found myself imagining it, what it would feel like against me, inside me.
Crunch.
My attention jerked back to the window in time to see the rock I'd scraped us against slip past on the left. Instinctively I pulled at the steering, veering violently away from it and then overcorrecting as the vehicle tipped under me. For a horrified moment I thought I was going to roll us over but then the vehicle righted itself with a crash and we were settled back on course.
Behind me I heard a shouted curse from Xendar and couldn't help giggling at the image of him tumbling out of the shower naked. It was shock and relief that made me laugh, but I felt a swell of guilt as I clutched the wheel and focused my attention on the path ahead. I couldn't afford to get distracted by him again.
Even the thought of looking made me blush though, and I couldn't stop myself from thinking about him. It was a relief when Xendar stepped back through the curtain, dressed again. Mostly a relief, anyway — part of me was disappointed, but I was glad to hand the controls back to him.
"What happened?" he asked as he contorted himself back into the awkward seat.
"I'm so—" I caught myself before I apologized. A princess wouldn't, would she? And I needed to keep the masquerade up. "I mean, it was fine. I just got distracted for a moment, that's all."
Was that a knowing look he gave me? I felt my cheeks heat again and glowered, but if he was laughing at me he didn't let it show. He just nodded and drove us on into the darkness, towards whatever waited for us at the port.
10
Xendar
Erdush's spaceport was like a wound in the side of a beautiful creature, carved out of the plains with no concern for the damage done to the surroundings. I hated it as soon as I saw it.
But I didn't have to like it. We wouldn't be here long, just long enough to find a ship or to arrange for one to come and rescue us. That was my plan, anyway. Looking over at my princess, asleep in the copilot's chair, I knew I had to get her to safety as swiftly as possible. Not just for her sake, either.
Even now, word would be getting out about the Darkfang's destruction. Once people thought that we were dead, accusations would start to fly — and soon after, missiles would follow. The war our mating was supposed to prevent might already be starting, and soon enough there would be no stopping it. We had to get to safety.
I chuckled darkly under my breath. Sure, that was the voice of my duty, and it was all true. But it wasn't the real reason I needed to do this. No, I needed to keep th
e princess safe for her own sake, and that it would save billions of lives was secondary. She mattered more to me.
Looking away from her, I guided our stolen vehicle in amongst the buildings of the port. It was a ramshackle place like most illicit ports were, buildings thrown together out of whatever materials were at hand and then expanded on as facilities sprang up. There were discarded cargo modules, old ships that had rusted in place, and the occasional actual building someone had put together out of local wood or stone. Some of the land near the port was being farmed, but it looked like most of the food was imported — which at least meant regular, relatively legitimate transports. That might be our best way off this planet, if we couldn't use the verkesh ship.
No one paid us any mind as I drove to the edge of the landing field and looked out at the five ships parked there. That was more ships than I'd expected to see, and I couldn't tell at a glance which one belonged to the verkesh. Great.
Reaching out to the princess I gently shook her shoulder. She blinked awake, face going from sleep to confused to horrified before she got control of herself and sat up as straight as the verkesh chair would let her.
"Wha?" she mumbled, then blinked and wiped her eyes. "I mean, what is it? Are we there?"
"Yes, Your Highness," I told her, "we've arrived at the port. But I'm going to have to go and get some answers before we can leave the planet. Stay here until I return."
She didn't look happy at that, and I hadn't expected her to. "I don't want to be stuck in here."
"I know you don't, but it's the only way to be safe. Out there, who knows who might recognize you? And anyway, you look like you need some proper rest. These chairs don't work for either of us."
She didn't look happy about that, but she couldn't resist yawning. A night in the cockpit couldn't have been very restful for her.
"Okay, fine," she said, in the tone of one making an unwelcome admission. "I'll try to actually sleep. But don't be too long, okay? And bring back something to eat. I'm famished."
