Her Cold-Blooded Protector

by Lea Linnett

  And standing in the doorway was Kormak.

  He dwarfed the tiny shop, almost comically, his plated head reaching the ceiling and his broad frame silhouetted against the orange light streaming in through the windows. The shadows were so dark that she almost wouldn’t have been able to tell it was him, if not for the ill-fitting clothes and the deep, familiar calm of his voice.

  “Kormak,” she breathed, barely above a whisper.

  She almost didn’t dare to believe it when he stepped forward. All at once, the lights in the shop caught the planes of his face, revealing familiar lines and that ever-present scar. Pure relief washed over his features as he laid eyes on her, and she surged forward without thought. His huge arms wrapped around her as she cannoned into him, lifting her off her feet for a brief second before pulling her close.

  “You’re alive,” she gasped, but flinched back when her squeezing grip made him wince. “What happened?”

  “Malcolm wasn’t there,” Kormak explained as she inspected the bruises on his neck. They were gray and blotchy, and some of his scales had lifted at the corners. “Just his leftovers. They weren’t happy to see me.”

  She touched his arm, but he jerked it back automatically. “…Broken,” he said, shrugging on his opposite side.

  “We need to splint this,” Lena muttered to herself, and turned to find both Ellie and Augusta staring at them. Ellie’s eyes were wide with shock, but Augusta’s brows had dipped into a frown. “Do you have anything we could use?”

  Augusta’s eyes narrowed. “This is the levekk you traveled with?” she asked, switching to Yumin Tok.

  Lena nodded. “He’s hurt. The break needs to be straightened out.”

  Augusta was silent for a long moment before she finally nodded, pulling her shawl a little tighter and disappearing into the kitchen.

  Lena turned to her sister. “This is Kormak,” she said, smiling as Ellie’s huge eyes swung between them.

  “H-hello,” she stuttered, and Lena could tell her hesitation was from nervousness. She’d been speaking Trade since she was a child.

  Kormak dipped his head, smiling despite his obvious discomfort. “You’re Ellie?”

  Ellie blinked, her eyes flying to Lena. “You talked about me!” she hissed in Yumin Tok.

  Lena laughed. “Duh.”

  Ellie didn’t say anything, content to stare up at Kormak like he was a particularly fascinating species of bug until Lena herded the two of them into the kitchen.

  ---

  Kormak was dragged from the front room of the quaint little clothier’s into the kitchen out back. He was forced into a chair—which he lowered himself onto gingerly due to its small size—and before he could protest, the woman who he assumed was Augusta was shooing the two younger women away and approaching him with her arms raised.

  She snatched up his forearm and roughly straightened the bone, earning a grunt of pain. Ignoring him, she lay a broken wooden ladle along the fracture and swaddled it up in some leftover fabric she’d brought from the front room.

  With that done, the old woman shuffled away without a word, her brow set in what seemed to be a permanent scowl.

  Lena’s hand found his, squeezing him comfortingly. He squeezed back, despite the twinge it sent through the muscles of his arm, and she let go again, her eyes darting up to Augusta. The old woman hadn’t seen, but Lena’s sister was staring, a secretive expression on her face.

  “Thank you,” he said to the older woman in Trade, and she nodded tersely. She said something in Yumin Tok to Lena, who replied in the same. Neither Malcolm nor any of the humans in his old crew had taught Kormak more than a word or two in their language, and he regretted not pursuing it now. Not being able to understand what was happening around him was making him nervous.

  He turned to Lena. “Did you have any trouble with enforcers?” he asked, voice low.

  She smiled, her eyes drinking him in while Augusta’s back was turned. “Nah. Had to hide in the laundry chute earlier today but that was fine.”

  He made a move to reach out to her beneath the table, but her hand stilled his. She turned to her family. “Could we have a moment alone?” she asked them, in Trade this time.

  Augusta still looked unhappy, but she allowed Ellie to lead her from the room. Kormak heard their feet ascending the stairs, and let out a sigh.

  He locked eyes with Lena. “You’re hiding something from Augusta.”

  Her smile was bashful. “Yep. I, uh… Don’t think she’d approve.”

  “Of me?”

  “Of us.”

  He took her hand, running a claw down her palm. Pink tinged her cheeks as she looked up at him. “So where’s Malcolm?”

  He dropped his gaze. “Kharon.” Lena sucked in a surprised gasp. “Yep,” he chuckled. “Couldn’t have chosen a worse time to escape if I’d tried.”

  Lena shook her head softly. “I’m so sorry…”

  “No,” Kormak said, twining their fingers together. “I’d still do it all over again.”

  Her grip tightened on his, her lips parting. He looked down, enjoying the way her golden fingertips matched his scales.

  “I missed you,” he murmured softly.

  Lena’s face flushed red, her lashes fluttering as she smiled. “I missed you, too. I wasn’t even sure if you were still alive.”

  Kormak’s gut twisted with shame and he pulled her in close, shuffling his chair towards her so he could cradle her against him with his good arm. Her body was warm against his, but it wasn’t yet enough to melt the ice that had taken root inside him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, and felt her breath hitch. He pulled back, running his hand down her arm. “I shouldn’t have left.”

  “Kormak—”

  “No. The things I said to you… I didn’t know if you would accept me if I came back here. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.” He cupped her face with his hand, his claws resting gently against her cheek as they locked eyes. “I’m so sorry, Lena. I’m sorry that I let you think, even for a moment, that this didn’t mean something to me.”

  Lena blinked up at him with wide eyes, her pulse quickening beneath his palm. She covered his hand with hers.

  “I’m sorry, too,” she said. “I should have tried harder to stop you. I tried to focus on Ellie, but…” Her lip trembled. “I couldn’t forgive myself for letting you go.”

  “Lena, you saved my life. You’re the only reason I ever had a choice to begin with, and I was too wrapped up in Malcolm to see that. I should have listened to you.”

  She stared into his eyes, and this close, he could see all the tiny flecks of light and shadow in hers. “I still should have told you. How much I care for you. How much I…” She struggled with the words, frowning at herself.

  “I know,” Kormak whispered. He pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead, delighting in the smoothness of her strange skin and hair against his lips. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I was stupid to walk away from that. I was trying so hard to protect you from myself that I ended up doing the opposite.”

  Lena gave him a wobbly smile, her eyebrows angling sadly. “I never needed protecting from you, Kormak.”

  He tried to come up with a reply to that, but his mind had gone blank. With her face framed by golden strands and her pink lips parted, she was the most beautiful human—the most beautiful being—that he’d ever seen, and he found himself leaning forward without thinking, capturing her mouth with his. She kissed him deeply, their mouths fitting together as if they’d been made for each other, despite the differences in their physiology.

  His heart soared as she sighed happily into the kiss, and he pulled her closer and closer until she was half in his lap, the rickety chair groaning beneath their combined weight. His skin tingled wherever her golden fingers touched him, and for the first time in days, he felt alive.

  The kiss was long, but chaste, and Kormak’s chest lit up with a fire that he hadn’t felt since they parted. It rushed through him, warming
him to the tips of his clawed fingers and toes.

  But that warmth turned chill when a sharp gasp cut through the silence. They snapped apart, their heads whirling round to see Augusta in the doorway, her shaking hands clasped over her mouth.

  28

  “I want him out of my house.”

  The directive was quiet but firm, Augusta’s frown unmoving.

  “Augusta,” Lena began, but the woman held up a hand.

  “I can understand you forming a friendship with him after what you went through—but this?” She shook her head in disgust. “Lena, how could you?”

  Something in Lena’s chest seized at Augusta’s tone. Disappointment laced every inch of the older woman’s face, her mouth set in a thin line. Lena stood from her chair.

  “Augusta, please. Kormak isn’t—”

  “Don’t tell me he isn’t like the others. You’re young. You haven’t seen what they do to us.”

  “Augusta.”

  “Did I never tell you about my family?” Augusta snapped, taking one step into the kitchen. Lena fell silent. Augusta’s past had always been hidden behind an unscalable wall, a well-guarded secret that only saw the light in hints and snatches. Behind Augusta, she saw Ellie standing frozen by the foot of the staircase, her eyes wide.

  “They were slaughtered,” Augusta continued, her hands shaking as she crossed to the kitchen sink. “My parents fought for a better life—one free of levekk rule. And instead, they received death. The levekk turned an entire quarter into rubble to get to them. I was only spared because I was running an errand elsewhere. I was fourteen.”

  Lena opened her mouth but the older woman glared her down. “When I was thirty, the levekk military raided our wayhouse. They suspected that we were housing terrorists. I lost my husband, my child, the meager home we’d built…”

  “Augusta, please.” Lena dropped her gaze, unable to look upon the sorrow in her guardian’s eyes. She’d always known the woman’s hatred for the levekk ran deep, but this… “I’m so sorry.”

  “If you are sorry, then you’ll remove him now,” Augusta bit out, her voice hard. When Lena looked up, the pain etched so deeply into the woman’s face had been replaced by blistering anger, so intense it scared her.

  “Augusta, Kormak isn’t military. He left that life. The people who hurt you are the same ones who locked him away in prison.”

  “Don’t you dare call them people!” Augusta spat. “They’re monsters—and I’ll no longer allow one under my roof. And I will not allow this.” She gestured roughly between them, her lip curling. Lena felt it like a punch to the gut.

  “Please…” She no longer knew what to say, her shoulders drooping under the onslaught of hatred that now rolled off Augusta’s taut frame.

  The woman reached behind her blindly, snatching up the old electric phone that sat attached to the wall. It was an old technology, jerry-rigged to work with the solar panels on the roof and rarely used, but Lena knew it could contact the emergency services.

  “I will call them,” Augusta whispered. “If he doesn’t leave, I will report him.”

  And you… Lena heard the unspoken addition and her heart ached. “Augusta, please,” she found herself repeating. “W-we’re family.”

  “Not if he stays,” Augusta snarled, her eyes blazing. “I won’t allow you to—submit yourself to this monster, Lena! I thought you were stronger than that.”

  Lena’s chest opened like a crevasse, as if something were wrenching her ribcage open to wrap its fingers around her heart. “You don’t mean that.”

  But Augusta’s expression was grave. “Either you send him away, or you will never be welcome in this house again.”

  Behind the woman, Ellie gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. “Augusta…” she whimpered.

  Was being with Kormak a sign of weakness? For a moment, doubt seized her. Lena wasn’t ready to leave. She ached to stay with her sister for just a little while longer. She might still be able to convince her not to go to the city. She might be able to evade the authorities and pick up her life where she left off. It would be so easy to stay…

  But then she would lose Kormak.

  Going off-world with him was still scary. The prospect of never being able to return and never seeing her sister again was downright terrifying.

  But facing those things wasn’t weakness. It was strength.

  Because being with Kormak would probably never be easy. Even off-world, there’d be those who saw it as revolting.

  And she wanted him anyway.

  She breathed in deeply, her hands shaking. “I’m sorry, Augusta…”

  Wordlessly, she picked up Kormak’s hand. He had been sitting silently while they argued, unable to comprehend the rushed syllables of their language, but he stood readily. He searched Lena’s eyes. “Time to go,” she murmured in Trade, and saw his eyes widen in sympathy.

  “I’m sorry it ended like this,” Lena said to Augusta. “Thank you for looking after Ellie. And me.”

  The woman said nothing, the phone still grasped tightly in her hand, and Lena looked away. Her heart thumped as she crossed the threshold of the kitchen, Kormak in tow, and it only quickened when Ellie rushed forward, pulling her into a hug.

  “I love you,” Ellie whimpered.

  “Love you too.” Lena choked a little on the words. “Be careful in the city.”

  Ellie looked up at her, eyes glossy with tears. “I will, I promise.” She looked up at Kormak. “Look after my sister,” she said in Trade.

  “I will.”

  Ellie turned back to Lena, a sharpness in her eye. “And I don’t have to tell you to look after him—you won’t be able to help yourself.”

  Lena blinked, and then laughed helplessly despite the anguish she felt in her heart. “I’ll miss you.” She looked into her sister’s eyes. “I’ll find a way to contact you. I will see you again.”

  Ellie sniffed, real tears rolling down her cheeks now. “I know.”

  They hugged tightly once more, and Lena tried to memorize everything she could about this moment. Ellie wouldn’t cry into her shoulder ever again after this farewell. She wouldn’t chatter excitedly about the new dress she made, or darn Lena’s gloves before she left for the factory.

  She gave her sister a hard squeeze, and let her go, feeling something coiled tight inside her finally release.

  “Goodbye, Ellie.”

  She let Kormak take her hand again, felt the comforting solidity of his bony fingers between hers, and followed him out the door.

  Epilogue

  Lena let out a earth-shattering sigh as she slipped into their bedroom. It was more like a nook, really, a tiny alcove on the massive cargo freighter that Brando had managed to secure them a spot on. It had almost been too easy; Brando seemed to have half the off-planet export industry in New Chicago wrapped around his claw, and they were happy to house his fugitives in exchange for unpaid labor as long as their IDs held up to outside scrutiny. And with Brando’s connections, they did so with ease.

  Lena was on the engineering crew, providing spot-fixes for anything that so much as beeped wrong, and Kormak was on security. No one looked twice at him prowling the halls, not when half of his colleagues were levekk as well—either ex-military or private muscle-for-hire. Lena had always thought the levekk were bound to the rigid social structure of the military government, but outside Earth, they seemed to have a lot more room to move.

  Kormak was waiting for her when she entered. Their room was so narrow that he could scoop her into his arms from where he sat on the edge of the tiny double bed. His broken arm was already fully healed, the cast he’d been put into by Brando’s xylidian doctor friend having come off a few days earlier, and he seemed to be relishing the freedom of movement. She squawked as he pulled her close, pressing his face into her breasts and breathing deep.

  “Ew, Kormak, I haven’t showered!” she yelled, but laid her arms around his plated head nonetheless.

  He shifted against her, nuzzling
her collarbone. “And?”

  She laughed, squeezing his head briefly before letting go. “And it’s time to get clean. They’re opening the mess soon and I wanna get my hands on those flavored protein bars.”

  She made to back away, but Kormak’s grip on her waist remained firm. “I have an idea…” he began, slowly reaching up to take her hands in one of his, “…that is so much better.”

  “Oh yeah?” she said, but her breath hitched as the levekk’s claws caught on her thick gloves, peeling them off one-by-one. He always started here, and at this point it took all of her willpower not to get excited whenever she had to take her gloves off, even just to wash her hands.

  He dropped the gloves to the floor and pressed his lips to her golden fingertips, sucking gently on one as he gazed at her. She felt a flutter of arousal deep in her belly. There was something so intimate in the gesture, as if he were giving her control. “Why is it always the hands?” she found herself asking, mesmerized by the alien before her.

  He released her, letting her caress his jaw instead. “I love your hands,” he said softly, too softly for a creature that could punch holes into walls with his bare fingers. “They fix things, make things. They pulled me out of a river. Plus,” he added, watching her coyly, “the Dust makes it look like I rubbed some of my color off on you.”

  Lena blinked down at him, watching her gold-speckled fingers splay across his sandy skin. They did look like they belonged together, she marveled.

  She grinned. “You smooth talker.”

  Kormak smiled back, pulling her down for a kiss. “I have a lot of words to make up for.”

  Lena hummed happily as his lips met hers, and no time was wasted before his tongue invaded her. She kissed him fiercely, pausing only to gasp as he ripped open the front of her jumpsuit. She leaned into him, happy for him to push the fabric down over her shoulders and hips, taking her underwear with it. Between Kharon and the cargo ship, she felt like she’d been living in jumpsuits for half her life, and she looked forward to escaping them whenever she could. She kicked it away and set about unzipping Kormak from his own uniform, her mouth never leaving his.