by S. E. Smith
“Goddess, but I want to know more about that female,” he chuckled.
He turned and stiffly rose to his feet with a smothered groan. Maybe he had moved a little too soon. He gently rubbed his bruised male pride to make sure his balls were indeed still there.
“Reminder to myself—do not pull her to you facing forward. Remember to turn her so that she cannot knee your hope for a pleasurable future,” he said with a derisive shake of his head.
He stretched to work out his soreness, then looked up at the sky. It would be dark soon. He knew which way she was heading. He now needed to figure out a way to catch her.
Bending, he picked up a couple of fist-sized rocks and thought for a moment. No, he wouldn’t knock her out, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tie her up. If only there was a nearby supply store to purchase some rope!
“I’m sure she would be happy to wait for me while I try to find one,” he chuckled.
He dropped the rocks and ran a hand over his aching groin once more before he started across the plateau. The landscape reminded him a lot of the area around his home. Tearraid, the capital city of the Sand Tearnats, named after the planet, was built on a plateau very similar to this one, only it was surrounded by desert instead of forests.
Gril followed Madas’s tracks until it became too dark to see. He stopped near a cluster of thick bushes and sank down onto a rock. Lost in thought, he picked up several small stones. He was about to toss them when he heard Madas’s soft voice.
He stood and silently turned, the pebbles falling from his hand to the coarse sand. His sharp eyes scanned the area, searching for the spot from where her voice had come. A slow grin curved his lips when she spoke again—now he was getting somewhere. He silently closed the distance between them.
“I hope he is bright enough to stop for the night. What if he falls in one of the crevices? Even with the moon rising, there isn’t much light to navigate by,” she fretted.
Gril crouched down and peered through the bush. He could see Madas’s silhouette through the branches. She was sitting on the ground with her back against a log, gently wiping off the dried mud from her pant leg. L’eon was lying on her satchel.
He held his breath when L’eon turned his head and looked in his direction. His eyebrow rose when the little lizard grinned. Was that wily creature playing with them both?
He sat down on the ground and listened as she quietly continued to worry about him. His hand moved to his crotch. He wished she had shown as much concern when she had kneed him.
“We are almost to the ravine. Once he is on the other side of the bridge, we’ll be done with him,” she said.
Her tone made him think she was trying to convince herself of that, or maybe she was trying to bolster her confidence in whatever it was she thought she was doing with this absurd game of ‘Follow the Leader’. He couldn’t quite put his finger on everything he was hearing in her voice. Luckily, she continued talking to L’eon.
“He can continue north to the desert settlement that Father told me about, and we will return to his spaceship, and fly… somewhere. We’ll go to a place where no one will ever tell us what to do again,” she said.
L’eon made a humming noise that descended in tone, then made a sound that mimicked an explosion. Gril swallowed the chuckle that almost escaped him when the little lizard’s two front feet flew up in the air. Madas snorted and shook her head.
“I would rather die trying to escape than be mated to a male who would abuse me,” she murmured.
Gril’s fingers curled into a fist. Now he knew why she—or rather L’eon—had taken the part. What concerned him almost as much as the idea of Madas being mated with another male was the fact that the little lizard felt pretty confident that she would crash if she tried to pilot his fighter .
He stared through the bushes. It was impossible to see Madas’s expression, but he could hear the determination in her voice—and the desperation. Rising to his feet, he made an impulsive decision.
“Madas,” he softly called as he stepped around the bush.
She released a frightened hiss just before he felt an explosion of pain in his head. He hadn’t realized that she had been holding a rock. Her aim might have been reflexive, but it was spot on. The fist-sized rock struck him with deadly accuracy, right between the eyes.
Pain ricocheted through his head while black dots danced before his eyes. He stumbled back several steps before his heel caught on the root of a tree. His arms flailed in a fruitless attempt to keep his balance.
Gril felt himself toppling backwards. He twisted at the last moment in an effort to catch himself, but his temple connected with a half-buried rock. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the ringing in his ears. Rolling onto his back, he lay still.
“Oh, my Goddess, I’ve killed him,” Madas whispered in horror.
Madas rose to her feet and slowly approached where Gril lay sprawled on the ground. There was a rivulet of blood trickling down from where she had struck him with the rock. She hadn’t meant to, it had been an involuntary reaction when he startled her. She had been absently turning the stone in her hand when he emerged from the darkness.
She knelt beside him and carefully cupped his head, turning it so that she could get a look at where he had hit the rock. Her fingers traced a growing knot on the side of his temple. She scooted down and placed her cheek against his chest to see if she could hear a heartbeat.
A low rumble caused her to look up, and before she could move away, she was encased by a pair of strong arms. Her eyes widened when she saw the grin on his face.
“You… you…. I thought you were dead! Let me go,” she demanded.
His chuckle infuriated her. She had thought she had killed him and here he was laughing—laughing! She tried to bring her leg up between his, but he blocked her with a look of warning.
“I won’t let you do that again. I’m still not sure my balls aren’t stuck halfway in my throat,” he said.
She gasped when his tail suddenly wrapped around hers and he flipped her so that she was lying under him. She gripped his thick arms and stared up at him with growing alarm. She tried to untangle her tail from his, but he held onto her in a most inappropriate and intimate way.
“You’ve got blood on your face,” she warned.
“And a knot. I’ll add it to my list of ailments since I met you,” he dryly retorted.
“You…. What other ailments?” she asked in a leery tone, surreptitiously removing her hand from his arm to reach for another rock.
His eyes narrowed. Madas tried to keep her expression innocent. He tilted his head enough to look down beside them. She bit her lip when he turned to look back down at her with a disapproving expression.
“Are you always this bloodthirsty?” he demanded.
“You… you really shouldn’t be holding me… like this,” she countered, while flushing a deeper red.
She was thankful there wasn’t enough light for him to see her face changing colors. Her pupils dilated even more when he lowered his head. She squirmed when she felt his tail slide along hers in a caress.
“How do you think I should hold you?” he murmured.
“L’eon…. L’eon, now… now would be a good time to help me,” she forced out.
Gril turned his head to glare at her pet, then chuckled. She tilted her head to the side, and when she saw L’eon, she slackened in resignation, releasing a frustrated groan. Her pet was totally oblivious to what was going on, because he was sound asleep on her satchel, his four little legs spread in all different directions. She grimaced when he released a soft snore.
“I think you tired him out,” Gril observed.
She turned her head to look up at Gril, intending to give him a sarcastic reply, then wished that she hadn’t. Their lips were barely a breath away from touching. She didn’t remember ever being this close to a male’s lips before.
“He has shorter legs and it was a long climb today,” she softly defended.
&
nbsp; “I’m going to kiss you, Madas,” Gril warned.
“You are?” she breathed. “I mean—you can’t,” she said, her eyes going to his lips.
His lips brushed against hers when he spoke. “Why not?”
“You’re about to bleed all over me. You really do have blood on your face,” she commented with an apologetic look.
He closed his eyes for a moment. Madas held her breath and waited. She knew he was going to release her when she felt his tail let go of hers. He opened his eyes and shot her another warning glare before he rolled to the side and sat up.
“I swear whatever I did to upset the Goddess, I have more than atoned for,” he growled.
She giggled not only at his comment, but the unhidden frustration lacing in his voice. She quickly sat up and gripped his wrist when he started to lift the end of his dirty shirt up to wipe at the cut between his eyes. The last thing he needed to do was add to his woes with a nasty infection.
“Your shirt is dirty. I have a clean cloth and medicine,” she said.
She leaned over and gently picked L’eon up and laid him on the log that she had been leaning against before she pulled her satchel forward. Gril warily watched her as she opened her bag. She pulled out one of the green water nuts and a small leather pouch.
He took the pouch when she held it out to him. She pulled a little knife from the ankle sheath beneath her pant leg and cut a hole in the top of the green water nut. Returning the knife to its sheath, she pulled a cloth from her bag and dampened it.
Madas gave him a reassuring smile and motioned for him to lean forward. She gently cleaned his wound, dampening the cloth several more times as she wiped the blood from his nose and chin. Deftly exchanging the nut and damp cloth for the bag he was holding, she opened the woven cloth pouch and pulled out a small tin of ointment. She smeared a small dab on her fingers, and spread the clear gel over the cut before rubbing the rest on the knot on his temple and a few of the scratches on his face.
“Let me see your arm. I can clean and add the ointment to it as well. Your wounds will be healed by morning. This is a special ointment that my grandmother discovered. It is truly amazing,” she explained.
“Why are you so concerned now?” he inquired.
Madas looked up at him before focusing on his arm. She handed him the ointment to hold while she unwrapped the bandage on his arm. She winced when she saw the deep lacerations. The edges looked red and she could see the beginnings of infection setting in.
It is a good thing that he did surprise me, she thought.
“This is infected. In another day, you would be very sick.” She took the water nut and cloth from him and gently cleaned the long cuts. “I never wanted to hurt you—well, alright, I admit I briefly thought of killing you, but it was only a brief thought. If you attacked me and tried to eat me, or attacked my people, then I would have, but I didn’t really want to kill you,” she awkwardly confessed.
“You just want my ship,” he added.
Her head jerked up and she stared at him in surprise. She flushed and bowed her head, then gave a brief nod. Guilt suddenly filled her as she stared at his wounds. She was responsible for his injuries. Her selfishness had done this to him.
“Yes,” she softly replied.
She felt his hand slide along her jaw to her chin. She looked up at him with troubled eyes. Her breath caught when he brushed a light kiss across her lips.
“I’m glad you didn’t kill me. In fact, I was doing a pretty good job of that myself,” he mused.
“By crashing your ship?” she asked.
His expression hardened and she immediately regretted her callous inquiry. She turned her attention back to his arm. It wasn’t easy seeing what she was doing in the limited light.
“I didn’t crash my ship on purpose. Someone sabotaged it,” he stated.
Her head jerked up again in surprise. “Someone else is trying to kill you? You don’t have very good luck, do you?” she asked impulsively.
His deep laughter filled the air. “As surprising as it may seem, it usually isn’t this bad,” he quipped.
“I would hope not,” she retorted.
A pleasant feeling of warmth coursed through her at his sense of humor. Considering everything that had happened to him in the last few days, she had to admit that maybe her life wasn’t so bad after all—at least at the moment. She finished wrapping his arm with a strip of clean cloth.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
She looked up at him and smiled. “You’re welcome,” she replied.
She repacked her satchel and scooted back, then gently picked up L’eon, and cradled him against her chest. She studied Gril with a wary expression.
“So, now what?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted, flexing his injured arm before crossing his arms over his chest.
She yawned. “Well, I’m exhausted. It has been a long day. Perhaps by morning you will have decided what you want to do,” she said.
Madas laid down with L’eon still snuggled against her. She closed her eyes, intending to act like she was asleep. Surprisingly, she quickly fell into a deep, peaceful slumber.
Gril stared at the woman lying across from him. She fascinated and perplexed him. He ran a hand over his face, wincing when he was reminded of his injuries.
His gaze moved over her. She was curled up with her tail over her legs. Goddess, but she had felt good lying on top of him. For that matter, she had felt good under him as well. His tail molded perfectly with hers, and the way her face changed colors….
He smothered his moan and cupped his groin. From the stiffness of his cock, he could say with confidence that he had suffered no permanent injuries from his earlier encounter with Madas. Shaking his head at his thoughts, he lay back and stared up at the stars.
When she asked what would happen next, he had lied. He knew exactly what would happen—he was taking her with him back to Tearraid. He had never had a reaction this strong to a female—nor ever been so enchanted as he was by her stubborn determination and skill.
She is nothing like my previous mate, he thought.
His previous mate had been part of an arranged mating. The union had not been a pleasant experience and when his ex-mate had betrayed him, their bond had been severed. The political fallout had created a rift between the Royal House of Tearraid and the High House of Commons. The joining of a member of royalty and a member of the common people was meant to create a union for all the people. Unfortunately, his mate wanted to rule—without him.
Gril yawned and felt his body relax for the first time in days. In the morning, he would make a proposal—one he hoped Madas couldn’t resist. If she did—well, he was always up for a good fight.
Or maybe not, he thought with amusement as he touched the spot between his eyes.
Chapter Thirteen
Gril woke the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed. He touched the spot between his eyes and was amazed when he didn’t feel any blood or tenderness. His hand moved to his temple. The knot was gone.
He sat up and looked down at his arm. Curious, he loosened the bandage and pulled it free. The deep cuts on his arm were now merely thin, pale lines. He ran his fingers over the wounds in amazement, then looked over at where Madas had been and frowned. She and L’eon were gone, but—they had left him something.
He put the cloth he’d used as a bandage in his pocket, stepped over to the log, and picked up the metal box. Opening it, he saw the circuit board to his ship tucked inside. He snapped it shut.
His stomach tightened and the muscle in his jaw pulsed as he clenched his teeth. He turned in a tight circle, scanning the area before he looked down and saw her tracks—and an arrow pointing back the way he had come, showing him the direction he needed to go along with a crudely drawn map in the dirt showing him another way to get off the plateau.
“I can’t believe she just left! No goodbye. No ‘I hope you don’t get yourself killed’. Nothing more than an arr
ow and a barely decipherable map drawn in the dirt to say ‘This is the direction you go to get back to your ship!’ She just—left!” he growled in aggravation.
Gripping the part to his ship, he began following Madas’s tracks. He increased his speed as the sun rose higher. An hour later, he spotted her standing near the edge of a vast ravine.
“Madas!” he called.
She slowly turned and looked back at him. He saw her lift her hand and wipe it across her cheek. She looked surprised to see him.
He slowed to a walk and took deep, calming breaths as he approached her. She must have seen the determination in his eyes because her expression became defiant and she lifted her chin. He felt his body tighten in response.
This female is going to be my mate.
He knew it as surely as he was breathing. She was made for him—and he was the male for her. Now all he had to do was convince her of that.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
He shook his head. “You give me an arrow in the dirt as a goodbye? What type of manners is that?” he retorted.
She frowned. “I gave you a map, as well. You have the part to your ship now. You should be on your way back to it. What more did you want—an escort?” she scoffed with a wave of her hand.
“That would have been nice—and probably safer,” he teased.
Her mouth opened, but then she closed it as if unsure of whether he was serious or not. She had a very expressive face. She also had a very dirty one. He lifted his hand to wipe a smudge of dirt from her chin. She jerked back and looked at him with a suspicious glare.
“You have dirt on your chin,” he said.
She automatically rubbed her chin at his comment. In the light of the early morning sun, he could see the red spots on her face grow darker. Lowering his hand, he held up the metal box.
