“So maybe being here is not quite as bad as you thought it was in the past?” Leaving that thought to settle in, she changed the subject. “You promised to teach me about the plants and animals. Can we start now?”
He still looked bemused by her previous statement, but then he shook his head and smiled.
“Of course, saachi.” He bent down and pointed out a cluster of small, fern-like plants half hidden in the roots of one of the giant trees. “These are ynaah. The leaves are not poisonous to touch, but they are deadly to eat.”
“Of course they are,” she muttered.
“But it grows from tubers beneath the ground, and they are both nonpoisonous and delicious.” He dug carefully around the plants with his fingers and emerged with a bunch of small bulbs, rather like blue radishes. “We shall add these to our pick nick.”
“I can eat them?” she asked eagerly.
“As long as they are cooked. Anything that has been cooked or otherwise processed is safe for you to eat. As long as it is not—”
“Poisonous,” she finished for him.
He smiled and tucked her against his side. “You are already learning, my mate.”
The word hung in the air between them, but she refused to think about the future right now. Instead, she returned his hug, then asked him about a golden moss that climbed up one side of the vast trunk.
He spent the rest of the trip pointing out not only the plant life but a surprising amount of animal life. She hadn’t realized how much surrounded them because it was all so well camouflaged. Aidon seemed to have no trouble spotting the bright golden eye of a lizard-like creature sprawled along a tree branch or the twitching tails of what appeared to be tiny red mice.
“They’re adorable!” she exclaimed as she watched them scurrying around in the leaf mold. She took a step toward them, and Aidon firmly drew her back.
“They are also extremely carnivorous. While they are unlikely to bother you while you are upright and walking, if you fell and were injured, they would descend on you.”
As he spoke, two of the tiny creatures snarled, and as they leapt toward each other, she caught a glimpse of what was unmistakably bone beneath them. Her stomach churned.
“Okay. Stay away from the mice. Check.”
“Don’t worry, saachi. I will never let anything happen to you.”
“I know you won’t.” She smiled up at him and wondered if he realized what he was saying. How could Pardor be a danger to her if he was around?
The lessons continued as they made their way to the waterfall, and she gained a whole new appreciation for the jungle. It was both beautiful and terrifying. At first she’d been overwhelmed by how many ways it could kill her, but the more she learned, the more confident she felt. Not that she had any intention of braving it without Aidon at her side.
A loud roaring echoed beneath the other jungle sounds, and she crept a little closer to Aidon.
“What is that noise?” she asked nervously.
“That is your waterfall.”
He pushed aside a curtain of leaves, and she gasped in astonishment. When she had mentioned a waterfall, she had envisioned a trickle of water flowing down over some rocks, similar to the bathing cave back on Hothrest. Instead, she was confronted by a cascade of water at least fifty feet tall pouring down a sheer cliff in a thunderous plume. At the base of the falls, a large pool framed by massive boulders glistened pale green.
“This is beautiful. A little overpowering but beautiful.” She gave him a teasing smile. “I don’t think we’ll be showering under that.”
“Perhaps not. But the pool is safe to swim in.”
“What? No lurking dangers?”
His smile turned predatory. “Not unless you consider a Pardorian in search of a tempting, little morsel dangerous.”
“Very dangerous,” she whispered, swaying toward him. To my heart most of all.
He caught her in his arms and kissed her until she was limp and clinging helplessly to his broad shoulders.
“Is that the correct procedure for a pick nick?” he asked when he lifted his head.
“You forgot the part about eating,” she said breathlessly. His eyes heated even more, but to her disappointment, he reached for his bag and proceeded to lay out a blanket and the food he’d brought. With effortless ease, he even started a fire and set the ynaah tubers to roast.
“You’ll have to show me how to start a fire that quickly.”
“Of course, my mate. Would you like me to show you now?”
“That’s all right. We have plenty of time.”
She stretched out on the blanket, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her body and listening to the sounds of the jungle. She could already pick out the cry of a huja bird and the soft chittering of one of the insects that Aidon had shown her. Still trying to identify the other noises, she drifted off to sleep.
Aidon smiled as he looked down at his sleeping mate. Her pale skin and flaming hair contrasted sharply with the muted hues of the jungle, but she looked so right lying there—like a beautiful, exotic flower. A vast contentment filled him. Most of it was undoubtedly due to her presence, but he wondered about her earlier words. Was she right that he felt at home here? It was certainly true that he felt a certain element of ease in the jungle. Yes, danger lurked around every corner, but he knew those dangers, knew what to expect. Whenever he was away from Pardor, he was always on alert, always braced for unknown trouble.
Even when he was most angry about being forced to return, something inside of him relaxed as soon as he entered the skies above Pardor.
Still turning over her words, he left her sleeping and went to the edge of the pool before using his claws to fish for the small, delicious lake dwellers that skittered through the shallow water. Hanna would enjoy them.
By the time she awoke, he had them cleaned, spitted, and roasting over the fire.
“That smells wonderful.” Her cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry I fell asleep.”
“I’m not. You look most delightful when you’re sleeping. I was very tempted to join you.”
Wordlessly, she held out a hand, but before he could respond to the invitation in her eyes, he heard her stomach give a soft grumble.
“I will feed you first.”
They feasted on the roasted tubers and the delicate white flesh of the lake dwellers, along with the variety of cooked grains he had brought with him.
“Um, that was delicious. You’re an excellent cook, Aidon.”
Pardorians did not blush, but he suspected that if he had been in another form, color would have risen to his cheeks. When had anyone ever praised him for anything other than his ability to quickly eliminate an enemy?
“As long as it pleases you, I’m happy.”
She extended her hand again, and he lay down next to her, the two of them looking up at the vivid blue sky above the distant tops of the trees.
“What did you do at night?” she asked, her voice soft and lazy.
“What do you mean?”
“When you were here on Pardor before. I know you didn’t go to your village. Did you ever go to the city?”
“Only when I needed supplies.” He barked a laugh. “My grandfather would have been appalled. He may use technology when he has to, but he believes in the old ways. He taught me that anything we needed would be provided by the jungle.”
“What did you need that the jungle couldn’t provide?”
“Information, primarily, but I’ll admit I do have a taste for a few off-world items.”
He rolled over onto his side, lazily picking at the knot that held her brief garment together. Her nipples puckered beneath the thin cloth.
“What kind of information?”
“You asked what I did at night. If I wasn’t hunting, I would study.”
“Study what?”
“Everything. In my…profession, it’s important to keep up with political and economic affairs. If I knew where my next job was going to be, I studied everything about that world so
that I could pass as whoever I was mimicking.”
“Did you enjoy that?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “If my life had turned out a different way, I suspect I might have enjoyed being a scholar.”
“That’s what I was going to do. Be a scholar. I wanted to study plants. But my life didn’t turn out the way I had expected either.” She waved a hand. “And I don’t mean the abduction. When my aunt became ill, I had to return home and run her shop. It wasn’t a bad life, but it wasn’t the one that I had anticipated.”
Yes, he could see his shy mate bent over a screen or investigating the life cycle of a plant.
“I wonder how many lives turn out the way we originally intend,” she murmured.
While they had been talking, he had unfastened the knot of her garment and spread it open to reveal her pale, delicious body. He circled a taut pink bud, and she arched into his touch.
“We seem to have drifted away from the fooling around portion of this picnic,” she said breathlessly.
“Then I must remedy that at once.”
His head descended, and there was no more talking.
Chapter Twenty-One
After Aidon made love to Hanna, so slowly and deliciously that she was still tingling, they talked some more. She told him some of her childhood adventures, and he reciprocated with his own much more dramatic incidents. As ostracized as he seemed to have felt, he spoke of his companions with lingering affection, and she wondered if he even realized how important they had been to him.
A new sound rose above the jungle noises—a harsh, almost burbling sound—and Aidon’s head lifted.
“What is it?” she asked nervously.
“A gakhal.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Not particularly.” He turned to her with a speculative look on his face. “But it is good eating. I think you would enjoy having it for our evening meal.”
“You want to go hunting?” Once again, her stomach churned at the thought.
“Yes. It sounds as if it is just to the right of the pool.” A faint click sounded, and she looked down to see that his claws were extended and tapping against each other.
“We can go after it.” She forced herself to say, but he shook his head.
“I don’t think you’re ready for that, saachi. But perhaps…”
“Perhaps what?”
“You could stay here. You would be quite safe, and I won’t be far away. Just don’t go near the edge of the jungle.”
She sat up quickly, glancing nervously around the clearing. Certainly it had been peaceful enough while they were here, but the memory of everything he had shown her on the way played through her mind.
“What about those mice things?”
“They won’t bother you out here,” he said reassuringly. “Most of the jungle creatures avoid clearings like this one. They don’t like to feel exposed.”
“I’m not crazy about it either.”
“Then I won’t leave you.” Even as he spoke, the burbling cry came again, and she heard his nails click.
“No, it’s all right. I know you wouldn’t leave me unless it was safe. Go do your hunting.”
“You are sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said as firmly as possible.
He rewarded her with a swift, hard kiss, then disappeared across the clearing almost too quickly for her to follow. She tried to recover her relaxed attitude, but the jungle that had looked so peaceful only moments before now seemed fraught with danger. Every sound, every rustle of the leaves, made her jump. One sound repeated several times before she focused on it—a little whimper. The soft noise reminded her of a child’s cry.
Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself. No one would leave a child out in the jungle.
The sound came again, and she couldn’t ignore the distress in the low cry. Drawn to her feet despite her best intentions, she very cautiously approached the edge of the jungle. A leaf trembled, and then a tiny, ugly head poked through the vegetation. Big dark eyes, set in a flat-nosed face with tiny ears and a wide mouth, stared back at her. The little creature’s mottled skin fell in heavy wrinkles around its face, all the colors of the jungles mingling in the soft folds.
“What’s the matter, little one?” she asked. “Are you lost?”
Aidon’s warning echoed in the back of her mind, but it was hard to believe that this tiny little creature could possibly be dangerous. She went down on her knees and patted her lap encouragingly. It studied her out of those big black eyes, then suddenly darted out into the clearing, stubby little legs churning, and jumped into her lap. Its—no, his—whole body was quivering, and she gathered him close, murmuring reassuring noises. He was surprisingly heavy for such a small creature, but he was a reassuringly solid weight in her lap.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” she said softly and started to climb to her feet.
The leaves rustled again, and once more the vegetation parted, but this time, no tiny head emerged. Instead, a nightmarish creature reared over her. Its body was covered with short, spiky fur in murky greens and sickly golds. Six long, thin legs were matched with six bulbous yellow eyes and a mouth that gaped open to reveal multiple rows of teeth. As she gasped in horror, clear liquid dripped from its teeth and hissed as it fell on the surrounding leaves.
God, she was a fool. Why hadn’t she listened to Aidon? The little creature in her arms snarled, fierce despite his small size, and she started to scramble slowly backward. All six of the eyes seemed to focus on her, and a long, furry leg advanced into the clearing. The creature hissed as a shaft of sunlight fell across its leg, and she had a sudden desperate hope. If the light bothered it, maybe she and the animal in her arms would be safe in the center of the clearing. She scrambled faster, but despite its obvious distaste for sunlight, the creature kept advancing.
Why hadn’t she told Aidon that she loved him? In spite of her terror, that thought kept circling in her mind. He would blame himself, she knew, and any hope he had of making peace with himself would be gone forever.
The creature lifted its leg again, and she saw it ended in a single long, dagger-like claw. She curled her body around the small creature in her arms and bowed her head.
An angry roar echoed through the clearing. Oh God, another predator. She was almost too scared to look up, and her mouth fell open as Aidon raced past her. He flung himself at the nightmare creature, and their bodies came together with a loud crash. The creature hissed, and Aidon growled as their bodies tumbled together, their movements too fast for her shocked brain to process. One of the creature’s legs fell to the ground, oozing green fluid, and then another.
Too paralyzed to move at first, she finally came to her senses and scrambled away from the fight.
Seconds later, it was over. The dismembered creature lay bleeding on the ground, and Aidon turned to her, his eyes wild. He crossed to her in one stride before pulling her up in his arms and frantically checking her body for injuries.
“Hanna! Are you injured? Can you ever forgive me for leaving you?”
“I’m fine,” she said even though tears were trickling down her cheeks. “I was so scared, but I should have known you’d come for me. I love you, Aidon.”
His frenzied movements stopped, and he stared at her, his face expressionless.
Maybe I shouldn’t have—
Before she even had a chance to finish the thought, he was kissing her, his mouth hungry and demanding. He started to lift her up his body, and the little creature still cradled against her snarled.
Aidon drew back, his claws extended.
“Don’t hurt him!” she cried. “He’s just a baby.”
“A baby? That’s a war beast. Where did it come from?”
“Out of the jungle. I heard him whimpering—that’s why I was so close to the edge. I’m so, so sorry that I didn’t listen to you.” The war beast butted his head against her. “But at least we saved him.”
Aidon’s brow creased as he looked behind hi
m at the jungle.
“You need to put him back. If his mother comes looking for him… Let’s just say, that’s a fight I don’t want to have.”
“But you said yourself he’s just a baby. What if he can’t find her?” She looked at him pleadingly, and he sighed.
“I doubt she’s gone far. They’re very protective mothers. I suppose I could take a quick look.” He pointed across the clearing at the rocks around the pool. “You go and conceal yourself among the rocks. I’ll see if I can find his mother.”
Reluctantly, she handed over the baby. He started to whimper again as soon as he left her arms.
“Don’t worry, little one,” she said, stroking his wrinkled little head. “Aidon will find your mama for you.”
“Now hide,” he ordered.
“Yes, Aidon,” she said obediently and hurried across the clearing. As she ducked down behind a large boulder, she saw him step into the jungle. Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for him to return, but she didn’t have long to wait. He returned a few minutes later, the baby still snuggled against his chest, and she raced over to meet him.
“What happened? Couldn’t you find her?”
The little war beast wiggled happily at the sound of her voice, and Aidon handed him over.
“The mother is dead. It looks as though she had an injured leg, and the spirin”—he gestured at the body behind him—“must have taken her unawares. It normally wouldn’t have been a contest.”
She snuggled the baby closer. “Oh, you poor little thing. But don’t worry. We’ll take care of you now.”
“Hanna, they’re not intended to be pets.”
“But he’s an orphan. You can’t leave him out here to fend for himself. Please, Aidon.”
He sighed. “Why do I feel as if I am never going to win an argument with you?”
“Because you know I’m right?”
“All right. You can keep him—on one condition.”
“What condition?”
“Put him down now. We have things to discuss.”
The heat in his eyes sent a flare of nervous excitement racing through her body.
“But what if he runs away?”
Hanna and the Hitman: A SciFi Alien Romance (Alien Abduction Book 8) Page 14
