Broken Earth

by S. J. Sanders

  His awareness shifted to the female in front of him and he became immediately aware of her reason for stopping. He stiffened as thunder rumbled in the distance, accompanied by another flash of lightning. His vibrissae lifted out away from him warily. Storms on Argurumal were treacherous. If Terri’s expression was anything to go by, they weren’t to be treated lightly here either. Krono stood on a pile of rock from a crumpled wall a short distance ahead of him, his vibrissae whipping around him in the air seconds before the dorashnal howled.

  Terri shivered and crouched, pulling her pack off her shoulder as another crash of thunder sounded in the distance. The sound was followed by yet another. Her face scrunched up as she peered back at him, digging into her bag. A sharp wind blew through, stinging them with sand, and in the near distance, a wall of sand began to shift into the air at a concerning rate.

  “Storm coming,” she stated loudly over the noise as she pulled a cloth hanging loose at her neck over her face. “Good thing we decided to go in. The sandstorms around here are no joke! I don’t think we have much farther to travel.”

  Squinting at the street, he verified the accuracy of her estimation. Even with the storm moving in quickly, they would reach their camp destination soon.

  Lowering his inner eyelids to protect them from the windblown sand, Veral took position standing over her protectively, his back against the stinging bite of the wind as she dug for whatever she was searching for. With a triumphant snarl, she pulled out a pair of bulky, worn goggles, snapping them on over her eyes just in time before the wall of sand hit them. The wind shrieked around them, muffling everything. Terri raised her voice to be heard over the wind, though he could have heard her just fine at a lower volume. She tapped her goggles with one hand for emphasis as she spoke.

  “I found these a few years back at an abandoned airfield.” She tilted her head and peered at his placid expression. “How is it that your eyes aren’t bothering you?”

  He leaned in close, a finger raised to his eye so that her attention was drawn to it, before briefly drawing his inner lid to the side. She flinched, her breath drawing in on a quick gasp as it slammed shut once more to protect his eyes from the grit.

  “My species is accustomed to such an environment and are adapted to it. Far better than humans, it seems.”

  Her lips part in another human grin. “Guess so.”

  The goggles darkened her eyes so that he was unable to see them any longer. He did not like that they concealed her eyes in such a fashion. Not only that, but they were inferior and fit her face oddly so that tiny granules of sand were still creeping in. They were clearly meant for a male. He frowned at the ill construction. It was a decent substitute for a species that didn’t have an inner protective eyelid, though he imagined he could fashion her something more efficient in his ship. When they took their first load back, he would look among his scrap materials to craft something appropriate for her.

  Without saying anything else, Terri swung her pack on her shoulders and turned away from him to head down the street once more. Krono jogged after her, his six feet picking up with swift steps as his head lowered against the wind. Veral watched them, clicking his mandibles thoughtfully. Giving his head an abrupt, aggressive shake, his vibrissae rattling in agitation, he spared a glance to make sure the collector carts were rolling after them as his wide, stalking steps easily kept pace.

  When they squeezed into their sleeping chamber—the outer room being inundated with sand—and the door firmly shut behind them, Veral snarled and shook the sand off himself. Even Krono seemed to stumble to a corner where he settled on a pile of rags that Terri had gathered for him to serve as a bed. Walking against a storm was a lot of work even for Argurma, so he was not surprised when the female bent over, her weight braced on her hands against her thighs.

  After several minutes, Terri recovered enough to laugh before sidling up to a large wooden case. Throwing her weight against it, Veral watched as it slid painfully slow across the floor, moving in the direction of the door to barricade it against the storm. Growling, Veral stepped by her, nudging her aside as he lifted it and moved it effortlessly. As he set it down in front of the door, he could feel her eyes on him while she swiped her hands over her arms and shoulders before dropping her bag in the center of the room. Terri peeled her goggles off and grinned up at him cheerfully. Despite the goggles protecting her eyes, her face and arms were red from where the sand had rubbed her raw before they made it inside.

  “Well, that’s that. At least we don’t have to worry about the Reapers for the next couple of nights. They won’t be out in this mess either. That’s about the only good thing about a sandstorm. Nothing, and no one, goes out.”

  Bending over, her ass jutted in the air as she picked up her bag and overturned it. Pieces of metal chinked and whispered against each other, though a dull impact of something larger hitting the sand drew his attention. He crouched down to look at it just as Terri snatched it up from the sand. He turned his scope light from his wrist comm on it and frowned to see a simple wooden box.

  “Oh, don’t scowl,” Terri muttered, her nose wrinkling at him as if with distaste though her eyes were lit with humor. “This is something wonderful. I had one as a child and I couldn’t pass it up. Watch.”

  She set it on her lap as she knelt on the floor. The fingers of one hand drifted to the back to wind a small metal key several turns. Flashing him a smile, she lifted the lid on the box, and inside a delicate figure of a female spun around as a melody of some kind sang out from it. He raised his eyes to Terri and found her humming along to the melody, her eyes closed as she swayed with the music. Though the low light obscured much of her body outside of what was provided by the limited light of his scope, the pleasure on her face and the way she moved was so ethereal that everything within him paused to give undivided attention to her. His mandibles clicked and he trilled.

  Slowly, her pale eyes opened, and she looked at him. Beads of moisture clung to her eyelashes, which she hurried to wipe away with the back of her wrist. He leaned in close, his heavy brow lowering. His mandibles expanded and he inhaled. There was a hint of sadness, but something else that confused him.

  “Why are you leaking?” he demanded brusquely.

  Soft laughter rolled from her lips that intrigued him and made something within him tighten with interest.

  “I’m just a little teary. Playing this reminded me of some good memories. I recognized the melody.” Her voice softened as she sang nonsense words of a peculiar place that existed over a rainbow that brought happiness. He scowled.

  “That makes no sense. Rainbows are from the sun catching moisture as they reflect a prism of light. There is nothing on the other side of a rainbow except more air. Nothing can be gained of significant value from that.”

  Her lips thinned at him. “Rain can bring hope, yeah? So when it rains and water in the sky after the rain makes a rainbow shine, it can represent happiness with that hope, can it not?” she challenged.

  He tilted his head in consideration. “Your logic is strange. Hope is unreliable, and yet I cannot dispute that you may have a point.”

  Just that quickly, her expression evened out and her lips quirked once more. “I just may get you to believe in magic yet,” she teased.

  He flared his vibrissae in mock irritation. “Do not test me female. I have no interest in such silliness.” His regard, however, softened toward her as she began to hum once more little dreams that were perhaps long forgotten within him along with everything else.

  10

  Terri sang to herself as she wetted a rag. She sat naked on a blanket facing away from Veral. Normally she might have felt unease with a male in the room, but she trusted him, especially after several occasions when she’d changed clothes at night with him in the room without any reaction. It made it easier that he didn’t have any sexual interest in her.

  That kind of stung too, since she had recently found her eyes tracking him more frequently, admiring his
tall, strong build. His features had taken some time to become accustomed to, but after a few days, she found them more interesting than intimidating. Usually. Sometimes he still did things that gave her a pause. Like the so-called trophy he’d stripped off his belt as he was carefully burning away excess flesh with a small handheld laser.

  Turning her attention back to her bathing, Terri tried to ignore it. Normally she wouldn’t waste any of her collected water, but after brushing up against the severed head followed by battling through a sandstorm, her skin itched and crawled until she gave in and decided to use a sparing amount of her precious water on a sponge bath.

  Dragging the wet cloth over her breasts, she paused, her skin tingling as she felt Veral’s gaze on her back. He rumbled out a low growl, but that was all before the weight of his gaze slid away, much to her secret disappointment. Swallowing, she made quick work of washing the rest of her body, slicking the cloth between her thighs only once before shimmying into an old threadbare nightshirt.

  Embarrassed at the direction of her thoughts, she avoided looking at him as she climbed into the pile of blankets that served as her own bed. It was insane to entertain such interest. He was a fucking alien! Their anatomy probably wasn’t even compatible. Her cheeks heated at the thought as she burrowed down into her bedding.

  Settling down into the warmth of the blankets in the chill desert night air, her eyes began to drift closed only to snap open when Veral got up and strode over to the discarded cloth. She kept her eyelids lowered, watching him from beneath her lashes as he bent and picked up the cloth. Her breath caught as he turned it in his hand.

  He must have wanted to bathe too. She should have thought to offer.

  He did not, however, reach immediately for the water bottle. He stared down at the cloth, clicking his mandibles quietly to himself before rubbing the damp, used cloth across his chest. His bare chest! Her eyes flung wide open. She’d never seen him without his body armor. He was stripped down to a simple cloth barely covering his groin. Was that how he always slept? She wouldn’t know. Veral was always dressed when she went to bed, keeping watch late into the night beyond her own endurance as he seemed to require less sleep than her.

  Her breath escaped her in a shudder as he swiped the cloth over his face several times before trailing it back down to his chest and finally dipping the cloth to his groin. The male growled, his eyes seeking hers out in the low light of the fire he’d built in the center of the room shortly after their return. He watched her, the whip tendrils on his head puffing out around him, writhing as they made a soft swishing sound. Desire surged through her, heating her belly, dampening her pussy and upper thighs despite her best efforts to resist it. Terri shivered as his mandibles widened and his lips parted as if he were tasting the air. A low, aggressive growl filled the room.

  It was frightening and exhilarating, making her lust spike in a way that didn’t seem entirely healthy to her. What sort of person lusted over another making such sounds? Apparently, she did. No matter how much she tried to control or ignore it, it surged through her unpredictably and with such strength that she was caught helpless in it until it eased. It never truly passed, for even after the brunt of it was gone, that edge and awareness remained, taunting her.

  Veral’s growl gradually became louder, responding to her rising need. She observed that his whips had not only puffed out but were moving around his head as if in a seeking motion. He took a step toward her and her belly clenched in anticipation. Suddenly, his mandibles snapped closed and he shook his head before stepping away from her. Going to the door, he pushed the barrier away just enough to allow him to slip out. Then he was gone.

  Terri’s face stained crimson as she ducked into the blankets. He probably thought she was going to jump him or something in a burst of uncontrollable lust. The snort turned into a giggle as she tried to imagine herself doing just that, given that he had considerably more height and weight than her. Her humor died away at the memory of the way he shook himself as if touched by something unpleasant.

  No, she was going to have to do better at controlling herself if she wanted to hang around long enough to catch that ride. Still, the sting of rejection was a painful reminder of just how alone she was.

  That was fine. She liked being alone. No one tried to control her, and she didn’t have to answer to anyone except herself. She never had to censor her thoughts when she talked aloud to herself—one of the unfortunate consequences of her isolation. She knew that she had no filter and often caught herself rambling about anything and everything to Veral’s silent silhouette at her side. Really, his presence wasn’t much different than having a pet.

  She sighed. A pet would be welcome. She doubted that Veral would part with Krono but maybe she could find something among human settlements once she got to the coast.

  That was all she needed. That she was happier than she’d been in a while had nothing to do with the surly male.

  Having Veral around was messing with her hormones. The irony was not lost upon her that her biological clock ticked a bit too loudly for a male that likely wasn’t even compatible with her. She laughed at herself. That figured. Of course it couldn’t be a handsome human passing through who would sweep her away. No, she was drawn to a male who not only came from literally an entirely different planet but who also had so much technology implanted in him that his responses were often much more cold and calculating than what she’d consider normal.

  That whole thing with the head had been bizarre too. Her lips quirked slightly at how proud he’d looked as he explained that it was a trophy specifically to honor her. That was almost sweet—if she could get beyond the fact that it had been a decapitated human head. Settling back to her normal routine, with fewer severed heads, would be welcome.

  Terri stared into the dark and sighed, her eyes straining in the low light of the fire. Who was she kidding? She hated it. Her life before Veral came—having no one but herself to speak with day in and day out unless she ran into Meg, and even then she had to hurry before they were caught—had been one of barely existing. Veral gave her something she hadn’t had since her father died: someone to connect to and lean on. Not that she would say so to him. No doubt he would deliver a caustic reply before directing his attention to something else that required it. She wondered what he would think if he knew that she’d miss him when they finally went their own ways.

  That led to another troubling thought. Once she was on the coast, then what?

  Terri shifted anxiously beneath her blanket, drawing Krono’s attention to her. The dorashnal made a whining-trilling noise and squirmed over to her side. Terri opened her arms gratefully as he snuggled against her torso, his massive length curling around her as he pressed against her. As they lay side-by-side, his whips affectionately stroked her skin and patted her. Sighing, her arms wound around his thick neck and hugged him tight. The contact alone was soothing and became even more so when he began to purr contently like a giant cat. She brushed the tip of her nose against the top of his head in a loving nuzzle. His whips moved to caress her face. It did little to diminish her frustrated arousal, but it at least soothed her until she finally fell asleep.

  It was sometime later when she awoke to the sound of the door swinging open and bumping against the dresser. Terri watched from behind Krono’s massive shoulder as Veral growled at it and pushed it open to step inside before maneuvering it back into place. His eyes brushed her briefly, but he strode by, barely acknowledging her presence as he grabbed his bedding and pulled it clear to the farthest corner of the room. Terri frowned but concealed her expression against Krono’s neck, her eyes shut tight against the sight of him preparing for bed. She hadn’t expected him to lay beside her and hold her again tonight, but that he felt it necessary to move clear across the room, farther away than he’d ever lain before, pissed her off.

  As if being near her were contaminating him in some fashion, or maybe that he didn’t trust her to control her lust. She rolled her eyes wit
h a small sneer.

  What a dick.

  Rolling over, she gave him her back as she pressed her lower back and bottom against Krono’s warm side. He immediately shifted to snuggle around her once more and lay his head across her neck. Determined to ignore the asshole on the other side of the room, she sighed happily from the way Krono’s body heat seeped into her muscles. Tightening her thighs to provide some relief to her sex, she drew her blanket up and dismissed the infuriating male from her thoughts.

  11

  The second day of the sandstorm wasn’t any better than the first for Veral. His skin itched and tingled all over and it had nothing to do with the sand finding its way into their shelter. Several times, he left to get some reprieve from Terri’s intoxicating scent that was causing strange chemical reactions that his nanos were working overtime to neutralize. Was he having a bad reaction to her pheromones? He typically didn’t spend much time in the presence of other species outside of delivering instructions for the salvage teams following in his wake. Perhaps an allergy to her pheromones was the cause. He didn’t believe that it could be his mating heat.

  In all his revolutions away from Argurumal, he’d never once had more than the vaguest of responses to any female from his civix. He glanced over at Terri and was relieved to find her distracted by Krono with her back to him. While her attention was diverted, he pulled open his pants and inspected his civix pouch. As expected, it was still unbroken, the seam still fused. He poked at it gently with one claw. Did it look a bit thin in some spots? He analyzed the area and found it to be an eighth of a millimeter thinner than it had been. He growled and sealed his pants once more. It was possible, if he was having a reaction to her pheromones, that the moderate swelling of his civix alone would have caused the weakening.