by Rayna Tyler
Isaac chuckled and wiggled his brows. “He is a big boy.”
I rarely got embarrassed, but my grandfather’s sexual innuendo managed to do it with ease. I knew exactly how big Zaedon was after spending a night in his arms, and being reminded about the size of his male parts was intimate enough to send heat to my cheeks. I glanced over my shoulder, searching for something, anything, to distract my grandfather. Spotting Zaedon, the object of my discomfort, rushing toward the vehicle didn’t help.
“My apologies for the delay.” Zaedon climbed inside and sat down next to me, possessively clutching the container Ellie had given him.
“No problem,” Isaac said, then ran his hands over the controls, the engine rumbling to life. “Engine sounds great, Cara.” He pressed on the accelerator, turning the vehicle toward the worn road that would take us to the backside of the fields.
“With any luck, you shouldn’t have any more issues.” My attention was on Derrick and the way he glared at Zaedon.
Derrick moved back into his original spot, then faced forward with his arms crossed when he noticed me frowning at him.
The tension between the two males was hard to miss. After about ten minutes of driving, I’d had enough and tapped my grandfather’s shoulder. “Here works.”
“Why are we stopping?” Zaedon glanced at me curiously after checking out the surrounding landscape, an area where a sparse number of plants grew around large boulders.
“Because you and I are going to pick plants where the harvester can’t reach.” I waited for my grandfather to slow the vehicle to a stop, then pushed off the bench and jumped to the ground through the open space on my side of the control area.
“I’ll go and help Cara, if you’d rather continue riding.” Derrick spoke for the first time since we’d left my grandparents’ place. “You know, since it’s hard work and you’ve never done a harvest before.” His tone was laced with more venom than a snakkril’s bite.
Zaedon handled the challenge better than I would have. Instead of tossing Derrick from the harvester like he deserved, he grinned. “I appreciate your concern, but Cara’s offer was extended to me.” Zaedon rose from his seat, his massive size forcing him to hunch over to keep from banging his head on the overhead canopy. “I am not afraid to work, and I am certain she can teach me whatever I need to know.”
Even if there wasn’t a bounty on my head, dividing my time between working for Burke and helping out in the farming community was never going to change. When I’d volunteered to help with the manual picking a week ago, I figured after a day of hard labor, Zaedon would decide he no longer wanted to be my bodyguard and return to the settlement.
After spending more time with him, waking up in his arms, then surviving the ordeal with the bandits, I viewed him differently and was regretting my decision to persuade him to leave.
On the other hand, if, after a hard day of work and our trip to the settlement to talk to Khyron, Zaedon decided not to return with me, I’d know the chemistry between us was a passing attraction, not something that might turn into a lasting relationship. Sadly, thinking about the possibility made me feel even worse.
Not in the mood to wait for the two males to stop glaring at each other, I pushed the unwanted thoughts aside, then waved at my grandfather and started walking.
***
Zaedon
It had been obvious from the moment I was introduced to Derrick that he wanted Cara for himself. For all her intelligence and perceptive abilities, she seemed unable to comprehend his interest in her, or maybe she knew and pretended otherwise. I hoped it was the latter. Either way, I had lost my patience with the male and was ready to pummel him to ensure he understood I would not relinquish my claim on her.
Towering over him when I stood inside the limited space of the control and noticing his cringe gave me a little satisfaction.
“Zaedon.” Isaac interrupted my thoughts and ended the intense glare I had aimed at Derrick.
I did my best not to snap at the older male. “Yes?”
“If you’re planning on helping Cara, you might want to get going.” He tipped his head to the left. “It doesn’t look like she’s going to wait for you.”
Cara had already put some distance between the harvester and herself. I groaned, squeezing through the narrow exit, then jumped to the ground to race after her.
She did not slow her pace or acknowledge my presence. It was unclear if my behavior had angered her or if she was contemplating something else. “Cara.” An apology seemed like a waste of words, since it was unclear what I would be apologizing for, so I decided to start a conversation on a safer subject. “If we are working manually, how do we gather what we harvest?”
The question brought a wry smile to her face. “You know what a grundogal is, right?”
I nodded. “I have never had the opportunity to interact with one, but I understand they are docile animals.” The outlying regions on Ketaurrios were home to many creatures. There were some that interacted well with other inhabitants and some that were deadly and didn’t.
“That’s one way of putting it.” She shifted the direction we were heading toward an outcropping of rock, the nearby sand covered with foot-high patches of reddish-orange grass. Beyond that was a wooden building no larger than a small storage area. “We use them to pull our wagons.”
“Wagons?” It was a human term I was not familiar with.
“A large container on wheels.” She walked around the building and pointed. “This is a wagon. The harness and rigging we use to attach it to the grundogal are inside the shed.”
I helped her pull everything we needed from the building’s interior, then watched her attach the rigging to the wagon. The process did not take long, but I had yet to see one of the animals we would need to assist us. “Where do we find one of your grundogals?”
“That’s what this is for.” She walked over to the shed, then returned with a long, narrow piece of handcrafted wood with tiny holes carved along one side. “Grab a clump of that grass over there and be ready.”
“Be ready for what?” I asked as I walked over to the nearest patch and pulled a handful of the plant out of the ground. How difficult could it be to use the plant to lure a grundogal in the same manner my friends and I coerced a chaugwas for riding?
“You’ll see.” Cara held the small cylinder to her lips and blew. The shrill and annoying noise made me want to cover my ears. She took a seat on the end of the wagon, swinging her legs back and forth, patiently waiting.
A minute or so passed, then a similar sound blared in the distance. Not long after that, I heard a loud snorting noise coming from my right and turned to see a grundogal burst through an opening between two boulders. For a creature with short, wide legs, it moved rapidly. Its long body was covered with pale yellow scales, and its tail had a stubby appearance as if part of it had been chopped off, though I knew it hadn’t.
“Oh, no, it’s Chompers.” She jumped to her feet.
“You gave the creature a name?” I shot her a disbelieving glance.
“I didn’t name him. The children in the village did.” She scowled at me, then back at the rapidly approaching creature. “You might want to get rid of the grass.”
Her instructions did not make any sense, a fact I relayed with the confused look I shot at her. “Why would I…” I did not get to finish my question. Chompers had picked up his pace and did not appear to be slowing down or altering his course, which seemed to be aimed at me. I got a glimpse of broad, solid muscles right before he barreled into me and knocked me to the ground.
He shifted his weight across my upper body, then snatched the grass from my hand and started chewing. It was getting difficult to breathe, and no matter how much I shoved against his side with my free hand, the creature would not budge.
“Told you to get rid of the grass.” Cara appeared by my head, hands on her hips, her smile beaming.
I was not amused, nor did I want to be chastised, not with Chompers’
s leg pressing heavily against my male parts. “A little help?” The words came out raspy.
“I don’t know. It’s not every day I get to see a mighty vryndarr taken down by a grundogal.”
Glaring at her was not helping; neither was trying to get my left arm out from under Chompers. “Cara, please. I would like to continue breathing.”
“I suppose if you’re going to beg.” She walked away, quickly returning with a handful of grass. “Come on, Chompers.” She wiggled the long blades in front of his face, coaxing him to get off me. She dropped the remainder of the grass on the ground, then turned and held out her hand. “Better?”
“Much.” I took her hand, and, instead of allowing her to help me up, I pulled her down on top of me, smiling when she squealed. I wrapped my arms around her waist, knowing she had the ability to escape whenever she wished and was glad that she did not try to push away. “I believe a better explanation about what to expect from a grundogal would have been helpful.”
“I’m sorry.” She giggled. “Chompers is still young, and he’s the only one that does that.”
If he was considered young, I wondered how large an adult would be.
“He also likes to lick with a lot of slobbering.” She glanced toward Chompers, who had finished the grass she’d given him and was moving toward us. “So unless you want him on top of you again, we should get off the ground.”
Chompers and I were going to have issues if he continued to interfere with my time with Cara. With a reluctant groan, I released her.
“Oh, and I was only kidding about the slobbering part.” She laughed, strolling over to the wagon to grab the harness. “You’ll also need these.” She dug around in her bag and pulled out what appeared to be flat pieces of fabric, thicker than anything I had seen used for clothing, more like the hide from an animal.
“Your hands are pretty big, so I hope these fit.”
“What are they?” I asked, curious to know why she was referring to my hands.
“They’re called gloves, and they’re designed to protect our hands while we work, keep our skin from getting blisters.” She grabbed the larger two of the four pieces. “Now hold up your hand like this.”
I followed her example, enjoying the feel of her skin caressing mine as she worked the material onto my hand. I was not used to wearing any kind of covering on my hands and was impressed at how well I could flex my fingers. “My hands are bigger than those of most human males. Where did you find these?” As far as I knew, there were not any ketaurrans living in the community.
“Do you remember me introducing you to Faith the day after we arrived?”
“The female with the three young ones?” I asked.
“Yeah. She’s really good at making clothes, so I had her make these for you.”
“You had someone prepare a gift…for me?”
“I guess you can call them a gift, if you want,” she said.
“Thank you, Cara.” I lifted her around the waist, brushing a soft kiss to her lips before returning her to the ground.
By her confused expression, I did not think she understood how much her thoughtful action had affected me. Had the gloves been given to me by someone else, I might not have felt as strongly about it.
“Okay.” She drew out the word. “It’s really no big deal. Everyone wears them during the harvest.”
“Then we should get started.” I flexed my fingers and grinned. “Show me what I need to do.”
“Sure, just let me get Chompers hooked up to the wagon first.”
After slipping a lead onto the animal’s head, she handed it to me, then draped the harness over his back and attached the wagon.
“We’ll start with the plants growing closest to the boulders.” She led Chompers to an area near a clump of deep burgundy stalks that easily reached the middle of my thigh, then showed me how to extract the pods growing near the top without pulling out the roots and damaging the entire plant.
It was not long before we got into a comfortable, steady rhythm of systematically working one area before moving on to another. By the time we’d filled half of the wagon, and judging by the sun’s location in the sky, it was late morning.
Cara wiped her hand across her brow. “I could use a break. How about you?”
I raised an inquiring brow. “Does this break include food?”
“I suppose now would be a good time to stop for lunch. There’s a cool place near those rocks over there where we can eat.” Cara grabbed her bag, along with the extra container of pyteinnas Ellie had given me.
I had been so occupied with helping Cara and enjoying my time with her that I had forgotten about them. We left Chompers to graze on some nearby grass and settled on the ground in a shady spot with our backs against the flattened side of some rocks.
I placed the container on my lap and took the water cylinder she handed to me. “Is picking the plants by hand your usual task?”
“Not always. Sometimes I ride on the harvester so I can spend more time with my grandfather.” She opened the other container and took out a flat cake.
“Do you work every harvest?”
“I try to be here for as many as I can, but sometimes the jobs I do for Burke take longer than I’d like.”
“Do Ellie and Isaac know how dangerous your work is?” I had been hungrier than I realized and quickly stuffed a second pyteinna into my mouth.
She took a long swallow of water. “They know I do things to help my people, but not the full extent.”
“Do they mind when you are gone?” I asked.
“I know they miss me. They also understand that what I do is important, that I need my independence, and would never try to stop me.” She studied me as if expecting a negative reaction to her comment.
I understood her need to be a warrior, to protect her people. Other than convincing her that she was my ketiorra and I wanted her in my life always, I would never try to persuade her to do something different.
“What about you? Have you always been a vryndarr?” Cara asked.
“Yes, since I was a young male. I trained with Jardun and Garyck. We traveled with the old drezdarr during the war.” I missed the elder male and still grieved his death. I preferred to leave the memories of that horrible time in the past.
“Is that when you ended up with Khyron?”
I nodded, then reached for another cake. “The others and I have known him most of our lives. He is more than the ruler of our people, he is my family, my friend. Much like Laria, Celeste, and Sloane are for you.”
The next few minutes of eating the remainder of our lunch were spent in comfortable silence. Though my time with Cara was extremely pleasurable, the issue surrounding the sabotage of the harvester part weighed heavily on my mind. There was no easy way to bring up the topic without causing her stress, but it was a conversation I needed to have with her while we were alone.
“Cara, we have not yet discussed who might have been responsible for tampering with the part on the harvester.” There were several pyteinna left, so I resealed the container.
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that myself.” She stuffed her half-drained water cylinder back into the bag. “I truly have no idea who it could be. Even if someone knew about the bounty and was after me, they’d have no reason to mess with the harvest, not unless they were okay with starving.”
Someone knowing about the bounty was the most logical explanation, yet I could not shake the feeling that it might be something else. “You are familiar with the people here. Do you have any idea who might want to cause the vehicle, or you harm?” It would take more convincing for me to believe she had not been the target.
She leaned back against the rock, slumping her shoulders. “I’ve known the people here a long time, some of them when I lived aboard the Starward Bounty.” She played with the strap on her bag. “Everyone here pretty much acts like one big family. Well, most everyone, anyway.”
“Would Derrick happen to be on that list of not everyon
e?”
“I would say he falls somewhere in the middle,” she said.
I had been suspicious of the male from the start, more because of his interest in Cara than anything else. Now I questioned whether or not my instincts had been trying to tell me something.
“I never cared for him much, but he was Graham’s friend, so I learned to tolerate him.”
“And now?” I skimmed her ankle with the tip of my tail.
She smiled. “I like him even less, but I’ll continue to get along with him for Ellie and Isaac’s sake. At least until he gives me a reason not to.” She pretended to grab for my tail when I moved it to her thigh.
Frowning, I snatched it out of her reach. “Cara.”
“Hmm?”
“I know you can take care of yourself, but promise me you will be more wary until we have time to uncover the truth.”
“We?” Her dark eyes held mine. “Does that mean you’re planning on coming back after we talk to Khyron?”
I shifted, taking her hand in mine. “Cara, you are…” I wanted to tell her she was my ketiorra, that I would never leave her. “No, I plan to return. I vowed to keep you safe and will continue to do so.”
Shrill snorting, along with quickened movement, drew my attention. Chompers was no longer content to graze where we had left him and was heading away from us with the wagon. I picked up my container and handed it to her before getting to my feet. “I fear our young friend is going to disappear with our harvest.”
“I forgot to mention he also has a tendency to wander off.” Cara laughed as she stuffed everything back in the bag. “It’s a good thing we don’t have much farther to go before we meet up with the others.”
Chapter Nine
Cara
The relief I felt after learning Zaedon wasn’t leaving, that my plan to run him off hadn’t worked, came with a small amount of exhilaration. Though his reason for staying centered on following orders, a part of me hoped there was more to it than simply keeping his promise to my friends and the drezdarr.
