Arantxa

by T. J. Quinn

  “Who are you? Where are we?” she asked, pulling the blanket closer, to cover her naked body.

  “My name is Korben, I was sent by Biurk to rescue you,” he answered, with a faint smile. “As for where we are, I’m afraid I don’t know. On my way out of the lair where they were keeping you, I must have made a wrong turn.”

  She frowned at his words.

  “We’re still at risk?” she asked, looking around.

  Waking up and finding herself in the middle of the woods with a strange alien was quite a shock for Arantxa. Who was this male? Why was she there with him? Was it possible the Paklyors had sold her so fast?

  When he mentioned Biurk she felt some relief but his following words killed that feeling fast enough. She rubbed her forehead and took a closer look at her alleged rescuer.

  The male in front of her was quite imposing, at least seven feet tall, with a bulky, muscled body. Not someone you would choose to have as an enemy. He looked like no other male she had ever seen, not even when she had skimmed many males’ profile pictures in the agency’s catalog.

  His skin was a light greyish tone, which made his brilliant blue eyes stand out on his face. He had no hair, anywhere, just some thick, straight tendrils that fell down his back, from the back of his head, a few shades darker than his skin.

  “I wouldn’t say that, but we can’t linger here. Are you feeling well enough to walk? It would get us out of here faster,” he said, in a cautious tone.

  “How did you bring me here?” she asked, pulling the blanket even closer.

  “I carried you. You were unconscious.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked, with a slight frown, not sure she should trust this guy. Just because he had mentioned her future husband that didn’t make him trustworthy.

  “As far as possible from the Paklyors’ lair so that I can call my friends to pick us up,” he explained, his eyes locked on hers, sending chills down her spine.

  His look made her feel uncomfortable. Not that he was looking at her with lust or anything like that… she just felt uneasy around him.

  “I can walk,” she assured him, faking a confidence she didn’t feel.

  “You might want to wrap that thing more comfortably around your body,” he said, pointing at the blanket she kept pulling closer to her. “I have some rope in my bag if you need it.”

  “Yes, thank you, that might be helpful,” she admitted.

  The thick, furry blanket wasn’t the best thing to wrap herself with, but she had nothing else. He gave her the rope and after a few clumsy attempts, she gave up.

  “How cold are you? Do you think you could go without that?” he asked, with a frown.

  The way she had the blanket around her would stop her from walking at normal speed, much less running.

  “You mean, go naked?” she asked, with horror written all over her face.

  He sighed. Females could sometimes be too picky. He had never cared much about clothes, so he usually wore a dark suit when he had to; otherwise, he walked around naked. But he carried a couple of suits on his emergency backpack, as well as some pants and shirts, just in case.

  “No, not if you don’t want to,” he said. “I can lend you a shirt. It will cover you enough.”

  She took another look at the stinky blanket she was wrapped in and finally nodded. “Yes, that would be great. Do you think I could wash myself before we leave? I promise it will only take me a couple of minutes,” she asked, almost begging.

  He looked around. The woods were still silent, so there shouldn’t be any problem. Somehow, he doubted the Paklyors could approach silently. They seemed too clumsy and brutish to sneak around.

  “Go ahead. The stream is safe.”

  She nodded. “Would you mind looking away?” she asked, as she got up and stumbled to the stream.

  “Why should I? You’re wasting time,” he said impatiently, as he reached for his backpack to get the shirt, he had promised her. He could have looked away, but she should learn there was no time for pettiness. Their survival was at stake.

  She huffed her displeasure, but she rapidly discarded the blanket and entered the cold water of the stream. She let out a small cry when the cold water touched her skin, but that didn’t stop her from entering the stream and sinking her body in the nearest puddle deep enough for it.

  With chattering teeth, she washed as best as she could and came out of the water, feeling rejuvenated, despite the freaking cold and all the bruises that still covered her body.

  Korben watched her come out of the stream, and his whole body reacted to her. The petite female was more appealing than any other female he had ever met. The way her nipples poked out, hard as little pebbles were so incredibly sexy, all he wanted to do was take them between his lips and suck.

  Unexpectedly, he was jealous of the drops of water running down her luscious body. He wanted to be the one all over her. His desire was so strong, so powerful, he could feel his cock straining against the imprisonment of his suit.

  “Do you have anything I could use to dry myself?” she asked, coolly, hating the way his eyes wandered over her naked body. His stony expression didn’t reveal whether he liked what he was seeing or not.

  “Use this,” he said, handing her the shirt he already had in his hand. “I have another one for you to wear, so hurry up,” he added before she could protest.

  She did as told, and a few seconds later, he was handing her a dry shirt for her to wear. She put it on, happy to see it reached her knees, as she turned to look at him. “I’m ready.”

  “Do you want to take the blanket with you?” he asked, looking at the discarded fur.

  She frowned with disgust. “No, thank you. It stinks of dead animals,” she said shuddering.

  He shrugged. “As you wish.” He picked up the blanket and hid it underneath the bushes, not far from where they were, making sure it wasn’t visible. The last thing they needed was for the Paklyors to know they had been there. “Let’s go. We’ll walk up the stream until we’re far enough to call for help.”

  She nodded and followed him into the stream, and waited while he made sure there was no sign of their presence there. He erased every footstep they had left in the mud on the stream banks.

  They walked for a few minutes through the water, and Arantxa was about to tell him her feet were too cold when he finally left the water to continue along the stream banks.

  After what he apparently considered a safe distance, he reached for his communication device so that he could contact his friends.

  But the device was not there. With a deep frown, Korben searched all his pockets and turned his backpack upside down, to no avail. He had lost the device, probably while carrying the female through the woods, since he had had it in his left pocket, right under her feet.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked, as she watched him go through his things, with a bad feeling crawling up her spine.

  “I’ve lost my communication device,” he admitted after a few moments of tense silence.

  She gasped. “Does this mean you can’t contact your friends?” she asked, terrified at the possibility.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what it means.”

  She wriggled her hands, nervously. “What can we do now?”

  He sighed. “Knowing Kyor, my pilot, he will scan this damn planet until he finds us, but these dense woods make things a lot harder. We’ll have to find a place safe enough and make our own clearing.”

  “Isn’t it dangerous for us to stay in one place?” she asked, scared.

  “The Paklyors probably assumed we’ve left the planet. They shouldn’t be looking for us here.”

  “What if they are?” she insisted.

  “It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” he replied, shrugging.

  “How can you say that? Do you have any idea how terrible it is to be their prisoner? We can’t let them capture us again… I rather die…” she rumbled, clearly scared.

  “I won’t let that happen,” he
assured her.

  “You can’t guarantee that… they outnumber us… they are the most vicious creatures I’ve ever known…” she said, shaking her head.

  Arantxa covered her face with her shaky hands, cursing her damn luck. Why did nothing ever go right for her? She was supposed to be at Valkyr, getting to know her future husband and spending time with her best friend.

  Instead, she had been captured by some disgusting creatures who took pleasure torturing her.

  Then even when she was rescued, her rescuer got lost in those damn woods, with no means to call for help.

  Korben closed the distance between them and gently, pulled her hands off her face. “We’ll be fine. My friends won’t leave us behind. They will find us as soon as possible. We just need to make our own clearing,” he told her, in a soothing tone, relishing the silkiness of her skin, admiring the tiny spots that covered her otherwise flawless skin.

  She freed herself from his gentle grip, taking deep breaths, in a vain effort to calm herself, from the fear that crawled down her back and the strange feeling aroused by the touch of his big hands.

  “Let’s make it here,” she suggested, looking around.

  “We’re too close to the Paklyors’ lair. Making a clearing is not the quietest task and the last thing we need is for them to hear us. We need to get further away,” he explained.

  “We could be walking into another of their lairs,” she said unconvinced.

  “According to the scans we ran of this area, there weren’t any other lairs in several miles around,” he explained. “These people fight amongst themselves. They are very territorial, so they wouldn’t allow any other tribe anywhere near their lair.”

  “It will be night soon. What will we do then?” she asked, looking up to the sun, still high in the sky.

  Korben and his men had attacked the lair in the middle of the night. Now he had been walking most of the day, and he knew they didn’t have much daylight left.

  “We’ll have to find shelter or build us one,” he said. “But, not here. We need to put more distance between the Paklyors and us.”

  She sighed. “Let’s go then, let’s not waste any more time.”

  Chapter Nine

  He nodded and resumed their walking, as he scolded himself in silence for not carrying another communication device in his emergency backpack.

  He still couldn’t believe he had lost his way leaving the lair and even more that he lost the damn device. The gods of the universe were having a blast on his account. A few rotations ago, none of this would have happened to him.

  In the past rotation, he had lost most of his survival instincts. Life at the farm had softened him more than he thought possible. But there was no use crying over things he couldn’t change. He had to find the best place to make a clearing and trust Kyor would find them soon enough.

  The last thing he wanted was to be stranded on this damn planet with a female that disturbed him as no other had. He had to remind himself constantly she belonged to another male, even if that male was Biurk, and so far, she hadn’t hinted any interest in him.

  After a couple more hours walking up the stream, he decided it was time for them to stop and build themselves a shelter. He had no idea what kind of creatures lived on this planet, and he wanted to be prepared for anything.

  He spotted the perfect tree for it and stopped.

  “We’ll spend the night here,” he announced.

  Arantxa sighed with relief. Her feet were so painful, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to take another step. The rough terrain and the cold had taken its toll on her feet, and she was sure they were covered in blisters. She wouldn’t be surprised if they were bleeding.

  “Do you need my help?” she asked, calmly, not letting her pain show.

  He turned to look at her, noticing the paleness of her face, as well as the dark circles around her eyes. “Not right now. Get some rest. I’ll let you know if I need help.”

  She nodded. “I’ll be down by the stream,” she said, with a faint smile.

  With a frown, Korben watched her wobble on her way to the water and decided to follow her.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked when she reached the water and sank her feet into it, with a low grunt.

  Startled, she opened her eyes and looked at him. She hadn’t seen him coming after her. “Nothing… I’m just a bit tired,” she stammered.

  “Are you sure? Are any of your bruises bothering you?” he persisted.

  “No, no…” she started, but the incredulous look on his face made her stop. “I mean… it hurts, but it’s bearable. The bruises are healing now.”

  “What about your feet? You’ve been walking barefoot. Are you used to that?” he asked. He should have asked her that before, but since she hadn’t mentioned it or protested about it, he had assumed she was used to it. Some species never wore any kind of shoes.

  “I’m fine,” she assured him, a bit too fast, her tone high pitched.

  “Let me see them,” he demanded, frowning.

  “You’re wasting precious time. My feet are fine, there’s nothing there for you to see,” Arantxa said, crossing her arms over her chest, in a challenging pose.

  He looked at the falling sun in the sky and decided it wasn’t the time or place to insist on the matter. He would return to it later, once their shelter was done.

  “Stay where you are, and keep an eye on our surroundings. Let me know if you see anything strange,” he said before he went back to the tree he had chosen.

  Using a laser cutter, he cut a few branches from a nearby tree. Climbing the tree, he had chosen, he quickly built a platform high enough to keep them safe from most animals. Using a few more branches from the same tree, he built a rustic roof and made sure the shelter was strong enough to support them both before he went looking for the woman.

  She was still at the stream, her feet still in the water, as she sat on a rock. She had used her time alone to empty her bladder and wash herself a bit.

  “Come, our shelter is ready,” he told her.

  She tilted her head to look at him, with a faint smile. “Oh, good. That was fast.”

  “Do you need help?” he asked her when she didn’t move from where she was.

  “Would you mind? I’m afraid I’m more tired than I thought,” she admitted, sure she wouldn’t be able to take another step.

  The cold water of the stream had numbed some of her pain, but she was sure it would return viciously the moment she tried to walk. She should have stopped and asked him for help when her feet started aching, but she hadn’t wanted to delay them. The thought of being caught by the Paklyors had been more than enough to keep her walking, despite the pain.

  He leaned over and picked her up in his arms to carry her to the shelter. He wanted to examine her feet, but they would be safer in the shelter he had built. Once he got her up into the tree, he climbed after her and using a small lantern he took out of his backpack, he thoroughly examined her feet, taking one by one in his hands.

  “Damn… what happened to your feet?” he asked, upset at the sight of her hurt feet.

  “Humans have lost the ability to walk barefoot thousands of years ago,” she admitted.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you allow them to get this bad?” he scolded her.

  “I didn’t want you to stop… we needed to get as far away as possible from the lair… I didn’t think they would get this bad… after a while they didn’t hurt that much…” she stammered.

  “I could have carried you,” he grumbled.

  “It would have delayed us,” she insisted. “It was my call.”

  “Was it? What if any of those cuts get infected before we’re rescued? What then? What am I supposed to do then?” he scolded her.

  He picked up his bag and pulled out a first aid kit. They had no idea what kind of germs and bacteria could be found on this planet, and her open wounds were a huge invitation for them. He needed to clean them up and cover them with antiseptic
and antibiotic creams to prevent any infection.

  Arantxa sighed as she watched him take care of her feet. The male was so stiff and so distant, she hadn’t dared to tell him she was too tired or that her feet hurt too much. Apparently, he had been hired by Biurk to rescue her, but he didn’t seem to be happy with the outcome of his mission.

  He had lost his way in the middle of the woods, and more importantly, he had lost his communication device. Though he seemed confident his friends would come looking for them, they had no idea how long it could take them.

  She had to admit she shouldn’t have allowed her feet to become this badly injured. As they were now, she wouldn’t be able to walk, and Korben would have to carry her. That would slow them down and expose them to higher risk if they were attacked.

  She sighed again, and this time, he heard her.

  “Am I hurting you?” he asked, frowning, as his hands gently rubbed the ointment on her feet.

  She shook her head, certain she wouldn’t be able to utter a single word. His touch was surprisingly arousing, to the point she no longer felt the pain on her feet. She could only feel the sweet pleasure if his caresses rushing up through her legs to her very core. It was so odd… she had never reacted this way to a man’s touch. So, why was she reacting this way to this stranger’s touch?

  Overwhelmed by the sensations aroused in her, she tried to pull her feet out of his hands, but he didn’t allow her to.

  “I’m not finished yet. We can’t risk you getting sick,” Korben scolded her, his tone a bit hoarser than before.

  She cleared her throat and steeled herself against his touch. “How long do you think we’ll be here?” she asked, trying to think of the Paklyors and all they had done to her, in a vain effort to ignore the heat going through her legs and spreading through her whole body.

  “It shouldn’t be long. But I have no idea what happened after I left the Paklyors’ lair. We’ll have to wait,” he replied, going a little faster than he had so far.

  “What if they never show up? Do you have a plan B?” she asked, wriggling her hands, trying to keep them from pulling him closer.