by A. G. Wilde
With as much skill as she had seen him use the day before, he provoked the plant and cut it down.
Soon, he was hauling the long head and stalk behind him as he headed back her way.
Something close by in the sand glistened in the light and caught Athena’s attention.
Crawling over to it, she realized it was a piece of metal that been uncovered by the rainwater washing the sand away.
Pulling at it, she managed to dislodge it from the sand.
It was triangular and sharp around the edges. It looked like a piece of a spaceship that had crashed on the planet a long time ago.
Digging around the area, she found no other pieces.
Never mind, she was sure she could find perfect use for the piece that she found.
As Xul reached her and began cutting the zehmip and setting up the tent, he eyed the piece of metal but said nothing—not that him objecting to her carrying it was going to make her leave it anyway.
As he set up the tent, Xul also stripped the hairy skin off the zehmip and laid it over the wet sand inside the tent.
He was already cutting up the zehmip stalk when Athena crawled over to him, biting back the pain she was feeling in her leg.
She hoped to God it wasn’t infected.
Grabbing one of the stalks, she watched what Xul was doing and mimicked his actions, pushing the pointed edge of the metal shrapnel into the stalk to cut a straight line.
Xul raised an eyebrow as he watched her but he continued working without saying anything.
As the stalk split, he then bent it from the edges, forcing the center to pucker before driving his blade inside to remove the remainder of the skin.
Athena followed and did the same thing.
She noticed he stuck the hard part in the sand to make a part of the barrier and the other part he put down for later.
Athena assumed it had the thick yellow meat inside.
Doing a few more, she was happy with the piece of metal.
It would make the perfect weapon, for now.
As Xul pulled the last few pieces of the stalk into the tent, she followed in behind him.
He was busy husking the other bit when she entered and closed the barrier behind her.
Resting on the ground behind him, she watched him work for a few seconds.
He was quiet and she wondered what he was thinking about.
Pulling her injured leg toward her, she winced at the pain the movement caused.
Gritting her teeth, she unwrapped the bandage to see a nasty wound where the sand cat had bitten her. Inhaling deeply, she secured the bandage. She’d have to get it looked at as soon as she could but there was nothing she could do about it now.
It seemed Xul finished husking the zehmip’s flesh because he rested his spear to the side and fell back onto his back, gazing at her from his position.
“You are still shivering,” he said.
Athena looked down at her arms. She hadn’t noticed.
“It will stop as soon as I get warm. I just need to get out of these wet clothes...” Athena trailed off.
She didn’t have anything to change into and she wasn’t going to walk around naked.
“Do what you must,” Xul said, still watching her. “Or you will catch a desert cold.”
Athena nodded. She assumed that was just like a regular cold, just made more annoying by the fact that they were stranded in the desert.
Opening the barrier, she limped out of the tent. The little warmth of the sun was comforting but it wasn’t enough.
The temperature drop from the rain made it still too cold. Xul was right. She needed to find a way to warm herself soon or she would get sick and she definitely didn’t need to give him another reason to point out just how unsuited she was for life anywhere outside of Earth.
She would need to strip off the coats and let them dry. She’d be naked but he’d seen her naked before and he hadn’t seemed to notice.
Maybe men of his kind were different.
Or maybe he was gay.
Didn’t matter.
She needed to get out of the clothes and she also needed to urinate. Badly.
Glancing around, the ground dipped a little way off. She could stoop down there and relieve herself away from the tent.
Gripping the little metal shrapnel in her hand, she limped off toward the dip in the sand.
Her feet sunk about an inch with every step she took and she could feel the moisture between her toes.
Turning to glance back at the tent, she was satisfied with the distance. At least she could pee in private.
Stooping, her view of the tent disappeared over the mound of sand.
Sighing, Athena waited for her bladder to empty.
Once again, her mind ran on the other women back on the ship.
She needed to do better.
Right now she was too dependent on Xul. If she was going to meet up with them and return to Earth, she needed to figure out a way to beat the odds that were against her.
As she finished up peeing, her body still shivering in the cold, a sound behind her made her turn sharply.
There was nothing there.
Athena squinted and gripped on to the metal shrapnel, her ears perked and her eyes alert.
She was sure she’d heard something.
Standing on her shaky legs, she tried not to put any pressure on the wound as she backed away from the area slowly.
As she moved away, she saw the sand move around her and her eyes widened.
Fuck. She wasn’t alone. And whatever it was, it was big.
Gripping the shrapnel in her hand, she walked backward, her feet sinking as she stepped.
Maybe she could get away before whatever it was that she’d disturbed came awake.
But she wasn’t to be in such luck.
As the sand shuddered around her, Athena lost her balance and fell on her already injured leg.
Pain shot up through her bone but there was no time to pay attention to it as something long and scaly rose from the sand.
Light glistened off the scales and Athena blinked as she scuttled backward.
She could see right through the thing.
It was frickin’ transparent. No wonder she hadn’t seen it at first.
But as its body rose, the scales seemed to flip over and turn from transparent to a shiny black.
A scream lodged in her throat.
The thing looked like a giant anaconda only its head looked like that of a thorny dragon.
What the actual fuck!
The thing dived for her and Athena managed to roll out of the way, causing it to smash its face into the sand.
For a second it went transparent, then the scales flipped again and it lunged at her.
Athena rolled again and the thing’s head crashed into the sand right beside her.
It was clear it wasn’t just going to let her go.
To be honest, she wouldn’t have taken kindly to it visiting her house to take a piss either.
It would either kill her or she it. She preferred the latter.
As it lunged for her again, Athena rolled, but it caught a piece of the zehmip cloak and pulled her up high into the air.
As she swung helplessly in the air, she gripped the piece of metal shrapnel and aimed for the thing’s neck.
Driving the metal with all her strength, she lodged it in the thing’s scales and it let her go, releasing a loud hiss.
She was hanging on only by the metal now and it was cutting into her hand but it was either that or fall unto the sand and break something.
Damn. She wished she’d known she was going to be abducted.
A gym membership would have been taken out a month prior to this.
Swinging her legs, she wrapped them around the thing’s neck as it thrashed about. Pulling out the metal shrapnel, she drove it deep again.
A scream left her lips as she drove the shrapnel again and again and again. And then, just as the thing began falling to the g
round, something hit her hard in the head.
Her vision faded for a second, but not before she saw another of the creatures right behind her. It had tried to bite her and had missed, but not before its big head collided with her, its hard skull connecting with hers.
As she and the animal fell, she saw the other lunging for her.
She needed to fight.
She couldn’t pass out right now.
But her body wasn’t listening.
All she felt was cold.
As her body hit the sand, darkness enveloped her vision.
She was cold.
So so cold.
16
Xul heard the scream and his head popped up from the floor.
Qrak.
Not again.
Dashing out of the tent, his eyes widened at the scene a little ways off from him.
Two uloms were attacking the little human.
“Qrak!” He said underneath his breath as he sprinted toward her, spear in hand.
She was stabbing one of the uloms with the little piece of metal she had found but she had not yet seen the other. Uloms traveled in twos. They always did.
Qrak. It was a wonder she managed to find so much trouble.
He’d thought she was just outside the tent trying to get herself warm under the rising suns.
Instead, she’d managed to wander into the uloms’ den.
She was fighting for her life and Xul’s heart beat hard as he came upon them.
She better not die.
He swallowed hard as he lunged for the second ulom.
She better not die!
Something inside of him was terrified of that happening but he had no time to evaluate where that feeling was coming from.
As he drove his spear into the second ulom, the thing swung its head toward Athena and, thankfully, its bite missed. But its skull connected with hers and Xul watched in horror as she almost lost her balance off the ulom she was fighting.
Driving his spear again, the second ulom reared in pain.
As he watched the ulom Athena was attached to fall, he sliced the second ulom straight up its midsection.
Thick yellow blood squirted all over the sand and Xul dropped his spear and he rushed toward Athena.
She wasn’t moving.
The little human wasn’t moving.
Xul’s heart beat hard as he finally reached her and pulled her into his arms.
She was still gripping on to the metal object, even though her hands were bleeding from the metal sinking into her skin.
Bending his head to her chest, he sensed the slight flutter of her heart.
She was still alive.
Unconscious, but alive.
Xul leaned his head back and stared up into the light orange sky.
She was going to be the death of him.
A low chuckle rumbled in his chest from both relief and disbelief.
How did one so unassuming invite so much trouble?
Pulling her into his arms, he picked up his spear and brought her back to the tent, where he rested her softly against the zehmip skin on the floor.
Her skin was like ice and the twin suns hadn’t risen enough yet to provide enough warmth.
Xul cursed underneath his breath again as he weighed his options.
If he didn’t do something, she was going to get ill.
Stripping off the wet zehmip coats she’d wrapped around herself, he set them outside the tent for them to dry.
She was naked in front of him now and shivering.
On her head, the gash that had been there after the crash landing was now bleeding again after the impact with the ulom.
Her leg was bleeding and so were her hands.
He needed to do something fast.
Cutting strips from the zehmip skin on the floor, he wrapped them tightly around her wounds to put pressure on them.
As soon as she regained consciousness, he would have to go search for more desert flowers to help heal her wounds. He didn’t know how long it took humans to heal but he guessed the healing process was slow.
As she shivered on the ground beside him, she looked so small, soft...and female.
But he shouldn’t be thinking about that. That was the last thing that should be in his mind.
His priority right now was keeping her alive.
Keeping her alive and getting to that outpost on time.
Glancing toward the exit, he contemplated leaving her to go search for another zehmip so he could make use of the skin to keep her warm. But the last dune he’d seen had been a way off.
If he left her in this state, he wouldn’t forgive himself if something happened.
Not that she meant that much to him...did she?
Was she beginning to mean something to him?
He brushed the thought aside.
He’d keep her warm then.
Lying on the zehmip skin beside her, he pulled her body into his and wrapped himself around her. His body heat would warm her up and ward off the cold.
He was only doing it to save her life.
Xul gulped as her body settled against his.
Qrak. She was so soft. A distinct softness against his hardness.
It had been many moons since he had felt the softness of a woman against him.
Not that he hadn’t had offers, but he had only indulged when he had needed the release.
This somehow felt...different.
This wasn’t about relieving pent up stress.
This was about comfort.
Xul shook his head.
It was not about comfort.
It was about saving her life. Plain and simple.
Nothing else.
Dipping his chin to her head, he inhaled her scent. She was dirty, but underneath that, he could smell her unique female essence. It was...inviting and he felt himself harden.
Dammit.
He needed to get whatever feelings were developing under control.
This mission was too important to get sidetracked.
* * *
Athena’s eyes fluttered open and for a second, she thought that she was back in her bed in her apartment.
But as her eyes opened some more, she realized she was still in hell.
Why did hell feel so good all of a sudden? Not hot, but warm, comforting…and hard.
Her eyes opened fully then.
Hell was only warm because someone big and heavy had their body draped over hers. And that hard thing...well, somebody was a little excited.
Athena gulped but didn’t move.
Her head was resting on his arm and she wondered if he was sleeping.
The last thing she remembered was falling off that invisible snake-dragon thing and seeing the other one lunge at her.
He must have saved her...again.
Her head ached and so did her hand and her leg. Damn, she was really fucked up.
Roughly two days into this and she was already half-dead.
Well, at least she wasn’t shivering anymore.
Glancing down at herself without moving her head, Athena’s eyelids fluttered and she resisted a groan.
She was naked.
Her cheeks flushed, and as if it was listening to her inner thoughts, she felt the hardness behind her pulse.
Shit.
Her breathing came a little more ragged but she did not move.
For some reason, she didn’t want to.
Not yet.
For the first time in this horrible journey, she felt...comfortable.
She couldn’t see his face, but judging from his breathing, he was sleeping.
Athena settled back against him, as she tried to ignore the hardness poking into her back.
Xul felt good. Bull-man or not, he felt damn good and a soft sigh escaped her lips.
It had been a while since she had cuddled with anyone. Trust her to have to travel across the galaxy just to find something to cuddle with. Working a nine-to-five job at the pharmacy hadn’t really give
n her many options though. It was either hook up with some random guy after work or hop on a dating website and try to find something more meaningful.
She’d tried both.
Results: not good.
Turning slightly, she twisted so she was on her back and could see Xul’s face.
His eyes were closed but his hand was still draped around her.
Dropping her eyes to his loincloth, Athena held back another gasp.
He was packing. Definitely packing. That bulge told a helluva a lot.
When her eyes refocused on his face, her gaze met green ones and she flushed immediately.
He wasn’t sleeping at all.
“How do you feel?” He asked softly. His face was close. So so close.
Athena swallowed hard. “Better.” She blinked. “Thank you for saving me.”
A small smile smoothed his lips. “I didn’t save you. I helped you out. You managed to take out one of the uloms on your own.”
“I did?” Athena raised an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Xul said, his voice still low and the way he said it made her think he found that impressive.
“Oh,” she breathed, running her tongue over her bottom lip. Xul’s gaze fell on that movement and his eyes stayed there.
“I’m naked,” Athena whispered.
“Yes,” he said, his gaze rising slowly back to her eyes.
They lay gazing at each other for the next few moments and Athena didn’t want to break the moment.
There was something intense about his eyes, something that drew her in and made her feel like nothing else outside the tent mattered.
Her hand touched his cheek before she even realized what she was doing. The action surprised them both, but apart from a slight jerk, Xul didn’t pull away.
Athena swallowed hard again before moving her fingers up toward his brow to run them over the ridges that led to his horns.
There was something frickin’ sensual about it and it was making her heart beat hard, but she didn’t stop.
Xul was watching her intently as her fingers moved but neither of them said anything.
She hadn’t noticed them before, but she could feel some small hard bumps dotting the length of his eyebrow.
As she ran her fingers over them and over the ridges of his horn, she brought her index finger down the length of his nose and ran it around the ring that was there.