The Sands of Argurumal (Argurma Salvager Book 3)

by S. J. Sanders

  She didn’t think that Argurma left the planet unless sent out for a specific purpose, or if they were running away from it.

  The male chuffed again, his smile widening, showing his sharp teeth as his mandibles vibrated in a happy hum.

  “There are allowances made by our council to give the intergalactic councils of allied species a sense that we are willing to work cooperatively with others. It is not always necessarily genuine, but it opens experiences for some of our people. My opportunity was terminated when my older sister died with my parents, leaving the role of medic to fall upon me.”

  “Do you miss it?” she asked curiously as he escorted them to the door.

  His smile dropped, tinged with an unmistakable look of regret. “I enjoyed the greater opportunities to see and do more, to experience more than what I would find within the confines of the compound. There is little opportunity to find a mate here since few females desire a medic… one with little station within the household. But I am pleased to be here for this momentous occasion,” he added. “I am sending a list of foods that you will wish to avoid during your gestation, as well as those that will be particularly nutritious and pleasing for you. You will find the information waiting for you in your comm.”

  “Thank you, Tarik,” she said warmly.

  His vibrissae knotted, but he turned and bowed slightly in deference to Veral as they left the medical quarter.

  Her mate nudged her lightly with his arm, his expression unreadable as he looked down at her. “You will take care while we are on this planet. Be observant when away from our chambers, and go nowhere without me, Dreth or Navesha. They were the first to swear their protection when they had no reason to, and so I will trust only them with your safety.”

  “Right,” she agreed solemnly. Glancing up at him hopefully, she gave him a small smile. “Now can we eat? I’m suddenly starving, and Tarik did say that I will need to eat a lot.”

  “Not difficult for you, anastha,” Veral murmured, his eyes alight with amusement.

  “Cracking jokes, my love?” She chuckled. “Come on, feed your mate before I start following my nose to whatever appeals to it.”

  With an affectionate purr of his mandibles, Veral pulled her beneath his arm and held her tight against his body as he led her through the corridors. She only hoped that it was the way to the kitchens.

  10

  Veral held in a groan as Terri moaned with pleasure. That coupled with the way she sucked another spoonful of pink mush into her mouth made his civix leap to life within its sheath. His female was going to kill him slowly since there was little to do about his desire with Navesha sprawled in a nearby chair, sharpening her claws on a rough pumice stone imported from the northern volcanic valleys. Due to their conditioning and social norms, it was not considered polite in his society to publicly show affection, much less seduce one’s mate in the company of another.

  In consequence, he was resigned to suffer with the surge of lust that raged easily at the slightest provocation from his mate. He glared at her, trying to convince his cousin to leave, but the stubborn female merely smirked at him. He felt a growl of frustration climb up his throat and was about to order her to leave when Terri distracted him with another loud moan that sent a fresh wave of heat through him.

  “By the gods, it is so good! I can’t remember anything tasting so good,” Terri declared appreciatively.

  “It is versin,” Navesha supplied, her smile broadening beyond what was considered good taste so that a hint of teeth peeked out. “It is made from scourra’s milk blended with the brain of a corafel with several sweet spices. It is a much enjoyed first meal,” she finished approvingly.

  Terri paused, her spoon freezing just before her mouth. Veral eyed her with concern. It was difficult to predict at times where his mate’s tolerance for unfamiliar foods might end. He did recall her mentioning that she refused to eat bugs, or anything made of a bodily organ. In retrospect, he should have stopped her when she insisted on trying the sweet versin. His eyes narrowed, and his body tensed as her face turned a sickly hue.

  “Brains?” Terri mumbled around a mouthful of versin, her face flushing brightly for a moment before all color fled from her cheeks.

  Navesha’s brow ridge rose, but she pursed her lips and nodded.

  Were humans supposed to achieve a pale, slightly greenish hue? He had seen his mate flush reds and pinks and even pale, but he didn’t recall seeing her adopt that particular hue before. He glanced at the versin with worry. Perhaps it was an allergic reaction that made her look so terrible.

  “Nope,” Terri moaned sadly. “I just can’t.”

  Jerking to her feet, his mate speed over to the waste disposal unit and slapped her palm against the lever on its side. The lid slid back quickly, and Terri leaned promptly over to retch into it.

  Vibrissae tangling and rattling anxiously, Veral stepped behind his mate, his hand smoothing her back in slow, firm strokes that always seemed to comfort her. Her body trembled with spasms as she continued to empty her stomach of nutrients. He did not dare move until her body stopped shaking and she straightened once more and drew in a deep breath. Swiping her hand over her eyes to wipe away the tears that streaked down her cheeks in the course of her violent expelling, she turned and looked up at him with a weak smile.

  “Well, that was awful. So what are our plans for today?”

  He cupped her cheek within his large hand, his thumb brushing against her cheekbone lovingly.

  “Your only responsibility is to eat and rest. I have things that I must see to.”

  “Oh, well, that’s okay. I don’t mind tagging along,” she replied with forced cheer, her smile dropping when he shook his head.

  “I will be visiting different parts of the compound. It will be tedious and tiring, requiring my attention until late. Your body is already taxed by our offspring. It is better if you rest in our chambers. If you become restless you can take the balcony out to the courtyard gardens, but do not overexert.”

  She pinched her lips together, and he was certain that she was about to argue, but she surprised him by sighing and giving him a reluctant smile. “I guess a day hanging around our rooms won’t kill me,” she muttered. She leaned her cheek into his hand, her gaze softening. “You can just make it up to me when you get back.”

  He stilled, reluctant to upset her further. Veral withdrew his hand and stepped away just long enough to retrieve some water for her. She flashed him a grateful smile as she sipped and cleansed her mouth with the cool water. She spat the mouthful into the waste disposal before taking a grateful swallow of the liquid. When she was finally done with it, he took it back to clean and store the cup before returning.

  Standing in front of her once more, he debated how to approach the subject. He settled on dropping his hand to twine his fingers with hers in a demonstration of affection and support that he knew she favored. His mate’s brow, however, furrowed with confusion at his small retreat. He hated that what he would say was going to make her unhappy with him, but there would be no dishonesty between them.

  “It will not just be one day. I will be spending the better part of the next several rotations shuttling out to various parts of our territories to meet with extended members of our line who care for our herds and oversee various operations. It will be many long rotations that your presence is not necessary for. You would find them tedious, so this will be the most optimal time for you to just rest. There is no reason for you to exhaust yourself.”

  “I see,” Terri replied quietly, her lips thinning with clear displeasure.

  “Do not be angry. My oath, as soon as these duties are concluded, we will enjoy some days to ourselves, anastha,” he murmured.

  She fidgeted a bit. “And I’ll stay here the entire time?”

  “It will set my mind at ease to know you are here getting the rest and food that your body currently desires.”

  She dropped her eyes, her jaw tightening. “You aren’t going to turn insan
ely overprotective again, are you? I thought we established that I can take care of myself.”

  “Which I do not dispute. You are fierce and capable, anastha. Any male would be fortunate to have such a mate at his side, but these circumstances are unusual for both of us. It is advantageous to be cautious.”

  Navesha snorted from where she sat, and he directed an impatient look to her.

  “Did you have a comment to make?” he asked, the light growl in his voice unmistakable.

  His cousin shrugged, her smile never leaving her lips. “No. I just did not fully realize until this moment how fragile your mate is. It is interesting to see a male so flustered over his mate’s health when Argurma females are strong and have no such need.”

  He narrowed his eyes, unsure of where she was going with her observation, but she did not make him wait long. She chuffed and leaned forward to prop on one elbow, one free of the thick spikes that a male had at the joint, to regard him levelly.

  “I mean no offense, cousin,” she said with a relaxed purring vibration of her mandibles. “Now that I see the situation, I will be honored to check on your mate in your absence.”

  “I would be grateful,” he replied formally, and his cousin dropped her head in acknowledgment.

  He looked back to his mate, hoping that Navesha’s offer would set her at ease with his absence. To his dismay, her face was still pinched as she visibly bristled. His systems took in her elevated heart rate and tension and he nearly hissed with distress. She was not pleased at all and not trying to hide it. He had little doubt that Navesha, if she cared to check, would also mark the response. Not that he cared if it insulted his cousin. He did not like to see his female so agitated when she was usually energetic and enthusiastic. He did not like to see her practically curling into herself with dejection.

  A sigh left him. He could not do that to her.

  “Very well. If you would prefer to come…”

  “No,” Terri interrupted with a sharp exhalation of breath. “You are right. I don’t like it, but I am more easily tired lately… a little more… fragile… than normal, as Navesha implied. I am sure taking a few days to laze about and enjoy the foods will be good for me while I am getting settled and adjusting to all of this… all except the versin,” she chuckled.

  The smile that accompanied her statement was small but Veral relaxed a little at the genuine warmth that filled it. That was the spark he was accustomed to seeing from his female. Making a pleased rumble, he drew her into his arms, his mandibles threading lightly among her hair as he clutched her close to him.

  “Yes, rest well and regain your energy for when I conclude these matters,” he whispered into her ear. “Until then, I have a little time before I must leave. Let me see to your nourishment since your stomach rejected what was previously eaten and then I will take you back to our quarters to see you are appropriately bathed and tended to before I depart.”

  Her soft sigh and the erotic tremble of her body against his was all the answer he required. Pulling her close, he brushed his lips against her brow, trailing them down the bridge of her nose until he could brush them against her soft mouth. Her moan brought another surge of lust reminding him to break off while in front of an audience despite how much his body loathed to.

  Drawing back, he turned a curt glance toward Navesha, who watched with unabashed interest. The female lifted one spineless feminine shoulder and winked.

  “If you are performing in public, do not expect me to look away. I am the oldest unmated female in our line. I have to enjoy all intimacy secondhand… or firsthand as far as my own appendage goes,” she retorted as she lifted her opposite hand and immediately turned her attention to sharpening the claws on that hand.

  With a disapproving glare, Veral tucked Terri into his side as he fetched more appropriate food from the cooling unit for his mate and hustled her out of there. He wanted his mate to himself and far away from his cousin’s overly bold behavior. His attention was on far more interesting things.

  He was barely able to contain his passion before they tumbled through the doorway to their quarters. Mouths locking and hands working at a frenzied pace, their bodies came together with exultant shouts of passion. His entire focus narrowed in on the wet slaps of their bodies together as his civix plowed into her wet heat. Terri’s small cries urged him on until he was riding her harder to the point of combustion.

  His pelvis slick in the apex of her thighs, Veral growled at his increasing lack of self-control around his female. He knew that it was common among mated pairs to engage each other frequently while the female gestated in order to reaffirm and strengthen their bond. For that reason, he knew that it was not abnormal, even though his body was spasming as he held himself deep within her. Content while locked together, he dragged his jaw against hers, enjoying the way she relaxed bonelessly as his mandibles vibrated in the low purr she enjoyed. It was something he made certain to use frequently in their matings to increase her post coital enjoyment. And he admitted that he found it quite enjoyable as well.

  He was starting to understand why so many mated as soon as possible, even if it was with pressure from mother-kin. He thought little of what Navesha said about being unmated until hours later as he dragged a wet sponge over Terri’s shoulders.

  “Why do you think Navesha isn’t mated?” Terri asked, breaking the soothing silence that had fallen in their room outside of the quiet purr of his mandibles and a distant melody that carried through the corridors from someplace within the compound.

  He lifted a shoulder and smoothed the sponge around one breast in leisure strokes.

  “I do not know. It is possible that a male she bonded with died before they finalized their mating, or that she could not find a suitable male that she was able to bond to her. It happens. If Featha did not consider it important enough to get the artificial hormones, it could be any number of scenarios.”

  “That’s a little sad,” Terri said quietly.

  He nodded. “It is. That is one reason I say it is important for us to look beyond our own planet to alien races. Our males and females need it, rather than forcing bonds through hormone injections.”

  Terri turned in the tub and looped her arms around his neck, her blue eyes peering intently into his. “Well, this alien feels very lucky to have found you.”

  “As I do with you,” he purred.

  She bit her lip. “You have to leave soon, don’t you?”

  “I do,” he replied.

  A sigh shuddered from her. “All right. Just hurry home, okay?”

  “Nothing can keep me from your side,” he assured her.

  When he left her moments later, dressed in a loose robe as she lay upon their sleeping pallet, tension radiated through him at the impending distance separating them. It was necessary, he reminded himself. Refusing to show weakness and look back, he stepped out of the room, not even faltering in his stride when the door slid shut behind with him a quiet snick.

  He would see to his duties and return as soon as possible to his beloved anastha.

  11

  Terri sat on the padded stone chair in the courtyard garden. For four days, she had hardly seen Veral at all. She woke when he slid into bed next to her, but he never attempted to do anything more than twine his arms around her and hold her close. Come morning, he was gone again with Krono before she woke. It was sheer hell, and not even Navesha’s random appearances made her feel much better. Dreth made an attempt to be good company when he visited to look in on her, but the distance between her and Veral absorbed all of her attention. Although she tried not to be too much of a downer, the anxiety was starting to get to her.

  Her fingers squeezed the fruit in her hand hard enough that they wettened from its juices. Sighing, she set it on the plate beside her, unable to stomach the idea of taking a bite. Veral wouldn’t be happy that her appetite recently dropped off, but over the last day it had been difficult to rouse interest in much of anything.

  “You know what you n
eed?” Navesha interrupted.

  Terri peeled one eye open to look over at her current babysitter. “My mate?”

  “Yes, but in this case, incorrect,” the female chuffed. “I believe you need a distraction.”

  Terri sucked her lips in thoughtfully. The other female wasn’t wrong. She was so focused on Veral’s absence perhaps a distraction would be helpful, though she was too suspicious to fully trust Navesha. She didn’t know what it was that struck her as off, and it felt unfair to judge her so harshly when Veral’s cousin had done nothing to her.

  “Did you have something particular in mind?” she asked cautiously.

  “I would not have mentioned it if I did not. I think it would be a good time to spend an afternoon at the market, especially since Featha instructed me to pick up an order for her and gave me permission to take you with me so that you are not ‘pining in the courtyard all day.’ I have a spare shafna you can use that will protect you from our suns, and we will entertain ourselves with the Ragirsi merchants. They make many credits trading their wares all over Argurumal.”

  “I don’t know,” Terri said as she worried at her bottom lip with her teeth. “Veral and Tarik are pretty insistent that I need to rest as much as possible right now.”

  She didn’t want to go do something that would make Veral worry if word got to him somehow—but she was so fucking bored. Navesha’s next words did little to help the matter.

  “And in consequence be under stimulated and irritable. That is not healthy either. In any case, they are males and do not understand fully that females need a bit of time out to distract ourselves from other pressing concerns. In Argurumal, the weight of the household rests on our shoulders. Veral is gaining some understanding of that responsibility in his current position. It is only reasonable that if Veral is going to distress you by being absent so much then he cannot object.”

  That was a fair point.