by Liz Craven
“This has to be dangerous. Shouldn’t you stop?”
“The rains came early,” he snapped. “If we don’t get to higher ground we will be swept away in a flash flood.”
“Why in all the hells are you kidnapping me during a possible flash flood?”
“I’m not kidnapping you, I’m bride-stealing,” Jakum shouted. “And the rains weren’t supposed to come for another week.”
Ilexa glared at him, not that he took his eyes off the instruments to witness her anger. “You couldn’t check a weather report?”
“No one expected the rains to come so soon. Otherwise, the Hakimu wouldn’t have held the encomium,” he defended.
Great. Not only did she have to be kidnapped, she had to be kidnapped by a complete idiot. Ilexa opened her mouth to respond, when Jakum let out a yelp. Before she could process his distress, the skimmer pitched forward and slammed into something with a loud crunch.
***
She felt achy, but warm. For some reason, that surprised her. Elusive memories of being cold and wet assailed her as she stretched awake beneath a warm blanket. She opened her eyes to find herself lying in a cave. Not a cave like the Hakimu keep, but the type of cave that had her scanning it for a hibernating animal. A small fire blazed nearby and she realized she lay on a portable mattress.
Sitting up, she discovered that she was completely naked beneath the blanket. A rush of panic assailed her. Tears stung the back of her eyes as she twisted around searching for Jakum.
Hearing a noise, she spun back to the cave entrance in time to see a drenched Thane cross the threshold—did caves have thresholds?—carrying two large survival packs. Rain pounded down in sheets behind him. He dropped the packs beneath her dress, which had been draped over a small ledge in such a manner that it hung to dry.
He turned his attention to her. When his gaze dipped down, she realized the blanket had pooled at her waist, leaving her breasts exposed. She jerked it back up and held it against herself, knowing her skin flushed pink with embarrassment.
“Did he hurt you?” Thane ground out.
“Drugged me.” Ilexa shifted on the mattress. She didn’t feel any soreness or telltale stickiness between her thighs. For her own peace of mind, she still had to ask, “Where did you find me?”
“A few kilometers away in the lowlands. That idiot crashed his skimmer into a hill.”
“I was still strapped into the passenger’s seat?”
Her fear must have translated to Thane, because fury blazed in his ice blue eyes. “He didn’t appear to have…touched you. You were dressed and strapped in. Did he touch you before the crash?”
“I don’t think so.” To her frustration, a renegade tear managed to escape down her cheek, leaving a cool trail behind.
Thane swore crudely, grabbed his shirt, which lay on the ground by the entrance, and dried himself vigorously with it as he crossed the small cave, and hauled her—blankets and all—into his arms. He sat carefully on the mattress, settled her in his lap and cradled her against his chest. She gave into temptation and wrapped her arms around him. Burying her face into his neck, she accepted the comfort he offered.
***
Thane regretted the promise he’d made to Rhys with every fiber of his being. He had never wanted anything more in his life than to see Jakum dying a slow death from a gut wound. He stroked Ilexa’s back while murmuring soothing nonsense.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered against his neck.
“Why? What are you sorry for, Lex?” he asked gently.
“Getting kidnapped.”
“Honey, that’s not your fault.”
“You tried to tell me, and I didn’t listen. I shouldn’t have even gone to the party.”
Guilt swamped him. He’d let the jealousy he’d felt at seeing her in the arms of so many different men override his judgment. Now, she blamed herself for the actions of an idiot. “Of course you should have attended the party. What happened isn’t your fault.”
She didn’t respond for a moment, and he knew she didn’t believe him. He searched his mind for words to make her understand.
“Where’s Jakum?” she asked, surprising him.
“I don’t know.”
She raised her head. “What?”
He saw the alarm in her eyes, and cursed himself again. “I left him with his skimmer and instructions to find high ground. He won’t be able to make it here without a transport, I promise. But he will be able to find someplace to weather the rains. His tribe will eventually search for him.”
“What about us?”
“We’re in good shape. I had two survival packs in the transport, along with the inflatable mattress and two blankets.”
“I’m glad you weren’t hurt. I know it was dangerous coming after us. Jakum couldn’t control the transport.”
“Jakum drove a light-weight skimmer not designed for long distances, much less rough terrain and dangerous weather. My transport is designed to handle rough conditions. Once there is a break in the rain, we’ll have no problem getting back to the keep.”
She nodded against his neck, and he wondered to what she was agreeing. Deciding to forgo that question, he addressed his more pressing concern. “I don’t think you broke anything in the crash, but I’m not sure about any internal injuries. You need to use your gift to examine yourself.”
“It doesn’t work like that. Healers can’t heal themselves.”
“Not even to check for injuries?”
“No, but I’m fairly certain nothing is wrong. I was strapped in tightly. I’m sore, probably bruised, but nothing serious.”
Her answer frustrated him, but he kept his touch on her light and soothing. The front end of the skimmer had been crushed, but the interior of the vehicle had shown little damage. In all likelihood, Ilexa suffered no serious injury, but that did nothing to eliminate his worry.
She pulled back sharply and looked at him with anxiety. “Don’t the rains last for months?”
Her alarmed expression brought a reluctant smile to his lips. “We won’t be trapped in this cave for months. I’m just waiting for the first wave to pass. The rains will lessen in their intensity for a few days, before the heavy seasonal rains settle in. We’ll leave then.”
“So how long will we be trapped in this cave?”
“A couple of days. Maybe three. Four at the outside.”
“Is there a deck of cards in one of those packs?”
The weak smile she offered him didn’t reach her eyes, but he appreciated the effort. “There’s food and water.”
“Water?”
She sounded so hopeful, he cursed himself again. Of course she needed something to drink. He also needed to make sure she ate. He forced a light tone when he responded. “Trust me, water is not going to be a problem.”
After settling her back on the mattress, he turned his back to her and surreptitiously adjusted his pants to hide his burgeoning desire. He gave a mental headshake as he crossed to the packs. The icy rain that left him with cold, soaked pants should have prevented him from reacting to a woman, but holding Ilexa wrapped in nothing but a blanket, caressing her skin and feeling her cling to him, had stoked his need.
He pulled out a bottle of water and a meal pack. “I should warn you. These aren’t particularly appetizing.”
“I just want something to drink.”
He returned to the mattress and knelt beside it. Ilexa had arranged the blanket around her body, but he saw the wet spots from where he’d held her. After passing her the bottle of water, he massaged the meal pack to activate the heating component. He pulled the spoon off the top and opened it. “Beef stew. It will help warm you up.”
“I’m warm. You should eat it.”
He sat the packet in her lap, careful not to spill it, and retrieved the other blanket. He laid the blanket beside her on the mattress. “I’m going to set up a cistern. It will take a few minutes. When I come back, I expect you to have eaten every bite of that stew and wrapped
yourself in the dry blanket.”
“Shouldn’t you warm up first? Can’t the cistern wait until morning, when you have some light?”
“You don’t have rains like these on N’yota. This rain is so heavy and the clouds so dense, sunlight won’t pierce them. It’s going to stay dark out there. I’d rather go ahead and take care of the cistern now. When I get back in, I’ll dry off and warm up. Now eat that stew.”
Ilexa turned her big, luminous eyes on him. Her voice whispered just shy of a plea, “Thane…”
Intuition kicked in and he cupped her face. His hand seemed large and coarse next to her soft skin. “I’m not going far, baby. You give a shout and I’ll come running. I’m going to be just outside the mouth of the cave. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She worried her lower lip and gave him an embarrassed look. “I’ll be fine.”
He admired the bravado in her voice. “I mean it about the stew. You eat it and wrap up in the dry blanket, or I’ll pink your backside.”
Surprise and something else flared in her eyes at his threat. He dropped his hand and strode out of the cave, letting the freezing rain take care of his desire.
***
She did feel better after eating the stew. A little demon inside her taunted her to stay wrapped in the slightly damp blanket, just to test Thane’s threat. When she realized she was actually considering it, Ilexa quickly shucked off the blanket and wrapped the dry one around her in a complicated manner, forming a traditional N’yotan dress. Not that anyone had worn that style on her homeworld in a few centuries, but her mother had taught Ilexa the tradition.
After gathering the little bit of trash into a small heap, she carried the other blanket over to a rock protruding just above her head. It took three tries before she managed to get it to hang on the rock without falling.
She hung his shirt with more ease, and turned to survey the small cave she’d be calling home for the next couple of days. Thane had set up two portable lights on opposite sides of the cave. The fire burned in the dead center with the mattress on the opposite side of the mouth of the cave.
That struck her as odd, and she glanced at the ceiling, expecting to see smoke teeming in the air. She didn’t. A closer inspection revealed a number of large fissures running along the ceiling. She surmised the fissures didn’t lead straight to open air, because no rain fell into the cavern.
A sound behind her made her jump, and she spun to face the entrance, swallowing the instinctive scream that leapt to her throat. Her face must have reflected her fear, because Thane paused in the rain.
He held his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender. “It’s just me.”
Her heart’s galloping pace didn’t slow, but she schooled her face to relief. “That was fast.”
“Simple set-up. It’s a temporary one, but it’s all we need.”
“I’ll get you a towel.” She hurried over to the survival packs. It was either that or succumb to the desire to lick every drop of water off that magnificent chest. She’d been admiring it since he greeted her upon her arrival on Dunia. The tattoo appeared to beat its wings as his chest muscles flexed and bunched. There was something raw about seeing such a primitive marking on a man’s chest. Something that called to the primal woman within her.
Thane accepted the towel with murmured thanks, after wringing out his hair with a vicious twist. He briskly rubbed it along his bare torso and arms. At close range she could see the chill bumps…and his hard nipples.
Unconsciously, she licked her lips. “Go sit by the fire. I’ll get you some stew.”
Thane bent and retrieved a small wad of cloth from the pack she had been rooting through. He hesitated a moment, concern in his eyes. “I need to get out of these wet pants.”
She couldn’t stop the blush that spread across her face. She prayed that he’d attribute it to embarrassment and not the desire she felt at the thought of his hard, naked body. “The other blanket isn’t dry. We could cut this one—”
“I have this.” He held up the small wad of clothing balled in his fist. “It will cover my…necessities. I wouldn’t change if it weren’t important to dry off.”
She realized the source of his concern and stepped forward, placing a kiss on his chilly cheek. “I’m fine. I’m not made of glass. I was disoriented and I panicked. I’ve found my spine again.”
He caught her chin in his cold hand. “Don’t do that. Don’t belittle your experience or natural reaction. Just know you are safe. I’ll take care of you, Lex. I promise.”
He held her gaze for a long moment and Ilexa’s knees went weak. Caring, promise and more turbulent emotions blazed in his blue eyes. Surely that much passion meant more than mere concern for his friend’s sister.
“I’m going over by the fire to change,” he finally said.
“I’ll find the stew.” She knelt to search the pack and struggled with the temptation to sneak a peek.
She found the stew and a pleasant surprise. She rubbed the stew’s packet according to the directions and had begun to rise when Thane called out, “I’m decent.”
Ilexa turned with a smile and froze when she saw him. He’d turned to shake out his pants, leaving him in profile—and to her relief—oblivious to her reaction.
He’d changed into a loincloth similar to the ones worn by the hunting party on her first night on Dunia. She took advantage of his inattention to admire his physique. He had no visible body hair, just bronze expanses of flesh stretched over long, thick muscles. His hair lay in a twist over one shoulder, giving her an unimpeded view of his neck and face. Prophetess. Even the man’s earlobes were cut.
With a final snap of the pants in his hands, Thane straightened and his blazing blue eyes pinned her for an interminable moment. She wrenched her eyes from his and nearly stepped into the fire in her haste to shove the instant meal at him.
“I’ll hang your pants.” Ilexa could have kicked herself for the squeak in her voice.
Thane fumbled the stew when she snatched the pants from his hand. He recovered and caught the stew and the trailing leg of his pants before it dragged through the fire.
“Eat,” she ordered and rushed across the cave. Unable to find another makeshift hook, she spread his pants across a large rock. Her reflexes came back online before she bashed the bottle of Inderian whiskey she’d found against the rock.
Get a grip, she ordered herself and carried the bottle back with her to sit beside Thane.
He cast her a worried look. “I’m sorry. This is all I had that was dry.”
Damn. His kindness and concern wore against the shields she had scrambled to erect against her growing desire for him.
“Fearing for your virtue?” She offered an exaggerated leer.
Relief lit his eyes. “You might be more woman than I can handle.”
As the gods as her witness, Ilexa could no more have stopped herself than quit breathing. She stretched sinuously and placed the bottle of liquor on the ground between them. Leaning back on her hands, she purred, “No question about that.”
To her satisfaction, Thane swallowed hard. He swept up the bottle and took a healthy swig. He passed it back to her. “Sorry no glasses.”
She laughed and thought what the hells. After taking a strong swig, she passed it back. It burned down her throat with a pleasant heat that chased some of the cavern’s chill away. “It’s a good thing you’re a more competent warrior than Jakum.”
Thane’s sneer conveyed volumes. “Jakum is no warrior. Unlike the Hakimu, all members of the Chrylian are not required to undergo warrior training. They’re a caste system. Jakum belongs to the academic caste.”
“So I was kidnapped by a weak idiot.”
A bark of surprised laughter escaped Thane. “Actually, Jakum is a renowned scientist.”
“Please. The man couldn’t find North with a thousand compasses and a cartographer pointing and yelling ‘it’s that way’.”
Thane snorted and took another swig. Changing the sub
ject, he asked, “So who’d they exchange you for?”
“What?”
“The IMEP. I understand it’s a one-for-one deal. Each planet receives one IMEP volunteer in exchange for each of its own volunteers.”
“A Freykan acupuncturist.”
Thane jolted, incredulous. “A needle pusher?”
“An acupuncturist,” Ilexa repeated.
“‘Let me shove a needle here and it will fix all your problems’,” Thane mocked.
“And if someone had said a healer could kneel beside a boy and almost rebuild his arm without touching it?”
Chastened, Thane grimaced. “You have a point.”
“I’d hoped to be assigned to Freyka,” Ilexa confessed. “I’d like to study acupuncture and chi.”
“Chi?”
“It’s what healers call our life force. That part of us we collate and send into a patient. The Freykan have a similar concept, though they use needles to manipulate the patient’s chi rather than using their chi to aid the patient.”
“You’ll forgive me if I admit you are talking above my head?”
Ilexa laughed. “It’s not a ‘head’ thing. Few understand, except practitioners.” They sat in comfortable silence, passing the bottle back and forth. After several minutes, Ilexa asked, “What time is it?”
“A few hours until dawn.”
“The morning after the encomium?”
Thane started as though her question had given him insight into her mind. “You were only missing a few hours before I found you,” he growled.
Tears pricked behind her eyes. “My internal clock is all scrambled.”
Thane cursed. Despite having five brothers, Ilexa had to admit she’d never heard so much swearing in one day.
“You need to get some sleep and recover.”
“You need to eat that stew.” She tapped the spoon for emphasis.
He grimaced and opened the meal packet. “I hate these things.”
“There is probably something in it that might resemble nutrition. If nothing else, you need the warmth.” Warmth was becoming a distant memory for Ilexa.