Alien Explosions (Zerconian Warriors Book 12)

by Sadie Carter

  “You needn’t look so horrified,” she muttered. She wrapped her arms around herself, giving him a defensive look. “I get that I’m not looking my best but you’re the one who is under the delusion we’re mates. Isn’t that what mates do?”

  “We are mates. There is no delusion.” He gripped her chin, holding it firmly but not so tightly that he risked hurting her. “And were you not injured and exhausted then I would be only too eager to join with you. But for the moment my main priority is your health. That comes before all else.”

  Including his aching shaft.

  “Because you’re a healer.”

  “Because you are mine,” he told her fiercely. “Top. Off.”

  She lifted it up and over her head. “There’s really nothing wrong. I just wore the wrong sort of bra for hiking.”

  He pulled the bottom of her bra away, trying to view the problem. She slapped at his hands, but he ignored her. He frowned as he saw the angry lines marking her delicate skin.

  “Take this off.”

  She placed her hands over her bra. “What? Why?”

  “Because it is rubbing your skin raw. I will put some cream on the marks.”

  “Give the cream to me, I’ll do it.”

  “You cannot see where to place it. It will be easier for me to do it. You do not have to worry about me harming you.”

  “I’m not worried about that.” She lifted her arm away and reached around behind her with a wince.

  “Allow me,” he told her gruffly. He moved behind her and stared at the strap. Didn’t seem so hard to undo. He slowly undid the clasp and pulled the bra away from her breasts. There were marks on her back as well and she was tense once more.

  “Had you simply allowed me to carry you, you could have avoided this.”

  She stiffened as he applied the cream. He would need to give her another massage before they set out again or she was going to hurt herself further.

  “I didn’t want to be a burden.”

  “A burden? How could you possibly be a burden when you try to do everything yourself? Do you ever let anyone help you, Saffron?”

  She glanced over her shoulder at him with a frown. “What do you mean?”

  “Lie on your back.” He helped her lie back then started to apply the soothing cream to the line under her breasts. She had her arm pressed against her breasts, hiding them from him. Irritation bit at him, but there was no point in ordering her to bare herself to him when he had no intention of doing anything about the arousal riding both of them. They would have to complete the mating soon. The arousal was only going to grow more intense as time wore on. Until neither of them could ignore it.

  But for the moment, he held himself back from reaching for her, from taking those hard nipples into his mouth. She was injured. She was tired. She didn’t need for him to push his needs on her.

  He put the cream aside, then remembered what she’d said about thighs and her feet hurting. He grabbed the bottom of her skirt.

  “Eek! What are you doing?” She grasped hold of her skirt, preventing him from pulling it up.

  “I am checking your thighs. You said they were chafing.”

  “Really, Moroco, I know you’re just trying to be thorough, but I can take care of myself.” She tried to sit, her arm still covering her breasts.

  “Somehow, I think you have spent too much of your life taking care of yourself.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Who took care of you when you lived on Earth?”

  She blew out a breath. “Haven’t you been to any of the seminars Mila holds about understanding human females? No, I guess you wouldn’t have since you didn’t plan on mating a human. On Earth, human females don’t need someone to take care of them. We take care of ourselves. We have jobs, we earn money, we live on our own. We don’t need a man to protect us.”

  He frowned. “I do not like your Earth much. What worth is a male if he does not protect his female?”

  She blinked at him for a moment then looked away with a shrug. “I’m sure there are men who do. There are good men on Earth and bad.” She turned back. “Can you hand me my bra?”

  “Why?”

  “So I can put it back on? Feeling a little naked here.”

  Personally, he liked the way she looked right now. He’d keep her this way all the time if he could. Hmm, that was a thought. When they returned to Zerconia he could ban all clothing when she was in his house. He would put the privacy mode on, of course, not wishing for anyone to see. He did not want to share her beauty with others. It was all for him.

  “Moroco? What are you thinking about? You’ve got a weird smile on your face.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “No? No, what?”

  “No, you may not have that terrible contraption back. You can put your shirt back on if it makes you feel better.”

  “Well, thanks very much for letting me wear my own shirt and I’m not going without my bra. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of well-endowed here. If I walk around without a bra on I could poke an eye out.”

  He failed to see how but it didn’t matter since she would not be doing any more walking. And if she thought he had not noticed her breasts, then she must think him blind.

  “You are not putting that back on. It will rub your skin raw. Let me see your thighs.”

  “You’re not going to give up until I do, are you?”

  “No.”

  She grabbed her shirt. “Fine.”

  “Actually, do not put that back on. I wish to check your back first.”

  “All right.” She held the shirt up to her breasts, covering them then lay back. That was a shame. But he turned his concentration to her thighs as he raised her skirt. She quickly pressed her skirt down to cover her mound.

  “Spread your legs.”

  “Jesus wept,” she muttered, but she moved her legs apart.

  As he smeared the ointment on her red skin, he made certain he brushed against her pussy. Sure enough, she stiffened and let out a small groan.

  He’d told himself he wasn’t going to take her until she was feeling better. But it was taking all of his self-control to stick to that vow.

  Knowing he needed to pull himself together, he moved back towards her feet. Surely there could be nothing arousing about her feet. He slipped off one shoe, frowning as she groaned. Then he noticed the way her socks stuck to her feet. With blood.

  “Saffron! Why did you not tell me your feet were this bad?”

  She sat and looked down at them with a grimace. “They’re pretty messed up, huh? Shoot. I didn’t think they would be that bad.”

  “Not that bad? They are rubbed raw in places.” How had she walked on these for the last few hours? Guilt stabbed at him. “This is unacceptable.”

  “I didn’t mean for them to get like this. You think I wanted this? Just give me the stuff and I’ll take care of them.”

  She tried to snatch her feet back but he held them firmly in each hand. “Stop. Saffron, stop.”

  She froze, looking at him with wide eyes and he realized he’d raised his voice without meaning to. “Just stay still and let me look after them.”

  “I can still walk if that’s what you’re worried about,” she said.

  “It is not what I am worried about.” He wrapped her feet up after cleaning them thoroughly. He knew it had to have hurt having him cover them in antiseptic but she hadn’t said a word. His admiration grew.

  “Then why are you so grumpy? I mean, more grumpy than usual. You’re always grumpy, obviously.”

  “I am not angry at you.”

  “I’m the only person here, who else could you be angry with?”

  “Myself.” He tidied up the supplies, putting everything away, taking one of the fluid pouches for himself.

  “You? Why would you be angry at yourself?”

  “Because I should never have allowed you to walk so far. In truth, I only agreed that you could walk because I thought you would
give up after a few minutes. I should have known better. Your stubbornness nearly matches mine.”

  “Somehow, I don’t think that’s a compliment,” she said dryly. She paused for a moment. “It’s not your fault. I could have said something.”

  He raised one eyebrow. “You seem to have a little trouble with honest communication.”

  She looked away for a moment then forced herself to look back. “It’s not that. It’s just…” she sighed. “I’m used to looking out for everyone else, you know? I’m used to being the strong one. The one people rely on. I’m not used to relying on anyone else.”

  “Not even your family?”

  She shrugged. “No. Our dad left us when we were young and our mom had to work to support us.”

  “Your father left?”

  “Yeah, he was a loser. It’s just that most of the men I knew on Earth…well, all of them actually, pretty much sucked. Our dad left, the men that mom…ah…worked with were all assholes. Then there was Sophie’s asshole boyfriend who was using her.”

  “And Mike.”

  She gave a humorless laugh. “Ah Mike, he was the least offensive out of the lot and that’s saying something, right? At least he didn’t promise anything he couldn’t come through on, other than being good in bed. He did talk that up a bit. That and the size of his dick. To call him a pencil dick is being generous.”

  “You forgot Ricky. He was another man who hurt you, was he not?”

  She stared at Moroco. How the hell did he know about Ricky? “Who told you about Ricky?”

  “You did.”

  She shook her head. “I would remember telling you about him.”

  He looked slightly guilty. “It was after you had the pain inhibitor. The full dose.”

  She frowned. “So while I was drugged up, you questioned me? That was pretty low of you.”

  He shrugged. “You seemed to want to share. I merely listened.”

  Uh-huh, she was real sure that’s what happened.

  “I don’t talk about Ricky.”

  “Why? Because he hurt you? Scared you?”

  “Shouldn’t we get moving? Aren’t we trying to get to where you saw those lights by this evening?”

  “We won’t make it there by this evening. We have been moving too slowly.”

  That was moving slowly? Holy shit, she was in trouble. Now that she was sitting, her body really, really didn’t want to get moving again. Let alone at a faster pace.

  “So we’re going to have to sleep out here?” It didn’t look so scary in the sunlight, but in the dark, unable to see what was around her…okay, now she was starting to freak out.

  “I will look after you, Saffron.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  He reached across and surprised her by taking her hand in his. “Saffron, just because all the other men in your life have failed you, do not think that I will. I am nothing like those males. They were without honor. They did not understand their responsibility. I do.”

  So she was a responsibility and a burden. Yay.

  “Saffron, I know you have no reason to trust in me, but I will prove to you that you can.” She blinked at him, surprised. “You do not trust that I have your best interests in mind, but I do. Although I am not doing a great job of taking care of you currently.” He grimaced as he stared down at her feet.

  “My own stubbornness has been known to get me into trouble now and then.” She slid her hand from his, suddenly this whole mating thing was getting a bit too real.

  “Can I put my shirt on?”

  “I wish to check your back.” He moved behind her. “You have tensed up again.”

  Jeez, she wondered why.

  “This would be easier if you lay on your stomach.”

  With a sigh, she spread out her shirt. Wasn’t like it wasn’t filthy already anyway. What did a bit more dirt matter? Still holding an arm over her breasts, she attempted to lie face down on the shirt, nearly falling on her face. Only Moroco’s arm under her shoulders stopped her from slamming into the ground.

  She groaned.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Yes.” Mainly her pride.

  “Where?”

  “Nowhere you can fix. Just let me lie down, all right?”

  He helped her lie flat then he started working on the knots in her back. Damn, that felt like heaven. All her irritation with him, all her aches and pains, seemed to disappear from her body as he massaged her back. Well, all except one ache, but that seemed to be her constant companion at the moment. She pressed her thighs together in an effort to relieve her throbbing clit. A small jolt of pleasure went through her and she shuddered.

  “Are you well?”

  “Yeah. Fine.”

  When he finished up, she felt like a bowl of jelly. There wasn’t a hope in hell she was going to be able to continue their hike. All she wanted was to curl up on the ground and fall asleep. Moroco was silent as he helped her into her shirt.

  He packed everything up, not even sparing her a glance.

  When he suddenly grasped hold of her shoulders, the electrifying shock of awareness made her gasp in surprise.

  “I apologize.” He snatched his hands back. “Did I frighten you?”

  “No, I was just still in my post-massage haze.”

  He gave her a firm look and held up the harness he’d earlier created. She wrinkled her nose. “I thought you left that behind.”

  “No, I thought I would need it. Although I should have insisted on using it straight away then you wouldn’t have hurt yourself.”

  She sighed. “Guess I don’t have much choice, do I?”

  “No.” He made quick work of putting her into the harness as though worried she might change her mind. Smart man.

  Then he crouched and lifted her against his front. “Hold onto me while I slip my arms through.”

  She wrapped her arms and legs around him and wasn’t that like tasting one tiny piece of chocolate when you really wanted the whole delicious block?

  Finally, he got the harness sorted.

  “You can let go of me now, the ropes will hold you.”

  This was going to be a long afternoon.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The pain she’d been in before? Peanuts, compared to the agony she was now experiencing. Arousal agony. There was no other way to describe it. Her nipples, hard and sensitive, brushed against his chest over and over. He hadn’t really factored her legs dangling against his, so she’d had to wrap them around his torso, which meant her pussy was open and pressed to his hot stomach. Then there was the large hand he had on her ass to hold her against him and take the weight off her legs. His palm was so hot and heavy against her skin, it felt as though he was branding her.

  Torture. Pure torture.

  Then there was the silence. How could she be expected to suffer in silence? So she’d started to sing. Only problem was, she was a terrible singer and the only songs she really knew were Christmas Carols.

  Honestly, if he still wanted her after listening to her sing “Jingle Bells” then he was either crazy or deaf. Maybe a bit of both.

  She paused for a breath and he slid a hand over her mouth.

  Rude.

  She leaned back to glare up at him, but he wasn’t even staring at her. Instead, he was frowning at the vegetation around them. What was he looking for?

  Suddenly, there was a rustling noise and five large beasts burst through the vegetation. Saffron screamed, certain they were about to be trampled to death. But the beasts came to a shuddering stop, still several feet away from them. Not so far that she couldn’t smell them, though. Oh God, they reeked. Her eyes watered, and if Moroco didn’t have his hand over her mouth still, she would have blocked her nose.

  One of the beasts made a noise and to her surprise, Moroco made a similar noise back. Um, what the hell? He could talk to animals?

  But wait a minute, she stared up at the beast’s face as more noises ensued. Was it talking? The thing looked a bit like a llama with its lo
ng neck, furry body and pointed ears, but its face was leathery and lined with a squashed nose and small eyes.

  How the hell could he speak to them?

  Tired of having him hold his hand over her mouth, she tried to move her head. No reaction. She pinched his side and he slapped her ass. Seriously!

  There was a cackling noise behind her. Were they laughing? Oh hell no. She turned to glare at the one closest then thought better of it as it stared down at her hungrily. Oh shit, he was probably imagining her roasting on a spit. She turned back to Moroco, barely resisting the urge to bury her face into his chest. This was so far out of her comfort zone it wasn’t funny.

  Finally, the weird guttural noises they were all making stopped. There was a rustling noise and when she looked up, they were gone as quickly as they had arrived.

  Moroco removed his hand from her mouth.

  “What the hell were they?” she asked.

  “Loomins. They are native to this planet.”

  “That’s who you said would help us?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Thousands of years ago, Equin was invaded by a race called the Mavorts. They killed hundreds of thousands of Loomins by all accounts and captured the rest as slaves. Years later, a race of Savans came to Equin and overthrew the Mavorts, freeing the Loomins. Now they live in a sort of semi-peace together. The Savans will help us.”

  “Those things didn’t seem very friendly. How come you can speak their language?”

  “They are not friendly. If one of them did not remember me from when I was here before we would have been in a lot of trouble. Loomins are carnivores.”

  She shuddered. “Yeah, one of them was practically licking his lips as he stared at me.”

  “You would be lucky if all they did was eat you. Females do not usually fare so well with them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Loomins have no females left. In order to breed they take females of other species and keep them as breeding mares. When they are no longer of use they get rid of them. They try not to take Savans, as they do not wish a war, so they wait for visitors. Equin gets very few visitors.”

  She shivered. “All right, now I’m completely freaked out.”