That hadn’t changed in a week’s time. “Surely those who plan to go can keep her in check?”
“Tidem, Nex, and Anneliese have already proven they can’t say no to her impulses. Velia will be returning to Cas early this evening. Besides, as the leader of our war effort, Selena comes under your supervision, Arga Enrihahz.”
“Yes, Elder Notlin.” He tried to sound neither sulky nor anticipatory, emotions that rose in equal strength.
He failed on half the mission. Notlin regarded him, her ears perked straight and head tilted. “She makes you uncomfortable. You do not like her?”
I like her too much. Every second he didn’t keep himself occupied, Selena was front and center in his thoughts. Sometimes she invaded them when he was busy too. Smart, exciting, adorable, and sexy as hell—who had defenses against such a creature?
Not that he would share any of that with an elder. Especially not with a female such as Notlin, leader of the Assembly and Risnar. “Maybe I don’t understand some of Selena’s ways. But she does good work. I have no complaints about that.”
“Indeed. I leave her celebration in your care then.” As if worried he might argue, Notlin hurried away.
I need a plan. I could let her drink, but not too much. Keep her clothes on her. Don’t let her join a band.
Arga was twice her size. At least twice her weight. He could handle her physically.
I do enjoy handling her physically.
No sex. Absolutely no sex.
* * * *
“Just sex. Nothing else.”
Outside his dome, Arga pointed a warning finger at Selena to emphasize the demand. The finger wavered under the blue glow of the planet Cadi and the illuminated stones of the walkway. Selena knew part of the problem was in her blurred vision from drinking too much—again—but he was swaying too. He’d chewed some broadleaf that he’d proclaimed potent.
Despite her happy state, she’d avoided causing trouble this time. There had been a moment when she’d considered organizing a wrestling tournament among the Risnarish men in the square, but Arga had given her a grumpy look that warned her off. He was right. She refused to be the reason anyone or their belongings were damaged because she’d overindulged in brew again.
When bad decisions clamored louder and louder to be made, Selena had told Arga, “Take me drunk, I’m dome.” She was the only person who found it funny. Or understandable, judging from his insistence she repeat herself.
In the end, she’d snuggled up tight against that yummy brown frame. “Arga, let’s go back to your place.”
He’d scowled, but his gaze wandered up and down her body. His inner struggle lasted an entire seven seconds. She’d counted.
“I did well. I kept you out of trouble. I deserve a reward.” He’d grabbed her hand and tugged her away from the market square.
Now they stood in front of his door, which had opened obediently at his approach. He blocked her entrance. “I mean it. We’re going to go to bed and have our fun. That’s it. That’s all I want.”
What did he think she was there for? Redecorating? “What? No marching band? We can’t limbo too? Play a round of poker? What kind of a place are you running here, anyway?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Whatever it is—no. We’re having sex. It leads to nothing else. I’m not Kren. Or Nex. I’m not getting involved with an Earthling.”
Had he contemplated the prospect? Selena tried to focus her fuzzy thoughts. Maybe she’d preyed on his mind this past week as much as he’d preyed on hers. Had she starred in untold numbers of fantasies? And here she’d suspected his distance had meant he was a one-and-done guy.
He’d considered romance. Then dismissed it. Selena pushed away the sudden stab of disappointment. Why should she care if he had no intention to pursue anything beyond physical gratification? She was on Risnar only long enough to help Earth, not set up house on a planet that was probably doomed.
“I’m here for the cock and whatever other appendages you decide to grow.” She shoved up against him, pressing him against the side of the entrance, kissing and touching that magnificent body. Arga pulled her in tight, returning the favor with interest. The sweet-smoky flavor of broadleaf on his breath was a delicious addition.
He was too hot for the sun. Lust surged, and Selena was fairly climbing him. Irritated by his utility belt pressing against her stomach, she reached for it, not waiting to go inside to yank his sole piece of clothing off. As she did so, he switched their positions, putting her back up against the wall.
Yes. Simple, uncomplicated lust was more than sufficient. No silly feelings required. She’d believe that once she unbuckled his damned belt.
Selena wanted this incredible alien beyond what was probably wise. He made her senses whirl more than the brew did. He made the earth shake. She could feel it trembling.
For real, because the ground was literally shaking. Arga cursed and pulled away, leaving Selena to nearly tumble due to the earth bucking so violently. Had Arga not grabbed her, she would have faceplanted.
The music that had been playing in the distance was replaced by screams. Then a massive boom crashed through the air.
“Shit. This is no tremor.” Though Selena had never been through an actual earthquake before, there was no doubt she was experiencing one now. Another loud noise farther off told her buildings were collapsing.
Arga twisted from her, the dazed glassiness of his eyes clearing. Selena had the idea that whatever chemical fuzziness he’d enjoyed was lost in the same tide of adrenaline banishing her buzz. He ran for his dartwing, parked on the lawn a few feet away. Selena raced behind him.
He shoved himself into the tight cockpit and simultaneously started it while trying to fend off her attempts to sit on his still lumpy lap. The quake had killed his buzz, but not the forming erection. “Stay here!”
“No time to argue. Hit it.” She pushed against him, shoving her rump in his face and damned near stepping on his groin.
“Ridiculous Earthling!” He yanked her into place, perhaps realizing she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Seconds later, they were in the air, circling the temple complex in a wide loop.
Selena spotted several buildings leaning just beyond the outermost temple domes. They were surrounded by the rubble of other structures. Striped bodies dashed between those that had fallen, voices crying out for help. “There! We need to head that way.”
“Got it. I’ll have to set down a short distance away, to keep anything from dropping on my craft.”
The instant he set down in the middle of a lane, between domes that showed no signs of damage, Selena jerked free. She hit the ground running, tearing towards the worst destruction and the screams.
“Selena, wait!”
It wasn’t Arga’s yell that stopped her in her tracks, however. The groan of a nearby building and shouts for help within the structure brought her to a halt. It seemed to be standing fine, but the glass of the dome had shattered. Ominous creaking gave Selena grave doubts about the seemingly sturdy, stonelike façade. Arga stopped next to her and eyed it worriedly.
“Damned alien materials. I don’t know the stress load limits of this shit or how to detect fractures. It could stand for a hundred years or shake to pieces in the next few seconds,” Selena fumed.
“Stay here.” Arga ran in, no doubt to aid the person yelling inside.
“Arga! It could come down on you at any second! Your natural armor only protects so much!”
He ignored her, disappearing into the dome. This time when it screeched, it also visibly swayed. Selena’s heart threatened to stop.
She could still feel his lips on hers, the imprint of his body pressing on her. “Damn it!” She switched on the containment belt, which remained wrapped around her waist after that day’s explosives testing.
Selena ran into the squeaking dome. Cadi’s illumination was less effective inside, even with the roof wide open. Shadows and dust conspired to make it difficult to see where she w
as going. Selena relied on the yells for help to guide her through a labyrinth of corridors.
“Arga! Where are you?”
A threatening rumble answered her. The floor shook beneath her feet. The walls shook too, and fissures appeared in their surfaces. With a terrified yell, Selena dove into the middle of the closest room and huddled in a ball, arms thrown over her head.
Chapter Seven
Selena didn’t dare peek to discover the size of the chunks bouncing off her containment field. The flashes of contact were blinding, even with her face pressed to the shuddering floor. The sound of walls coming down nearby were deafening. Selena was convinced if she lived through the quake, she’d be blind and deaf.
The thunder quieted to angry muttering. It wasn’t until the dome’s remaining supports resumed their pained groans that Selena’s head rose. She peered through the swirling dust.
A wall of the room had lost a few feet off the top. The rest lingered more or less intact, though the fractures were terrifyingly wide. Another quake would collapse the whole damned thing on top of her.
Selena jumped up and got moving. She skirted the debris covering the floor—what the chamber had originally contained was little more than unidentifiable broken bits and pieces, covered in layers of silt. She picked her way out to the corridor and blinked to see the rear half of the dome had morphed into a bizarre mountainscape of busted construction materials. It had fallen in.
“Arga! Arga!” Selena navigated over shards and rubble, searching for some sign of life. There was nothing but wreckage and a couple of walls that managed to remain standing. They swayed as drunkenly as she had earlier that evening. “Arga! Answer me, damn you!”
At last, movement. A slender, striped length looking more akin to a large snake than a body part wriggled out from under a slab of rock. It was so similar to a snake that Selena’s first notion was to jump aside and give it space to wander on. The end of it split into several fingers, however, and it waved frantically for attention. Meanwhile, more striped tentacles squirmed from other debris. The gray dust coating them hid whether or not it was Arga. In any case, there was a living Risnarish beneath the collapsed wall.
She hurried over as fast as she could and started removing rocks. The wormlike appendages assisted. Before long, Selena spotted a foot, a leg, an arm and a hand. When the rubble became too large for her to shift by hand, she located a metal bar and pried the heavier portions away.
A disheveled Arga at last emerged, small rills of blood streaking his dirty flesh. He crawled clear with little difficulty. When he stood up, he appeared whole.
“Selena.” He hugged her tight.
She hugged back. “Don’t you ever pull a stunt like that again. I was afraid you’d gotten yourself killed. Thank goodness for that natural armor.”
“I’m here, thanks to you. There’s someone else under this mess. We have to get him out.”
“Let’s make it quick. The rest is coming down sooner rather than later.”
Despite his misadventure, Arga’s strength recovered quickly. It was his sheer muscle which pulled aside debris far faster than Selena could with her rod. At last, their efforts revealed a man. He was unconscious, and Arga hefted him over a shoulder while Selena watched the wall closest to them teeter.
“We’ve gotta move it, big guy!”
They clambered toward the intact part of the corridor, all other avenues of escape nonexistent. No sooner had Arga gotten the victim clear when the wobbling partition crashed down right where they’d been.
The impact of the wall’s demise set off sympathetic collapses in its wake. Selena and Arga raced for the dome’s entrance as wall after wall gave way behind them. Though she didn’t dare look, Selena had the impression of the partitions dropping like dominos, with her and Arga destined to be squashed by the final piece.
Maybe Arga felt the same portent of doom. He didn’t stop running until they reached the dartwing, though he kept glancing to ensure Selena stayed on his heels. They turned to watch as the building settled to the earth with a final bellow.
They stood gaping at their near-tomb for several breaths. Arga finally shook the situation off and laid the insensible man on the ground. He used his CPP to call for assistance, giving the harried-sounding medical tech who answered their location.
After doing basic first aid for the victim while they waited, Arga rose to his feet. He gave Selena a gaze that seemed surprised.
“What?” she asked.
“The shock on your face. It’s startling, given that you’ve made buildings fall before.”
“Not on top of me, you nut. There’s a big difference.”
He barked sharp laughter. “Yeah. Yeah, I suppose there is. All-Spirit, that was intense. Thanks again for searching for me. This fellow and I owe you our lives.”
“Glad to have you in one piece.” Was she ever. Selena couldn’t keep from touching Arga’s hand. He grew a few extra fingers and gripped hers tightly in return.
* * * *
Arga ached from head to toe. His armored skin and Selena’s quick actions had saved his life, but he was paying the price with bruises. Every motion brought pain.
He had no time to coddle himself, however. He needed to know if more earthquakes were in the offing, and what had to be done to protect the people of Yitrow. He joined the other leaders gathered in the war council area, which had somehow become the default meeting place for most important Risnarish business. No one sat at the tables. They milled about, joining and forsaking groups to reform into others, again and again. Comparing notes, figuring out what was happening in between the calls to order for the latest information.
Concern and confusion reigned as multiple reports came in. Injuries, deaths, people missing, loss of property, and too many questions. Yet Arga’s attention kept veering to Selena, who stayed by his side during the tumultuous first hour after the quakes quieted.
She’d known the safety offered by her containment belt would be no guarantee against a collapsing structure. She of all people had understood the danger of the situation. Nevertheless, she had charged into that dome after him, trying and succeeding in saving him while realizing the peril to herself.
She’d come through it without so much as a scratch. Dirty and disheveled, yes, but whole.
Her blue-and-white hair was dusted with gray filth and sticking out in crazy peaks. Her face was streaked black and gray until she looked as striped as any Risnarish. Her blue eyes were red-rimmed, irritated by small flecks of debris that floated in the air. With all that, Arga couldn’t remember a more beautiful sight than Selena Baumer. It was nearly impossible to drag his gaze from her until Erona, the chief geologist, swept into the room with her report, speaking far louder than Risnarish women typically did.
“Your attention, please. The situation remains dangerous. System, post latest geological reports for Yitrow and the surrounding area.”
A huge topographical map formed in midair, with the lines of the temple complex and outlying buildings superimposed to show the layout of Yitrow. Arga’s attention was drawn to the large jagged line that appeared halfway from the northwest of the town, bolting arrow-straight to the edge of the main temple, where it divided into three smaller tracks. Several smaller fissures twisted paths from the main fracture, like the branches of a tree.
“This has appeared underground, in conjunction with the major quake that struck Yitrow an hour ago. The main fault line ends at this point, just beneath the temple complex.”
“Fault lines beneath the surface of the town? We’ve not detected these before.” Notlin frowned, driving creases into her usually smooth visage.
“It could be that we live atop the edge of a minor plate, close to the two larger that form the mountain range. The appearance of these lines, all of which run roughly northwest to southeast, correlates to that supposition.”
Elder Ilatar focused on the most important factor, that of Yitrow’s well-being. “You said we are still in danger.”
“There could be more? And stronger? How soon?”
“I wish I could tell you. The readings we recorded from the last upheaval were odd, and we’re still deciphering them. However, my team and I agree that the center of Yitrow should be vacated. We should move everyone and all necessary operations and equipment to the outskirts of the village.”
Arga’s adrenaline spiked. Battered or not, he had work to do. Yitrow’s head enforcer Bej sidled next to him. “If you’re uninjured, I could use the help.”
“I’m well enough.”
Selena stirred next to him. “I’ll meet with the construction guild, find out what their structural codes are, what I can do to help keep as many buildings upright as possible. Be safe, okay?”
Arga watched her leave, so sure of herself. She possessed an extreme personality that often confounded him, but there was more to her than the exterior outrageousness. Integrity, intelligence, and a bedrock of decency that added to her bravery.
She saved my life. How can I repay this woman who doesn’t require a man to take care of her?
When Bej cleared his throat, reminding Arga they needed to be off themselves, he shoved such thoughts aside. He followed the head enforcer out to help evacuate the center of Yitrow. In the frantic hours that followed, he kept his attention on his duties—but Selena lurked in the back of his brain, refusing to be completely ignored.
* * * *
Arga returned home after a long night of moving people and equipment to the outer edges of Yitrow. He hadn’t seen Selena in those hours despite keeping an eye out for her. As he headed to his door, noting the first morning light dawning, he wondered if she was as tired as he was.
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