Alien Freak - Calista Skye Page 0,35
little short. So I waited two twentieths. You can come with me, and I will supply your safe passage to Xra—”
I bounce to my feet and sprint out the door, then down the street the same way we came.
Zaroc’s ditched me?
I barely notice that the dead Bululg have been removed, I’m so focused on finding the way we came into this mall-slash-town.
But I find it and run faster, my throat constrained with panic. The airlocks let me through easy enough, and then I’m in the docking area. I run past astounded aliens, my fancy boots making no sound on the metal deck.
The ship is still there!
And that’s definitely a wide, red back on the way inside.
“Hey!” I yell, sprinting faster, because I think he might close the hatch before I can get there. I throw myself onto the red back without slowing down.
I might as well have thrown myself at the Space Needle for all the effect it has. Zaroc doesn’t even grunt, just shakes his shoulders so I fall to the ground.
Inside the ship, I note before my fury overwhelms me.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” I yell before I can even get up. I don’t have the presence of mind right now to use Interspeech. “You leaving me alone in this hellhole?!”
My phone translates, but I drown it out. I think Zaroc is maybe getting the essence of my opinion anyway. “After you fucking abducted me? Now you’ve taken me to the worst place in the world, and you abandon me here?!”
He looks down at me, then hits a panel on the wall. The hatch hisses shut.
He’s not saying anything. Right now, nothing could anger me more.
I bounce to my feet and give his scaled chest a furious slap. “Hey! You’ve turned my life totally upside-down, and not in a good way. You owe me a real explanation!”
He stares me down for a good couple of heartbeats. Then he bends down, embraces me hard, and lifts me off the ground. He’s holding my arms every bit as tightly as the cocoon did.
Shit, he’s going to squeeze me to death! “Let me gooooo!”
The last part comes as a desperate squeal, as I kick and writhe and squirm in his grasp.
He holds me like that for a moment until I calm down.
Then he rumbles softly into my ear. “I can’t stand the thought of you coming to harm. That’s the one thing I know will happen if you stay with me. The Gurandu will not give up, and they’re getting close. If you go to Xrarar, the monks there will keep you safe. That’s something I can’t do. However. If you insist on coming with me, then you can. Just know that it will be extremely dangerous. You stabbed the chief hunter. He will not have forgotten that. Chances are we will both be dead before a hundred days have passed.”
I’m not sure why, but tears are burning in my eyes. Back in that bar, when he had left, everything felt empty and I knew I didn’t want to be without his strength. “Then we die,” I sniff. “You saved me from that gang of fucking Bululg. You came to get me out of that terrible bush. You gave yourself up to the Gurandu for me. We tricked them then, we can do it again. Also, you’re the only person I know in space. I know I shouldn’t, but I have to trust someone and I only have youhuhu...” The last word drowns in a sore, little sob.
Zaroc squeezes me once, just firmly, not painfully. He lifts me a fraction and looks me right in the eyes. “Then we will be together.” His full lips find mine, gently and softly, but with total certainty.
And I respond like crazy. Hard tingles shoot through me, heat and lust intermingle, and I curl my legs around his massive body, kissing him furiously and opening up for a whole lot of pent-up need.
His forked tongue runs across my lips, alien and dangerous, but also so tender it creates a sucking feeling in my stomach. This guy is all contrast. He can’t help it.
Zaroc backs up, still holding me up from the floor, our lips still clenched together. We stumble blindly into the wall, and all kinds of weird weapons crash to the floor around us.
I don’t care about the noise. Right now, the world could end around me and I wouldn’t care.
Zaroc’s big hands are holding me up, and at the same