Ar'Tok - Alana Khan Page 0,32
she explains as she scrapes oozing yellow liquid from a fowl egg onto a piece of toast and shovels it into her mouth while she stands. “We need to be out the door in ten minutes.”
Ten minimas later I’ve pulled what the females call ‘cargo pants’ over the little stretchy underwear, along with a soft shirt Zar loaned me.
“How am I going to keep my hands off you all day?” Star jokes as we sweep down the hall toward the lift. “Holy shit!” She stops walking so abruptly I almost yank her arm off.
“Hi, Willa,” I say as I stop my forward motion and back up to stand next to Star.
“What. Is. That?” Star asks, pointing at WarDog who is positioned protectively next to Willa. The canine is poised at her hip with a fierce ruff of mane around his face.
“That’s WarDog,” Willa says. “You must be Star. I thought we might meet last night, but you never came down for dinner. Thanks, by the way. I hear you’re responsible for getting us this all-expense-paid vacation.”
Star’s mumbled, “Hi,” is all but lost in her quest to hurry to the other end of the hallway.
“WarDog, sit,” Willa orders. The canine complies, his head is now above her waist.
Willa and this beast were on the slave ship that was carrying me to auction. We shared a cell for a few days. I’d just been released from prison the day before we met and had never seen a pet. His teeth are long and sharp and look like they could separate a male’s head from his neck with one bite.
“He scared me when I first met him. I thought he would kill me,” I admit to Star as I succeed in stopping our backward motion. “He’s Willa’s pet.”
“He’s just a big teddy bear,” Willa announces as she lovingly scratches the crown of his head.
“Okaay,” Star says, not stepping one fierto closer.
“Want to pet him?”
“NO.”
WarDog crawls on his belly toward us, then rolls on his back.
“That’s how dogs tell you they have no desire to hurt you. He’s friendly, honey,” Willa explains.
“We’ve got a hover-limo to catch,” Star says as she hugs the wall, avoiding the canine on her way to the lift. “Maybe another day.”
Once we’re alone on our way to the lobby, Star says, “Another day? How about never? That creature scared the living shit out of me.”
“Was that slang?” I ask, craning my head to see her ass, “or did you mean it?”
She playfully slaps my shoulder. “I love it when you tease, Ar’Tok. You look even more handsome when you smile.”
When it’s just us and the driver inside the hover-limo, I ask, “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“Yesterday I promised, no, as I recall I vowed to do whatever I could to help you believe you deserve happiness and a good life. One of the reasons I want good things for you is that you helped me live through the scariest night of my life.
“I thought I was dying. Actually, I knew I was dying, but I held onto your words. All night long you enticed me to live by reminding me of all the things there were to live for. Do you remember some of them? I do. Your calm, deep voice is etched in my brain. You told me about the fresh smell of rain, and the salt of the ocean, and the wind in my hair. Remember?”
“Of course.”
“And now that I know you better, your secret’s out. You imagined most of that. You’ve never tasted the ocean either, have you? We’re going to experience it for the first time. Together.”
Gods, her happy face is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. If we weren’t harnessed to the seat, I’d pull her onto my lap and kiss her until we were breathless. I’ll just have to settle for holding her hand.
“Count me in,” I tell her.
Less than two hoaras later, a reptilian who looks to be in his teens is instructing us on how to wear nothing more than a harness attached to a wire while flying down a mountainside. A steep mountainside at that.
“Remind me what, exactly, I said to give you the impression I wanted to die like this?” I ask.
“We’re not going to die,” Star scoffs while adjusting her harness. “You said, and I quote, ‘someday you’ll know what it’s like to feel the wind blowing through your hair’. Well, bro, today’s the day.”
“Bro? I didn’t know we were related.”
“Slang. Don’t change the