9. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
That’s an unexpected reaction.
I started awake, pulse pounding in my ears, sweat covering me, and bile creeping up my throat. My breath harsh, I shoved away from Serlotminden and sat up. My arms curled around my knees as I hugged them to my chest. I took a deep breath and tried to banish the nightmares of burnt bodies and sightless eyes chasing me, dragging me away, taking revenge, but every time I closed my eyes the ghosts were still there, haunting me.
I’d never used to dream on Xome, but here, I’d had nightmares every time I slept. Why now? Why couldn’t the past stay where it belonged?
Probably because I deserved whatever punishment the universe doled out.
Something snaked around my forearm, and I yelped, falling over as I tried to get away. No. Please, no.
“Bartholomew. Teddy,” a wonderfully deep voice said, and I released a long breath. I looked over, but the darkness of the tent didn’t allow me to see anything. Mindy’s tail tugged me closer, and I fell against his chest. “It’s cold,” he said, arms surrounding me. “Stay close.”
My heart clogged my throat and a sudden wave of comfort crashed over me, making me feel so damn safe beside him. I laid an arm on his stomach and whispered, “Don’t leave.”
His chest rumbled in laughter. “Where would I go? Go back to sleep.”
I hoped he was telling the truth, because I liked being right next to him.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked, chewing on my nail. He tugged my hand away from my mouth and held it to his chest, rubbing the back over his sternum where his heart vibrated. We’d been crash landed for three days at least by now, and the gesture had become normal. Mindy never stopped touching me. A tail around my ankle or wrist. Pulling me tight against him. Grabbing my hand. Perhaps drakcol were a physically affectionate species. I didn’t really mind. He was warm, and it was cold even inside the tent. “I have to walk. I’m not going to rebuild my damaged muscles with the slight shifting I do to relieve myself.”
God, I was thankful he hadn’t needed my help with that. I would have. I wasn’t a dick, but I didn’t want to. “Alright.”
“Help me, please.”
“First, you need to put on warmer clothes, or more clothes I guess.” I tugged on one of his pairs of pants over my jumpsuit, and his deep green eyes glowed as he watched, tail thrashing. I grabbed another pair that were soft and stretchy, like sweats and leggings had a baby. “Ready?”
“I like you in my clothes,” he said in a deep voice as his tail slowly curled around my leg, coiling up my calf to tickle the back of my knee.
“Okay.” That was odd, but whatever worked for him. “Ready to put on some more clothes?”
I pulled the pants over his ankles—feeding his tail in through the hole—then slid them up. When I reached his hips, he arched, and my mouth went bone dry while my cock twitched. He groaned and his face scrunched from the movement, and I had to breathe through a sudden wave of want.
What the actual fuck?
He was hurt and in pain, but Mindy’s groan was turning me on. Me! I didn’t get turned on very often. Sex and people rarely interested me. Romance, yes, though I hadn’t indulged in that either. But when his lean hips lifted, it made my pulse skitter. In the past, my hand had been sufficient to meet my needs whenever the mood struck, but now, it was like something unfurled in my chest and stuck to my ribs. I wanted Serlotminden.
Of course, I wasn’t attracted to someone reasonable. No, my cock was into an unavailable alien. Par for the course.
Teddy , I scolded myself, then shook my head. Bartholomew Reginald, he is hurt and has a boyfriend. Calm the fuck down . I took a deep breath. It would go away eventually. I would ignore my attraction to him until it vanished.
“Perfect,” I forced out as I attempted to regain control of my traitorous body.
“Give me a moment,” he said, tone laced with pain.
I moved before I’d even thought about it to stroke his cheek. Serlotminden leaned into my touch, pushing his nose against my palm, inhaling. He seemed to do that a lot—smelling me. Then he rubbed his forehead against my palm and wrist before smelling me again; he did that often too. It was weird, but I didn’t say anything. It comforted him, and it didn’t bother me.
“Take as much time as you need.”
“How kind.”
I smiled. Fuck, I’d smiled more in the last three days than I had in I don’t know how long. Something about him brought it out. I’d also talked more than usual as well. I wasn’t a talker, but whenever Mindy asked me a question, I had a hard time ignoring him.
After he’d relaxed, I placed his arms around my neck, then leaned back with him in my embrace. Mindy groaned, burying his face against my neck and making his silky hair tickle my cheek.
“Breathe,” I told him.
Nose in the crook of my neck, Mindy practically huffed me as he held me with trembling arms. His nose and forehead rubbed against the column of my neck as well as my shoulder while jagged pants escaped his lips.
I smoothed a hand over his back to comfort him, but paused when I felt two lumps on his shoulder blades. I had no idea what they were, but they didn’t matter at the moment. Easing the pain from his tense muscles was more important, so I stroked his back. He had to hurt. His stomach had been pierced by a sizable piece of metal. That would’ve kept me out of commission for far longer, if it hadn’t killed me.
When his breathing calmed, I asked, “Did you want to lie back down?”
“No. Help me.”
Part of me insisted he lie back and rest—I didn’t like the idea of him in pain—but he was an adult; he was capable of deciding what was best for himself. I shifted out of his embrace to move to the tent opening and pulled it apart. Keeping a secure grip on him, I helped Serlotminden to his knees, then his feet.
Mindy sagged against me, and I hooked my arms around his waist to hold him steady. He trembled in my embrace and took heavy breaths, nose against my neck again. His long hair brushed my cheek, smelling marvelous. It had been a long time since I’d smelled anything this pleasant. Xome generally had the odor of smog, sewage, rotten food, and piss; the fighting ring hadn’t been any better, and the stench of burning bodies never left me, not ever.
A memory surged from the depths of my mind. The mangled body of a reptile humanoid. Their arms had been ripped clean off, and their neck broken, head flopping. Blue blood coated them, sticky beneath my fingers. Me and Vince grunting and groaning as we threw them into the incinerator. The heat burning my hands, the sound of the roaring fire. The alien arching as they released a blood-curdling shriek that had lifted the hairs on my arms and stilled my heart.
Not dead. Not even close.
We’d tried to get them out, but Agk had slapped us away with a baton, the end crackling with electricity, which he always carried and slammed the incinerator door closed with a resounding thud, locking it with a bolt. His cold eyes set deep within his watermelon-head did not waver from us. The alien had failed and was of no use to him, like what would happen to us when we outlived our usefulness. The alien had not stopped screaming, throwing their body against the metal door, while me and Vince did nothing but listen to them burn to death.
“Bartholomew. Bartholomew.”
I started.
Serlotminden was staring at me; his eyebrows drawn together. “Where did you go?”
“Nowhere,” I lied, swallowing the rising bile. The alien’s screams still sounded in my ears, but they were long dead—one ghost among the horde.
Serlotminden pressed his forehead against my cheek again and took another deep breath, then exhaled, his warm breath creating tingles in its wake. He whispered, lips brushing my skin, “I’m right here with you. Breathe.”
He took another deep breath, and I inhaled along with him, sharing his air. His forehead rubbed along mine, and he breathed in a steady rhythm. In and out. In and out. The rush of warm air from his lips, the tickling of his hair, the musky rain scent that wafted off him, and the strength of his hold all eased the remaining tension from my body.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“For what?”
“I don’t smell the best.” Why was I apologizing? I hadn’t made him huff me like a drug. He was doing that all by himself, but it was the one thing that came to mind after the potent memory.
Mindy took a deep inhale. “You smell marvelous.”
He’d gone nose blind. That was the only explanation.
The masses on his back shifted, and his tail thrashed. I placed a hand on one of the lumps while my other stayed around his waist to support him. “Are you alright?”
“My wings. They need to stretch.”
Wings? He had wings? “Do you need to take off your shirt?” My heart thumped at the thought. I liked that idea a lot—a shirtless Serlotminden. That sounded like an excellent plan. I should’ve thought of it sooner. If only we’d been stranded on a tropical planet instead of this icy wasteland.
“I have slits in the back of my shirt, but I need more room.”
“Ah,” I said. Too bad. “Then let’s move to the cargo bay.”
I closed the tent in an attempt to conserve the remaining warmth after grabbing the lantern and a couple of blankets. I wrapped one around me. The other was for Mindy after he stretched his wings. We were ready for a walk.