Chapter 7 Gnnar
Damn my body for being so weak. And damn the rut for messing with my brain. I could barely walk, and my instincts were demanding I bring my mate to my nest right now and fuck her until she was mine.
But we were nowhere near my nest; we weren’t even on the right continent. It was a miracle I’d even landed safely. I’d almost fallen out of the sky with Dana in my arms. The thought of losing my mate from such a stupid error when I’d only just found her was unacceptable.
I forced myself to focus on survival. Our bodies had an amazing ability to heal from even the most traumatic injuries, but they required energy to do so. I needed food and water. I’d been deprived of both since being captured, and I’d used all my reserves to heal after the crash.
This abandoned outpost had to have some form of nutrition in it. I was acutely aware of Dana as she went through the metal lockers in the other room. If danger appeared, I’d be there in an instant to protect her.
Any food that was perishable was long gone, but as I’d expected, this human outpost had many processed foodstuffs still in their packaging. I pulled several off the shelf and opened them.
I took a bite and was disappointed when I only tasted carbohydrates and low-quality processed oils. This was garbage. I could not regain my strength on this. I couldn’t believe that so many of Nova Vita’s colonists lived off of them.
The next few were the same. When I finally found one with protein in it, it wasn’t the kind our species used best. Kadrixans were descended from carnivores, though we’d since evolved to supplement our diet with plant matter. We valued plants for their chemical compounds, building our large pharmacopeia from the flora found on Kadri and on every planet we discovered. We did not rely on them as our main source of calories.
The last food package was more of the same. Prey food.
I let out an angry growl and threw the package against the wall harder than I should. A feminine gasp had me turning around. Fuck. Dana had witnessed my outburst. I didn’t want her to fear me.
But instead of backing away, she approached. “What’s wrong?” She picked up one of the packages from the shelf and grimaced. Even frowning, she was adorable.
“Yeah. I don’t like simulated meat and sweet crackers either. They’re supposed to have everything we need to survive, but I highly doubt it. I mean, it’s possible to survive on the fake stuff, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I did a piece on it once. Apparently, years ago, back on Earth, they used to tell people to take all sorts of supplements if eating vegan for long periods.”
My translator hiccupped on the new word. It clearly wasn’t used in everyday Nova Vitan English anymore. She must’ve seen my confusion.
“Vee-gaan,” she said again, splitting the word into two long syllables. “It means not consuming or using any animal products. It was all the rage when only people from rich nations on Earth ate that way. The word fell out of favor on Nova Vita since it’s not cool anymore when poor folk do it out of necessity. They say the new stuff is better but…” She shrugged. “I think the only thing ‘better’ about it are the profit margins. Anyway, I’m babbling. I’ll help you find the good stuff.” She opened several more cabinets, eyeing the words on the packages inside. “I guess your translator doesn’t do written words.”
“It does. But not very well,” I said, even though I knew she couldn’t understand me. Several of the packages I tried clearly had the word “meat” on them despite not having any at all. That should be illegal.
She wrinkled her nose at the packages, clearly discouraged by what she saw.
“Why don’t we try to find the director’s quarters? I bet there’s good stuff there.”
I grunted and gestured for her to lead the way. She did, but not before stuffing a backpack she’d found in the lockers full of pouches of water. I ripped open one of the pouches and poured the whole thing into my mouth before following her out of the mess hall.
Every sway of her hips drew my eyes to her ass, and by the time we found the director’s quarters, she had me fully hypnotized. As Dana had surmised, the director had their own stash of food. Like the others, the meals were prepackaged, but these had real meat in them.
“Oh yeah! That’s the good stuff, alright. Reconstituted steak and taters!”
Taters must be from the tatertot plants the females at the stronghold loved so much. They weren’t my favorite, but I’d eat them.
Dana held a package up victoriously. “Meatballs and gravy! The director was eating well.”
I pointed to the jumble of smaller words on the package, hoping it was a list of the ingredients, and Dana started reading them to me. It was. Except there was still a large amount of filler in the “meatballs.” I opted for the steak and taters.
“Ha! Like I was going to let you have the meatballs anyway.” She hugged the package to her chest like it was something precious.
Once rehydrated and heated in the cooking pouch it came with, the meals weren’t bad at all despite being a good decade past their consume-by date. I ate as many as I could fit into my stomach while ignoring Dana’s little reactions as she savored hers.
She peppered her meal with moans of appreciation and even wiggled in her seat. It was utterly adorable and it drove me insane. I wanted to pull her into my lap and feed her, let her eat from my hands as was our tradition. But that would surely throw me into the pit of a rut, and we were still in enemy territory.
When she licked the inside of the pouch, which had opened up and hardened into a serving vessel, I groaned.
She turned to me, her eyes scanning the table at all the empty packages. “Wow! You sure can put away a lot of food. Where the hell did all that go?” She glanced down at my belly.
It was a little distended because of how much I ate, but my body would use that to rebuild my muscles soon and fast. With the right nutrition, our bodies recovered to baseline quickly. I just needed to make it to our continent.
Then, I could finally tell Dana she was my mate and fly her to our stronghold. I’d do that the moment she was outfitted with a proper translator. Her friend was already living there, so I didn’t need to convince her to return with me.
That was if my rut didn’t mess things up first. I was still in control, but I wouldn’t be for long.
That was why I was keeping my distance. We weren’t out of danger yet, and I had to keep my wits about me. Also, Dana deserved so much more than I could give her right now. She deserved a real bed with all the comforts of my nest. Our first time should be surrounded by treasures, not in an abandoned outpost.
“We go,” I said in her language, hoping I was using the right words.
“Wait! Not yet. Have to get this chip out of my arm, or else they’ll know where we are.”
She was correct, of course.
“There’s an infirmary on the station. It should have everything we need.” She tossed the bag, now filled with extra food, water, and a small lantern she had found in the room, over her shoulder, then started out the door and down the hall again.
We followed blue markings on the floor to the station’s infirmary. She continued straight to the large medical machine taking up much of the room. Her face fell.
“Crap. I forgot about the power.” She smacked her forehead lightly with the palm of her hand. “Duh! I think we have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
She went to the drawers and started pulling out supplies.
“I have removed identity chips before for the females in our stronghold. Let me do it.”
She frowned. “I have no idea what you just said.”
I gestured for her to sit in the patient’s chair and place her arm on the table.
“I’m guessing you’re offering to do it?”
“Yes.” That word I knew was correct.
“And you’ve done this before?”
“Yes.”
She blew out a breath. “That makes one of us. You’re probably my best bet.”
“Yes.”
She grinned at my reply.
I pulled up another chair and sat down. It was too small and made for human legs, but it would have to do. I pointed to the words on the various bottles, and she read the labels for me until I found a disinfectant that was safe for my claws and her skin. She furrowed her brows, clearly confused about what I was doing, until I extended my smallest fingers.
She inhaled sharply. “Your claws! Of course. I totally forgot you had them.”
She reached for my hand, inquisitive about our differences, and I let her sate her curiosity.
“Only the pinky is sharp. No wonder I didn’t feel them earlier when you were carrying me.”
I wanted to tell her that Kadrixan males only kept the smallest claws sharp to make day-to-day activities easier and that we learned young to hold things with the pads of our fingers unless we wanted them destroyed. But that would have to wait for the translator. I disinfected my claw and bent over her arm. She was tense, expecting the pain of having it removed, so I pulled her into my lap.
“You know, I could get used to these pheromones,” she said, leaning back against my bare chest.
“They are all yours, my mate. From now until forever.”
“I have no idea what you just said, Gnnar. But keep talking. It’s a nice distraction.”
I did, telling her about the compound and how we combined our warships with the mountains. The pheromones and chemicals must be working well on her because she barely flinched when I went through the practiced motions of removing her identification and tracking chip.
I’d done this for many of the females living with us before we programmed our medical devices to work on human bodies, though never ever with them in my lap. This time, it felt different. I was freeing my mate from another’s grasp so that she could be free to choose me.
By the time I dropped the tiny chip onto the table, she was dozing off against my chest.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m falling asleep on you.” She eyed the tiny device still stained with her blood, then at her bandaged arm. “That was… ” She took a shaky breath. “My entire life is in that little chip. Years of working and saving credits. All of my achievements. It’s all in there, and now… it’s gone.”
I reckoned she felt much as I had when I was first exiled from Kadri. It was terrifying, but once we found the human colony, it was also freeing; we would no longer be forced to destroy innocent lives for the usurper queen.
“You are not alone. There are many like you at our compound and many more still at the new human settlement.”
She reached out to cup my face in her shaky hands. “Thank you. Thank you for helping me start a new life. I know it won’t be easy, but I’m ready for this.”
Then she pulled my face down to hers and kissed me.